If you are seeing subtle violence daily, or feeling at odds yourself, know it’s not unique to you. Something from the vaccine is afoot and has people nervous, jumpy and markedly on edge. Society must maintain a sense of calm during these unpredictable times. Demand that the government share what they know. Demand the truth. Demand new levels of standards for yourself. And be safe among the savagery that has befallen America and stay frosty!
Pathocracy: Ruling by Psychological Dysfunction
Cluster B Personality Disorder is the combination of four specific psychopathologies: narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder.
Everywhere you turn now you see a sickness plaguing society, yet there is an amplification when it comes to politicians, who are the most deranged class. Their moral theatrics are based in narcissism, psychodrama, and antisocial tendencies. These are often paired with histrionics, resulting in the profile of Cluster B Personality Disorder. For those in positions of power, this is a pathocracy, ruling by psychological dysfunction. Cluster Bs are the most effective at controlling others. Their thoughts, what they say, how they act, all while changing the new social order to reflect their own desires. Cluster Bs have infiltrated world leadership, academia, middle management, human resources, the court systems, even low-level Karen positions like librarians. They share a strong sense of self-righteousness and a strong need for affirmation.
The single most important political goal for Cluster Bs is to beat down opponents while never actually solving problems or answering societal questions. Progress is never made as that is not the goal. The focus becomes one of growing obsessions with victimization and safety, or more esoteric concepts of systematic injustice and past traumas. These invisible threats validate the growing self-pity, leading to unhealthy thinking and a collective mental crisis. The pushback becomes the message, making others feel uncomfortable if there is any dissent to the normalizing of, say, gender dysphoria or new ideals of beauty and health.
Borderline personality types are able to quietly transfer their own psychopathology onto their children, like the politicians’ transfer onto the citizenry. Narcissistic identity rituals manifest in widespread victimology. This justifies terror and violence, like the George Floyd riots. This authoritarianism supports the violent personality types, grooming mentally unwell people who want to transform the world into their image. It may be tempting to laugh at the histrionics of a small minority of the populace but there is grave concern as society has become this sick. Our worst instincts have kicked in, with a sense of appeasement toward the deranged. It’s as if society is close to the brink of fully succumbing to the oral theatrics and psychodrama.
For the disillusioned the camera is always on. The audience is there for you wherever you go. The psychological traits of the Cluster B have reshaped culture and the structure of American life. Merit has been replaced with victimhood, while compliance is achieved through false compassion and virtue signaling. If you don’t obey there is a threat of personal violence, while disputes are settled with accusations. Masculinity is condemned as toxic while there is an obsession with one’s own importance. These were once characteristics of the fringes of society but now they are incorporated into everyday life by the ruling class, the institutions, and the media. Any dissent by the citizens results in being labeled as bigots or nazis. This resulting thought control dictates how we act. Competence is replaced with ideology, as political discourse devolves into theatrical accusations and compassion-coded antagonism. The goal is to browbeat opponents by making them feel guilty for believing anything other than the official narrative. Rather than healthy debate there is a push for therapeutic concepts like systematic injustice and lingering trauma. Self-pity is further validated through a feminized bureaucracy, resulting in a growing mental health crisis, something most people are not ready to talk about. The more it is indulged the more it replicates, as there is a leaning into it, because trying to reverse course would result in more threats. The hysteria and narcissism are celebrated and normalized.
Dysmorphia remakes ugliness as the new ideal. This is spread online causing an explosion in gender confusion. Politicians have deliberately broken the containment on the social contagions as they want the chaos. State bureaucracy has succumbed to authoritarianism through a rationalization that everyone is fucked up and needs big government, but they left out those who are not afflicted. They forgot about those who refuse to be remade in their image. In order to find a way out of this we must counter the emotional falsifications, realize that blackmail is rampant in politics and that manipulation is being played out in all realms of society. If we do not restore balance then our time as a self-governing people will be over for good.
I am bi-poc. I am gay. I am trans. I am queer. I am black. I have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. I am a cis-male. My pronouns are hold/the line.
America is Unfuckwithable
It feels as if we're characters in a dystopian Tennison Long novel. Our reality resembles a crumbling palace where time-honored societal norms have been summarily cast aside, leaving us suspended between the Stone Age and medieval times. Meanwhile, Big Pharma conducts an ongoing, ethically questionable experiment on the public. Their actions have an underlying air of illegality, and those who don't conform realize that the ultimate act of defiance is opting out.
In this post-postmodern America, there's a subtle call to resist conformity at all costs because unquestioningly following orders might lead to one's downfall. It's like the harrowing moments during the Twin Towers' evacuation, when loudspeakers instructed people to return to their office floors, or the Maui barricades blocking exits. Survival often means driving a different path.
The ongoing suspicion, almost a paranoia, is not unfounded. When your instincts tell you something, it's crucial to pay attention. Your gut doesn't embellish or serve corporate interests; it's there for your survival and rejects attempts at manipulation.
The constant barrage from the thought police, with their cleverly crafted language, must be steadfastly ignored. Your survival depends on not heeding their commands, which can harm your health and financial well-being. It's better to remain cautious and inactive than fall for their cognitive dissonance and manufactured emotions, which could lead to a figurative heart attack.
