Three

Well, good question. Let's Look at the definition you just presented. The goal of a satire is to expose vice, folly, ect through a variety of means, such as irony or sarcasm. That’s something very specific. That’s quite different from simply calling people idiots. Some people think that the reputation system, the ability to downvote or up vote a post, is useless. And there are a variety of different reasons a person can come to this conclusion. For example, one person might get a downvote unjustly without any feedback. And as a result, such a person might get feel upset. I can't say I'd blame them. Another person might get a downvote because they wrote a post that contained an irrational argument as well as insults directed at other people and as a result they get upset because they see the downvote as unjust. To think that the rating is not deserved and to feel upset about that is one thing. It's another thing to say that, "I don't think my rating was just, deserved or accurate, therefore, the rating system is useless.” The question to me then becomes, If the rating system is useless, then why get upset when you received a downvote? The reason it is upsetting when you see a downvote is because you accept the importance of ratings. When you get upset with a rating, you accept that, whether you like it or not, people are more likely to listen to you or read your posts if your ratings are high. People are less likely to read your posts if it is very low. Does a high or low rating necessarily guarantee beyond doubt that the piece being upvoted or downvoted is high or low quality? No, not exactly. But, time is short and if I want to spend an hour and a half watching a movie, I don't want to waste my time on a bad movie, so I'll go to a "top sci fi movies of all time" list or "best movies of the 90's. " So, what are people really saying when they say, "the ratings are useless" ? Well, they are not saying "the rating system is useless" they are saying "other people's judgement is wrong." "this evaluation, this assessment, this measurement, this estimation of the value of my post incorrect!" This is why you only ever hear that the reason why the rating system is useless has to do with downvotes and not upvotes. But the thing is, the moment these people say, "this downvote is not an accurate estimation of the value of my post" They are making an assessment! They are making an estimation about another person's value.Your estimation of my satire was low. And a rating is just another way to convey an estimation. All the rating system on the boards does is allow one convey an estimation numerically. The number communicates publicly that, "people have given this person or this post a high estimation". Again, this is not to say that such an estimate is always accurate. Nor does it communicate exactly why the estimation is what it is. Maybe it would be better to communicate with detail through a comment. But then again, maybe people's comments and written out in great detail are wrong. This might be one of them. But, wouldn't it be rather silly of me to then cry, "the comment section is useless!"? Either the downvote or upvotes do in fact say nothing, are useless and have no value in which case, it makes no sense to be upset receiving a rating either way, or they do say something, in which case you just don't like what people are saying about you. That's why its funny when I write that "upvotes are useless and say nothing" and then ask people to elaborate what it is they're trying to say(you didn't say enough)!

Hey, everyone. Just to clarify, this post was satire. *swirls evil mustache*

Hey, David. I just upvoted your posts . But, I want to follow my own advice and explain that the reason was because I found them insightful and funny.

Okay, there's been something that's been bothering me for quite a long time now. I've been bottling it up, but I just can't keep this to myself anymore. I realize I'm probably going to catch some flack, but here it goes: I think the upvoting system isn't useful at all. I mean, admittedly, I really enjoy seeing the pleasant green color of the rating square that occasionally lights up in the bottom right corner of my posts. They are kind of like grades. And I like feeling like I got a good grade. It reminds me of when my teacher would occasionally draw a smiley face next to the A+ I'd sometimes receive on a spelling test. It just makes things that much more satisfying. But, here's the thing; this site is about learning and I learn nothing from being upvoted. If the person who upvotes brought up what specifically they liked about the post, then the original poster(me) may learn where their thinking was on the mark or so that other people(a.k.a me) will know why other people's posts got upvoted cause half the time I can't understand why they got the points. I think their should be a feature built in that allows for anonymous feedback. I mean, sometimes I get way more up-votes than I receive comments, which leaves me wondering, "Okay, so all I know is what these commentors think, but not what the voters think. Plus, How do I even know if the upvoters are the same people as the commentors?" Speaking of commentor's, the problem of feedback doesn't just apply to upvotes, but also comments themselves! Sometimes, people leave me things like "Great job!" without any explanation, reason or argument as to why that is the case! So, I also think that some sort of feature should be created which allows for giving feedback to the feedback. Anyways, sorry for the long rant guys. I appreciate your patience. In other words, is there anyway to add a reason why you upvote a post?

Thanks, David.

I like it, Olle! Particular the details in the background, the communist symbol and the feminist poster.

Hey Utopian. Thanks for taking the time to read and for your thoughtful reply. to answer the question regarding what it is that we do? One of the goals that I think is at the core of any discussion on any gender related issue is fundamentally to improve relationships between the genders. And to me, feminism is a deeply personal issue because bad ideas about gender has a detrimental impact on the way in which men and women relate to one another as well as their children. My mother, who was a baby boomer and feminist would rant in the car about how awful men were, effectively telling me that I was inferior to women. So, I guess you could say I have a bone to pick with toxic anti male sexism. My approach so far has been to just focus on things which I can control. I cannot control men or women's biological drives, nor can I control what the state does. All I can do is speak the truth and nurture positive relationships with women in my own life. I speak to 3 women from the FDR boards currently as friends and find their company just delightful. Those experiences to me give me a tremendous amount of hope that positive relationships between virtuous individuals of the opposite sex are truly possible. Lol, I like that. Thank you for taking the time to read. You're welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read and reply!

Sorry this is so late. I appreciate your feedback, Marginalist. Thank you for reading as well.

