Thus_Spake_the_Nightspirit

Yes, yes, mixing friendship with business is never a great idea. I knew this going into it and I was really reluctant to take the job (I didn't strictly need the extra hours, either), but they were in a bit of a tricky situation and the mother was really, really anxious about going back to work and leaving her son with someone she didn't know. Since she was only planning to work this one year and only wanted a few hours a week, I agreed. On the whole,it hasn't been a bad experience, but it does certainly introduce some complexities in terms of these kinds of conversations. I actually find the father an easier person to talk to. The mother is very much of the mindset that she has all the answers when it comes to raising kids, whereas the father is more unsure and willing to listen to advice or other opinions. He's also just generally a lot more open, whereas she is very closed off. I have had a few exchanges on Facebook with the mother in regards to spanking and such- nothing heavy, just sort of probing. I think her view is that all kids need to be spanked and it's good for them and they will turn out to be brats if they are not spanked and that parents who don't spank their kids have no authority. In terms of it being my job to stand up for the child, I agree, and this is part of why I feel conflicted about how I should have handled it. If get all self-righteous and burn bridges, then I no longer have any influence over his life or any opportunity to influence their parenting. If I take a softer approach and just leave the dialogue open for the future, then he may continue to be spanked over the short term, but there is a greater chance that I can sway their mindset over the long term (and they do plan to have more kids). I felt like no matter what I could have said or done, the baby would still continue to be spanked for at least some length of time. I do wish the handover hadn't been so rushed because I think if I had more time, I could have had a proper conversation with him about it. I don't get to see the father very often, though, so I don't know how long it might be before I get another chance.

I work as a nanny. Sometimes, in my line of work, I encounter parents who spank their kids. One of the families I work for are sort of friends of mine. We share social circles and they asked me to look after their baby because they didn't want a left wing nanny, which most are. So I've been looking after him since he was 6 months old and he is now 15 months. Today, the baby's father picked him up and mentioned very matter of factly that his son earned himself a smack the other day for hitting his older sister in the face with a wooden sword. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I didn't even know what to say. Spanking a 15 month old baby for something that he didn't even understand would hurt his sister seems extreme. Because this is my job and these people are friends, I felt reluctant to just tell him off for it. As he was telling me this, it seemed like somewhere inside of him, he didn't feel good about hitting his son. The parents are both Eastern European and come from families where hitting was the norm. I feel like I should have said more than I did, but I also didn't have a lot of time (always a time crunch to head off to my next family) and I know I will have other opportunities to talk to him about it in the future. That said, I feel terribly guilty for not sticking up for the baby.

I know a therapist who might be interested in being added to your site. I'll send him the link. Very cool idea!

Left vs right is so outdated. The new paradigm should really be globalism vs nationalism. Alt right is in line with nationalism. Plenty of alt-righters are small government, some also are big government. It's less a question of the size of the state and more a question of whose interests the state works for. Both the traditional left and right now have a globalist agenda. We on the alt-right oppose that.

1) Jews are not white. They are Semites. Like Arabs. Hence, the term "anti-Semitic". White generally refers to Europeans. The Jews are a desert people. They do like to pretend they are white when it suits their purposes (like Tim Wise) and then magically revert back to being Jewish when that is more convenient. 2) Jews do like to complain about being persecuted. They never stop to ask themselves what it is they do that causes this. It's not a coincidence that they make themselves unwelcome nearly everywhere they go. But if you are a Jew, you have probably grown up with the narrative of how your people have suffered so much, and I have yet to encounter any Jewish education that places any responsibility for the plight of the Jews on themselves. 3) There are some decent Jews, for sure. However, as a group, they tend to support ideologies that are detrimental to their host culture. Just because you don't personally perfectly fit the stereotype of Jews doesn't mean it's inaccurate when applied to the group as a whole. 4) Just because someone speaks out against Marx doesn't mean anything. Plenty of people speak out against Marxism and still have very wrong ideas. 5) Not sure what you are talking about. Jews are not the only nationality mentioned when something bad happened. Whites are constantly being scapegoated for everything from colonialism to racism to micro-aggressons. By all means, speak of the cucked Germans in a negative light. However, Merkel is not German. Her family came from Poland and there is evidence that she has Jewish heritage herself. Hillary Clinton is not Jewish, but she sure is cozy with the Rothschilds, judging from her leaked emails and her daughter did marry a Jew, as did her grandmother. I guess that makes her almost an honorary Jew- she knows which side her bread is buttered on. Now, if you dislike being lumped in with all the Jews who deserve all the negative things that are said about them, then I guess what you can do is be different and speak out against those things. You can't change your lineage, but you don't have to be an apologist for the rest of them. If you like what they are doing, then I guess fitting in won't be a problem for you. If you don't like what they are doing, then I'm not sure why you would want to fit in.