For a more optimistic perspective, we have the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, steadfast documents that protect against encroaching ideologies. If your viewpoint is limited by mainstream media, it's no wonder you might feel depressed, trapped in a state of inaction by the talking heads. True relief comes from connecting with nature, stepping away from devices, perhaps engaging in forest bathing or grounding with bare feet on sand or grass. This distance from perceived problems allows you to sift through the layers of deception thrown your way.
Remember, unless your town is hit by a direct nuclear strike, you will endure this crisis, the next, and the never-ending cycle of fresh outrage. Succumbing to this cycle would make you a willing victim. But if you step back, you'll see the technofascists for what they are: puppets manipulated by others with swiftly waning agendas. Their own unpopularity undermines the facade of modern American life, which has become a theatrical display of anger, impending doom, lockdowns, mandates, currency devaluation, and repeated failures.
Laugh at these sound bites. They're dead on arrival. Climate fears, 15-minute cities, the end of meat—see these as failures and chuckle. It's easier for people of faith, as politics occupies a lower rung in their hierarchy of needs. It's understandable that the faithless cling to politics as if seeking new prophets.
If we stand for freedom while shedding any lingering sense of helplessness, the idea of America's imminent demise becomes less plausible. Upon reflection, one might even believe that America has no way to go but up. Regardless of the circus of five hundred and thirty-six corrupt individuals in the federal government, there are nearly four hundred million citizens, including combat veterans, overburdened parents, hardworking laborers, devoted immigrants, and those who have been wronged. Armed with the legacy of frontier pioneers, gold miners, cowboys, and indigenous peoples, they represent the essence of the Magna Carta. Nobody is ready to give up on America that easily. Perhaps there are a few so-called "lizard people" who are involved in nefarious activities, but their attempts at peddling parenting and medical advice are outlandish.
Remember, we are swifter than them, quicker than their illicit tactics. We possess all the tools, while they rely on the artifice of tyrannical inclinations. Embrace the absurd and refuse to let America be tampered with. Without humor, everything may seem bleak and dire, so our task is to find humor again, especially in the ongoing circus that surrounds us. People are strange and we are all strangers in this journey called life. Some are doing well, while others are living on the streets. Let the fear of impending doom motivate you to wake up each morning, and may your definition of the good life be based on how your day unfolds.
The Quiet Death of the Term LATINX
The Quiet Demise of the Term 'Latinx': Unpacking Its Controversies and Evolution
In recent years, the term "Latinx" emerged as an inclusive alternative to describe individuals of Latin American descent, particularly in the United States. Its aim was to challenge traditional gendered language and create a more gender-neutral and progressive identity. However, despite gaining some traction, the term has experienced a quiet demise, with limited acceptance within the Latinx community and facing criticisms for its disconnect from linguistic and cultural realities. Let’s explore its evolution and fading relevance.
The term "Latinx" emerged in academic and activist circles as an attempt to move away from gendered language prevalent in Spanish, where nouns are classified as masculine or feminine. The "x" in Latinx aimed to encompass individuals who do not identify strictly as male or female or to challenge the binary gender structure altogether. By proposing a more inclusive term, advocates sought to address the marginalization of non-binary, genderqueer, and gender non-conforming individuals within the Latin American and Hispanic community.
Despite its well-intentioned purpose, the term "Latinx" has faced significant pushback and limited acceptance within the community it seeks to represent. One of the main criticisms is its imposition from predominantly English-speaking, U.S.-based activists and academics onto Spanish-speaking communities. This top-down approach disregards the linguistic nuances and cultural context inherent in the Spanish language. Moreover, surveys and studies have shown that the majority of Spanish speakers, including those of Latin American descent, are unfamiliar with the term "Latinx" or do not identify with it. For many, it feels foreign and disconnected from their linguistic and cultural identities. This lack of resonance has led to a divide between the term's advocates and the broader Latinx community, reinforcing the perception of it as an imported construct.
Another critique of "Latinx" revolves around the erasure of femininity within the language. Critics argue that the term fails to acknowledge the power of feminine identity and the historical struggles of women within Latin American and Hispanic communities. Instead, it replaces the feminine form, "Latina," with a gender-neutral variant that dilutes the uniqueness and strength of women's experiences.
As the limitations and controversies of the term "Latinx" became more apparent, a shift towards alternative and more organic linguistic developments has emerged. Some have turned to "Latiné" or "Latine," which aims to respect the gender-neutrality while maintaining linguistic coherence with the Spanish language. These alternatives preserve the feminine and masculine forms while acknowledging non-binary and genderqueer individuals. However, it remains uncertain whether these terms will gain widespread acceptance.
Additionally, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of regional and cultural nuances within the Latin American and Hispanic community. Acknowledging the diverse identities, languages, and histories within the community becomes crucial in creating a truly inclusive environment. While the term "Latinx" was initially heralded as a progressive and inclusive solution, its quiet death signifies a need for a more thoughtful and nuanced approach to language and identity. The imposition of a foreign construct onto a linguistic and cultural landscape has ultimately proven alienating to many within the Latin American and Hispanic community. As we move forward, it becomes essential to foster conversations and engage in inclusive language practices that respect the richness of cultural identities and empower marginalized voices without erasing the experiences of others.
There Are No Strangers, Only Prospects: How MLMs May Ruin Your Life
You might be urged to stop paying bills in order to invest in the dream. The urgency of buying more inventory may override your most basic needs, paying utilities and car insurance. The self-employment hook of you as glorified sales consultant selling over-hyped products, joining a supportive tribe of like-minded entrepreneurs, people just like you, stay-at-home moms, hustlers, and others who want to make an extra two thousand a month. Your only hurdle may be the initial buy-in, usually in the thousands, but this can be borrowed from family members or extended on a credit card. Whatever it will take, say yes today! Your future self will thank you.
