I didn’t realize a film was made of this. Never read the book because it always was criticized in my neck of the woods, but these days I feel like I should check it out.
Despite all of the hype and criticism, ATLAS SHRUGGED is a powerful book full of thought provoking scenarios. You don’t have to be a fan of Ayn to acknowledge her clarity of vision on many things.
Dang I’m about to go backpacking and need a book to read, but not enough time to order from Amazon. I was planning on bringing “Man’s Search for Meaning” which I started in 2020 lockdown but never finished.
Right on Dale. I read Atlas Shrugged in 1985, and again in 2003. I was blown away by the story line of how corruption feeds corruption. The ending three chapters regarding ultimate social and economic collapse of such a system, was incredibly insightful. This collapse is now ocuring in real time...
Ms. Rand has been brutally denigrated by the press and usual suspects... No film can capture what the indicidual mind illuminates via reading such material. Atlas Shrugged was a masterpiece.
Your analysis is perfect, there are a few things though. What I have been saying all along: "The only way out is IN." This was a quote attributed to Lord Shiva when he existed here in the flesh over 15,000 years ago..... In terms of Humans breaking away from other human's control, every individual has an obligation to at least try. The dimension of Conformity vs Individualism doesn't really require that a parallel, decentralized "social structure" MUST be kept 100% separated from the rest, it just means that there must be an action of Individualized Conscientiousness on the part of everyone who dares to exist outside of the control lattice network. This has to start from a spiritual perspective.
You make excellent points in regards to how surveillance and poisons are present; our physical world does need a lot of healing. This time around, I don't think that we will be solving this problem by any other means than a massive great awakening. Individually, we are often looking at this issue as though it is SO insurmountable, yet we are each not realizing the true extent of the actual numbers of people who are waking up.
The Collectivists will indeed put up a fight; Conformity will indeed try to "enforce" it's collective will against the natural sovereignty of the awake individuals. But they will lose their gambit.
My sense is the nature of consciousness is such that there will come a time when the physical species called "Human" shall no longer be as it is today. It will inevitably split, with one remaining the same as it was, the other evolving much further than the first.
Too many people think that all we are is a "Physical Life Form" so please try not to take this next part the wrong way:
Eventually, this Spiritual Evolution will result in our ultimately existing without the need for a physical body. This is possibly what may happen. This does NOT mean death. Our existential being consists of both physical and non physical modalities; consciousness itself does not depend on "Space / Time" to exert influence. Our body is really just about .01% of what we really are. We already are mostly nonphysical. Consciousness has always been the primary thing that was driving the evolution of "form," which in terms of being is only "eggshell thin."
Now, imagine what happens if Billions of people World Wide Realized this? There could never be a power structure of any kind that constrains the individual ever again.
Their total preoccupation with total control... as if nothing else interested them. It is the main project, everything else is a distraction. Parallel societies have come and gone, but Totalitaria is sustained by the energy of slaves, willing or not, addicted or coerced. Today, successful escapes are more difficult due to the omnipresent frankentech, but precisely because of that narrowing breathing space such escapes are more likely to be sought, and people from different walks of life may find new common ground, beyond ideology, that inevitably leads back to nature and rejection of consumer lifestyle excesses.
Yeah, I feel ya. It is so important to stay in touch with our human roots, pre-empire. I have a Saxon thing against the utter slaughterous pedophillic pretense of High Church phonies like Charlemagne... same dern empire tho, in its intermediate guise... before it went underground as CIA and affiliated corporate vermin. now gone global with vaccine bioweapons. Time to light the Sacred Fires.
Thank you Frances Leader. Atlas Shrugged (original Text) was a masterpiece. Not as well known as Orwell's 1984, but just as telling of human vulnerability and the effects of political collusion. Great article. Good on ya'.
