Book Review: History of the Peloponnesian War

I've recently finished reading Thucydides' classic History of the Peloponnesian War. It was not an easy read, and I would not recommend it to the layperson. There are other, easier texts to read when starting out in the history genre and military history genre specifically. Thucydides' style can be difficult to follow. In his criticism of his predecessors such as Herodotus, Thucydides sought to embark on a different path for his own History - one that was explicitly factual, free from speculation and poetic license as much as possible. While from the standpoint of veracity this is commendable, Thucydides' strictly factual approach can often be exhausting to the reader. At times, his History reads like a Linear B tablet from Greece's Bronze Age, an exhaustive list of places and things (somewhat like the Catalog of Ships in Book 2 of Homer's Iliad, a poem that Thucydides criticized on historical grounds).

However, despite these exhaustive lists, the heart of Thucydides' History is excellent and well worth reading. His exploration of human behavior in the face of power, man as a political animal, the nature of international relations, war's impact on the civilizations and states that fight them, and the frailty of civilized regimes in general, is timeless. The conflicts between the Athenian Empire and Sparta and its allies, and more importantly, the way people at the time responded to those conflicts, could easily have been transplanted to any other time or place.

One chapter that was particularly compelling to me was when Thucydides described the civil war in Corcyra. Corcyra, it will be noted, was one of the reasons why the Peloponnesian War itself was instigated. Now, civil unrest occurred between the pro-Athenian faction and the pro-Spartan faction in the city. The civil unrest led to poison partisanship and a power vacuum, in which cruelties abounded. Civilization quickly fell away, the restraining mask removed. Unfortunately, the relevant passages are too long to be quoted here, but they can be found in the "Civil War in Corcyra" chapter in Book 3.

Another compelling part of Thucydides' History was his recount of the disastrous Sicilian Expedition, which permanently crippled Athenian power. It is at once a magnificent tale of a city's optimistic celebration of its resources (he is quite detailed about the amount of troops and ships gathered at the harbor of Piraeus as a grand display before the start of the expedition) at the peak of its power, the warnings against overreach and demagoguery in the case of Alcibiades, the struggle of a people against those that would conquer them, and the disastrous results of hubris.

The military exploits themselves ranged from hard to read lists as described above, to vivid details of campaign, maneuver, and battle, as at the Sicilian Expedition. In his description of the Siege of Syracuse, it is quite obvious that Edward Creasy's primary source is Thucydides.

While much of the book was tedious, and some chapters, such as the chapter on Persian intervention after Athens' defeat in Sicily, are too long and stray beyond the main topic discussed, Thucydides' History is an invaluable insight into human nature and political organization, and the foundation of political realism. I would not recommend it to the layperson, but if you have some experience under your belt in this genre, it is definitely well worth your time. The version I read was the Penguin Classics version (affiliate link), which flowed very well, but you can easily find other translations for free on the internet.

The next book to be reviewed is Thomas Sowell's The Vision of the Anointed.

The Bardic Circle Episode 3: Antifragility as the Backlash to Pussification

On this third episode, the events of the day are discussed as well as the broader concepts of antifragility and the pussification of the West.