Throughout the entirety of our species’ relatively short history on this hostile planet, the death of a man’s heart, both figuratively and literally, was necessary in order to ensure humanity’s survival and thus, the propagation of the genes our bodies carried. For if man was to successfully hunt beasts or fight wars, then he had to do so at the expense of other men and so couldn’t afford having the kind of win-win mindset and sensitivity to the feelings of others that arises out of a high degree of empathy. Yet, despite this ongoing conditioning for the necessary brutality that allowed us to adapt to the many dangers of tribal life, miraculously there still remained some love in the heart of man; and with it he strove to lift our species above the savage status quo of mere survival by pursing great truths that would enable us to thrive into the opulent comforts of the twenty first century, even if it cost him his life. Given all of the benefits that we have inherited from man’s ingenuity and courage, from computers to medicine, the west’s current attitudes regarding the value of men as well as the misinformation regarding male privilege that is mouthed by modern day feminists is agonizing beyond articulation. To borrow a truly staggering example that has been mentioned in a youtube presentation (which I’ll link below) from philosopher Stefan Molyneux entitled “The Truth About Male Privilege” “Despite often repeated allegations that the vast majority of domestic violence is perpetrated by men against women, it simply isn’t true. Dr. Martin S. Fiebert has compiled a collection of 286 scholarly investigations, 221 empirical studies and 65 reviews and/or analyses, which demonstrate that women are as physically aggressive, or more aggressive, than men in their relationships with their spouses or male partnersEven the biased not just in name only ‘Office of Violence Against Women’ quotes which say 34% of domestic violence is against men. If you were wondering, there is no ‘Office of Violence Against Men’. ” Given those facts, the question then becomes, Can men get help? Stefan reads more statistics to address this question: “Denise Hines, PH.D is a research assistant psychology professor at Clark University and a research associate at the Family Research Laboratory and Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Hines detailed her findings on what happens when abused men call domestic violence hotlines or shelters seeking help. About a third of all domestic violence injuries are suffered by men. Of the abused men who called domestic violence hotlines, 64% were told that they “only helped women.”In 32% of the cases, the abused men were referred to batterers’ programs. Another 25% were given a phone number to call that turned out to be a batterers’ program. A little over a quarter of them were given a reference to a local program that helped. Overall, only 8% of the men who called hotlines classified them as ‘very helpful,’ whereas 69% found them to be ‘not at all helpful.’ Sixteen percent said the people at the hotline ‘dismissed or made fun of them’ ” Let us move now to an even more shocking finding regarding the uneasy topic of rape. Feminists would argue that we live in a “Rape Culture”, that is, a society where rape is pervasive and normalized, downplayed, or ignored; with men being the main perpetrators(mattress girl anyone?). These facts are from another great presentation from Stefan Molyneux entitled “Rapegate: The Truth About Rape”, which is a more concise version of another presentation of his entitled “The Truth About Rape Culture”. Again, to directly borrow Stefan’s words, “Do you know that in the modern world there still exists a country that did not even track or classify rape as a crime until a few short years ago. Do you know that that country was the United States of America? In a landmark 1977 case when the U.S Justice System decided to stop executing rapists, the law literature which documents this decision clarifies rape as ‘the rape of an adult woman’. There’s no mention of men getting raped. In fact, up until 2013 the FBI defined rape as the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. In other words, for as long as the United States has had country, statistics on reported rape have excluded men from those numbers. Eh, but how often do men really do get raped? Most people know about the rape of men in prison. Did you know that more men get raped in prison than women get raped outside of prison? Ah, but that is males victimizing other males. Let’s go one step further. If you had to guess, how many men you think get raped by women every year? By the way, if some joke comes to your mind about how men should welcome being raped by women, you are really part of the problem. Recently, the Center for Disease Control over a 12 month period reports that 1,270, 000 females were raped and 1,267,000 males were made to penetrate. Approximately 1 in 21 men were made to penetrate another person during their lifetime and about 80% reported a female perpetrator. A 2010 analysis from the Bureau of Justice Statistics data found that 46% of male rape and sexual assault victims reported a female perpetrator. A Bureau of Justice Statistics report on sexual victimization in juvenile facilities states “approximately 95% of all youth reporting staff misconduct said they had been victimized by a female facilities staff. Did you know that women are part of the cycle of sexual violence? Between 60 and 80% of rapists, sex offenders, and sexually aggressive men were sexually abused by a woman in their childhood. So, to a large degree, healing the plague of sexual violence is not about ‘teaching men not to rape’, but rather teaching adult women not to rape little boys…” So, by no means is it just men’s suffering that is getting overlooked, but tragically also the suffering of boys. To borrow an from an article entitled “Study Reveals Who Gets Spanked” by Robin Lloyd “Recent studies have found that corporal punishment can cause significant antisocial behavioral, such as lying, cheating, and hitting, in children as they grow older. So Andrew Grogan-Kaylor of the University of Michigan and his colleague Melanie D. Otis of the University of Kentucky wanted to find out what factors, independent of others, predict whether or not a parent is likely to “spare the rod.” Their analysis of answers from 800 respondents on questions about their use of corporal punishment as well as many other family issues arrived at the intellectual stimulation factor. THE FACTS: 1. More than 90 percent of parents of toddlers say they have spanked their child at least once. 2. About 61 percent of mothers of 3- to 5-year-olds had spanked their child in the past week. 3. Boys are more likely to be spanked than girls. 4. Spanking can continue into adolescent years. 5. People in rural areas and the South are more likely to spank. 6. Mothers spank children more often than fathers do. 7. Economic status of a family makes no difference in the odds of spanking. 8. African-American parents are more likely than white parents to use corporal punishment. 9. Conservative Protestants are more likely to use corporal punishment than parents with other religious affiliations. 10. Parents who value of positive reinforcement tend to view spanking as inappropriate. Source: Andrew Grogan-Taylor, University of Michigan, and Melanie D. Otis, University of Kentucky” Granted, while the three examples here might be quite counterintuitive, especially if you’ve been told that we live in a Patriarchy and that women are the primary victims of oppression and sexism, I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of just how far removed the feminist narrative is from the facts. For more information, I’d highly recommend the material listed below. Reorienting oneself with reality is a glorious journey, one that requires the willingness to put aside the dominant narrative, no matter how compelling such an account might be or how incredibly frustrating it is to face the degree to which one has been lied to, and instead commit to uncovering the underlying data. So, given that the primary rationale for being a Feminist in the first place is largely to focus on advancing opportunity for the oppressed, which in their minds happen to be especially women, what are we to make of Feminism if its entire justification for existing is based on false premises and misinformation? Male privilege as it turns out is a myth. Women are as capable of initiating domestic violence towards their spouses as much, if not more, than males and not only that, women are violent in the worst kind of way, which is towards children and more so than men. Assuming that Feminists operate on the idea that sexism, abuse, and oppression are such terrible things in principle, that is to say not just towards women, but towards anyone, where is the outcry from feminists towards mothers who spank their boys? (And girls too, of course.) In addition, there is Rape culture. Rape Culture is to women like what the War on Terrorism is to the average American citizen, with the likelihood of each threat both being hysterically heightened to preposterously exaggerated proportions and with the success rates of the solutions proposed for each danger both being equally laughable. For women, we have feminism, which proposes that we fight sexism with more sexism and for homeland safety we have Statists who propose that we can eradicate terrorism by being even greater terrorists. Also, very similar to how the War on Terrorism survived through the media provoking anxiety and mistrust throughout the nation, while equally deranged members of congress alleviated such fears through reactive policies that allowed for increased surveillance, effectively transforming the United States further and further into the irreversible status of police state, the fear mongering perpetuated by feminists has festered a frenzy of hysterical paranoia that possibly has not been seen since the Bush Administration; a paranoia being directed towards men. The media surely helps with that too, with Yahoo’s internet home page the other day donning an article entitled, “Old Rape Kits and 4 Brave Women Bring Rapist to Justice”. This only further demonizes males, much like how Americans were hypnotized into an “Us Vs. Them” mentality toward the middle east after 9/11 and as a result saw the middle east as the land of the “enemies”. Now, rapists abound! Any man is a potential sexual predator. Men can no longer spread their legs on subway seats as they are potentially oppressing women as surely as the guy who brings his gift laser pointer with him on a trip is potentially a threat to the security of other travelers and so, must have his possession confiscated. The NYPD is even beginning to arrest men for “manspreading” on subways. In the same way it is an act of profound cruelty to incarcerate a heroin addict who has most likely endured outrageous abuses throughout her lifetime, which is the source of the pain that is driving the addiction in the first place, rather than showing her some empathy by helping her recover; cutting off our compassion for men, men who have likely had their penis’ mutilated as babies and who have been hit by their mothers as toddlers until adolescence-to then tell these men that is it they who are the oppressive ones in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, that to me is nothing more than continuing the abuse ad infinitum. Feminism then becomes nothing more than a socially acceptable form of bullying. I’m reminded of these pictures I saw a while back of individuals proudly holding signs up to the camera that explained why they need feminism. One such sign read, “ I NEED FEMINISM BECAUSE…I considered not getting this photo taken because I’m not wearing make up”. So, if I understand rightly, what she needs from feminism is for these brave justice warriors to rid her of societies’ unjust social norms that pressure her to wear make-up. A noble goal, I think boycotting women’s magazines such as Cosmopolitan would be a great place to start. But, this got me thinking, “What do I need from feminism?” A fucking apology. Link to the medium article version. https://medium.com/p/71e853e8d98d/edit

