global.

This is Part Twelve. Part One is here.

—

You know how we started off saying that Idaho can really hate New York but they are dependent on New York for their survival? Yeah, so here’s the final thing - the United States can’t be great, without the world being great. 

I know, I know… but we’re America! 

Yeah, here’s the thing. We live in a global economy whether we like it or not. That means that our success depends on China’s and Europe’s and Pakistan - who makes some amazing hoodies that are very high quality for an incredibly low price - even if they have sky high abortion rates.

You see, making America great doesn’t mean ignoring the entire world and making them all hate us. Which, by the way, in a recent poll, the entire world is basically terrified of us - not because we’re going to kill them, but because we’re going to collapse with Trump as our leader and they are scared of that happening because they understand that they are dependent on us too. They are more worried abut Trump than COVID and that says a lot because… well… they are pretty scared of COVID which is why their numbers are so much better than ours. (This all circles back on itself doesn’t it?) 

climate change.

This is Part Eleven. Part One is here.

—

I know, I know. So many people still don’t think it exists. That’s okay, let’s go with the idea that science is wrong and that the record setting heat every year (we literally are setting a new record every year) the fires, the hurricanes, the Prosecco growers in Italy who told me that the grapes always froze by the end of October when they were kids and now they never do, the fact that crabs have disappeared from Westport and that the world’s largest glaciers are disappearing and… I’m exhausted… there’s so much to ignore but let’s ignore it.

Or let’s pretend this is all natural. It’s just what happens, because the Earth cycles. 

So let’s back out of any climate change agreements (see Paris) and let’s throw all the regulations that don’t let us put poisons on our crops, in our rivers, and in our air out the window because, hey, that stuff costs us money and hurts our economy which runs on capitalism which means making the most profit as possible and it does cost some money to not use poisons in stuff. Let’s pretend Roundup is not basically spreading cancer on all of our crops and let’s not ban it like Russ and Mexico have and are doing. Yes, Russia and Mexico.

Let’s come back to the way I started this thing to end it. 

What if this is one of the momentous decisions - not only in electing the next Hitler - but in literally saving the planet. I know I sound like Al Gore who made that silly film 14 years ago and, shit, we are living everything that film predicted. But, still, let’s pretend Al Gore is stupid and dramatized everything about climate change. 

I mean what if it’s true though? If we ignore it, we all die in a heap of toxins and poisons and dead fish stocks and no coral to snorkel around on vacation (also happening) and plastics in our blood (also happening).  That sucks. If it’s not true and we act like it is, we end up with a nicer planet, cleaner air, cleaner parks, less cancer, and yes, probably a little negative affect (maybe) on the economy that is currently “amazing” and very “unequal” and causing us to ignore this very paragraph because it makes us look short term and ignore long term. 

You see the dangerous cycle of this, right? 

marshmallows.

This is Part Ten. Part One is here.

—

(Not to be confused with the producer and DJ Marshmellow - who I wonder if he spelled his name the wrong way on purpose or accident.) 

Okay there is this very famous experiment that Stanford ran on kids. They offered them 1 marshmallow now or, if they waited 30 minutes, they would give them more. Most kids take the 1 now.

Standford tracked these kids and there have been many studies similar - and what they found is that the kids that are willing to wait 30 minutes for more marshmallows end up much more successful in life. 

Because, get this, life requires us to forgo short term thrills to avoid long term consequences - which, by the way is what the teenage brain has a big problem doing - which is why people don’t wear condoms when they are teenagers (condoms again?) and why America acts like a teenager most of the time. 

We sacrifice long term consequences in the name of a short term thrill. If America was a farmer, would we ever plant a single seed?

What do I mean? 

We’ve already talked about the economy. Yeah the short term thrill of the stock market rising, the short term thrill of lower taxes, the short term thrill of giving money away, look! We’re rich. 

We love everything fast. Fast food, fast religion, fast money, fast sex, fast articles - hell this is way too long of an article for most people to read which is why it’s broken up into smaller chunks. Did you know music is even changing because we don’t like to sit around as much? And let’s not get started on social media…

There’s also another major, major short term thrill. 

economic inequality.

This is Part Nine. Part One is here.

—

If we measure the gap between the wealthiest people in a country and the poorest we get a number. The U.S. is the worst in that number of any country in the world. We have the largest gap between the rich and the poor. 

This may not seem like a big deal to (if someone is on the rich side) but that’s where the fun starts. It actually affects the wealthy as well. There’s been numerous studies on how first class affects passengers. When economy class passengers have to walk through first class not only does it raise their anxiety levels, it raises the anxiety and stress levels of the first class passengers as well. There are more in-air incidents. 

You see we all think we like hierarchy but it adversely affects us all. 

How? If you want to know the problems it’s causing you (because it harms everyone) read The Spirt Level or The Broken Ladder but some of them are: 

Health.
Life expectancy.
Happiness.
Stress.
Depression.
Anger.
For starters.
Yes, it actually affects the life expectancy of everyone which is maybe why the United States has the lowest life expectancy among the 11 highest income countries. 

See just being rich isn’t enough, the rich has to spread out. 

We all want to live longer right? 

But, this one, oh man this one about what inequality does to us all. 

It makes us shortsighted and prone to risky behavior, willing to sacrifice a secure future for immediate gratification. It makes us more inclined to make self-defeating decisions. It makes us believe weird things, superstitiously clinging to the world as we want it to be rather than as it is. Inequality divides us, cleaving us into camps not only of income but also of ideology and race, eroding our trust in one another. It generates stress and makes us all less healthy and less happy. - Keith Payne. 

Wait, did we just define modern day America? All from economic inequality? 

Which brings me to marshmallows. 

racism.

This is Part Eight. Part One is here.

—

Well, there was a third thing about Obama. I forgot to mention it earlier. He was black. 

Yes, I know you hate the word, racism, because you aren’t racist. You’re right. You’re not. Because racism isn’t really a thing you get to decide whether you are or not. Racism is a system that has been built to benefit white people. 

I hate that, you say. That’s fine. I hate cancer and it still exists. 

That’s not true you say. I worked hard. Cool, slaves worked harder for hundreds of years. Is it about how hard you work? Or what you get for that work?