Economic opportunities are afforded to those who actively seek economic liberty. Is it all too good to be true when you are now cast as the legitimate business person you always saw yourself as. Welcome to the world of Multi Level-Marketing, or MLM, a business model fed as part of the American dream since the 1960s. A fantastical existence of fancy cars, making it rain while being at home with your children, setting your own hours, and the ambition to make your own money now. MLMs, or “social selling” or “direct sales,” are pitched as a promise of a better life because now you have economic freedom. However, the pitch of quick income, often from the comfort of your phone, is quickly debunked with the stark reality that signing on quite possibly will plunge you further into debt and alienate you from friends and family.
Multi Level-Marketing has been part of the American business fabric for years and is constantly rebranded. This is due in part to technology, but mostly to shed the stigma of the pyramid scam label. Some of the more well-known companies include Avon, Amway, Mary Kay, Pampered Chef, Herbalife, Rodan + Fields, and LuLaRoe. These brands have been pitched as women’s empowerment but in reality are disempowering in the personal loss of large amounts of money. The Federal Trade Commission’s own website declares that 99% of all aspiring entrepreneurs lose money when joining an MLM. That means only 1% can squeeze out a profit. Those are perhaps the hardest odds one can face in business. Starting your own restaurant would offer you a higher chance at success.
MLMs sell themselves to the public with loaded language of self-empowerment and products that relate to wellness or beauty. What started in the 1950s with Tupperware, targeted to stay-at-home moms, has morphed into a millennial fever pitch of unattainable dreams of making a financial windfall from your phone and through your enviable social media influence. Because, after all, you slay as a mom boss and you can do anything, girl.
MLMs are not in conventional stores or online retailers, rather they are structured through networks of “associates” or “partners” who buy their inventory from “corporate” to sell to family or friends or followers of their socials. Profits are paid out on sales but the real push, and real money, is in the building of a “down line” network, a team that you amass through aggressive and consistent recruitment. Newly acquired “partners” will need to do the same to move up the ladder themselves. This ensures more payouts and commissions for all in the “upline.” To get around being defined as a pyramid scheme these companies pay out on sales and do not require recruitment of new members in order to make money. This is the difference and is important as pyramid schemes are illegal.
Adding to the hype is the MLM stressing how much back-end support associates receive from the home office, or “corporate.” Resources, talent, time...all at your disposal 24/7. This is ingrained into the indoctrination so that when you fail, or begin to question why the whole endeavor has become so difficult you are left gaslit, wondering what you did wrong since you have so much at your disposal. Carrot stick psychological ploys are constantly dangled like new cars or all-inclusive trips to Cancun. But remember, those manic achievers who do garner the success are only 1 percent of the “team.”
Thirty four percent of your social media friends are involved in an MLM. Rural America is the breeding ground for MLM flourishment. States like Colorado have more consultants than states like New York. This could be due to stay-at-home mom populations. Certainly there is more likelihood for “pleasure parties” or “pampered chef” meet-ups when these Sunday night events can best be arranged from card tables at bake sales or PTA meetings, even Target parking lots.
In 2012, the federal government unsuccessfully attempted to require MLMs to disclose documents which would weigh the risks of signing up. Big MLM companies fought legislation by sending in lobbyists with testimonials from their brainwashed consultants, adding how burdensome new paperwork would be. To this day, MLMs are not required to disclose any information related to the risks inherent to their endeavors. This of course leaves many without the front-end knowledge of how difficult the system will be--frankly, virtually impossible--and will leave the new consultant feeling alone, confused by their own inadequacy, and unable to bring up these new vulnerabilities with family or friends out of some “told you so” shame. Furthermore, the full outing of companies is quieted by non-disparagement agreements that are signed with the initial paperwork when joining the MLM.
MLMs began with scarcity a factor of retail life. In the 1960s, many Americans were limited on where they could buy certain products like Tupperware or makeup. Under this new direct-to-consumer model, convenience and supply were the selling point. There simply were not alternatives and MLMs were able to thrive. With the advent of social media, “associates” can now bring you the sale digitally, from the comfort of their pajamas or hanging out with their kids. This potential for profits model of hashtag “stay-at-home mom boss” ethos is what appeals to so many who sign on. Yet, in the end, the perpetrators are also victims. In the recruitment of family members and desperate friends, they have bought into the lifestyle you have begun portraying online. Without fully analyzing it, these folks who you have recruited, now placed in your downline, have now become competitors in who is targeted in your limited, and ever-shrinking, potential buyer pool.
Positive emails are constantly sent from corporate, with messages of freedom, of your hustle, and your personal branding of #mompreneur. A tidal wave of optimism is cast to offset the inner-voice of growing vulnerability and swelling shame. In this gaslighting you are left to wonder what is it that you do not get. What is wrong with you? How is it so much easier for others? All the while not knowing every single one involved is in the same boat and share the same insecurities as you. The new “social selling” modeled businesses emphasize friendship with other “associates” by hosting meet-ups in fancy hotel meeting rooms where everyone is encouraged to take pictures of each other for use on their social media profiles. With a newly formed group of friends, you are left with another tribe to not let down, your new MLM squad. This builds to the existing pressure from your immediate family who believed in you from day one when you came home and explained the initial buy-in.