Hey, Matt. Sorry for the delayed response. I appreciate you taking the time to read.

Absolutely brilliant! I spent a decent amount of time thinking about this film and am soo glad you did this. This is so helpful. Thank you.

Sticks and stones, with sufficient strain, can leave bones bruised and broken. But words can even harm the brain, no matter how softly spoken. Yet, even in a body cast and rendered completely still stones can only break your skeleton, while words can break your will.

Here's an article which explains the rationale behind the choice of the questions. http://isik.zrc-sazu.si/doc2009/kpms/Baron-Cohen_empathy_quotient_2004.pdf

Why did the narcissist cross the road? He thought it was a boundary! XD

Holy Moley! Welcome to the boards . I think it's fascinating that you listen to this show.

I'm not sure, but I want to say narcissists. Here's something I wrote recently. By the time he is an adult, the Narcissist has become the ultimate postmodernist. He fancies himself as flawless, unique, and beautiful, without regard to the facts. So, rather than working towards achieving high standards of moral excellent, when the Narcissist gazes upon his own reflection, he simply redefines whatever he sees as the pinnacle of quality; no matter how petty, cruel, and incompetent he truly is. The image that this brings to my mind is of the special kind of “artist” who, rather than working hard to to learn skills through countless hours of practice to create a wonderful artistic achievement rich with meaning and metaphor, instead opts to create a 3 foot diameter smiley face with bloody used tampons and justifies the existence of such an atrocious mess through the use of terms like “avant garde” and “interpretability”. It’s not only an insult to the concept of standards, it’s just downright repulsive. Here's the full article link here. https://medium.com/@joelpatterson_52315/narcissistic-supply-emotional-vampirism-as-a-symptom-of-unmet-childhood-needs-3b01d0f083a1

Thank you all for your kind words.

That's an incredibly kind thing to say. Thank you

I'm honestly really confused by your post. I don't understand why your asking me how I'd feel to be the defendant with "that testimony"? Are you implying that I should be more precise? Why is it that my board post has to meet the standard of a defendant's testimony in a court of law given that I am not a defendant and this isn't a court of law? Why would I be the defendant, rather than the lady who hit her child and then threatened to assault me? I mean I could be more precise, but I think I already have been. For example, the definition of snapped is to say something "quickly and irritably ". Google it. It's not that subjective. Also when I say hit I am using that word instead of a word like "sheperd" because those are two completely different things. To hit is to, bring one's hand or a tool or weapon into contact with (someone or something) quickly and forcefully, while to sheperd is to guard, guide or protect someone. If the woman was "sheperding" the boy, then I would have used that word, rather than hit. Either way, it's a personal anecdote so you're just going to have to take my word for it, so it makes no different even if I could tell you exactly what they were wearing. Just like if I tell you I lounged outside today and listened to an MP3 player, you'll never know for sure. Also, you can assign subconscious motives to my actions without evidence all you want. As long as there's no argument, it's just white noise as far as I'm concerned