That is an awesome idea - called meritocracy - and it’s one of the reasons we love Capitalism. Work hard and you get the payoff. Don’t work and you don’t get my money. Except you see, remember Capitalism makes a killing on people working very hard for little pay because that’s better profits - usually those people are in other countries. 

Not true. I love black people you say. Again, this is not how you love or hate someone - it’s about a system that you live in that has been built over the years (and from it’s start) with a very distinct class structure that is built to benefit one group of people over another. 

I’m at the top. I love being at the top because of a made up thing that doesn’t exist. I really do. 

There are no “black people” in Africa. Weird huh? There are people from countries like me and you. Black and white are made up stories and they are made up to make white people rise to the top and black people to sink to the bottom. Read the book Caste. Please please please. I beg you. 

We have a giant issue in our land. We don’t like losing our jobs to non-white people. We don’t like losing our power to non-white people. We don’t like non-white people (or women or LGBT or pick your hierarchy) gaining our power if we are a white man. 

We have to get over this addiction to power. Seriously, you’re better than that. Get over it. Please. Speaking of Jesus, this was the entire point of the entire thing. 

But it’s hard, I get it. 

Ever since the 1964 Civil Rights Act, FDR warned the Democrats would pay for its passage. Since then no Democrat has won the majority of the white vote and there has only been 3 Democrat presidents - Carter, Clinton and Obama. 

Damn. Whites don’t like giving up power and I truly believe in my heart of hearts and I say this as gently as possible. (But I’ve done a lot of reading and studying.) Many white people, maybe you, are voting for Trump for racist reasons. Again, you like the structure as it is and he will keep it that way - he does keep it that way - it’s in every single thing he says and does. No, you don’t hate people. No you don’t treat people poorly. 

You like the system the way it is even if it’s sub-consciously. 

Now again you have to think of the system. If you’re at the bottom it’s much harder to get out, it’s much harder to own homes, it’s much harder to break free, it’s easier to go to jail, it’s easier to get paid less, it’s easier to do everything that keeps you down the ladder and it’s harder to do anything that helps you rise. This is fact. 

That is why we have to do everything we can to right that injustice (which is what it is) and not throw flames on it because you are a human who cares about your fellow humans - especially fellow citizens, right? 

And it leads to another major issue. 

law and order.

This is Part Seven. Part One is here.

—

Law and Order.

Relevant, given the “debate” last night.

It’s always money or some form of “America is going to be overrun by looters” or “we won’t have any police” or “terrorists will kill us all” (shit, sorry that was the old one before we didn’t need it anymore). 

Okay, back to the Christian stuff for a quick second. Did Jesus give a rat’s ass about law and order? Did his disciples ever worry or preach that? Honestly, if you consider yourself a Christian, please sit on the question for a second. If you’re not a Christian you probably know the answer. 

Big hint: the government killed Jesus and most of the disciples for wrong reasons - and Jesus didn’t really fight back. In fact, he argued for a non-violent approach to life which is very Buddhist and also what Gandhi and MLK modeled. They weren’t all into the government cleaning up protestors - they were the protestors. 

Yes, Jesus was the protestor. That’s why they killed him. And Christians want to elect a President that will kill the protestor too. 

Sit on that for a hot second.  

Okay… so the whole Christian story is basically the opposite of law and order but let’s ignore Christians.

Guns. We love guns. 

Americans own more guns per capita than any other nation. Americans own nearly half of the guns in the world owned by civilians. I mean, again, how is this something we’re not “over” and COVID is?

Quick note: no country in the world has outlawed guns. Not a single one. That will not happen here. Stop whining about it. 

Defund the police. 

Quick other note: no one wants to remove police. They want to better train police and better remove all the crap police have to deal with so they can actually do the things they are trained to do. In other words, better police.

This could mean no guns for police but, again, many countries do this and have great police and low crime rates - especially if it’s tied to civilians not walking around with guns. 

Quick. We have the biggest military in the world stationed all over the world and we spend more than the next 10 countries combined That means we spend more on our military than China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, the U.K., Japan, South Korea, and Brazil  combined. Combined. Did that sink in?

If you told me my neighbor spent more on his fence then the other ten neighbors combined (including neighbors with way bigger yards) I’d wonder what this neighbor’s obsession was with spending money on fences. 

And Biden wants to spend more. I hate that. (Again, this guy is not a lot of Democrat’s first choice.)

Quick other note: we basically have two huge problems in our country that we can almost trace every problem back to and which Trump has not only not done jack shit about but exacerbated. We have one world problem that he has also not done anything about what exacerbated. Actually two.  

socialism, communism, and marxism.

This is Part Six. Part One is here.

—

Socialism and Communism.

Holy shit. If I hear someone say they are worried about us becoming a communist or socialist nation one more time, I might just keel over. (We will get to Marxism and Black Lives Matter eventually.) 

Okay, let’s just start here: I’m a Democrat and I didn’t want Biden. He’s not liberal enough for me. He’s not liberal enough for most Democrats.  The dude is as centrist as it gets so, knowing that, the Republicans had to target Kamala - she’s the real villain here - and start in on her being a socialist, communist, marxist, that will turn us into the wretched hell hole of Denmark. (Please I beg you to look up “happiness and Denmark.)

No wait, she will not turn us into Denmark because that would be amazing - she will turn us into China! Or the Soviet Union. Or Venezuela! 

Okay, let’s dive in. 

1. Do you know what socialism is? Just sit on that for a moment. What is socialism? 
   
   I’ve heard it’s “giving my money to lazy people”. Because it’s always about money right? But, also that is not what socialism is. We could go that route but if we do then capitalism is “giving my money to greedy people” and I’d rather give my money to lazy people than greedy people so… hopefully we can have some better definitions than that.
   
   Socialism is an economic theory that basically says that production, distribution, and exchange should be regulated (Yes, you can look this up on Wikipedia.) In other words, things are generally shared more, or better not allowed to get out of hand because of regulation. You can’t really get rich.
   
   Can you give me an example of a socialist country? Take a second.
   