I didn't like the film much. I got the impression that the guy that made it is a disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporter. It was just okay for me. I wouldn't likely recommend it to anyone else. I thought the evidence presented was a bit weak and disjointed- a much stronger case could have been made, imo.

The MBTI is widely considered to be junk nowadays. It doesn't produce replicable results. The same person can take the same test two hours apart and get widely varying results. The only personality type thingy I like is the Ennegram. It accounts for a lot of personality variables in a neat, efficient way and also gives an indication as to what each type behaves like at differing levels of mental health. The mental health levels is what makes it so valuable, imo. If you're interested in self-knowledge/self-improvement, it can provide a handy roadmap for what improvement looks like for each type.

Suppose a person has a lot of creativity, curiosity, emotional readiness and stability, but low IQ. How far do you think such a person will go in life, if they don't have the IQ to put their talents to productive use?

Posting this on behalf of a friend who is an avid FDR listener, but not a member of the boards. He has a new-ish blog and would very much appreciate any comments or feedback on any of his articles, if anyone feels so inclined.

I think if you care about someone, you would want to ask questions about why they like what they like. I find, however, that people often don't do this. They offer their opinion, as you say, and just leave it at that, especially when it comes to anything within the realm of subjective tastes, like music, movies, books, etc. It's probably important to figure out up front of you're having a conversation about the thing's objective merit (Is one band better than another and why?) or if you're having a conversation about it's meaning (Regardless of whether or not another band is better than this one, you still like this one because of X, Y, and Z.) and I think sometimes wires get crossed here when one person wants to talk about meaning and the other person sees it as a debate. So it's probably worthwhile to make sure you're on the same page and that your friend understands what kind of conversation you want to have.

Convicted of impregnating a 14 year old when he was 20. Charged with 16 felonies in his life. Numerous burglary and battery charges. But friends and family still say he was a "good guy". If the standards for "good" are that low in the black community, no wonder they have so many problems.

My cousin married a woman he met on a dating site. They have four kids and seem pretty happy together from what I can tell.

I honestly don't think they will actually leave.

Eh Steve- Thanks for both of your comments. :-) First off, is the experience of public school really the dominant culture? There is a lot of carry-over in the ideals and attitudes cultivated there because the majority of people are essentially raised by schools and of course will then spread that infection into the adult world to some degree. However, school is very distinct from the reality of living in the adult world. So I think while school teaches and reinforces dysfunctional behaviour, the actual culture of school cannot be fully replicated outside of school because it is just so far removed from the realities of having to deal with other people, work with them, form relationships with them, etc. Would children not get a better idea of the dominant culture by simply being exposed to the real world sans school? I do agree with you that it would be worthwhile to figure out what it is a person values about the socialisation they perceive to be happening at schools. My view is that socialisation is just something they parrot without even really thinking about what it means. They have an emotional knee-jerk reaction to the thought of someone homeschooling and going against the statist grain that they don't even think about what it is they are saying. I've found that if I press people about socialisation, they just give me a word salad without actually conveying any real thoughts or values. When my sister-in-law found out I wanted to homeschool my kids, she called up my husband at work one day and screamed at him about it for almost two hours, saying that he better not let me homeschool our kids or they would turn out to be "American brats" because they wouldn't be properly socialised (his family is German). A couple years later, I actually got a chance to talk to her about it face to face and it turned out her only real objection was that she just found homeschooling "weird" and didn't actually know anything about it. The people who bring up the argument about socialisation are, in my personal experience, some of the least informed about homeschooling or education in general. I also remember my mother copping a lot of criticism from neighbours about her choice to homeschool and they would always argue the socialisation aspect, despite the fact that their kids lived right next door and still came to play with my siblings regularly, as well as knowing full well that all my brothers were in Scouts and Tae Kwon Do with their kids. I'm thinking it's because they don't know enough about homeschooling to form any other objection to it. The blog is not mine, fyi. A few of the articles on it are, but it's run by a friend of mine. I'm just helping out with the writing while he focuses on other projects. RoseCodex- Oh my god, yes! Kids get told that several times a day and the fact that they still somehow grow up to believe that school is about socialisation is mind boggling. Most adults now probably even still got a recess. A lot of schools now have cut that.