Yes, it is a classic and, after I brutalised her title and published this post, I did think "Ooh! I hope people don't think I am being academic and snotty for knowing about Ayn Rand's work." Thankfully, my readers are never fazed and would search the book out if it was unfamiliar to them. So glad you approved of the subtle reference. xx
According to the latest data from Amazon.com, Atlas Shrugged ranks:
• #1,057 in Books
• #1 in Classic American Literature
• #2 in Libertarianism
• #3 in Political Fiction
These rankings are based on the sales of the paperback edition, which has a 4.6 out of 5 stars rating from over 11,000 customer reviews.
The Kindle edition ranks #2,690 in Kindle Store, and the Audible audiobook ranks #3,162 in Audible Books & Originals.
Plus in 2018, Atlas Shrugged placed in the top 20 on The Great American Read, a PBS series that asked Americans to vote for their favorite novel from a list of 100 books.
Sadly you neglect to realise that many readers of Substack do not live in America. Ayn Rand is not well known in the rest of the world. We do tend to focus on our own literature rather than yours.
I'm not sure that being #1 on Amazon is an endorsement either. These prized spots tend to be reserved for insiders, which is what American Literature largely consists of. Post-war, and before, it's entirely CIA (or OSS) personnel, from Pound, through Hemingway to Salinger, your reading list for the Great American Novel comes directly from Langley; every one of them endorsed as having just the right amount of degrading content to get the system's stamp of approval, while being thought of as edgy and daring. And they haven't stopped since.
I have often wondered what the point of doing English Literature actually is when all you are doing is picking from a CIA/MI6 menu. And you're not going to pass unless you find yourself aligned with them and their recommendations. Gives a slightly different perspective on the "arty" types, doesn't it? Especially those with a leaning towards the poseur. :)
No worries! This is a very common misunderstanding which has some basis in reality. Social media is more popular in America than any other country (atm) so I often find myself reminding people that the rest of the world is here too. Half my subscribers are from the American continent. The other half are from everywhere else!
Excellent post. The world we live in now compared to the world of WW2 is starkly absent of a savior. No one will be coming to save America from the totalitarian boot.
CONDIVIDO APPIENO OGNI APPROFONDIMENTO SU QUESTO TOTALITARISMO SNOBBATO, MI DILUNGO UN PO' SU QUESTO TEMA,ESSENDO NON UNO SCRITTORE MA REVISIONISTA APPUNTO ALTERNATIVO E LIBERO RICERCATORE , ASSIEME AI TOTALITARISMI PASSATI AGGIUNGEREI GLI IMPERIALISMI INGLESI E GUERRAFFONDAI AMERICANI ( che esportano secondo loro la (democrazia ) tramite le bombe ..!!!!), IL SISTEMA DELL'AZIONARIATO TRAMITE LE BORSE , I FONDI DI INVESTIMENTO USA, ONU-OMS AI GIORNI NOSTRI. CERTAMENTE LA DATA ANNO " ZERO " MODIFICATA E INIZIATA TRAMITE LE RELIGIONI SOPRATUTTO IL CRISTIANESIMO ( una favola mondiale e distuttiva con l'inquisizione... ) E COL SUPPORTO DEL VATICANO ( per 2000 anni la cima della piramide del potere ),negli ultimi 500 anni aderendo alla più grande MENZOGNA di tutti i tempi ( quella che racchiude tutte le menzogne l' "ELIOCENTRISMO " la teoria della terra globo rotante ), non ho potuto resistere nell'aggiunta anche di questi altri modi totalitari, chiudo con le tue stesse parole : l'uscita da questa Totalitaria fisica dipende da una massa critica di individui che rovesciano attivamente l'Impero esistente che ci combatterà ferocemente e fino alla morte. Questa è, anche a mio modesto parere, l'unica opzione a nostra disposizione in questo momento, come leggerete ho elencato i carnefici totalitaristi contro l'umanità, è arrivato però il momento che anche gli scrittori di professione non continuino a raccontare solo fatti ma devono proporre e trasmettere l'unica soluzione cioè riiniziare dal basso siamo il 99% loro 1%.