Cruelty is a topic which has fascinated me for years. I still remember very vividly my feelings of utter bewilderment that I experienced towards some of my earliest encounters with such acts. Whether it was a more personal example such as verbal aggression coming from a school yard bully or something more distant that I had read about or seen in a history book, I've never been able to wrap my head around what could enable people to be mean; let alone enjoy it. One example of me attempting to solve this enigma that comes to mind was when I was around the age of 15 or so. While an old friend and I were watching a an anime film, one of the antagonists ejected one of those oh so derisive maniacal laughs that we've grown so accustomed to from villains. After which, I couldn't help asking, "Why do villains always laugh when they hurt people?" Apparently being annoyed with my question, my friend replied quickly and irritably, as if the answer were obvious, "I don't know, maybe for the same reason YOU laugh at things YOU think are funny". As a result, I didn't make any attempts to take the query any further and so, I was back to square one. Of course, l understood that laughter is a reaction that occurs as a result of finding something funny. But, that wasn't a satisfying answer. I wanted to know why they find it funny. What is it that makes some people able to find humor and enjoy the suffering in others, while others are repulsed? Since then, despite many attempts to arrive at some form of closure regarding this topic, I've remained at a loss for a satisfactory explanation as to how exactly some people are capable of treating other people as objects. Even since my discovery of the concept of empathy and how a lack thereof allows others to inflict suffering, the more I thought about things, the more confused I became. For example, if empathy is merely the ability to "understand what another person is thinking and feeling" so to speak, and if a lack of this ability is what allows for others to be cruel, how is it that the sociopath seems incredibly adept at understanding the preferences of his target, uses his knowledge about the target's desires in order to better exploit him, and on top of that is totally aware that he is inflicting harm, yet doesn't care. Also, how is it that others I've encountered apparently lack empathy in certain situations, meaning they are completely oblivious to what others are thinking and feeling, but are at worst just a bit of a nuisance because they don't understand social cues. One minor example that occurs to mind is of someone who, as I was trying create distance between us so I could eat, he followed me and went on and on about the disgusting pictures of flesh wounds he was looking looking at on the internet the night before. It didn't occur to him that I might not want to be grossed out while I was eating. However, this same gentleman doesn't strike me as someone who is cruel. Had I pointed out to him that I would prefer solitude or that he was making me upset, my gut tells me that he would have felt bad and apologized. This suggests that empathy is a spectrum, with some on the high end and some on the low end. Also, empathy is something that can be permanently lost in some, such as the case of the psychopath, while being in a state of non empathy for others is a merely transient state, which I am not immune to entering into. I am capable and have committed acts of cruelty too, so I'm not putting myself on a pedestal of superiority. Because mere speculation isn't satisfying to me, in order to figure out precisely where I land on the empathy spectrum, I took the "Empathy Quotient Test", which consists of 60 questions. I scored a 66 out of 80, which means I have a high ability for understanding how other people feel and responding appropriately . This is actually remarkably close what I would have rated myself if I were to have just guessed, which again demonstrates self empathy/awareness. It also indicates growth since the last time I attempted to answer this question speculatively, I would have said it was quite low. That may all be well and good, but what exactly is empathy? After years of searching for an answer, I finally found a satisfactory explanation in Simon Baron Cohen's amazing book called, "The Science of Evil: On Empathy and The Origins of Cruelty". For anyone else who is interested in the topic, this is an essential must read. My own understanding of empathy not only became vastly enriched by this book, but so did my own empathy for the non empathetic. Empathy is not an all or nothing ability, but is a complex process to that involves not just the cognitive awareness of what others are thinking or feeling, but also involves an affective aspect that allows for responding with the appropriate emotions to another person's subjectivity. Both aspects of empathy are only possible only if a full circuitry of multiple brain regions are working simultaneously. And depending on which parts work or don't work, for whatever reason, is what distinguishes whether someone is either a psychopath who is aware of other's feelings and doesn't care or who is autistic who genuinely has trouble identifying the feelings of others as well as themselves. But, nothing more I could say could really do the book justice. Do yourself a favor and check it out. Take care.

Thank you guys so much for your very insightful feedback. the suggestion that the self loathing was a by product of the first wave of feminist parenting really struck a chord with me. My mother was in fact a feminist and a baby boomer (born in like 1954), so I can attest to just how toxic that sort of parenting is. She would often have these monolouges in the car about how impotent and awful men were with me being the only person in the car, which had an incredibly damaging effect on my self esteem. Another interesting fact that could support the theory is that many of the songs were mentioned are in some way are talking about women. The Offsprings -Self Esteem Chris Cornell mentioned that "Let me Drown" was about going back to the womb to die According to wiki Radiohead's Creep was was inspired by a woman who Thom Yorke had an attraction to. Also, Beck is singing the lines "I'm a loser Baby". That isn't usually the kind of language one would use towards another guy.

I'm sorry to hear that. That's a chilling example of how a person's joy in learning is eroded over time. It's really not crucial unless ones goal is to enter into a career that involves using multiplication tables.. :/