As someone who has almost no friends and struggles to find anyone I like well enough to call a friend, I definitely sympathise. Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to find friends once you're in your 30s. People just get busy and have their own lives. I'm not sure worrying about who would be your best man is a terribly huge issue- you don't need to have groomsmen or bridesmaids in a wedding (I didn't) and it does help keep the costs down. That said, the realisation that you have no one to ask if you did want to have someone stand up for you at your wedding is a painful one. What reasons do you have for wanting to marry your girlfriend? What reasons do you have for not having pursued that yet? Are you with her just because she is your only friend? How does she feel about getting married? Is your main question how to go about finding good friends? Also, have you been in any kind of therapy or done any self-knowledge work of any kind?

"The Deed of Paksenarrion" by Elizabeth Moon has a protagonist who has to work extremely hard to become good at what she does.

Thank you, Jake. :-)

Even if "white privilege" is a real thing, it's only a real thing in white countries. Why shouldn't whites be privileged in their own countries? It's not like a Chinese person doesn't get Chinese privilege in China, ffs.

I know a fair bit about attachment theory. I personally think it explains a lot about how and why people are the way they are. There's a quiz you can take to find out which style you are: http://web-research-design.net/cgi-bin/crq/crq.pl There is a short version that you don't have to register for, but the long version is a lot more detailed and asks you questions about specific people in your life and you get a lot of nifty graphs. You can also log in to do the long version again and compare your scores over time to track your progress. I typically sit on the fence between anxious-preoccupied and fearful-avoidant, depending on the person and situation. If the other person is kind to me and shows an interest in me, I'll lean to the preoccupied side and end up being very clingy and needy. If I perceive that they dislike me or have rejected me in some way, however trivial, I'll quickly lean to the fearful side. Attachment theory explains a lot about how I interact with people, why I have the people in my life that I do, and where a lot of my basic fears and anxieties come from. I do think that learning to be more securely attached would help resolve a lot of problems that I experience. No therapist I have had has ever explored this with me, though. They do tend to focus on just single issues and immediate problems. I don't think this is particularly effective for the reasons you say. Dealing with a problem at hand is just treating the symptoms, not the underlying cause.

If race doesn't exist, why are scientists so good at identifying it from small fragments of thousand years old skeletons?

Well, it will probably be a good five years or more til completion! I also just remember there is the Ron Paul Curriculum. I have not yet looked into it (on my to-do list), but I have seen it recommended elsewhere. I have no idea how complete a curriculum it is or what it includes, but might be worth looking into. http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/

Thanks very much for your feedback and your anecdote. I agree, it is much more rewarding to learn something on your own because you want to, rather than because you have to.

I've heard similar stories from my friends in the UK. I fortunately only had to see NHS GPs a couple times when I lived there and it wasn't for anything serious. I saved my bigger health concerns for when I was back in America and could see doctors there. The Australian public system is not much better, but there are more options to go private here. I ended up in a public hospital once and would never do it again.

Feedback or comment would be welcome. https://fourbirdseducation.com/2016/06/22/but-what-about-socialisation/