When you agreed that "the time has come for even professional writers not to continue to tell only facts but they have to propose and transmit the only solution, that is to start from the bottom, we are 99% they are 1%."
YES! The creative spark has always led us out of difficulties.
IMO - never ever ever trust a law enforcement officer of any stripe. She trusted an ex cop and his ex cop friends. That was a huge error. I hope she managed to recover her health and security.
You could be so right about that. Even if they aren't captured and compromised yet, they soon can/will be. Or they could be threatened themselves, or soon be "replaced" with someone who will do the job. That's the real tragedy - no matter how much you uncover, there's nowhere to go with such explosive info - nowhere to litigate anything...
Dr. Ana must be aware, but she has been very quiet...her head down, no doubt. In fact, everyone seems to be keeping their heads down, Stew Peters, Jane Ruby, was surprised that Mike Adams told her to back off of Malone. Interesting too that RFK never aired his interview with Karen, but he did share his interview with Sasha. Hmmm...Intense times...
We are sitting ducks. Self-declared 'terrorists' by their definition of the term... many of these leading voices are shills and they pull all sorts of strokes to convince us that they are with us.
When they take a holiday in real life they set up scenarios like this. I have seen them claim to be persecuted, vanish and even pretend to be incarcerated for a fortnight. Then (they are a bit stupid usually) they let slip that they had a holiday in some exotic place or they suddenly return to the scene sporting a lovely tan.
I am deeply suspicious of ALL big accounts here on Substack and especially any of the more glamorous, video making bunch who also happen to have Twitter and/or Facebook accounts.
Yes Frances, it looks bleak, but it is always darkest before the dawn.
Despite their best efforts, many people are waking up and resisting. Our plight is existential and constant discussion and action to get more to hear will spread through our much longer standing human communication methods. Those methods so aptly put in the '100 monkeys' hypothesis.
It is already underway. So, take heart and fight on.
I am a great fan of the hundredth monkey analogy also. Perhaps because it is about the only way out of this hypnotic morass. What I would like to communicate to any monkey that would listen is the sinister control through fear that the concept of nothing continues to induce. I believe that if people could vindicate themselves of that concept; a whole new life would ensue and clarity would prevail. Each would become a responsible person unto themself and could pursue their vibrational reality in all its beauty. Unfortunately I haven’t convinced anyone of this turnkey solution but also no one has been able to explain to me what nothing is. My reasoning is for that is that nothing is a CONstruct and does not exist in life
Very thoughtful. I don't claim any expertise on Solzhenitsyn, but I see in his Wikipedia bio that a primary impetus for his disgust and reversal toward the Soviet Union was the horror of seeing Soviet military personnel engaging in vicious war crimes against German civilians while occupying East Prussia a few months before the actual German surrender in 1945. He was actually arrested in February of that year. He unabashedly objected, was arrested, and his subsequent history has been pretty well publicized. My question is, what would have happened to an American who in real time objected to, spoke out and publicized the same war crimes that WERE committed by AMERICANS against occupied German civilians under the direct orders of EISENHOWER? (James Bacque, "Other Losses," and other sources I'm sure)? Would any such person have been honored publicly in this country as a "truth teller?" Would he/she have been allowed to even publish any articles? I'm not accusing Solzhenitsyn of anything, just dealing with contexts. Also, it was interesting to see the focus on Havel. Again, not sure, but didn't he (like Nelson Mandela, who I know a bit more about), become a "partner" with the globalist financial powers once he actually gained political power? If true, it kind of affirms your pessimism about creating parallel structures and societies while the octopus remains standing.
similar, Oracle. Libertarianism is great, if humans weren't pesky humans. How is it one can never actually get to utopia from here?
Having more stuff, and then living our lives and giving all our time to achieve this supposed "more," seems to appeal to fewer and fewer as the years progress. So perhaps the Atlas Shrugged version of utopia in the mountains and removing ourselves as over-contributing members of society will have some effect. Who knows. How much of the lie does Jessica need to expose before it isn't worth exposing more? That day must surely come.