   Vietnam, yes that’s the one? Vietnam. Okay it’s more socialist oriented so it’s not really 100% socialist because no country is 100% socialist including the Scandinavian countries. They are democratic socialist countries at best - which means they do everything we do here except they spread the pot a little more - with higher tax rates - especially on the wealthy - kinda like the U.S. did in the 50’s back when we were actually economically great. Seriously look up tax rates on the wealthy from the 50’s. They were sky high. (Side note: there are more billionaires per capita in Sweden than the U.S. so you can even get rich there but it’s much harder to be rich. And much harder to be poor. And almost impossible to not have healthcare and basic needs met.)
   
   No one, Kamala included, is proposing the U.S. become the first 100% socialist country in the world. It’s laughable.
   
   Could we spread the pot a little more? Since we already do spread the pot - this is how any country pays for military, fire, police, parks, medicare, food stamps, etc… they take our money and spread the pot - we’re just talking about how much to spread the wealth.
   
   Which, by the way, unless you make roughly $400,000 a year you’re not really going to be affected by this change. Do you know the billionaires in America just increased their wealth by 845 billion during the pandemic? That’s a third of their wealth?
   
   Honestly, that seem cool to you? Maybe it does and that’s fine but instead of arguing socialism you should say you just think people should have so much money they literally can’t spend it all while other people sleep in tents after fighting for our country in Vietnam (okay that’s a very slanted way of seeing it but that is also true.)
   
   We’ll try again. Instead of saying you’re afraid of a socialist country you might want to say you’re afraid of spreading out your wealth a little more to people who you don’t think deserve it as much as you do.
   

2. One of the reasons we just turbo charged through the debt records (that we were already blowing through) is because we just gave away trillions of dollars to American citizens to save the economy. Did you support that? That’s a very socialist idea in a very capitalist economy that most people approved because it was… helpful for the country as a whole. That number was on par with “socialist” Denmark percentage-wise so we’re already pretty socialist in many ways.

3. Trump's farm bailouts have cost taxpayers more than $28 billion already, and he just announced another $14 billion in payments as part of his reelection pitch to farm-heavy states. This is spreading the wealth too.

4. Communism is NOT socialism. It’s Communism and it’s kinda next level and ever since the word was invented Republicans have been scaring people into being afraid of it. From the Great Depression through the McCarthy era to today. Honestly, I don’t get how Trump supporters “get over” COVID and not somehow “over” Communism. COVID is way way more real.
   
   Anyway I just read The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx (of Marxism) because I was so tired of people telling me what communism was. I highly recommend it. It’s short.
   
   Marx had a big issue with what he saw in Capitalism which I’m going to boil way too far down to this: he didn’t like rich people getting so rich while workers (who actually made the shit) suffered more and more so the rich could get richer and richer.
   
   So he sought out to create a system that was less class based and gave more power to the workers and also did some weird shit like take away all private property and weird stuff with religion, etc… but there were actually pretty good reasons and philosophies for that even if you read his book.
   
   But, and this is important: the Soviet Union was NOT a communist nation. It didn’t follow the Communist Manifesto at all. Lenin really loved power too much for that.
   
   Also if you want to get really crazy, which I do, read Erich Fromm’s Marx’s Concept of Man (Fromm lived through Hitler Germany and was a psychologist) in which he argues that we don’t understand Marx at all and most of the things we rip him for we actually live in the West. Read that book and tell me you don’t love Marx because you probably will.

5. Okay this stuff is really really complicated and that is the point. I’m no economics expert but I did read Angrynomics which I think is a great book and points to how angry the workers are in America from people “taking their jobs” which I think has a lot to do with Trump support too but that’s more caste and race than economic but we’ll get there.
   
   All of this to say a) the idea of Kamala turning us communist is a joke and b) there are good things in all of these “isms” including capitalism but very few countries are 100% them.
   
   You may not be for them as much as me but for the love of all that is good in the world please we have to stop saying we don’t want America to turn socialist because someone heard Sean Hannity say that. If someone is scared of “socialism” we’ve got to say what we mean about American taking on socialist principles we don’t like and then say how Trump is not doing that. Or is. Or whatever, while utterly racking up that debt for us all. 

Marxism.

While we’re on the big evil ‘isms” (and not addressing God’s favorite economic system of capitalism), let’s talk about Marxism which suddenly has become almost more associated with Black Lives Matter than with economic and philosophical structures but since we’re on Black Lives Matter, let’s go there. 

Again, I’ll give you a second. What is Marxism? Define it. 

This stuff is really hard. Marx kinda invented Communism which is past socialism so they all do get confused but let’s just say this: there’s never been a Marxist country either. Marx was trying to solve problems he found in the world and that he thought had been in the world from the begging of civilization which was this class struggle issue that he thought capitalism exacerbated (because it kinda does) and he wanted to solve it by abolishing class and not letting people own stuff (sometimes too far) but you can see his heart. 

Why would Black Lives Matter study Marxism? For very good reasons. 

Quick history lesson from Ryan as understood by Ryan and should be fact checked. Also, some opinions from Ryan. 

Do you know why there was slavery? Here is a hint. Capitalism is all about making as much money as possible. Yes it’s about owing property and starting business and yada yada but it’s about making that paper. If there are no regulations with capitalism you can really go crazy. (We have regulations to prevent us from going too crazy - but honestly that’s what much of this argument is about: the amount of regulations.) 

If you can get cheap labor to make stuff, you have more profits (like 12 year olds in factories in Vietnam - wait so we’re using a Socialist country’s work force as cheap labor so that we can get cheap sneakers and charge a ton for them and make more money? Yes, that’s capitalism - isn’t it great?)

If you can get free labor to make stuff (or pick cotton) you can make even more money. So when a bunch of Europeans looked at all the work to do to make money around the world, they thought, hey rather than us do the work or have to pay people to do it, let’s bring slaves over and have them do it. 

(And it’s us, the ancestors of these bastards who call people lazy. Good lord.) 

Anyway, they started a country with slave labor. With very distinct classes and caste systems and a hierarchy of who is important, who works, who makes money, who doesn’t matter, and who is treated like shit. If your skin was black you were generally at the bottom. 