- Intro, Ariana Grande, and the SJW's eating their own.
- 8:48: Donald Trump and his momentum, problems in Central America, people living vicariously through Trump.
- 12:25: Donald Trump as an example of antifragility, the importance of being antifragile in the inquisitorial atmosphere
we live in, Thick Libertarianism, and freedom as being not only a question of government, but one of culture.
- 16:56: "Social Justice" as an example of coalition warfare, with all of its instabilities.
- 24:42: The importance of being antifragile continued, the realization of the pussification of the West as the first step
on the road to antifragility, the raising and coddling of a pussified generation that denies reality.
- 31:08: The difference between older Millennials born in the 80's and the younger ones born in the 90's. The latter is far
more pussified, the SJW stuff took off when younger Millennials came of age around 2010, Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner as an example
of the un-courage the present generation aspires to.
- 37:30: The denigration of traditional masculinity, femininity, and normality, problems in men and women.
- 45:37: "Social Justice" coalition warfare continued, the fragility of the current population.
- 48:37: The media no longer attempting to hide its liberal bias, Donald Trump continued, the belief in American
exceptionalism fueling Trump's campaign.
- 52:04: Donald Trump's role in changing the narrative.
- 58:06: How can we become good soldiers in the culture war?
- 59:24: Putting yourself on the path to financial independence, the importance of having multiple sources of revenue, the
power of the internet as a means to independent revenue, always want more.
- 1:03:06: Getting into the mindset of not being a wage slave forever - working for a corporation is not antifragile,
research the way that money works and trading for a few hours a day as a means of supplemental income via trading, figure
out HOW you will make money, the importance of gaming the tax code - find every single loophole you can.
- 1:08:42: The most realistic way to emulate Trump is to release the filter and not back down, making normality a good thing
again.
- 1:10:37: Financial independence as a goal specifically for the young, the importance of not wasting your 20's, the worst
mistake I ever made, no apologies as the first step, financial independence as the second step, Donald Trump always on the
offensive, "all you need to do is stand and fire three shots a minute" - we are strong, they are weak.
- 1:15:55: Traveling and seeing other countries and people giving you a strong perspective, it is decidedly not a waste of
time.
- 1:20:53: Have an end goal in mind that aligns with your talents, then start on it as early as you can, the importance of
creating a work that is beautiful, combine this with an attitude of never apologizing.
- 1:24:53: The role of schools in sanitizing the individual of any character, the control mechanism of education.
- 1:31:33: Setting the tone and mindset of being an antifragile man (having an antifragile CHARACTER) through some basic
actions - bodybuilding and approaching women.
- 1:34:22: The disappearance of old-fashioned romance and normal socialization.
- 1:40:10: Bodybuilding, approaching, and reading about other great men are the three things that will start you on the path
RIGHT NOW, The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Cicero.
- 1:44:50: How to get over the fear of approaching girls.
- 1:48:30: Mein Kempf as an important book to read to gain insight into the nature of fanaticism, Year Zero ideology.
- 1:49:50: Summing up - reclaim your masculinity right now through bodybuilding, reading great men, and approaching girls,
take stock of your talents and vision, and get your kleos through creating a work designed to last forever.
- 1:53:21: The shooting in Tennessee, Obama as the epitome of what is wrong with the modern man and a divisive leader.
- 2:03:27: We must prevent Hillary from getting in.
- 2:05:46: Despite how overwhelming this can get, the only thing you can do is focus on making yourself the best you can.
You can only control yourself, your horse, and your sword as you charge with the cavalry.

Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner: A Profile in Un-Courage

I had the misfortune of seeing the ESPY's last night. I normally eschew award shows entirely, and the ESPY's were a good reason why - decidedly unfunny jokes being made en route to honoring things and people I could care less about, typically leftists honoring other leftists. That theme seemed to be decidedly at play, with the host at the very beginning sounding off on "jokes" covering every SJW theme under the sun.

The Jenner segment was surreal. I won't go into detail about the leftist inquisition, the increasing propaganda surrounding transgenderism, and the use of transgenderism as a control mechanism. Instead, I will simply say a few words about the nature of courage, and why Jenner is decidedly not courageous and undeserving of an award ostensibly centered around courage.

To be courageous is to go forward in the face of fear, to willingly take on a losing battle or long odds, to face real danger and willingly embrace that danger. This exchange between Ideomeneus and Meriones in Book 13 of the Iliad speaks strongly to the nature of courage (the bolded is my emphasis):

 "Meriones, son of Molus, best of comrades, why have you left the field? Are you wounded, and is the point of the weapon hurting you? or have you been sent to fetch me? I want no fetching; I had far rather fight than stay in my tent."

"Idomeneus," answered Meriones, "I come for a spear, if I can find one in my tent; I have broken the one I had, in throwing it at the shield of Deiphobus."

And Idomeneus captain of the Cretans answered, "You will find one spear, or twenty if you so please, standing up against the end wall of my tent. I have taken them from Trojans whom I have killed, for I am not one to keep my enemy at arm's length; therefore I have spears, bossed shields, helmets, and burnished corslets."

Then Meriones said, "I too in my tent and at my ship have spoils taken from the Trojans, but they are not at hand. I have been at all times valorous, and wherever there has been hard fighting have held my own among the foremost. There may be those among the Achaeans who do not know how I fight, but you know it well enough yourself."