In the barrage of emails are offers for new investments, with coded confusing language, just enough to confuse the associate that they simply need to buy more to buffer up their inventory, because we all know that the big sellers maintain big inventories. There is additional hype and fear of missing out (FOMO) from the others in the squad, via social media groups or from lavish posts of growing success.
The massive disconnect that exists in MLMs is that regular, often inexperienced, people are recruited then provided zero small-business training. All that is offered is hype and dreams of endless success. Any inner-voice that whispers, but if this was so easy why isn’t everyone doing it?, is suppressed with the secretive allure of this particular business model, one-of-a-kind product, or amazing founder. Why would you want everyone in on the secret?
If you are thinking that MLMs are cult-like you are correct. Much of the language used is from successful cult tactics. There is training to avoid those who may be adverse to the business model. There is talk of haters and the need to steer clear from them. There is the threat that if you suddenly speak ill of the MLM that you will be shamed by your new squad of associates. Even if you were to open up about having a difficult time with your business, you may be talked down to and told you are not trying hard enough and you need more inventory or downline sign-ups.
And suddenly when you think you need to finally give in, you are rewarded with some new unbelievable offer that you cannot refuse. Maybe a buy one get one free, or 20% off and free shipping. The dopamine hit is similar to when you are about to walk away from the slot machine but decide to keep playing. When you finally are burnt out enough to quit you are told once you pull the plug, there will be no more commissions from your downline, there will be no opportunity to re-sign up, and you will be stuck with whatever inventory you have to sell on your own, without corporate support. Most MLMs do not allow for online sales of their products by former associates, meaning any listing on ebay or craigslist violates the original terms you signed up for and corporate will have these listings removed.
There is a kool-aid factor to buying into the machine of MLMs. That suspended belief in thinking it will be easy money. For this, there is nobody to blame. Then there is the added hyped-up enthusiasm to sign up those in your life who may be even more vulnerable. There is immense pressure to bring friends and family into this new network, with the downside being that they are now trapped, and have you in their sights for advice and guidance. Your enthusiasm must remain in a constant manic state for the entire ruse to work. And you must suspend any compassion for those people who can neither afford your product or have zero business signing on as an associate. Because, through it all, you know that you are struggling yourself. Like the disconnect of the image you are portraying online as a successful mompreneur you now have to disconnect the selling of goods to people who cannot afford them.
There has been a collective manipulation of the aspiring entrepreneur in the selling of the MLM dream. This dream consists of minimal time spent with maximum reward in return. A dream that consists of all-expenses paid trips to Las Vegas and new Lexuses gifted with the ascension of the corporate ladder. There is a deliberate targeting of the most naive and gullible among us, those who will not question the viability of such business endeavors. It’s almost a pitch for the hopeless to find a glimmer of hope to attach themselves to, and in this carrot stick they will not question their own failures and insecurities to avoid standing out. It is a game of well-designed psychological guilting, and without the regulations or warnings in place they will continue to prosper and the end result will be 99% of those involved losing money.
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The Homeless Industrial Complex
Homeless normativity is not a known term as it is something I made up, meaning that politicians and local authorities have allowed for a normalizing of homelessness through telling the cops to no longer enforce laws like illegal camping, littering, panhandling, or public defecation. This has gone on in coastal state big cities for the last several years and has allowed for the initial shock of homelessness, that “I need to do something” mindset of volunteering to hand out food or donate the clothes you never wear, to an acceptance that clothing and food will not help and that the sympathetic hobo-like bums of yore are now a more zombified set and not to be approached. It’s as if homelessness has become mainstream, no longer an outlier underground element of society. In this acceptance by local government--but not necessarily you--there is the phenomenon that if you speak ill of these folks that you are a bigot and discriminating against a group that needs your unlimited patience and big hearted compassion. There is an added narrative of urban camping and a nostalgia for bucking the trend of 9 to 5 and being off the grid, resulting in a romanticized bent to it regardless of the apocalyptic conditions.
The mystery of this apathy can be explained in an invisible threat to America’s democracy, the Homeless Industrial Complex. The term, co-opted from Eisenhower’s Military Industrial Complex, may prove to be more difficult to unravel than its military version.
The HIC (Homeless Industrial Complex) has proven to perpetuate homelessness through an alliance of special interest groups, local bureaucracies, advocacy groups, even construction developers. The most formidable and largest of scale example of this is when politicians use public money to build, via private developer, some form of housing, like apartment complexes or renovating an inner-city building into SRO (single room occupancy). Local agencies collect development fees, and a non-profit is contracted to run the property for the undetermined remaining life of the property. The problem, of course, is the exorbitant costs for this process. The product ends up being well over the price of any private, competitive construction endeavor. Then the people hired to run the properties operate under an extensive system of bureaucratic costs of high salaries, outreach campaigns, catered lunch meetings, and, yes, corruption.
A narrative is pushed in these affected coastal states that the homeless crisis is a housing crisis, not a mental health or drug addiction crisis. That places like California have become too expensive for regular people to afford housing. The marked absence of any mention of mental illness or unhinged opioid addiction, should negate this HIC narrative. Furthermore the majority of money does not go to addressing homelessness, but to payrolls, mismanagement and waste. In places like San Francisco and Seattle there is a trendy debate about these high wealth areas correlating a striking inequality. This is perfect fodder for virtue signaling and calls for socialism. Other elements of identity politics and the New Woke Order can then be brought into the fold, through blaming the root cause of homelessness on things like institutional racism, even climate change. None of this talk will ever solve the problem, only lead to more baseless talking points that create confusion and a smokescreen for the HIC which employs many of these same people.