I hope you enjoy this article written by me. There’s this playful question I’ve been asked on occasion during casual conversation when things start to steer into drab which is, “If you could have any super power and could only pick one, what superpower would you choose?” My answer has certainly changed throughout the years. As a child, I probably would have favored psychic powers. This makes sense because when you are a child you are particularly small, powerless, and are being relentlessly herded into doing things against your will, so being able to complete chores or send bullies flying into the nearest tree would have been a great way to compensate. As a hormonally hypercharged teenager, I probably would have opted to choose x-ray vision in order to get a more satisfying view of what’s underneath those oh so tight jeans that really had a way of emphasizing the other person’s figure, which were clearly being worn so that I could appreciate it. But seriously, there’s probably no better way to relieve oneself from the brain numbing, hellacious torture that is high school, wherein you are forced to sit through incredibly dull and under-stimulating classes, than by escaping into the pleasurable sensations that are provoked through sexual fantasy. By the time I graduated High School, I felt stuck in what at the time seemed to be a kind of psychological limbo. I was still living at my parent’s house and hated it, and yearned for a life more satisfying, yet I was still afraid to venture out into the unknown. Because of this, I would have been impartial towards choosing Goku’s Instant Transmission technique, which is just a fancier way of saying teleportation, but it looks way cooler. That way, I could have been able to go anywhere in the world at will and without being bound by any of the physical boundaries that separate the continents or by the psychological boundaries that comes from the heavy stress of fearing failure. After all, it would have been impossible to become stranded or homeless since whenever things got too difficult, I could just teleport to safety. Now that I’m a much more enriched individual who in spite of working a minimum wage job is far better off materially than anyone who managed to work their way up into the comforts of the middle class during the 70’s, and who, because of today’s technological blessings I can stay connected with friends who even live on the other side of the world; the superpower I would choose now would be far less self centered. If I had to choose now, my super power would be this: I would choose the ability to magically replace all of the countless hours that have been wasted in school memorizing trivial, inconsequential, useless facts, such as the year in which the ”Emergency Quota Act” was signed with hours of developing emotional intelligence and the five key areas which that entails, such as self awareness, self-management, motivation, empathy, and social skills. I was inspired to consider this after I read an article this morning entitled, “ Emotional Intelligence: The Social Skills You Weren’t Taught in School”. Sadly, the majority of us who have been pushed through the gauntlet of public schools come out on the other side still functionally retarded in many ways, particularly in the realm of emotional intelligence and I would not hesitate to put myself in that category. “Ah”, you may say, “but there are still many things I and many others have learned in public school that have been beneficial!” That may well be the case, but in order to objectively assess the value of the time spent doing anything, we must also considering the opportunity costs. In other words, we must consider the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action. Revealing the hidden costs of things is the basis on which any rational school of economics is based. So, while it may be true that some people come out of the public school system with superb math skills, which do indeed serve them well in a lucrative career in mechanical engineering down the road, because such a person has not developed effective self management skills they might be plagued with crippling anxiety because they also haven’t developed the self awareness to realize that their panic attacks are largely exasperated by their own negative thinking, which often spirals into catastrophizing. Or, to take an even worse case, while such a person might enjoy the satisfaction that comes from having more than enough money in his bank account and by being able to wear brand name suits as if they were an honorable badge of being “successful”, such a person might never know the even greater satisfaction that comes from having fulfilling relationships because, due to his own lacking in the areas of effective communication and empathy, he alienates those around him by his own selfish and belligerent behavior since other people’s needs don’t even show up on his radar and because when he does not get his needs met, all he knows is to resort to screaming at people like an overgrown infant. It’s worth noting that for the sake of being generous, so far I’ve only suggested the ways in which government schools are merely neglectful. In addition to coming out of public schools lacking many valuable skills, people come out of public schools severely traumatized, with their curiosity, spontaneity, and creativity all but destroyed. So, by no means are these institutions only merely neglectful; they are actively harmful. To take one egregious example, one U.S Department of Education report states an Avg. of 29,000 yearly cases of childhood sexual abuse are perpetrated by public school employees, compared to an Avg. of 201 yearly cases that are perpetrated by catholic priests. Going back to the benefits of emotional intelligence, such emotional skills would admittedly only be valuable to someone who desires the plethora of benefits that come from being in touch with one’s emotions in the first place. Having happy relationships, wherein both parties feel equally cherished and respected as well as the peace of mind which comes from such a great gift might sound wonderful to me, but for all I know there are people who don’t desire those things at all and thus, learning such emotional skills would be a complete waste of time. It is for this reason why even if I did have the magic power of granting emotional intelligence to people, I wouldn’t make the mistake that government schools make by imposing my standards onto others against their will. I am just not wise enough to know, nor am I arrogant enough to pretend to know what the best use of your time is or what goals should be set for you based on your unique interests, priorities, strengths, and weaknesses, let alone that of hundreds of millions of people. It is truly astounding that most people would fully recognize the level of absurd pretentiousness that would be embedded in the request for me, my friends, or a even a company composed of brilliant people, such as Google or Tesla motors, to have access to a full arsenal of weaponry so that they may then enforce a monopoly over educational standards, which they deem fit, upon hundreds of millions yet, somehow when the same ability is requested by far less competent imbeciles in Washington, who have a solid track record of nothing but failure, they are then willing to give these people money and support. Not only that, but these very same people then, despite all evidence to the contrary, cry out that without the government people would not properly be educated and then proceed to accuse anyone who dares to consider peaceful alternatives to the problem of education that don’t involve the bloody might of the state as “lacking consideration.” The fact that such an astonishingly flagrant example of cognitive dissonance is the default state of mind for the majority of the population and passes for rational discourse in our society not only demonstrates precisely the kind of hideous damage that can occur to the mind as a result public school “education”, but furthermore it also reveals the most dire cost of public school, which is how it effectively trains people to support the very same violence that is obliterating their humanity.

Music history has always fascinated me. I wanted to point out a tend that has recently caught my attention, which was the degree to which shame, self loathing and suicidality was so prevalent during these years. Whenever I see trends like this I can't help but ask questions like, "Why the early ninties?" "Why was the mainstream so willing to consume this kind of music with similar lyrical content accompanied by dreary melodies? What was different in parenting at the time?" I'm not suggesting that these subjects didn't exist in music prior to the early ninties, of course. But, what makes this interesting is that these were all hits and received massive airplay within a just 4 years. Why did this not occur between 1980 to 1984? And maybe the songs listed have nothing to do with suicide or self loathing and the artist was just using those words an metaphors, but even if every song was a metaphor about something else, the fact that they would use similar language is still fascinating. Radiohead’s Creep “But I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo. What the hell am I doing here? I don't belong here” Silverchair’s Suicidal Dreams “The rope is here, now I'll find a use. I'll kill myself, I'll put my head in a noose.” Smashing Pumpkins- Today Stone Temple Pilots -Creep “I’m half the man I use to be” Alice In Chains’s- Dirt “I want to taste dirty, stinging pistol In my mouth, on my tongue” Beck Loser “Soy un perdedor I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me? ” Soundgarden’s Let Me Drown “Drown me in you, drown me in you, drown me in you” The Offspring’s-Self Esteem “I’m just a sucker with no self esteem” Nirvana-I Hate Myself And I Want To die