Idomeneus answered, "I know you for a brave man: you need not tell me. If the best men at the ships were being chosen to go on an ambush- and there is nothing like this for showing what a man is made of; it comes out then who is cowardly and who brave; the coward will change colour at every touch and turn; he is full of fears, and keeps shifting his weight first on one knee and then on the other; his heart beats fast as he thinks of death, and one can hear the chattering of his teeth; whereas the brave man will not change colour nor be on finding himself in ambush, but is all the time longing to go into action- if the best men were being chosen for such a service, no one could make light of your courage nor feats of arms. If you were struck by a dart or smitten in close combat, it would not be from behind, in your neck nor back, but the weapon would hit you in the chest or belly as you were pressing forward to a place in the front ranks. But let us no longer stay here talking like children, lest we be ill spoken of; go, fetch your spear from the tent at once."

No matter what way you want to dice it, Jenner's "transition" was not courageous, mainly because of one thing - the entire establishment was behind it. The establishment was so much behind it, in fact, that the President of the United States got involved, tweeting out his support. The leftist establishment, and its shell of SJW electrons orbiting in the cloud of social media, was ready and eager to denounce anyone so much as questioning Jenner or transgenderism and deliver terrible repercussions to the offenders. If you were not 100% celebratory of this, you were a bigot that needed to be destroyed, period.

You can say whatever you want to about Jenner. You can celebrate this or you can denounce it, but you can't tell me that Jenner's transition was "courageous," much less deserving an award for courage. Jenner did not have the enemy at less than arms' length. He/she did not risk life and limb to go into an ambush alongside the best men. He/she did not hold out against and weather the storm in the face of great danger and hard fighting. Jenner's antics are occurring in a politically correct inquisitorial atmosphere that will support whatever he/she does and destroy any naysayer or enemy. It hardly takes courage to do something that is in complete lock-step with the prevailing orthodoxy of the day. Jenner is no Giordano Bruno or Galileo.

If Jenner had done this ten years ago, it might qualify as an act of courage, no matter what else anyone wants to think about it. Ten years ago, this would have been looked on as freakish and laughable. Certainly, the entire establishment wasn't behind it, and there were no SJW lynch mobs actively campaigning against dissenters. Jenner would have had to weather a storm of humiliation and mockery far worse than now.

Granted, that probably wouldn't have been a good thing, but neither is the sacred cow that's been created now. Point being - Jenner would have needed to fight in the face of the storm then. He/she does not now. The wind is actively at Jenner's back, and it now takes more courage to stand in the opposite direction. The Arthur Ashe award for courage going to Jenner was nothing more than a status whoring publicity stunt in furtherance of the leftist narrative, pure and simple.

So while the leftists have one more reason to feeeeel good about themselves while truly doing nothing, we ought not to forget the true nature of courage. Courage is arming with the soldiers and going to battle to face an overwhelming enemy (literally or figuratively for any pedants out there). Jenner's "transition" was nothing of the sort.

And so that it does not go unsaid, the exact same scenario was the case last year with Michael Sam.

In closing, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll present many pictures betraying what people at the ESPY's really felt deep down about this, including Jenner's own family.

Reflections on Independence Day 2015: Victory or Death

Last year, I wrote a somewhat upbeat reflection about the U.S. While these are sentiments I still have, this year I need to be a lot more negative. While the U.S. is still a land of freedom and individual opportunity for those willing to seize it (relative to many other countries), in a broader, societal context, it shows all the signs of a decaying empire. I have remarked often about these facets on this blog, and normally I can keep myself emotionally detached in an observant role. The only emotions I generally feel are disgust, and at times amusement, and then commit myself to helping to make the changes that need to be made.

However, even my own shell has somewhat cracked recently. June 2015 was a particularly freakish month. The only bit of positive news was that GamerGate's victory was essentially made final, as the "social justice" crowd got routed at E3. Obviously there will need to be vigorous patrols to ensure they don't rise again, but any more gains that can be made with the GamerGate campaign are in my mind, over. To use an analogy, hopefully one that doesn't turn out to be as woefully wrong as it was at the time, major combat operations on that front have ended.

While victory was attained on the video game front, all other fronts were set back drastically in June by the entropic forces of the "social justice" left and, the masters behind it all, the no-loyalty crony capitalists that would sell their neighbors for ten bucks if the chance arose.