I suppose another way is to go all in and be so wildly successful that a small group could actually impact a small part or corner of the system.
But for most, perhaps the best we can do is find a line we are willing to draw and not cross it. The line where our lives and liberty will become so small as to make the act of non-compliance and it's associated penalties and attempts to ruin us inconsequential. And as that line is closer and closer to where the world is, if we do remove as much of our treasure and time from it as possible as It clearly feeds on this, so perpetuating it any more than minimally required doesn't feel good. To do this also means being more self-sustainable which means developing some skills in growing foodstuffs and the like. What is valued will change from stuff to experiences and relationships. my time will evolve from earning to sustaining myself.
I don't believe I am alone. I believe there are many like me that can only let them have more rope to hang them selves if that is their choice.
How small a community, how many small communities, does it take to actually minimally sustain life? Why can't we find joy in small things instead of big?
I don't believe being under the radar is the goal. The goal is to become happy with something real as opposed to manufactured, and stand up when the time calls for it.
There is a reason the book is still wildly popular. It makes an impact. One can debate the message and the prose but it has touched many for its message of hope and inspiration of what humans are possible of when co-creating on a grand scale.
"I believe that the theory that an alternative society can succeed by running parallel to the developing totalitarian state is badly flawed."
This discussion comes up for me a lot. Lots of people I hang with think they can build an alternate economy and opt-out. It never works that way in the doomer literature and I can't see how in real world either; if you, off-grid, have food or prosper, you are a target. You are a target simply because you are different; you are a target for debanking, for any sort of hate and aggression - all of which would be deliberately amped up. I don't see how to opt-out without becoming a target. The best option I see is some sort of monastic spiritual community. That might work just as well for those opting-out as it did for the priests in Kiev: not. Down the road, if one can stay under the radar, maybe only those sort of communities will survive. The degree of saavy and skillsets required will be enormous; think the Amish.
Would you want to live in a spiritual community? Some of my friends tried it, but it deteriorated into squabbles - mainly about household/farm chores! This community had financial difficulties fairly quickly and so one of the members began to grow and sell cannabis.... the whole community complicit and regarded as outlaws.
I agree about the zombies... they have become so tiresome. I honestly don't care if they live or die. NPCs gonna NPC.
But I'd like to see you take on my Abrams tank with your bow and arrow. That'd be fun.
Or is it that people have watched too much Avatar where the scantily clad natives defeat the roaring machinery of empire with primitive weapons and some flying pets?
Now now I can here you say... Empires fall and mighty armies have suffered defeat at the hands of feisty defenders of territory known as home. Well... that's true but usually because the Empire has reached peak and overextended and is already suffering implosion or because in more recent times combat is heavily politicized and powerful armies have to fight with both arms tied behind their backs.
Given access to plentiful resources a powerful military will make mincemeat of your low cost responses. Thankfully... resources are not THAT plentiful so maintenance of Empire becomes the real issue in the long run.
ATLAS SHRUGGED - THE FILM
https://youtu.be/jQJfGMy6P_w
I didn’t realize a film was made of this. Never read the book because it always was criticized in my neck of the woods, but these days I feel like I should check it out.
I would encourage the book over the movie.
Despite all of the hype and criticism, ATLAS SHRUGGED is a powerful book full of thought provoking scenarios. You don’t have to be a fan of Ayn to acknowledge her clarity of vision on many things.
We the Living was good also. That was an all night read for me once. Never read the Fountainhead. I recommend Atlas Shrugged as well.
Dang I’m about to go backpacking and need a book to read, but not enough time to order from Amazon. I was planning on bringing “Man’s Search for Meaning” which I started in 2020 lockdown but never finished.
Right on Dale. I read Atlas Shrugged in 1985, and again in 2003. I was blown away by the story line of how corruption feeds corruption. The ending three chapters regarding ultimate social and economic collapse of such a system, was incredibly insightful. This collapse is now ocuring in real time...