Marx also believed that humans are not naturally incentivized to make their lives center around money - that was a product of capitalism - that he didn’t like. Because we’re better than that and once our lives center around making money - well we do things like slavery.

And people wonder why Black Lives Matter studies Marx? Of course they do! They should. Our country is exactly what Marx was talking about and he had some ideas on ways to fix it. It’s not that weird or scary, in fact, it’s not weird or scary at all - it makes perfect sense. 

I think that covers money. 

Now on to the next thing I hear - and which has nothing to do with Christianity either. 

money.

This is Part Five. Part One is here.

—

As we’ve already covered, anecdotal stories are dangerous - they aren’t statistics - but I’ve also read a fair share of stats. I haven’t yet had a conversation with a Trump supporter that doesn’t boil down to two things (f not abortion), the first of which is something to do with money. Either the country making a lot of it, he or she personally making a lot of it, or someone taking their money and giving it to someone who shouldn’t get their money. 

Money, money, money. I’m so sick of talking about money but I’m an American so let’s talk more about it. 

1. Economy. The economy is doing great is the argument. Or was before COVID. Can we talk “the economy” for a second? The USA is now in the most debt it’s ever been in, using just about any metric you can find. We’re setting quarterly records, annual records, percentage records, GDP records, I mean good god, there isn’t one debt record we aren’t setting. So, can we just say that is not a functioning economy? Of course, it works short term. Of course! But unless you’re willing to say I’m a millionaire if I borrow a million dollars on a credit card tomorrow - or from China - then we actually don’t have a great economy, which means a day of reckoning is coming. It can’t go on fumes forever. 

2. Let’s pretend we have a great economy though. Job numbers are up (or were) and unemployment was down, etc… there are plenty of arguments that the economy was doing well. I’ll give you that. I’ll also give you that the economy is all due to Trump - (we will pretend it was not already growing at a steady pace under Obama and just continued under Trump. We’ll also pretend George W. didn’t absolutely annihilate the economy before Obama. I’ll also give you that our trade deficit with China is not the highest it’s ever been - which it is. I’ll also give you that Trump didn’t react to COVID and is harming it more… shit, I’ll give you everything. I really will.)
   
   I will pretend that Trump has saved and made America’s economy great. I really will.
   
   Okay, is there anything else? Literally? I mean do you actually care about anything other than the economy? If you’re a Christian, well you can’t serve both money and god but I think everyone is long over that. If you’re not a Christian who pretends Jesus matters, or a more honest American who doesn’t pretend to give a shit about Jesus, is that your legacy to the world? I have money and I got more money! Even the liberal Hollywood rich atheist celebrities admit that is a very empty way to live but you can’t? Really? I don’t believe that. 

It’s not really about making more money is it? It’s about who is spending your money or who is getting it who shouldn’t be.

Socialism. Next.

abortion and education.

This is Part Three. Part One is here.

—

I tend to not talk about abortion because I’m a man. As a man, it seems weird to talk about an idea that I can not fully comprehend and will never be able to (carrying a baby). This is why, side note, it’s very easy for men to get on high horses about abortion - and why priests, historically, often made sexual “sins” the big “sins” because they were “celibate” and it was easy to get on a high horse about them. (Side note: before we found out about the issues with boys.)

But, I’m going to talk abut abortion for a second, because it’s apparently leading the charge in reasons people vote for Trump. Yes, that Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade and save the country again. This is what people say.

The thing is, I don’t think Republicans actually give a damn about actual abortions.

Wait, real quick, let’s address “pro-life”. It’s been said many times but just be clear pro-life is pro-bull-shit. Pro-life believers are not actually pro most of the things that life entrails. Pro-life is more than pro-not-having-abortions. Pro-life is pro-healthcare, pro-justice reform, pro-childcare, pro-education, pro-climate-change - it’s pro all the things that not only make up life but can cause it to be really hard for some people. For this reason, it seems Democrats are generally far more “pro life” than Republicans. 

But, let’s come back to abortion. Who wants more abortions? No one I know of. I’ve never heard anyone on any medium say that we want more abortion procedures as a country.

All normal people want less abortions. 

Even Democrats. 

Abortion generally goes down under Democrat presidents more than Republican presidents. Democrats, I think, know there is a much better solution to abortion than a law banning it- see Pakistan where they have one of the most strict abortion laws in the world and one of the highest rates as well as most countries where it’s restricted.

What does affect abortion is birth control and comprehensive sex education. (We’re back to birth control?) See the Netherlands (one of the lowest abortion rates in the world.) The strange thing is that I see lots of Trump supporters protesting sex education AND abortion! In polls, Republicans don't care about implementing sex education but they do care about abortion - this seems so strange to me. It’s like not caring about soap but caring about the passing of germs.

Right now in the United States, I’ll let Peggy Orenstein tell us what kind of sex ed we have.

“Well, right this minute, American students are learning that HIV can be spread through sweat or tears, that women who have sex before marriage are like chewed pieces of gum or used pieces of tape or cups full of spit (i.e., no one will want them), that boys should seek out “good girls” who say no to sex, that condoms are useless against HIV a third of the time, that the pill has an 80 percent failure rate, that abortion causes cancer. I fear for those young people, I do, and for good reason: despite a federal investment in abstinence-only education to date of over two billion dollars (and counting), teenagers exposed to its lessons have been found to neither significantly delay intercourse compared to others nor have fewer partners; they do, however, have higher rates of pregnancy and STDs. Equally concerning, while pleasure-based sexuality education that includes practicing refusal skills has been found to reduce rates of assault, abstinence-only programs have not.” - Peggy Orenstein Girls & Sex

Despite all of this, abortion rates are still doing down in the U.S. and have been for a while - even while it’s legal and with terrible sex education to boot.

Because, again, no one wants more abortions. And because people are being better educated about sex (thank god), as well as finding better access to brith control, despite the people who don’t want them to have either. Well, there is also this whole sex recession we’re in which is a whole other problem and probably one we should be addressing and trying to find solutions for way more than abortion. You can read the amazing article here.

I honestly really do try to understand this whole abortion argument and I honestly can’t. But I think it has to do a lot with Christianity - the next topic.

COVID.

This is Part Two. Part One is here.