Synopsis of the events in June:

1. It began with Bruce Jenner declaring to the world that he was now "Caitlyn" Jenner. The celebration and lionization of transgenderism immediately followed suit. The inquisitorial atmosphere was reinforced by the fact that anyone daring to dissent or criticize this was essentially tried in the court of public opinion, or rather, perceived public opinion, built up by the "social justice" media industrial complex, as a heretic. An exclamation point was put on this phenomenon by the attempt to completely erase the name "Bruce Jenner" from history. His Wikipedia page was changed within hours. Humorously, Jenner was referred to as a "she" in reference to his(?) record-breaking competition in the 1976 Olympics' men's decathlon. Streets named for Bruce Jenner were quickly and amateurishly changed to "Caitlyn Jenner."

I wish no ill-will to Bruce Jenner (if I'm still allowed to even say that) or any other transsexual or transgender person, but it's obvious from his/her interview with Diane Sawyer that there is a clear mental anguish going on, and it is much the same way with other trans people. Instead of helping them through this, or at least leaving them to their own devices to do what they think is right in private, the left has taken a stance of complete lionization of them, punishing any dissenters or critics of their lifestyle and attempting to completely erase the past in a transgender person's life, as seen by what happened with "Bruce" Jenner, a theme we will see soon on other fronts.

Quintus said it best in response to this and to the cultural atmosphere we're creating in general - unreality is now mandatory reality.

2. Less than a week after Bruce's "Caitlyn" reveal, mattress girl, craving to hold on to her 15 minutes of totally undeserved fame by whatever means necessary, released a pornographic video of herself reenacting her "rape." She then had the audacity to say that anyone watching the video, which she publicly released, was taking part in her "rape." She attempted to take it down of course, but once something like that is on the internet, it's not going anywhere.

This was an episode of light-hearted humor for me. I couldn't do anything else but laugh, but it is also indicative of a culture whereby any member of a supposed "victim" class, especially that darling of the leftist media, upper middle-class young women, can get away with anything and are held accountable (at least by our institutions of power, hard and soft) for nothing. Remember, this woman was invited to the State of the Union Address.

3. The month started with transgenderism, but it quickly escalated into the first case of mainstream exposure that I've seen regarding the phenomenon whereby a person can make up his or her race - "transracialism." Rachel Dolezal, a woman posing as black and the leader of an NAACP chapter, was outed as being white. She resigned but mentioned something humorous - "when drawing herself as a child, she always drew herself as being black." Sound like familiar argument?

The elite were clearly not ready to accept transracialism. As of now, it is still relegated to tumblrettes. However, once exposure to something happens, it is more likely to be accepted in the future. If there is a way to make money or status whore off of this, you can bet that it will be accepted, promoted, and celebrated, much like transgenderism is now.

For the moment, the outrage seemed to be, as one twitter commenter put it and which summarized the leftist theological argument against it (for now) - Dolezal was "claiming an oppression that wasn't hers." This is a problem in itself and perfectly summarizes why all sorts of weirdness is being accepted. Humans have always competed for status and dopamine. We now receive status and dopamine by claiming to be "oppressed" and getting the associated feelings of righteousness (and more than a little self-aggrandizement) that come with that. It goes to show that we are a culture that is totally stagnant and without focus or hope.

4. After the Dolezal affair, it was announced by the Treasury Department that the $10 bill was set for a redesign, and that the centerpiece of that redesign was that Alexander Hamilton, founder of the Department of the Treasury and, more broadly, the national economy of the United States, would be getting replaced by a woman - any woman!

For some background to give this greater context, a group calling itself "Womenon20s" wanted to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill because he was responsible for cruelty to Indians, or something (ignoring that expansionism and "Indian removal" had essentially been the policy of the federal government since the foundation of the country, facilitated by other figures that appear on the currency), and owned slaves (again, much as other figures that appear on the currency did). Whatever, it made for good outrage, and the narrative is all that matters.

President Obama, revealing himself to be the status whoring leftist doofus that he has always been, remarked that it was a "great idea" to have women on the currency in response to a letter from a little girl. The movement was gaining momentum.

Womenon20s held a vote that suggested Harriet Tubman should replace Jackson on the $20 bill. The vote had participation from an amazing 600,000 people out of a country of over 320,000,000.