The official number of how many homeless people exist is important because of federal funding. Currently in California there are over 150,000. But the counts can be flawed, with a system of literally counting only those seen out in public. This is called the “point-in-time” count and is the official method conducted every two years by HUD. Of course those tasked with counting will miss out on individuals who are hiding from the elements, those out of sight for their own safety, or those who are living in forests or on river banks. Furthermore, the count is flawed by the definition of homeless. Are homeless families living in vehicles counted? How many people are in that large tent? The counters are volunteers and cannot be expected to knock on every makeshift abode.
Homelessness in California has become a crisis. State legislators, the governor, and most mayors have suggested the problem has been overblown. Some officials have even suggested that the number of homeless has decreased. They site HUD data from 2017 that claims a 3.4 percent drop in the California homeless population. Of course, any visit to the urban core of any major California city will dispute this claim with your own eyeballs. Regardless of numbers, the crisis is very real and exploding in its urgency. California’s response to the crisis is textbook of how to allow negligence and apathy to further expand the problem.
Policy failure has allowed for the money allotted to the state to be funneled into bureaucratic channels of corruption and not directly to assist and aid those who are most vulnerable in society. This big bureaucracy consists of lawsuits, ballot measures, development proposals and NIMBY (not in my backyard) responses from tax-paying residents. There is a subtle campaign by local media to vilify those who do not want a homeless “shelter” or other bridge housing built in their neighborhood, or near their schools. Finally, homeless housing costs on average $150,000 per person per unit to build (one project in East Hollywood had a price tag of $440,000 per unit). For this price a new 3-bedroom home could be built, multiple times. One must ask, where is all of this money going? These costs are unsustainable yet any voiced concern is squashed by homeless advocates who will shout down any opposition.
In Sacramento, the mayor has a stand down order in place over the local police. He has told his police force to not detain or run out of town any of the homeless, instead to move them around town if they are a nuisance. Of course this is not in writing but has been relayed by police officers when pressed why they cannot do more. Camping on sidewalks is allowed as long as one third of the sidewalk is clear for people to pass. Often this is not enough space for wheelchairs or strollers to pass. Open fires are permitted as long as the purpose of the fire is for “warmth” or for “heating food.” No enforcement of public indecency when urinating or defecating in public. Also in Sacramento, there has been a recent court ruling which reinstates legalized panhandling, which had been considered a crime for years. The result of these lax policies is a gaslighting of the public, leaving normal citizens to begin to accept strange and dangerous new settings within what was once much safer neighborhoods.
The biggest impediment for law enforcement to be able to do their job is the 2006 case of Jones vs the City of Los Angeles. This ruling made it illegal to enforce the ban on sleeping on a sidewalk, camping or simply lying spread out in public, if there are not alternatives in housing, meaning a shelter bed somewhere available for them. If you can connect the dots to this point--all conspiracies aside--this is an essential legal ruling in tasking local government with a mandate to build housing.
Most of the homeless population have mental illnesses that are going untreated. Because of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act of 1967, signed by then-governor Ronald Reagan, it was no longer legal to institutionalize individuals indefinitely, including those with developmental disabilities and mental illness. This is when, regardless of political affiliation, one must ask where is the compassion for these folks? Surely if they were ever in a clear state of mind they would ask why government failed them so badly.
New threats from the homeless crisis now involve medieval disease epidemics. While billions are being spent on housing that will only accommodate a small percentage of the population, rats, fleas and humans are spreading typhus and tuberculosis. There is a California state ban on rodenticide, which does not allow for the use of rat poisons that contain anticoagulants. This has led to an explosion in the California rat population. Uncollected trash piles are the breeding ground for rats that have somehow garnered more importance than the safety of our human population. Outbreaks of lice and Shigella (a contagious diarrhea) are rampant.
Something that does not fit the narrative of the mainstream media is the violent side to the homeless crisis. That dark element when insanity’s proximity to normalcy brings about a violent end. In Long Beach, an elderly woman was bludgeoned to death by a homeless person who used an electric scooter as a weapon. Months after this occurred another elderly person, this time a man aged 75, was bludgeoned to death in Los Angeles by another homeless man. Even the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento was broken into by a homeless man. Yes, at 2am with the First Lady home, guarded by several of her CHP security detail, a homeless guy went unnoticed and got into the residence’s kitchen where he spent some time. He had cut himself so badly that he left. It wasn’t until the morning that anyone knew he had been there. CHP were able to locate him at a local hospital because he had cut himself so badly breaking in. These are only a small sample of the stories of ultraviolence that the politicians and their mouthpiece media do not want you to know about.
Some solutions that may help, if even in the slightest:
Reunification programs. With the power of social media, launch an effort to find family members of the homeless to see if they can help or provide needed information. There might just be a daughter or a son in another state that would like to take in their long-lost estranged parent. San Diego has a reunification program that has re-connected 1,700 people since 2011.
Bussed out. Homeward Bound is a successful program in of all places, San Francisco. They provide a free one-way bus ticket to a destination of choice, up to a thousand dollars is added as an incentive. Often, homeless people do not want to be in the city that they are in but have no means for travel. This program, in San Francisco alone, helps 2,000 per year leave the City by the Bay.