It's portfolio building time! Actually, I just really like some of the writing I've published on facebook and didn't want it to be forever buried under posts. This is the first of many compilations I will do. The second might include the entirety of my work on Emotional/ Abuse/Narcissism/Sociopathy. Disclaimer: These are not rigorous arguments with footnotes, but shared thoughts to an audience who has largely seen the same data or presentations that have inspired the writing. For further reading I will post links of such material. Extending Personhood to Children (Inspired by Alice Miller’s “For Your Own Good”) It is when children are the most inconvenient and most grating on the nerves that they deserve our undivided attention, but not in the form of coercion with the goal of manipulating and dominating the child's will into deadened obedience as if she were some unruly canine. No, it is during these difficult moments that the child deserves our curiosity the most, for even the most unpleasant of behaviors are simply the child's best attempts to tell us something about her inner world. And because a child is effectively in the position of a hostage, they do not choose their parents, cannot leave their parents, do not choose how to be reared and because a child's behavior is largely the symptom of a brain that has developed as a result of how well the caregivers meet the child's unique needs, which is not under the child's control, then we cannot logically condemn a child as morally bad and assign moral responsibility to a child for her "difficult" behavior. And if taking other people's needs into consideration is a universal rule that applies to everyone, then given the circumstances I just mentioned, children deserve this consideration the most as children are people too, albeit miniature people who need support. Tragically, because children are not seen in this way, are not seen as equals who deserve freedom from aggression as much as anyone else, they consequently become the receptacles in which the parents, not always consciously, dump their own repressed pain and humiliation, much to the detriment of society. If only children were accorded the same level of respect and care that we give puppies, or even adult dogs for that matter; that would be a leap for mankind so great as to surpass even the Apollo 11 moon landing in significance and this world would be such a less hostile and difficult place to live in as to be nearly unrecognizable. For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Cruelty as Self Mutilation (Processing my feelings after unjustly being accused of cowardice on Facebook.) When somebody is cruel to me or my friends, I certainly do feel anger, but that's not all I feel. In addition, I experience a kind of nauseating pity coupled with horror, similar to what I might experience towards the sight of a cutter, a person who self mutilates his or her own flesh. The sheer depth and magnitude of misery and self loathing that is haunting the tortured soul of the self mutilator is, to the outside observer, truly a difficult thing to grasp. It makes sense in many respects that I would feel this way towards an aggressor too as inflicting harm is, to me, a kind of self mutilation, a mutilation of the conscience, of the 'soul' rather than that of mere flesh. I say mere flesh only because the skin is an organ that can heal over time with little to no conscious effort, while the conscience is much different. The conscience has no such natural regenerative processes. The picture becomes even more grim when we consider the social environment surrounding the aggressor,which applauds such behavior through it's disregarding silence, in effect guaranteeing its repetition. To be clear, this pity I feel does not override my contempt’s desire to disengage with such a person nor does this pity motivate me to want to change or fix the other person. What it does do is humbly remind me that the false self, even for those who proclaim high standards and a commitment to self knowledge, is like fat that must constantly be burned and worked against. There is no guarantee that, without consistent work, after a person accepts the same conclusions or mouth’ the same values that they will forever be healthy. Anyone can let themselves go. Reclaiming Masculinity (From Shame to Acceptance) Today, a coworker of mine brought his Playstation portable to work. I haven't exactly been keeping up with the exponential growth that the portable gaming console has been undergoing since I owned a Gameboy Advanced in 2001, so I was really interested to get my hands on his new console to compare its new features and graphics to the last one I owned, which now seems beyond archaic by today's standards. As we got onto the subject of his gaming library, the fact came up that he still had not played his new Japanese beat em up game, which involves incredibly attractive anime women fighting until their clothes rip apart and they are left fighting in nothing except their bras and panties. It was an all male crew working and without hesitation there was an overwhelming consensus that he should pop the game in, so we could all enjoy the spectacle. He generously agreed, and shortly after there formed an audience of 4 that crowded around to watch the game on this 5 inch LED screen. It was our equivalent to the super bowl. It was in that moment that I noticed something wonderful, no doubt as a result of consuming men's rights material, which was that I felt no shame or embarrassment, whereas before I likely would have become possessed by a feminist alter, internalized from the incessant nagging voices of my past who feverishly scorned the "objectification of women", and as a result I would have chosen to opt out of viewing such "blatant sexism." Or even worse, perhaps even partake in the shaming by communicating my disapproval through a haughty eye roll or a superior, condescending grin. Thankfully, however, with the help of material that is being put out there by people such as Kevin Beal, the more I listen to the reason that is coming from the Men's Right's activists, the more the obnoxious shaming inner voice of feminism grows fainter and fainter. I really enjoyed those largely drawn anime breasts. Humanity’s Darkest Division (Inspired by Martha Stout’s “The Sociopath Next Door”) One of the most remarkable and mind bending shifts in perspective that I've experienced during my philosophical efforts to see the world and myself more clearly comes from the unnerving truth that the human species is divided into two categories: predator and prey. It is even more stunning that this division can be based on objective, vast differences in how the brain is wired between the two. Though, this fascination transforms into a real strain when I attempt to empathize with what it might feel like to have the brain of a sociopath, so that everything is sort of a dispassionate game of chess. Right now, I'm looking out my window and I see a naked tree. I see it everyday. Its ordinariness further works to dull my senses, so I feel very little if any emotional reaction when the tree's presence catches my attention. Even if I were outside, and if the tree were smaller, I might consider breaking off a branch and using it as a walking stick without remorse, but with maybe some minor satisfaction while using my new tool. When I imagine how little I feel from this tree and when I keep in mind that sociopathy is the complete inability to process emotional experience, I can't help but think that this is the closest I'll ever come to empathizing with how a sociopath might feel while