—

Can we talk about COVID? Get this one out of the way?

I hear so many things and find it so frustrating that somehow a global pandemic affecting just about every country in the world has become something that indicates who someone is going to vote for in America in November. It would seem in America we really do believe that everything revolves around us. We’re really caught up in this idea that we’re the sun and all the countries revolve around us.

Some people are saying they are “over COVID” or that they don't “believe in it” or that “it’s going to end in November” which is fine but if someone said they are “over birth control” or don’t “believe in pregnancy” or “STD’s will all end in November” it really doesn’t change the reality of the actual situation.

Things are very much NOT normal. Every professional sport is playing to an empty or close to empty stadium/arena. Airlines are running about a 1/3 of what they were last year and are about to go out of business. The hotel industry is bleeding money. Weddings (a main business of my wife) are not happening or at least anywhere close to what they once did. Concerts (we have many friends in the music industry) just don’t exist. I can’t go to Canada for god’s Sake and thousands of small businesses are going under while people are being evicted around the nation.

Statistically, 200,000 Americans have died. We are the 9th highest death rate per million in the world at a cool 597 per million.  I mean we definitely aren’t the worst but hundreds of countries are doing better than us. Wuhan is having club nights and gigantic pool parties again - and their country is operating normally. Now, THAT is when we can say we are “over it” when I’m having a rager of a pool party with thousands of people in my back yard and a DJ and neon lights and flying to Europe the next day. By the way, China’s death rate per million is 3.4.

Yes 600 compared to 3.4. Yes I get China is an “authoritarian communist cesspool of evil” (that makes all of the things we buy) but they are also 3 times as big population-wise. (Just to be clear many economic experts think our economy would be stronger and not have all the issues we’re having if we had been more strict with lockdowns early on - like China.) 

There is also this idea of some states doing well and we can let the others go down but that’s not how countries work. For now, we’re ONE country and countries depend on each other for success.

Let’s take Idaho. Idaho is a state that falls if the country falls and rises if the country rises. And even though Idaho might hate liberal New York it gets a shit ton of money from New York and other states. California pays a huge chunk of federal taxes. 10 states give more money in taxes than they get back from the federal government, including Washington. So when Washington’s economy tanks Idaho receives less money from the federal government. So every Idahoan should be rooting for New York, Washington and California for that matter - because they are their fellow citizens - but also because if they fail, Idaho will not enjoy the federal money they receive and like very much. Washington is rooting for Idaho because we like… potatoes and Priest Lake.

But, honestly, can’t we all root for each other like we used to do?

We need the entire country to be over COVID before any of us can really be over it because if 25% of Americans are still scared, the economy will not recover. If Europe won’t let us travel the economy won’t recover. You see, being over it, or “not believing it” does nothing for the ALL - only for the YOU. We ALL have to be over it and we won’t be until those pool parties and clubs open again. Right?

There is some pushback on stats in general - as in we can’t trust them.

If we can’t trust statistics then we can’t talk about anything. I mean that quite literally. We can’t talk about the number of abortions, we can’t talk about unemployment numbers, we can’t talk about undocumented immigrants coming in… we can’t talk about a booming business, cancer, starvation, pollution, inflation, or, again, much of ANYTHING.
Statistics from reputable sources are very important. If I’m wrong on any, feel free to correct me. (Note, watch The Social Dilemma to see how important reputable sources are - and to get off of Instagram.)

So can we all please wear masks, please social distance and please not have rager pool parties… yet. They decrease the odds of bad things and increase the odds of good things, which we have to remember. Odds. Odds are not 100% so there are always exceptions (I’ve partied all summer and didn’t get sick) but they always show up in larger settings (200,000 dead and economic suffering).

Let’s get back to real normal, real soon and I need you and you need me to do this right. Right?

the moment.

This is Part One.

—

Every now and then throughout history come these momentous decisions that alter the trajectory of humanity and affect hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions.

How’s that for dramatic? 

Everything in me wants to say we are not facing one of those… because it does feel overly dramatic to say we are and my family already thinks I’m dramatic.

So, let’s be clear, this might not be a big moment we’re about to face. But, and this is a very big but, we might also be. I’m sure the people who were living in Germany in the early 30’s didn’t think they weren’t facing that big of a moment in time either. 

Speaking of the 30’s and Germany, let’s talk about Hitler, because nothing tones down the dramatic like bringing up Hitler. 

1. Some people say voting doesn’t matter and when they do we need to remember that Hitler was elected. In other words, millions of Jews, and thousands of American soldiers, and countless more were killed because people voted. Voting definitely matters.

2. Some people say “I’m just not that into politics”, and when they do we need to remember millions of Jews were killed because of …politics. So, I appreciate the sentiment but it’s like me saying I’m not into gravity. In addition, saying “I’m not into politics” is a political statement because it’s an opinion about politics. It’s saying I don’t care about stuff that affects millions of people - which I don’t think anyone wants to really say.

3. Really nice people, hard working dads and sons, mothers and daughters, and sisters and brothers who went to church and brought fruitcakes to their neighbors at Christmas voted for Hitler. Hitler wasn’t elected by a bunch of demons masquerading around as German citizens. Or even white supremacists. Or even mean, hateful people. He was elected by some people who didn’t think voting mattered (or his opposition was not elected because people didn’t think voting mattered), some people who weren’t that into politics, and some people who just wanted to make Germany great again.

Okay, so what if we pretend for a moment that November 3rd is a momentous decision - that it could affect the trajectory of millions of people?

If it does not end up mattering and we pretended it did, great, not that big of a deal.

If it does matter though and we pretended it did not, well, I mean, history has many examples of that ending up really, really sucking bad.

the white vote. wow.

I was really surprised to read this one. Maybe because I hadn’t thought much about it or maybe because I thought better of us. I’m wrapping up the book Caste, which one more time, you need to read. It is essential reading for Americans. Essential.

I don’t really have a lot of commentary for what I read in it last night. I suppose not much is needed.