The Treasury Department eventually revealed its "social justice" cred by essentially giving this tiny minority what they wanted, just not in the precise way that they had hoped. We, nor they for that matter, don't even know who they'll replace Hamilton with. It just absolutely has to be a woman. This is a confirmation of what we've known all along - political correctness and victim status take precedent over achievement and deeds in a modern leftist society.

This decision could still be reversed by the next Treasury Department, but unless a non-pussy President gets in (Paul, Trump, or Webb - all unlikely), it probably won't, especially if the coming dictatorship of Hillary is inevitable.

5. The month's darkest episode took place on the 17th, when Dylann Roof, an omega male with quite a bit of baggage and hate, killed nine people at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He'd gone to a Bible study and did the deed. Heartwarmingly, the families of his victims had the fortitude to forgive him for his crimes.

This could have been a time for mourning and then reflection. Serious issues could have been addressed - the plight of the omega male, who is seeing increasingly less opportunities for social and sexual advancement and thus will be far more likely to fall prey to radical, violent ideologies, the apalling lack of a good mental health system in the United States, particularly for men, the need for better background checks to prevent mentally unstable people from obtaining firearms, and yes, the anxiety many people have about race (that does not delve into blaming whitey for everything).

But the retardation of American society should never be underestimated. Instead of addressing any of those topics - because they are hard and require a good deal of conscientious reflection, the ire of the "social justice" left, and its media industrial apparatus, was turned to a piece of cloth.

Observation: Killer, who seemed to have a whole host of issues that American society was complicit in at least enhancing, took some pictures with the Confederate Battle Flag.

Conclusion: BAN THE CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG!

The momentum to ban the flag at first extended to government buildings, such as South Carolina's capitol. This was obviously a red herring, as a piece of cloth didn't cause this nut to do what he did, but this is a debate I can at least respect among the people of the state.

However, if you give the left an inch, they will take 1,000 miles, and within a day, to demonstrate their "social justice" cred, scores of private companies and organizations began pulling anything that featured the Confederate Battle Flag. Ebay and Amazon stopped selling any merchandise that featured the flag. Even places like the Gettysburg memorial pulled merchandise featuring the Confederate Battle Flag (when it was not placed alongside the Stars and Stripes) from the shelves. Prominent flag makers announced they would stop making it. Most famously, Warner Brothers announced that it would stop licensing products from the Dukes of Hazard featuring the flag on the iconic car from the franchise, the General Lee. TV Land also pulled reruns of the show from its schedule. Even Civil War-themed games have been pulled from various outlets, because it is simply not orthodox to give players the option of playing as the Confederacy.

The conversation we could and should have had as a society has now been diverted into a disastrous red herring - one that is scary. This is no longer about the incident. I would wager that most people so gung ho about the Confederate Battle Flag can't even name one person that died in the shooting or have been to Charleston (I have a few times - it isn't an awful, racist place). This is now about status and power, in much the same way that other things I mentioned above are. They are getting their status in superficial ways, by attempting to demonstrate how "good of a person" they are, while probably not even giving a shit about black people in the South. In this, they have a zeal to completely obliterate the past, as we saw in the case of Bruce/"Caitlyn" Jenner - only now, it is applying to the entire civilization. They wish to erase anything that doesn't agree with their worldview, and that is what the "debate" about the flag has come down to. In this, they are much like another prominent group that has the same pathology - erase the past and replace it with nothing but their own degenerate, narcissistic vision of a utopian order, where they have all the power, of course.

6. The biggest SJW victory of the month was Obergefell v. Hodges, where the Supreme Court overturned the will of the people in many states and prohibited states from not granting marriages to same sex couples, justified under the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

Again, I have no ill will toward same sex couples. My aversion to this ruling is based on the following:

Firstly, it, again, overturned the will of the people in many states, essentially saying "fuck you, you don't matter."