interacting or exploiting another human being. Love Counterfeiters Professing love is one of the many ways in which a manipulator attempts to instill a guilt trip for noncompliance. When a manipulator professes love for you, what they are doing is setting up these words like a blockade around your boundaries in order to cut off the communication of the words "no." Such attempts at healthy assertion will be re-framed by the aggressor as something synonymous with "breaking her heart". Suddenly, now you are the aggressive one and the aggressor becomes the victim in this topsy turvy narrative that is so typical of projection. With the stage set up in this way, the aggressor now has a rudimentary justification for any form of retaliation. Besides, if you are so cold, cruel and inconsiderate as to willingly crush a persons heart, you must deserve whats coming. Right? Familial Decay There is a special kind of foul stretch that is distinctive to familial decay. It permeates the entirety of a broken home, leaving a chilling atmosphere of threat, suspicion, and doubt. Like the elephant in the room, it too commands for the insane disregard of its obvious presence. The main difference being that, due to the elephant's superimposing nature, he never fully achieves secrecy. The odor, however, relies on the sense of smell which, after prolonged exposure, can become subject to olfactory fatigue wherein after time, awareness of the odor fades to the point of being completely imperceptible. The inevitable consequence of staying within its proximity is the resulting detachment from the most essential tools for discerning reality, our emotions The effects of familial rot achieves what the elephant, with all its might, cannot- genuine insanity by those who near it. Magical Thinking The Narcissist is the ultimate postmodernist. He fancies himself as flawless, unique, and beautiful, without regard to the facts. So, rather than working towards achieving high standards of moral excellent, when the Narcissist gazes upon his own reflection, he simply redefines whatever he sees, no matter how petty, cruel, and incompetent he truly is, as the pinnacle of quality. The image that this brings to my mind is of the special kind of "artist" who, rather than working hard to to learn skills through countless hours of practice to create a wonderful artistic achievement rich with meaning and metaphor, instead opts to create a 3 foot diameter smiley face with bloody used tampons and justifies its existence through the use of terms like "avant garde" and "interpretability". It's not only an insult to the concept of standards, it's just downright repulsive. “Pure” Metal Doesn’t Exist (Inspired after revisiting the bands of my youth) Ah, the imfamous Limpy B. I remember when I first started to really enjoy music, Nu metal was on top of the charts. Yet, at the same time, it's one of the most mocked and derided genres in recent years besides emo. Especially, from those who are self proclaimed "metal heads" and I've honestly never been able to figure out why. In my opinion, many of these bands, while not very technical, were composed of quite inventive and competent musicians. System of a Down's vocalist is great, Limp Bizkit's guitar player writes great funky riffs, and Korn's bass player Feildy has an incredibly unique and interesting style as well. i know much less about drums but, David Silvera's licks from from Korn sure do sound cool to me. Sure, the virtuosity isn't there, but the creativity sure is. Even still, metal heads generally don't want anything to do with it. Which is strange because Metal exists because of musicians who were willing to do something inventive. Black Sabbath sure weren't that technical, but their genius was in in how they tweaked and mixed pre-existing genres to create something new. It was about groove, mood and texture, much like nu metal. Maybe it's not "heavy enough". But, again this to me doesn't make sense because when you compare a song like One Step Closer by what's considered to be the most soft Nu Metal band, Linkin Park, to Iron Maiden, Iron Maiden sounds like classic rock. And Iron Maiden is like worshiped by the Metal community, while Nu Metal is derided. It's as if Iron Maiden had a premonition and saw that rap was going to be mixed in with metal and as a result they wrote "Run To The Hills!", as a reaction to this terror. And to me heaviness is totally subjective anyway. What's heavy for you isn't heavy for me. Much like what's scary to you isn't scary to me. I still consider Korn to be heavy. Heavy, for me personally, is slow or medium tempo, maybe tuned down, slower, melodic and groovy. The dynamics in Korn's music make the payoff of a breakdown at the end of the song that much greater because it's not constantly in your face the whole time. So, when the break down occurs its worth it, since the song built up to it. Somebody Someone is a perfect example. When so many of my old friends started listening to metalcore/death metal/ hardcore stuff like norma jean or white chapel, it wasn't heavier to me. It was was louder, faster, some of the stuff was more technical, but to me personally, it didn't sound like it had much weight to it. It was so high pitched and screechy. Maybe, it's the inclusion of rap. To many seasoned metal heads, it's out of place. It doesn't mesh. but to me, because my first exposure to more aggressive music was bands like Linkin Park, the rap/rock/dj mix doesn't sound odd to me. It wasn't a deviation from the norm to me. Back then I didn't have a standard for what normal metal should sound like because i never really listened to music. It simply was what it was. I guess you could say I normalized it. The last reason I'm going to say I like this, is because it's fun. Much like Banjo Kazooie and Guardians of the Galaxy, it doesn't take itself so freakin seriously, it knows it's silly, kind of like this essay long facebook post about an opinion. It's just for fun. The Humility of Learning On my Bookshelf, of course! Is where I once thought true wisdom could be found. Because I would never choose an author whose logic was unsound So, I acted on that assumption and left not a single word unread Yet, despite my incessant studying I found out my ignorance instead. Compassion for a Young Thief (Seeing petty theft as a symptom of an even greater crime...) As I was shopping in Kroger today I saw, in of the corner of my eye, a boy probably around the age of 12 pocketing some gum while I was walking down past the ailes. He must have noticed that i saw him, because when I turned my head around to look at him he was quickly taking out from his shorts his ill gotten gains and putting the candy back in its place. Then he ran off. One of the employees saw this too, who's first reaction was to tell the security guard. So, he began to describe to the guard what the boy looked like and I began to continue my walk down the hallway to get my dinner. As I was walking, a number of thoughts and questions began to spring to my mind. While I was walking, I imagined what would happen if the security guard were to find this boy. I began to worry that all that would happen is that the security guard would lecture the boy, the boy would be humiliated, and he would then go home to his parents who would further humiliate this kid by giving more boring pompous lectures or by hitting him. This would more than likely ensure that he would continue stealing in the future. Children are not born evil. They steal because their childhoods have been stolen from them. (The boy was african american and studies show that african american parents and