Create small opportunities for employment. This may simply be getting them cleaned up enough to conduct local clean-up campaigns, attacking litter and graffiti, much of it driven by their counterparts.
Build mental institutions. This 40-year experiment has not worked now we need to bring the institutions back. This need is no different than many other nations that have mental institutions in place. Much of the money that is currently squandered in HIC can be just as easily squandered within these new mental institutions, much like the VA.
More law and order. Allow police to enforce the existing laws on the books, then begin the process of making more of this outlandish behavior illegal.
For many the current homeless crisis has been an abstract problem or nothing more than a nuisance when visiting a downtown area for work or recreation. If you are not within proximity of an encampment or haven’t been affected by a proposed housing development in your neighborhood, it may only be a matter of time. As we await the perfect storm of government apathy and corruption, the disease outbreak is a ticking time bomb that will affect every single Californian.
The Five Pillars of American Dysfunction
Reeling from five key dysfunctional behaviors, America is under a spell of apathy toward a slow building threat of an unknown future.
Violence.
Addiction.
Obesity.
Narcissism.
Connection.
There is difficulty in the eradication of such debilitation as the root causes may vary, but the end results are the same: a moral recession building to a possible total collapse of our virtue and force for ability. Flashing neon signs are lit up in our faces with the symptoms laid out before us, but it need not come to an explosive head if we can curtail the slow creeping of inactivity in due time.
American dysfunction grows without government intervention. It’s as if the government is in on the gig and seeks out the end result of a semi-collapsed society too tired and morally bankrupt to challenge the status quo.
This is not about fat-shaming or an annoying call for intervention, rather a small nudging wake up call to inform that the continued growing pathway is not sustainable for our nation. It is not sustainable for you. And it is especially not sustainable for the ambient environment that surrounds us all.
In our inability to refrain we go hardest in our consumption. We are Americans after all. It is what we do and nobody does it as well.
We are all guilty. Sometimes it’s nothing more than our ignorance to the problems of others and an unawareness of their suffering. Often we are willfully ignorant and decide it’s easier to ignore the problems of today as reality is too painful. Our moral alibi game is strong and we find valid excuses for our indifference. Too busy, didn't notice, it’s all about the now and not the future.
In the blissful ignorance we survive and often short-term thrive, so why bother with being woke when everyone around you continues on without a regard for consequences? If you look through your day-to-day you find a constant imagery and noise that arrest your attention, if even for countless brief moments, and worrisome thoughts that are difficult to shake. In this is an epiphany for revival. Yet in this transformation the government will not be offering assistance. The most elusive shift in how we see the world and ourselves is the conflict in all that we do and this conflict we constructed on our own. A desire for things and relationships we often cannot possess. We want to bond with others in order to survive yet our beliefs are rooted in conflicting ideologues. We have become lost in valuing self over relationships, and individual success over societal well-being. We have hijacked our bodies through emotion over intellectual discernment, and this has devalued the core of our communal bonding, leading to a full disconnect from the buffer around us. The bonds of society are fully frayed and in this nerve damage there is a blighting for the big picture. What led us here? The evidence abounds in the end result. Consequences are dire. Potential solutions must start with you. An anemic love the new tough love, as we must seek out a revolution of tenderness that begins with self-care, then the outward projection will follow suit.
More American women have been killed by their partner than soldier deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq from 2001 to present. A person is abused every 9 seconds. Suicide is the third leading cause of death. Thirty Americans are murdered every day with guns. Twenty american children are shot every day. One in six adult women, and one in ten girls under 18, have been raped. More than four children die each day from child abuse. Annually there are ten million property crimes with losses of $10 billion. We average one mass shooting per day in America. Violence costs the US economy $1.7 trillion per year. Yet American violence remains a cottage industry for law enforcement and the incarceration machine.
Americans consume eighty percent of the globe’s painkiller supply, yet we are only five percent of the world population. Seventeen million adults suffer from alcoholism and nearly 90,000 die from it each year. Drug abuse led to five million ER visits last year. Only eleven percent of addicts receive treatment for their substance abuse. Deaths from prescription medication outnumber deaths from traffic accidents. An American dies every nineteen minutes from a prescription drug overdose. Ten million addicts have mental illnesses. Ten thousand people each day try marijuana for the first time. Twenty percent of American adults are treated with prescription drugs for a psychiatric or behavioral disorder. Those who abuse prescription drugs are forty percent more likely to try heroin. Illicit drugs are used to cope with trauma, anxiety, and depression. Big Pharma runs Washington DC with six lobbyists per one politician. Let that sink in.
The obesity crisis is worsening. This is not fat-shaming, it’s just that fewer Americans are trying to lose weight. A leading factor is the extremely unhealthy American diet. Cheap, highly processed food is everywhere and easily available 24 hours. As activity levels continue to decrease, lethargy is becoming commonplace. Sleep deprivation is a culprit in obesity as over seventy million Americans, many of whom are unaware of their sleep disorders, are sleep-deprived and too tired for exercise. In the unconscious exhaustion hormones will dictate appetite for the worse. Obesity causes diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and strokes. Nearly $200 billion is spent annually tending to weight-related issues. Yet, the government continues to subsidize the junk food industry. One in three adults is obese and one in ten adults are considered to have extreme morbid obesity, while one in three children is overweight or obese. The federal government subsidizes corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, sorghum, milk, and meat. What do these foods have in common? They are all main ingredients of highly processed junk food that is readily, and cheaply, available everywhere, including public schools. Taxpayers are funding the sickening of America.