Lyndon B. Johnson, after signing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, is said to have predicted that the Democrats would lose the South for a generation for having stood up for the citizenship rights of African-Americans. That prophecy would prove to be correct but also an understatement…

In the more than half century since that prophecy of 1964, no Democrat running for president has ever won a majority of the white vote. Lyndon Johnson was the last Democrat to win the presidency with a majority of the white electorate. Since that time, the Democrat who came closest, who attracted the largest percentage of white voters—at 48 percent—was fellow southerner Jimmy Carter in 1976. Only three Democrats have made it to the Oval Office since the Johnson and the civil rights era—Carter, Obama, and Bill Clinton, who won with 39 percent of the white vote in 1992 and 44 percent in 1996.

about that silver lining...

Yeah, so there is one difference that we haven't had before in human history. And it’s a pretty big one that makes that silver lining really tiny.

A really big difference.

Historically, exponentially, large.

Go watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix for all the details.

But, I’ll say this, we’ve always needed that 40% to do stuff and one of those things to do is to work their asses off to resist being manipulated by systems that are using them to make money and to work hard to sift through all the junk out there to find the truth.

And, to really pressure government for some regulations with this thing we call the Internet.

the silver lining.

First, the bad news.

Read Fantasyland and you’ll learn America was founded by racist, conspiracy theory loving, cultists. I mean that’s a little harsh but stick with me.

Read Caste and you’ll learn America was also founded with a caste system similar to say… India (India has four main delineations and a fifth that is so deplorable it isn’t even worth mentioning, according to them - the untouchables.) You’ll learn that blacks have basically been our lowest caste since our founding on par with the Indian untouchables and we’ve always treated them as such and react to people (good and bad) who make sure we’re in our proper place.

Read this article and you’ll learn about 20% of Americans believe in outrageous off-the-charts conspiracy theories like COVID tents being used for sex trafficking and blood drinking. (Yeah.)

Wait, the news is about to start getting better.

Read Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh•t or Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up or just about any history book including Since Yesterday (a book about the Great Depression) or a plethora of other books and you’ll discover that racist, conspiracy theory loving, cultists, greedy bastards, con-men and con-women, liars, dehumanizing, fear mongers, manipulators and people who want to be manipulated are not just an American thing nor are they are a new thing. Whether P.T. Barnum is making shit up and selling it, or farmers are protesting immigrants in the 1800’s, or giving people free health care is equal to communism, it’s been the same. exact. story.

On the one hand this can be depressing. Is it ever going to change?

On the other hand (I said the good news would come) this can be great news. Things aren’t worse than they’ve ever been. In fact, arguably, they are better. Turning this fucked up ocean liner that is limping on one engine around (or at least changing course) is slow slow slow… but it does seem to be slowly turning.

Coming back to that article about 20% of Americans who are wack job blood sex ring conspiracy believers. Let’s say 20% of Americans are pretty much nuts. Let’s say another 20% are pretty much die-hard Republicans no matter what and they view voting Democrat as akin to making out with Satan. Let’s say another 20% of Americans are pretty much die-hard Democrats and they view voting a Republican as akin to making out with Hitler.

60% of Americans are kinda not useful for change.
We’ve got about 40% of Americans left.

It’s these 40% that can create big change. It’s these 40% that have always led the way and are still leading the way. I don’t know what percent of them actually do stuff but it’s probably half and half? It’s that percentage that makes America what it is. As it goes up things get better, as it goes down, things get worse. I think more are doing stuff today but the jury is probably still out.

What’s the point?

1. There aren’t more wacks in this country. They’ve all been given free ways to vocalize their beliefs (thank you internet) now, so it seems that way

2. We aren’t more ignorant. We’re just more aware of the ignorance (thank you internet).

3. We’re aren’t more polarized. We’re just more aware of it (thank you internet).

4. We’ve never been that great of a country. In fact, we’ve been pretty shitty. (thank you books).

5. BUT, there’s also been some great people in this country doing great things and there might be more of them today (no thanks to you internet).

6. BUT, if you look back at history it’s a very very very fine line that separates Hitler rising to power and killing millions and just a wack job leader trying to run a country for a few years and fading away. It’s might even be dependent on that percent of the 40% that do the work to educate themselves, others, and take action to grow, evolve, and change.

7. If you’re reading this, you’re probably a part of that 40%. Do shit. It matters. Say shit. It matters. Don’t get depressed but don’t get complacent. Don’t be afraid but don’t be naively comfortable. Things aren’t worse. But they might get worse. But, they might be getter.
   
   It’s up to you. And me. The silver lining is that it’s the same as it has always been, which means the bad guys haven’t won. Yet.

Yeah Socialism. What about Fascism?

It has been the go-to for generations of Republicans: the fear of socialism and communism. It started as soon as the name Marx was known and hasn’t stopped any time some good ole fears need to be stoked.

Besides the fact that most people who are scared of socialism don't know what it means (I always hear “lazy people getting free money”) and besides the fact that most people still have absolutely no idea why Marxism is bad, or how it’s related to socialism and/or communism (or isn’t) and are very unaware of how much of Marx’s idea we actually live in the West, let’s just pretend for a second that socialism is terrible.

Let’s pretend it would just take your money and give it to all the lazy drug addicts. Let’s pretend the Soviet Union was a Marxist country (it wasn’t) or that Venezuela’s economy collapsed because of socialism (it did not).

But let’s go with that.

The thing is, there is also another very real and dangerous possibility for America: Fascism. Now, of course, I understand, we could all play the same game with Fascism - we don't understand what it means and it hasn’t actually destroyed any countries.

So, let’s just go with Hitler and Nazi Germany. We all understand what that was and what it did.

Erich Fromm is one of my new favorite authors and thank you to Isabel Wilkerson the author of Caste for introducing me to him.

(Side note: go read Caste now. It is absolutely essential reading for every American. It’s beautifully written prose that will penetrate your heart and mind and open your eyes.)

Back to Fromm. He was a social psychologist (brilliant) who also happened to be a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany so he has lots of valuable insight into Nazi Germany and Racial America (this is a lot of the book Caste along with the Indian caste system).

Fromm wrote this, as quoted by Wilkerson in Caste (along with some Sakurai). Just read these passages a few times and honestly ask yourself how scary socialism is… compared with where we are much more likely headed.