Ms. Rand has been brutally denigrated by the press and usual suspects... No film can capture what the indicidual mind illuminates via reading such material. Atlas Shrugged was a masterpiece.
Your analysis is perfect, there are a few things though. What I have been saying all along: "The only way out is IN." This was a quote attributed to Lord Shiva when he existed here in the flesh over 15,000 years ago..... In terms of Humans breaking away from other human's control, every individual has an obligation to at least try. The dimension of Conformity vs Individualism doesn't really require that a parallel, decentralized "social structure" MUST be kept 100% separated from the rest, it just means that there must be an action of Individualized Conscientiousness on the part of everyone who dares to exist outside of the control lattice network. This has to start from a spiritual perspective.
You make excellent points in regards to how surveillance and poisons are present; our physical world does need a lot of healing. This time around, I don't think that we will be solving this problem by any other means than a massive great awakening. Individually, we are often looking at this issue as though it is SO insurmountable, yet we are each not realizing the true extent of the actual numbers of people who are waking up.
The Collectivists will indeed put up a fight; Conformity will indeed try to "enforce" it's collective will against the natural sovereignty of the awake individuals. But they will lose their gambit.
My sense is the nature of consciousness is such that there will come a time when the physical species called "Human" shall no longer be as it is today. It will inevitably split, with one remaining the same as it was, the other evolving much further than the first.
Too many people think that all we are is a "Physical Life Form" so please try not to take this next part the wrong way:
Eventually, this Spiritual Evolution will result in our ultimately existing without the need for a physical body. This is possibly what may happen. This does NOT mean death. Our existential being consists of both physical and non physical modalities; consciousness itself does not depend on "Space / Time" to exert influence. Our body is really just about .01% of what we really are. We already are mostly nonphysical. Consciousness has always been the primary thing that was driving the evolution of "form," which in terms of being is only "eggshell thin."
Now, imagine what happens if Billions of people World Wide Realized this? There could never be a power structure of any kind that constrains the individual ever again.
Their total preoccupation with total control... as if nothing else interested them. It is the main project, everything else is a distraction. Parallel societies have come and gone, but Totalitaria is sustained by the energy of slaves, willing or not, addicted or coerced. Today, successful escapes are more difficult due to the omnipresent frankentech, but precisely because of that narrowing breathing space such escapes are more likely to be sought, and people from different walks of life may find new common ground, beyond ideology, that inevitably leads back to nature and rejection of consumer lifestyle excesses.
"Spiritually defeated 2000 years ago" is an interestiung perspective I don't hear voiced much. Thank you.
I am a Brit. I used to live and work in Boudica's territory, the Celtic tribal lands of the Iceni.
The Roman Empire did my country a lot of damage and it still does, clandestinely.
Yeah, I feel ya. It is so important to stay in touch with our human roots, pre-empire. I have a Saxon thing against the utter slaughterous pedophillic pretense of High Church phonies like Charlemagne... same dern empire tho, in its intermediate guise... before it went underground as CIA and affiliated corporate vermin. now gone global with vaccine bioweapons. Time to light the Sacred Fires.
Brave and true Frances. I’m with you ❤️
Thank you Frances Leader. Atlas Shrugged (original Text) was a masterpiece. Not as well known as Orwell's 1984, but just as telling of human vulnerability and the effects of political collusion. Great article. Good on ya'.
Yes, it is a classic and, after I brutalised her title and published this post, I did think "Ooh! I hope people don't think I am being academic and snotty for knowing about Ayn Rand's work." Thankfully, my readers are never fazed and would search the book out if it was unfamiliar to them. So glad you approved of the subtle reference. xx
According to the latest data from Amazon.com, Atlas Shrugged ranks: • #1,057 in Books • #1 in Classic American Literature • #2 in Libertarianism • #3 in Political Fiction These rankings are based on the sales of the paperback edition, which has a 4.6 out of 5 stars rating from over 11,000 customer reviews. The Kindle edition ranks #2,690 in Kindle Store, and the Audible audiobook ranks #3,162 in Audible Books & Originals.