Narcissism, as many understand it, lends to an inflated view of self, but the more damaging aspect is the resulting indifference to others. Those who carry the narcissist trait fail to help or assist others unless there is something in it for them. Recognition or gain, they are easily ready to trample over others to get to the top because this is where they believe they belong. In this constant seeking out, the narcissist is left an unhappy person and with that unhappiness is sure to make those in their proximity as miserable as they are. Because of this, deep bonds and meaningful relationships are impossible and society as a whole suffers. Non-narcissists are revealed in their empathy and capacity to view life from various points of view. They care about the well-being of others, and this is the much needed foundation for a compassionate society. In the immediate post-World War II America there was a togetherness with an emphasis on conformity. Individuality was discouraged and the American verve was to lift up each other, foreign countries even. Look no further than the Marshall Plan. But then the Baby Boomers grew up with an unhinged plenitude of consumerism and in this abundance vanished group think, and a new kind of self-identification emerged. This narrative of self-worth manifested in the Me Decade from the mid-70s through the mid-80s. Boomers birthed Generation Xers and Ys who continued the indoctrination of heightened self-worth that carried into the digital age of smartphones and social media, resulting in self-obsessed Millennials and Generation Z. In the self-focused competition for likes and notifications a requisite for empathy was lost. Short-term self-sufficiency ran roughshod on any long-term mutual dependence. Look no further than our nation’s first internet troll president. Whether you love him or hate him (there is no in between), he demands and receives our undivided attention at all times. Think back on your life, at family members, at memorable teachers, first loves, significant co-workers and best friends, has there ever been anyone who was so deeply embedded into your psyche and at such frequency as Donald Trump? The constant megalomaniacal assault is bad for us as it sets a misguided standard of how we should seek out attention. Lost in this is a false sense of audience within our own lives, resulting in a deep disconnect between the virtual and the authentic. The final unfortunate byproduct is the epic amount of wasted energy on misdirected attention. This suspends our development, much like drug addiction does, and maintains an arrested development from further spiritual growth. The only hope is an individual effort at tuning out the noise and accepting one’s authentic role within the virtual context of one’s life.
Disconnected we have become and in this alienation is a fragmentation that contributes to many of society’s ills. A crisis of social isolation that has decreased empathy and heightened anxiety while weakening our collective happiness, bringing about more loneliness. We are in the early stages of a Cold Civil War. Labels and names are thrown around haphazardly with people calling one another racist or sexist, homophobic or xenophobic, without any validity to the labeling. This is called a kafka trap, when one is accused of a thought crime and then the denial is used as evidence of guilt. Incels and well-intentioned gentlemen are blurred together under the label of toxic masculinity. Slut-shaming has become commonplace. Identity politics confuse party stances by being established from points of rage instead of logic. You are forced to take sides by a gaslighting mainstream media that has hijacked and polarized your own thinking.
We are losing trust in one another as the vicious cycle spins out to the further edges of a misinformed society and in the lost connections the rates of inequality explode. We strain the health systems and incarceration rises. We seek refuge in self-medicating. Most of this is by design and you cannot rest or press pause because the fire is stoked throughout a twenty four hour noise cycle. Social trust is lost to a divide-and-conquer strategy.
There are no shortcut solutions to the dysfunction, only simple steps to address the core dilemmas of our days. No longer able to recall a copacetic time in our nation, when we functioned at our full potential, we are left recalling something of a distorted dream. Our remaining option is to change through re-adaptation. These methods are not simple but, once enacted, the change will come about. Success and prosperity drive all five of these dysfunctions, so it is vital to not fall into the comfort trap. Hard work forces modesty and modesty brings about humility which in turn settles the field through non-self-centered thinking and action. Too much hubris has brought on this national crisis. Reversing our selfish and voracious ways is the only option to right the ship. Do the opposite of what you have been told. Think on your own and do not believe what they tell you. Don’t buy what they are selling you. Seek out silence in the calm of your own repose.
Tennison Long is the author of the novels Glorious Verve and When We Ran The Master Plan. Visit www.tennisonlong.com to learn more.
Trigger Warning: The Upsides of Gentrification
Cities have long been considered the ultimate manifestation of humans. The intricacy of infrastructure, the engineered layout of roads, the beautiful design of antique houses. There has never been a more elaborate construct save for space travel. But the nests that we have built with the intricate systems for survival and comfort sometimes become abandoned because of sprawl, or because of undesirable conditions. Sometimes you just give in and walk away. For the last half century this has been happening across American urban cores. Yet now there is a renaissance for return, for gilding the neglected lily, an opportunity for re-use and a return to our urban roots.
The mere mention of “gentrification” should carry a trigger warning. What was once considered a racist reversal of white flight and class warfare, gentrification has now reaped huge benefits for the early residents of these neighborhoods. The idea that somehow poor neighborhoods become influxed with yuppies and their money is a bad thing is based in an emotional response and not economic facts. Let’s examine the upsides: a lowering of crime rates, an increase in property valuation and property tax, resulting in improved public resources and better local amenities, new dining and entertainment options, and a quixotic and ethnically diverse blending of varying socio-economic walks of life. The original poor and ingrained population does not always move out. In fact they usually stay for the duration, to reap and enjoy the awards of this supposed evil gentrification. If they were fortunate enough to have owned their homes they have likely tripled their original investment, if not multiple times over. This financial upside runs counter to the usual gripe that non-white neighborhoods lack for investments.