Secondly, and more importantly, this was a victory for the "social justice" fanatics in the truest sense of the word. They have now been greatly emboldened. The fanaticism displayed in devotion to this ruling, so people can attain status by showing how LGBT-friendly they are, greatly alarms me. We have built up an atmosphere where you absolutely must be seen as pro-gay, or else social, professional, and even legal consequences will follow. Like I mentioned above with transgenderism, it is not enough to simply tolerate gays, you must actively approve of and celebrate them or else you will be tried in the court of media-driven public opinion as a heretic. It has gotten to the point where even Arnold "Girly Man" Schwarzenegger put up a rainbow flag background on his social media accounts so he can show that he is toeing the party line. Even more alarmingly, we have the President of the United States calling the plaintiff in the case and congratulating him, all the while many municipalities and states, and the federal government itself, openly celebrate homosexuality - mixing politics with the laws and functions of the government itself, which should always be impartial.

The outcome of this case was a very vivid reminder that we have successfully recreated a medieval-style society, one where we must conform to a religious dogma (in our times, leftism and "equality") or face severe repercussions. We can no longer be true to ourselves as people.

This case is also a stepping stone to other forms of behavior. As I predicted, within days of this ruling, agitations for polygamy have begun using the same legal logic, and the dissenting justices made note that there is no longer any logical case to prevent essentially any kind of marriage anymore. Some may not think this is a bad thing, but polygamy is absolutely horrid for society, and its prohibition in the West going back to Greece was one of the things that made Western Civilization more stable than other places. Ultimately, it leads to trends very much like what we are seeing now - the top men will take the majority of the women, leaving the rest with scraps. Polygamy enshrines this into law, leaving a great portion of men sexless and without the ability to find a wife. Legions of sexually frustrated, angry young men, are always bad. The destructive dating trends we see now will only accelerate if legalization of polygamy happens, and Obergefell was a major stepping stone towards it.

7. There's no specific date to this, but it also seems to be coming out that the case surrounding Freddie Grey is corrupt, with prosecutor Marilyn Mosby acting very overzealous to prove her "social justice" narrative. I don't have as much information on this as my buddy Immortal Watchdog does, but we talked about this on my last stream and likely will some more on the next one.

8. By far the most insidious thing happened under our noses. While in June we lionized transgenderism, had essentially a national day of celebration over the Obergefell case, and devoted our political energies and willpower towards a piece of cloth, A Republican Congress successfully castrated itself to give a Democratic President "fast track" authority to negotiate a "trade deal" that has all the hallmarks of a corrupt, vile, disastrous bargain. That "trade deal" is the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The economic consequences of this corrupt pact are somewhat well-known, especially in the post-NAFTA era - the continued offshoring of American industry and the decaying quality of American labor being forced to compete with sweatshop slaves in places like Vietnam.

But the pact also contains clampdowns on everything - from internet freedom, to access to medicine, to the ability of governments, national or otherwise, to make their own laws. In the most vile way imaginable, President Obama opposed language in the fast track bill making it harder for nations that engage in slavery (like Malaysia, which turns a blind eye to rampant slavery in its fishing industry) to participate in the TPP.

Yes, you heard that right. The first black President, who so recently castigated the people of his own country for slavery and loudly proclaimed that a piece of cloth was "wrong" because of its association with that slavery, turns a blind eye to real, actual, in-practice, ongoing slavery - and the media says nothing about it.

This should tell us once and for all who the real masters are. While "social justice" nonsense causes division at home and is symptomatic of decay, the puppeteers are making off big time, laughing all the way to the bank. Fuck everyone else.

In broader social trends, it is very alarming that the media is not even hiding anymore. I remember eleven years ago, when I first started to observe and get involved in politics, the media did everything it could to dispel the notion that it was liberally biased. Dan Rather got in hot water over fake documents about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. Rather 's long career was torpedoed in this debacle.

Now, the media is not even attempting to hide its liberal bias. It still swings from Obama's nuts as if it were 2008. It lauds and lionizes "social justice" causes whenever it can. In the wake of Obergefell, Scott Pelley, one of Rather's successors, could have been mistaken for a blogger on an LGBT website.

June 2015 signified one thing - the creep of authoritarianism is no longer a creep, but a run. Entropic forces are now making their gains in days. The "liberal" media, now little more than a Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is creating an atmosphere of ideological conformity through dictation, and this new church's acolytes are ruthlessly enforcing its mandates, viciously attempting to bring those that are non-compliant into line through public shaming or outright legal subjugation.