Plus in 2018, Atlas Shrugged placed in the top 20 on The Great American Read, a PBS series that asked Americans to vote for their favorite novel from a list of 100 books.
so not unpopular or unknown!
Sadly you neglect to realise that many readers of Substack do not live in America. Ayn Rand is not well known in the rest of the world. We do tend to focus on our own literature rather than yours.
I'm one of them (Londoner - ex, by 30yrs plus). just ordered a copy (Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged) from londonbridgebooks for $4.17 free post!
I'm not sure that being #1 on Amazon is an endorsement either. These prized spots tend to be reserved for insiders, which is what American Literature largely consists of. Post-war, and before, it's entirely CIA (or OSS) personnel, from Pound, through Hemingway to Salinger, your reading list for the Great American Novel comes directly from Langley; every one of them endorsed as having just the right amount of degrading content to get the system's stamp of approval, while being thought of as edgy and daring. And they haven't stopped since.
I have often wondered what the point of doing English Literature actually is when all you are doing is picking from a CIA/MI6 menu. And you're not going to pass unless you find yourself aligned with them and their recommendations. Gives a slightly different perspective on the "arty" types, doesn't it? Especially those with a leaning towards the poseur. :)
You are correct. I will endeavor to expand my horizons and be more attentive to any underlying assumptions.
No worries! This is a very common misunderstanding which has some basis in reality. Social media is more popular in America than any other country (atm) so I often find myself reminding people that the rest of the world is here too. Half my subscribers are from the American continent. The other half are from everywhere else!
Excellent post. The world we live in now compared to the world of WW2 is starkly absent of a savior. No one will be coming to save America from the totalitarian boot.
When the truth is finally known we will see that there were no heroes or saviours in any war.
All were only involved in engineered population reduction exercises.
Whether the warmongers were German, Japanese, Russian, Brits, French or Americans - ALL WERE DECEIVED.
Agreed
CONDIVIDO APPIENO OGNI APPROFONDIMENTO SU QUESTO TOTALITARISMO SNOBBATO, MI DILUNGO UN PO' SU QUESTO TEMA,ESSENDO NON UNO SCRITTORE MA REVISIONISTA APPUNTO ALTERNATIVO E LIBERO RICERCATORE , ASSIEME AI TOTALITARISMI PASSATI AGGIUNGEREI GLI IMPERIALISMI INGLESI E GUERRAFFONDAI AMERICANI ( che esportano secondo loro la (democrazia ) tramite le bombe ..!!!!), IL SISTEMA DELL'AZIONARIATO TRAMITE LE BORSE , I FONDI DI INVESTIMENTO USA, ONU-OMS AI GIORNI NOSTRI. CERTAMENTE LA DATA ANNO " ZERO " MODIFICATA E INIZIATA TRAMITE LE RELIGIONI SOPRATUTTO IL CRISTIANESIMO ( una favola mondiale e distuttiva con l'inquisizione... ) E COL SUPPORTO DEL VATICANO ( per 2000 anni la cima della piramide del potere ),negli ultimi 500 anni aderendo alla più grande MENZOGNA di tutti i tempi ( quella che racchiude tutte le menzogne l' "ELIOCENTRISMO " la teoria della terra globo rotante ), non ho potuto resistere nell'aggiunta anche di questi altri modi totalitari, chiudo con le tue stesse parole : l'uscita da questa Totalitaria fisica dipende da una massa critica di individui che rovesciano attivamente l'Impero esistente che ci combatterà ferocemente e fino alla morte. Questa è, anche a mio modesto parere, l'unica opzione a nostra disposizione in questo momento, come leggerete ho elencato i carnefici totalitaristi contro l'umanità, è arrivato però il momento che anche gli scrittori di professione non continuino a raccontare solo fatti ma devono proporre e trasmettere l'unica soluzione cioè riiniziare dal basso siamo il 99% loro 1%.
con stima
Ermanno
When you agreed that "the time has come for even professional writers not to continue to tell only facts but they have to propose and transmit the only solution, that is to start from the bottom, we are 99% they are 1%."