Gentrification brings money and people into historically depopulated neighborhoods. Without this influx the neighborhoods that have been historically labeled “poor,” will remain just that, poor. The blending of the lower income and minority populations with the bearded hipsters and deep pocket empty nesters brings a charming integration that provides for a boosting to the economy. The implied narrative that poor people should live with other poor people, and rich whitey should live with other rich whiteys is a segregationist impulse. Any assault to the status quo can be blamed on the evil gentrification. When the displacement of the poor, and their forcing out of the neighborhood, does not happen the result is their reaping of the benefits. The newly arrived suburbanite Diaspora bears the burden of new costs, like renovation, increased property tax, and investment in local small business. Jobs are created and the local economy can thrive even in the face of annoying millennial cheap chic. You know, that perfectly executed disheveled aesthetic that must be denied at all costs.
Opposing gentrification can sometimes be seen as nothing more than a glorified virtue signaling, a NIMBYism against white culture and hipsterdom. The addition of avocado toast to the cafe menu is nothing to fear as it is a trend and will be gone soon enough, making room for the next new Whitey craze. In other words, Becky’s brunch is not something institutional but rather it is as fleeting as the cool factor of her college tattoo.
Words bring with them emotion. Switch out “gentrification” with “renaissance” and what do you feel? The American cities that have been in decline for over half a century deserve any and all attention we can give them. Buying into the dream of urban sprawl just brings longer commutes, housing that lacks charm, four car garage McMansions, and a heightened and paranoiac sense of keeping up with the Joneses in the form of steroid-like retail therapy on the big box level. When we turn our gaze from the suburban horizon back to the local street we can affect change. The charm in the disfunction and the challenge to polish the patina only so much, to restore only to a point, to leave less of a footprint and more of a contribution. When gentrification is done right it can be a serum to what divides us as a nation. Race, politics, religion, poverty and neglect. A coexisting done right survives for the long haul and resets us to our original settler mindframes of city building and integration. It is as if we have come full circle on the experiment of the American city and the reason it feels comfortable and familiar is because we have been here before.
Potlash: Normalizing Idiocy
With the legalization of marijuana we, as a society, have accepted a furthering of idiocy and lethargy never before seen by mankind. The most widespread and prolifically abused drug, Marijuana brings in the wake of its usage a decrease in productivity, a slowing down of function, and a severe lack of motivation. Pot’s psychoactive elements rewire the brain. With the new structural brain changes come permanent cognitive effects. The brain’s amygdala region shrinks, causing a diminished processing of fear and reward. Studies have shown a 6 point drop in IQ by pot users. Losing touch of the real world, a psychosis of paranoia sets in. The natural reward circuitry is so damaged that the remaining driving force is an importance to obtain and ingest more marijuana. The neurons that suppress appetite become turned off and the floodgates of hunger are unleashed.
Cannabis has been linked to schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. What often begins with a happy stoner vibe can end with full blown mental breakdowns. Short term and long term memory diminishes. This has been proven with brain scans. Many of the harmful effects are not known until it is too late. Marijuana’s cool vibe covers its hidden dangers with low impact effects, and minimal adverse side effects when consumed. No nausea, no drunken fights, no hangovers. Often the clever users can consume it throughout their day while going about routine duties like house chores, errands, or work. Even driving. It has a way of sneaking in and taking over your life without you noticing.
Anything abused for a long period of time will have its ill effects manifest upon your health and well being. Sustained intervals of overeating will result in poor health and weight issues. Being unable to escape the grips of the bud can lead to quitting jobs, dropping out of school, losing that lover that had the potential to help you turn your life around. Video gaming and watching cartoons all day becomes normal but the only guaranteed result is a self-inflicted lobotomizing.
Your potential is permalimited when you are permastoned. A dulled mind and low energy stifling any advancement from the confines of your existence. The arrested development not allowing for any emotional or intellectual growth. A population amongst us of lesser and diminished versions of themselves. Life is difficult enough without this self-imposed mental defectiveness.
The unexpected consequences and ramifications of the legalisation of marijuana is that in the near future we will lose all stigma previously associated with marijuana. It’s legal therefore it’s somehow okay for me to use it. It’s okay for me to use while working. While making dinner for my kids. When I wake up late. In a parking lot after a stressful exchange with a cashier at Target.
Marijuana has been proven to be a gateway drug for cocaine and heroin. Perhaps the drug didn’t do it, rather the user was prone to more illicit activity, but being high did not help in the decision making. Getting high is not a social activity as it is severely debilitating. Long term usage brings motor ability dysfunction. It allows for a distorted sense of time, random thinking, paranoia, depression, anxiety and social withdrawal.
Law abiders will succumb to their curiosity and partake. Even when prescribed for medicinal purposes there is a 9 percent chance at addiction. The addictive element is the THC. Back in the day average levels of THC was 4 percent now it is 31 percent. Why prescribe or try something that can hook you so easily?
You will yourself into a condition that will keep you from living a vibrant life. Your problems will not be solved with more drug use, it will only lead to an unmitigated public disaster. Your potential robbed by an invisible thief. The dumbing down a new normal and a certain coolness to being checked out. You adrift in the fog, alone and lost in the distortion. It is one way to live but is it really living?