One thing I have realized, and that this past month made crystal clear, was that freedom, order, and social stability demand a certain cultural atmosphere, one that goes beyond simply what the government does or does not do. The prototype of this can be found in something called "thick libertarianism," which I tended to dismiss when I was younger (early 20's). Time has proven its claims wise.

It is not enough to simply say "well, the First Amendment gives you the right of free speech, but not the right to be free from the consequences of that speech," a favorite response of SJW's everywhere. True enough. However, if "the consequences of that speech" are so eviscerating, even if extra-legal, and the watchful eye of the orthodoxy is everywhere, demanding compliance, free speech essentially no longer exists. If anything that can be construed as "offensive" or "bigoted" can deprive you of your livelihood, you have no real free speech. Private enterprise and organizations getting together to stop producing things in order to display cred to the orthodoxy and achieve status is essentially the same as a legal ban.

A certain amount of toleration, of non-pussyness, of logic and reason, from governments and private enterprises and individuals alike, is required to maintain a low-entropy, high-trust society that ensures individual freedom and happiness. We are simply not seeing that now. The forces of entropy are accelerating under the guise of "freedom and tolerance," but they are the opposite - they sow mistrust and disorder, and trample on both the individual and the beauty of the human endeavor.

I don't know what the future will hold. The second law of thermodynamics states that entropy in a system will increase over time, but humans hold a natural inclination and ability for creating order out of disorder. In human civilization, high-entropy forces have won, to be replaced by low-entropy trends in the future, and again. As bad as it is now, it is our job as men concerned for their future to act as agents of low entropy, no matter how high the tide.

Since it is the 4th, we can take inspiration from the great Americans of the past. On a cold December night in 1776, George Washington, with the odds massively against him, and struggling against a tide of bitter defeat for months on end, wrote "Victory or Death" on a note as he planned an audacious, all-or-nothing move. In an incredibly complex operation, he led his little shanty army across an ice-swelled Delaware River to defeat a sizable Hessian force in Trenton, New Jersey. It was do or die for the cause, and he did.

This is the situation we are facing today. We may lament, but we cannot feel sorry for ourselves. There are no other options but victory or death - the death of our liberties, our identities, and the beauty of our civilization. GamerGate proved that victory is possible. Now we must follow through with vigorous campaigns in other sectors. The only alternative is death.

Quarterly Report - Q2 2015

The second quarter has come and gone, and it's gone quite productively. The highlight of the coming third quarter will likely be attending the Roosh World tour in New York City on July 18th. I'm greatly looking forward to meeting the community that has helped me so greatly, and for once to feel like I'm not alone wandering the freak show.

But in reflecting on the second quarter, much indeed has been done, and I've set up more things to come towards accomplishing my yearly goals.

1. This is turning out to be more of a challenge than I would like. I've been on a few interviews, but no luck so far. I'll just keep at it. There are actually a couple of things on the horizon right now that will or won't materialize soon. We'll have to see. My websites at least have made a lot more money in the past three months. Tweaking the ads a bit seems to have done the trick. I've decided to focus mostly on the OBD Wiki, as it gets a good amount of traffic. To that end I've recently launched a companion blog. As the wiki continues to recover, I expect the revenue to increase.

Overall: Satisfactory

2. I've polished my book into quite the masterpiece indeed. I'm actually surprised it came out as good as it did. Sometimes it felt like I was just typing out words to put them on a page as I did the bulk of the writing last year. Overall, I'm really impressed and proud of the work I've accomplished. If there is a road to True Glory for me in this life, this will be it. In a world of degenerate, soulless art, motivated more by ideological purity than quality in expression of the human condition, I hope to cause an earthquake in favor of the latter. I'm a bit at a loss as to where to go from here, but I'm certain some guys at the Roosh World Tour can help me out.

Overall: Good

3. I've been slacking this quarter. No ifs ands or buts. However, if #1 materializes, I will be soon getting the work in on my fitness that I need to take my physique to the next level.

Overall: Poor

4. This has actually seen the most improvement - in a surprise way. My social circle suddenly expanded at the end of April by pure chance - I met some guys while out doing some day game. This is probably an unexpected consequence of doing cold approaches and demonstrates its power - you never know who you will wind up meeting. Since then, I've been out to good events, started doing some nightgame, and may have a career opportunity on the horizon. Overall, I'm excited to see where this goes.

Overall: Excellent