YES! The creative spark has always led us out of difficulties.
It is time to stretch our imaginations a wee bit!
Grazie Ermanno, sei una star! Grandi abbracci!
Snubbed --> --> becomes snobbato in Italian. Wow! What fun! I never knew that. The question now is whether I'll ever get the chance to use it? :)
Karen Kingston surfaces...she's been MIA, in hiding...
and no surprise who is coming after her.
KarenKingston on GETTR : karenkingston Livestream 2023-07-23
should probably watch it soon, it will be taken down any minute, I'm sure...
https://karenkingston.substack.com/p/important-florida-update-on-sheriffs?sd=pf
TY...this could have triggered her latest attack...
IMO - never ever ever trust a law enforcement officer of any stripe. She trusted an ex cop and his ex cop friends. That was a huge error. I hope she managed to recover her health and security.
You could be so right about that. Even if they aren't captured and compromised yet, they soon can/will be. Or they could be threatened themselves, or soon be "replaced" with someone who will do the job. That's the real tragedy - no matter how much you uncover, there's nowhere to go with such explosive info - nowhere to litigate anything...
Dr. Ana must be aware, but she has been very quiet...her head down, no doubt. In fact, everyone seems to be keeping their heads down, Stew Peters, Jane Ruby, was surprised that Mike Adams told her to back off of Malone. Interesting too that RFK never aired his interview with Karen, but he did share his interview with Sasha. Hmmm...Intense times...
All by design, Diva my darling....
Look at Substack from a globalist POV.
We are sitting ducks. Self-declared 'terrorists' by their definition of the term... many of these leading voices are shills and they pull all sorts of strokes to convince us that they are with us.
When they take a holiday in real life they set up scenarios like this. I have seen them claim to be persecuted, vanish and even pretend to be incarcerated for a fortnight. Then (they are a bit stupid usually) they let slip that they had a holiday in some exotic place or they suddenly return to the scene sporting a lovely tan.
I am deeply suspicious of ALL big accounts here on Substack and especially any of the more glamorous, video making bunch who also happen to have Twitter and/or Facebook accounts.
Nice summary of how we got here, and I couldn’t agree more...
Yes Frances, it looks bleak, but it is always darkest before the dawn.
Despite their best efforts, many people are waking up and resisting. Our plight is existential and constant discussion and action to get more to hear will spread through our much longer standing human communication methods. Those methods so aptly put in the '100 monkeys' hypothesis.
It is already underway. So, take heart and fight on.
I am a great fan of the hundredth monkey analogy also. Perhaps because it is about the only way out of this hypnotic morass. What I would like to communicate to any monkey that would listen is the sinister control through fear that the concept of nothing continues to induce. I believe that if people could vindicate themselves of that concept; a whole new life would ensue and clarity would prevail. Each would become a responsible person unto themself and could pursue their vibrational reality in all its beauty. Unfortunately I haven’t convinced anyone of this turnkey solution but also no one has been able to explain to me what nothing is. My reasoning is for that is that nothing is a CONstruct and does not exist in life
Love it! xx
Thank you! I shall xx
Golf / farm
Very thoughtful. I don't claim any expertise on Solzhenitsyn, but I see in his Wikipedia bio that a primary impetus for his disgust and reversal toward the Soviet Union was the horror of seeing Soviet military personnel engaging in vicious war crimes against German civilians while occupying East Prussia a few months before the actual German surrender in 1945. He was actually arrested in February of that year. He unabashedly objected, was arrested, and his subsequent history has been pretty well publicized. My question is, what would have happened to an American who in real time objected to, spoke out and publicized the same war crimes that WERE committed by AMERICANS against occupied German civilians under the direct orders of EISENHOWER? (James Bacque, "Other Losses," and other sources I'm sure)? Would any such person have been honored publicly in this country as a "truth teller?" Would he/she have been allowed to even publish any articles? I'm not accusing Solzhenitsyn of anything, just dealing with contexts. Also, it was interesting to see the focus on Havel. Again, not sure, but didn't he (like Nelson Mandela, who I know a bit more about), become a "partner" with the globalist financial powers once he actually gained political power? If true, it kind of affirms your pessimism about creating parallel structures and societies while the octopus remains standing.