“The essence of this overestimation of one’s own position and the hate for all who differ from it is narcissism,” wrote the psychologist and social theorist Erich Fromm. “He is nothing,” Fromm wrote, “but if he can identify with his nation, or can transfer his personal narcissism to the nation, then he is everything.”

A person deeply invested in his group’s dominance “has a euphoric ‘on-top-of-the-world’ feeling, while in reality he is in a state of self-inflation,” Fromm wrote. “This leads to severe distortion of his capacity to think and to judge….He and his are over-evaluated. Everything outside is under-evaluated.” And underneath may lie the fear that he cannot live up to the constructed ideal of his own perfection.

The social theorist Takamichi Sakurai wrote bluntly: “Group narcissism leads people to fascism. An extreme form of group narcissism means malignant narcissism, which gives rise to a fanatical fascist politics, an extreme racialism.”

In both instances, Fromm found the working class to be among the most susceptible, harboring an “inflated image of itself as the most admirable group in the world, and of being superior to another racial group that is singled out as inferior,” he wrote. A person in this group “feels: ‘even though I am poor and uncultured I am somebody important because I belong to the most admirable group in the world—I am white’; or ‘I am Aryan.’ ”

A group whipped into narcissistic fervor “is eager to have a leader with whom it can identify,” Fromm wrote. “The leader is then admired by the group which projects its narcissism onto him.”

The right kind of leader can inspire a symbiotic connection that supplants logic. The susceptible group sees itself in the narcissistic leader, becomes one with the leader, sees his fortunes and his fate as their own. “The greater the leader,” Fromm wrote, “the greater the follower….The narcissism of the leader who is convinced of his greatness, and who has no doubts, is precisely what attracts the narcissism of those who submit to him.”

can't we all just get along?

I mean, I don’t think we can.

I can't “get along” with proud racists.
I can’t “get along” with violent extremists who think some humans are less than human.
I can’t “get along” with people who proudly dis-believe scientific evidence, facts, research, and knowledge just because they don’t like the implication of said evidence, facts, research and knowledge on their own life. .
I can't “get along” with people who don’t give a damn about the planet, or who would rather think short term instead of long term or who value money over everything else.

If HItler asked me to just get along with him, am I supposed to?

I don’t really know what to do with any of this either, except to say this goal of “getting along” may be the wrong goal?

10 years ago...

10 years ago tomorrow was the launch Sunday of a new church that some amazing friends and I (along with so much help from my wife) started. It was called Branches. We would always have quite the anniversary parties (especially the milestones) and if I was still there, I imagine our 10 year anniversary would have been a real banger.

But, I left Branches over 2 years ago.

Since it has been 10 years I figured I had to acknowledge it somehow - so here are 10 thoughts around who I was then, the experience, and who I am now. For those of you who don't give a damn about church or religion, I think these learning points are bigger than either. So don’t worry.

—

10. I loved every minute of being the pastor of Branches (okay most minutes.) I always stood behind what I said and what we were trying to do. I loved how the church pushed boundaries, how people reacted, and what we were able to do.

Importantly, that’s why I quit, when I did. So that I could type what I just typed two and a half years after quitting. (My pet peeve is people saying that I was burned out. If burned out means quitting before you can say you loved every minute, fine. But to me, burned out implies you’re already not loving every minute and that’s why it bugs me.)

9. People have a very hard time understanding how you can love something so much and then leave it and be so happy without it. (This is many break-ups.) I think it’s especially hard with “church”. Does it mean everything you said was a lie? Does it mean you were faking? Does it mean none of it was real? (Again many break-ups.)

No it doesn’t mean any of that. It just means people change, and some people have the guts to change their life when they change. (Sadly many don’t.) I think the people that can’t understand how you could mean something a few years ago and not mean it now, have never experienced a radical change themselves. So if you can't understand such change, you might interpret it as a red flashing warning sign that you should change more. (The first break-up is always the hardest because we can’t understand how someone could change. And then we change and understand how. :)

8. I wish our society valued leaving things we weren’t passionate as much as it values finding a new passion. I wish it valued people quitting a job more than accepting a job. Let’s be real. It takes far more courage to quit a job that no longer does it for you than to start one that might. We should reflect that in our society. (In case it’s not obvious, religious society should really really really really really really really reflect it.)

7. I’ve always said it’s easier to start fresh than to try and change something. I still hold to it. Part of what made Branches so cool was that it was brand new. I would argue that “brand new” smell kept it going for about 5 years. It was then people started to get bored, you could see it. They started to go to the next shiny thing. It was way more work to keep people. This is way bigger than “churches”. We spend a lot of time trying to change stuff only because we’re afraid of killing stuff and then starting over. Which I understand, but I wonder if it’s better to kill things and let something new grow - which is ironically much of the Jesus story, in my opinion.

6. This is a very “Christian” one so I apologize for those of you who don’t care. But there’s this verse in the Bible that might be the most confusing and controversial verse there is: it basically says that whomever blasphemies the Holy Spirt commits the unforgivable sin - which is no small thing. I mean, that’a a giant verse and concept and it’s one that most people say - well if you’re worried about doing it, you haven’t done it. (Just to let kids sleep at night.) But I have a new take on it. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come and teach after he left. (Again, if you’re not a Christian that sounds weird but if you think of a guru saying “hey don’t worry about learning new stuff after I’m dead, there is mystery of the Universe - the spirit of humanity and creation and learning - she’ll come and tell you more than you can imagine. Just pay attention to her.) Anyway, my take is this; if you want to start getting close to unforgivable sins, start thinking you have nothing left to learn. That’s dangerous fucking territory.

5. Speaking of Christian… Am I a Christian? It’s funny how often I hear some form of “people are wondering.. is Ryan even a Christian anymore…” from someone. Let’s put this in language we understand these days: If Christianity were a brand I’d be boycotting it. I wouldn’t support it. I wouldn’t buy from it. I wouldn’t endorse it. I think it’s a garbage brand, honestly, that stands for more atrocious things than good things and I think more people should boycott it so that it goes out of business (literally).