more likely to use corporal punishment than white parents, so I knew that the chances of that happening wasn't too slim. ) As I made my way towards the cash register, I really hoped to run in to the boy. I didn't know what I was going to say, but I hoped to keep him from doing something that would make his life more difficult. I started looking down the ailes. Eventually, I ran into him. With as much compassion that my face and my monotone voice could express I said to him "Hey, man. I can buy you a pack of gum. I really don't want you to go down that path." He looked frightened and quickly replied 'naw, I'm good.' I have no idea how this kid is going to turn out, but I hope by showing him some compassion, he'll at least know that the world isn't that shitty. That their are people who care. So, I bought my food and ate it in the parking lot. And with relief I saw this boy and his family walk down the sidewalk, get into their car and drive off, which was to say he didn't end up getting lectures by the "authorities". I have no control over his behavior, but you never know. I wish him well. Why Feminism Fails (Inspired after seeing a video on the internet of a mother screaming at her son) Maybe it's true that "manspreading" and putting women in "damsel in distress roles" in video games are examples brutal male prejudice against women. Maybe there really is this thing called a patriarchy that pressures women to be nothing more than subservient caretakers of men and children as well as discouraging women from partaking in pleasurable activities, such as a career or promiscuity, which men have the benefit of enjoying without societal sanctions. And if you want to make that case then go for it, but don't pretend that it is the most egregious form of prejudice that is rife in the world today or that it is anything but a symptom of an even greater evil: that greater evil being childism, a greater evil that involves screaming, humiliating, and hitting children, a greater evil that denies the child of personhood, a greater evil that is the source from which all other prejudices are birthed. And because it is the source, even if all the men in the world closed their legs and refused to "insult women's strength" by ceasing to hold doors for them any longer, if feminists choose to remain silent about child abuse and the degree to which the cycle of violence is perpetuated by women, then all of their protests against male privilege make about as much sense as demanding the "freedom" to vote so that you can vote to segregate black people. It's worse than a Zero sum game. I do not suggest that we fully condemn Feminism, rather we should help reorganize their priorities by giving women the respect and equality they truly deserve, not by giving up our seats on the subway, but by extending the same level of moral agency that has been accorded to men now for decades; for to exempt a person from moral agency is one of the highest forms of contempt that can possibly be demonstrated. To exempt yourself from moral agency is one of the highest forms of self loathing. Feminism’s Dire Fate (Inspired after watching a truly shocking presentation entitled “The Truth About Rape Culture”) Perhaps one of the most devastating effects that the politicization of any complex social problem has on society is the way in which it fundamentally reverses incentives. When a complex social problem is politicized by the state, failures pay and success is punished, which inevitably encourages more failure. When a government fails, it is not dismantled, but in fact rewarded with more time, resources and support. No one in government is liable for failure. Instead, the worse things go, the more you get paid and the better things go, the more you lose. Suddenly, destruction becomes as profitable as gold and like gold, is rushed to and mined intensively. The unfortunate difference being is that destruction can always be manufactured, while gold cannot. As a result, every social problem that the government has ever sought to solve, whether that be education, poverty, or war, has worsened. Feminism is no exception to this trend. Since the politicization of feminism, gender inequality has worsened and tragically, the disaster of victimhood, the disaster of being rendered powerless in some way, has been mutated into a means to power. Certainly, victims deserve time, resources, sympathy and support. But, what victims of even the most egregious crimes, even rape, need more than anything is the empowerment of responsibility. Responsibility allows for the examination of at least the potential of having made a bad choice which could have played a role in enabling the injury.This is essential in order to prevent the prevalence of rape, to accept the fact that there are precautions that can be made to prevent such horrible atrocities from occurring. Feminism strips away such opportunities for empowerment by portraying rape as an unopposable lightning bolt that descends from the the oppressive stormy skies of patriarchy, rather than as a preventable evil that is statistically inflicted on and perpetrated by women and men alike. Thoughts on Magic as a Metaphor in Art (Inspired after watching a trailer of Cinderella’s 2015 remake an Stefan Molyneux’s analysis of of the film Frozen) Dawkins ends his book "The God Delusion" with an analogy, comparing the eye-slit of a religion-mandated burqa to the worldview of humans who are forced to look through the lens of religion and suggests that removing the metaphorical burqa allows us to see more of the universe. This is a very apt metaphor as it loses none of its potency when one changes the word "religion" to any other form of irrational propaganda, such as statism or the medical model of mental illness. When we remove the burqa of propaganda, not only do we see more of our universe, but we see more of ourselves. When we look at our dreams, we find meaning. When we look at a soldier, we see a murderer. When we look at public buildings, we see guns. When we look at a heroine addict, we see the wounded child (or the damaged brain) within. When we look at art, our interpretations are no longer bound by the surface narrative as we see into the multi-layered metaphors. When we look at fantasy in art and see that magic is a metaphor for madness, suddenly, as if we had just simply widened the frame, we see the thought bubble surrounding the images on screen and we see the crushed soul that it leads to.. 2015 Mission Statement If there’s anything I would like to do with my life, it would be to remove the shroud of relativism that surrounds the subject of parenting and to elevate it to at least the same standard of rigor and objectivity that is expected of disciplines such as architecture. That way, parenting may enjoy its level passion and dedication and as a result, produce the same kind of beauty and magnificence that we have grown so accustomed to admiring in the world's most impressive towers. For if we are to create a society in which humans can ascend to the towering heights of fully actualized potential and grandeur that we're so capable of, then a sturdy foundation is needed. That sturdy foundation is peaceful parenting. Further Study: Further Study: “The Truth About Rape Culture” The First Real-Time Study of Parents Spanking Their Kids “Magic is Madness: An Examination of Fantasy” Statistics for For Compassion For a Young Thief http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/10/researchers-african-americans-most-likely-to-use-physical-punishment/ The Bomb in the Brain (The True Roots of Human Violence) Men’s Shameful Lust by Kevin Beal