Absolutely.
similar, Oracle. Libertarianism is great, if humans weren't pesky humans. How is it one can never actually get to utopia from here?
Having more stuff, and then living our lives and giving all our time to achieve this supposed "more," seems to appeal to fewer and fewer as the years progress. So perhaps the Atlas Shrugged version of utopia in the mountains and removing ourselves as over-contributing members of society will have some effect. Who knows. How much of the lie does Jessica need to expose before it isn't worth exposing more? That day must surely come.
I suppose another way is to go all in and be so wildly successful that a small group could actually impact a small part or corner of the system.
But for most, perhaps the best we can do is find a line we are willing to draw and not cross it. The line where our lives and liberty will become so small as to make the act of non-compliance and it's associated penalties and attempts to ruin us inconsequential. And as that line is closer and closer to where the world is, if we do remove as much of our treasure and time from it as possible as It clearly feeds on this, so perpetuating it any more than minimally required doesn't feel good. To do this also means being more self-sustainable which means developing some skills in growing foodstuffs and the like. What is valued will change from stuff to experiences and relationships. my time will evolve from earning to sustaining myself.
I don't believe I am alone. I believe there are many like me that can only let them have more rope to hang them selves if that is their choice.
How small a community, how many small communities, does it take to actually minimally sustain life? Why can't we find joy in small things instead of big?
I don't believe being under the radar is the goal. The goal is to become happy with something real as opposed to manufactured, and stand up when the time calls for it.
There is a reason the book is still wildly popular. It makes an impact. One can debate the message and the prose but it has touched many for its message of hope and inspiration of what humans are possible of when co-creating on a grand scale.
yes, we all have similar needs yet how we achieve this can be very different. control plays a role, sadly.
"I believe that the theory that an alternative society can succeed by running parallel to the developing totalitarian state is badly flawed."
This discussion comes up for me a lot. Lots of people I hang with think they can build an alternate economy and opt-out. It never works that way in the doomer literature and I can't see how in real world either; if you, off-grid, have food or prosper, you are a target. You are a target simply because you are different; you are a target for debanking, for any sort of hate and aggression - all of which would be deliberately amped up. I don't see how to opt-out without becoming a target. The best option I see is some sort of monastic spiritual community. That might work just as well for those opting-out as it did for the priests in Kiev: not. Down the road, if one can stay under the radar, maybe only those sort of communities will survive. The degree of saavy and skillsets required will be enormous; think the Amish.
Would you want to live in a spiritual community? Some of my friends tried it, but it deteriorated into squabbles - mainly about household/farm chores! This community had financial difficulties fairly quickly and so one of the members began to grow and sell cannabis.... the whole community complicit and regarded as outlaws.
I agree about the zombies... they have become so tiresome. I honestly don't care if they live or die. NPCs gonna NPC.
But I'd like to see you take on my Abrams tank with your bow and arrow. That'd be fun.
Or is it that people have watched too much Avatar where the scantily clad natives defeat the roaring machinery of empire with primitive weapons and some flying pets?
Now now I can here you say... Empires fall and mighty armies have suffered defeat at the hands of feisty defenders of territory known as home. Well... that's true but usually because the Empire has reached peak and overextended and is already suffering implosion or because in more recent times combat is heavily politicized and powerful armies have to fight with both arms tied behind their backs.
Given access to plentiful resources a powerful military will make mincemeat of your low cost responses. Thankfully... resources are not THAT plentiful so maintenance of Empire becomes the real issue in the long run.