4. They say food takes a few weeks to leave your system. I think jobs might take a couple of years. I left that job 2 1/2 years ago and feel like it took a long time for the habits, the chemical releases, the ego, the attachments, and just the whole phase of life to leave. That stuff gets imbedded in us and it takes a lot of work to break off those crusty chunks of metal that form around our core identities so that we can find who we are, again, without that job.

3. People generally first believe what they want to believe and they make the evidence fit what they want to believe. People are incredibly susceptible to good con-men (and woman) - by the way the word con came from confidence - especially con men who are selling them something they really want to believe. In other words people are kind of stupid unless they work really hard to not be. A lot of people in a lot of churches don't work very hard to not be stupid - they just make all the evidence fit with what the con man is telling them - and that scares me more than anything. Was I ever that con-man? Probably.

2. Along those lines… there is a very fine line between you aren’t right and you aren’t right…yet… and only time will tell the difference between those two. I do know that if no one ever risks not being “right” than there is no chance of ever being right eventually. In other words, I said things that people didn’t respond too well to until years later and they’ve said to me “I guess you were right back then.” Some things they still haven't responded well to. Maybe I was wrong. Or maybe it wasn’t or still isn’t the right time, but, again, it will only be the right time if someone is wrong at some point. Every eventual right starts with a wrong. (I have no more ways to say the same thing.) Except, this isn’t about being right and wrong either - it’s about evolving the world.

1. My dad has said a few times that a “church” should just close its doors after 10 years. I couldn’t agree more. But I think it speaks to something bigger. A decade is no joke. It’s probably smart to take a good look at whatever we’ve been doing for a decade and really see if we should still be doing it. It’s probably good to give humans more options to leave things they’ve been doing for a decade than pressure to keep them in it (i.e. politicians, pastors, C.E.O.’s, etc…)

I feel like my life has kind of rolled along in 10 year chunks. Game Design. Pastor. Now. I don’t really know what now is… yet. Maybe that’s because it feels like the 10 year pastor chunk has just really ended (although it was about 12) or maybe because the next chunk is more of a not knowing chunk. Either way I’m excited about it. I hope you are excited about whatever chunk you’re in or about to be in or wrapping up.

learn from Poyais.

The year was 1823 when the first settlers arrived to Poyais.

Poyais, they had been told, was a fertile land filled with plentiful water and rich soil. The capital was St. Joseph, home to 1500 people, and built with stunning European design of opera houses, banks, and more. It had been a long journey, crossing the Atlantic Ocean and they had given up everything to get to Poyais, because, after all, who wouldn’t want to go and live in Paradise, especially with some kind of leadership position?

Long story, short, most of the “settlers” died from disease, shipwrecks, and overall depression at being deceived in a giant con. Poyais didn’t exist and never had. One would be tempted to say it was the greatest con in history but there are lots more.

Gregor MacGregor ran the con. He convinced hundreds of smart people to sell everything they had, quit their jobs, and give him money for the chance to live in Poyais. He developed a brilliant marketing campaign (propaganda) with pamphlets, fake money, great stories, amazing pictures, and books to prove how great a place Poyais was and that you should hurry to get your place on a boat that was going there to help settle it.

You can google the story or go read the amazing book Truth: A Brief History of Total Bullsh•t by Tom Phillips, from which I pretty much stole all of the above. You should read the book.

Later Phillips references another book The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle (from the reviews it looks pretty bad) in which the author studied the profile of con artists and came to this conclusion:

Some of the traits she identifies are unsurprising: con artists are lacking in empathy, narcissistic, greedy and self-justifying. When caught, they will deny and deflect, blaming just about anybody else rather than taking responsibility. They often justify their actions with the belief that they’re simply reflecting the behavior of others: everyone else is crooked, too, and the victims deserved it because they were equally greedy and corrupt.

But that’s not all. In addition, con artists often have what Frankel calls an “addiction to unrealistic dreams and overwhelming ambitions”; comparing the skills of the con artist to that of an actor, she suggests, “It may well be that con artists act the character they have long been dreaming of.”

And then this:

“Their belief can make them believable.”

All that to say I spend a lot of time wondering how the hell people can actually support and believe Donald Trump, after all this time and all these lies. But, it’s not that hard, really, we’re desperate to believe fantasy, especially fantasies that promise some kind of utopian life that can be ours. We want to believe it so badly that we will believe any kind of lunatic who offers us the opportunity to get it.

Of course, the same could be said of Biden and every leader and every visionary and every religious figure. Which is probably smart to spend a few cycles thinking on.

For now, beware of anyone promising Poyais, especially narcissistic, greedy ones that never take responsibly for anything and think everyone around them is as greedy and corrupt as they are. You might end up broke with malaria in the jungles of Honduras and not much else.

of course they would.

Just a simple thought experiment again. (One that’s been done a few times before.)

If a guy showed up claiming we should treat everyone equally, that money is perhaps the most dangerous thing, even more dangerous than power, that violence and guns are never the answer, that immigrants are welcome, that love is more important than anything else - like actually anything else… and that the religious in America are generally egotistically, hypocritical, jack asses… who would want to kill him?

Probably not the liberal atheists. Probably not the Hollywood elite. Probably not even most Democrats.

I would wager most evangelicals would want to.

And it’s crazy that when this guy showed up 2,000 years ago with basically the same message he also added, you’ll know them by what kind of choices they make in their lives… not what kind of god they profess to believe in.

Anyway…

is looting violence?

I was just reading through this article which attacks a defender of looting and I had a realization: yes, violence never wins, but is looting violence?

I think there is where the real divide on pro-looting vs anti-looting comes in or maybe better said, it seems like “proper” looting should be defined.

Is it violent to burn down buildings? What if insurance pays to rebuild the shop?

Is it violent to break a window and steal items? What if the company is worth millions? What if the company is a small business? What if both are compensated for their losses?

Is it violent to harm humans? (I think we’d all agree… no.)

Is it violent to harm humans in an attempt to defend the burning down of buildings? (not sure we all agree.)

Is it violent to break stuff (like tables in a temple)?

Is it violent to break a law (Gandhi Salt Laws)?

I certainly don’t have the answers. But I know in our run for non-violent third way alternatives (which I agree with) we sometimes have to take the time to better define “violence” rather than assume we’re all on the same page.