My friends, I am expanding to Gab, though I will continue to post here. This place has become too insufferable, too fake, too hemmed in, and I have found it is harder to speak earnestly to you, because to be earnest breaks my heart

When I look around me, I feel mostly contempt. I'm supposed to say contempt is a bad emotion, that it eats you alive inside, that it's noble to set these things aside and focus on the positive–but I'm not here to say what I'm supposed to https://t.co/UvAPyseEmo
Trump is gone and we are all still processing that. I haven't had much to say on this topic because I prefer to watch things unfold than pretend to understand a complex social situation where I have no inside information.
We feel angry and betrayed after this loss, but it's not that we lost Trump the man, it's that we lost Trump the symbol. He represented a rising American nationalist consciousness, that's what we don't want to let go
Any lingering hope I had for America is gone. This is not my country any more. Maybe it hasn't been for a while, but that last trace of belonging is gone. There are still people here who are my people, but this is not our country
There are no moves within the existing political structures that will make it our country again. That's a fact. Some of us are in denial about this, others are bargaining, or grieving, or angry – but you need to accept it.
I say this not to demoralize you, but to push you to think of new strategies for taking back this place we have lost. If I had my way, no one would ever cast so much as a single vote for any GOP-affiliated person ever again
Four years ago, the dissident right or whatever you call it had a "big tent" feeling. We had room for a lot of disparate viewpoints, but we were all interested in nationalism. This was a nice feeling. When we participate in a movement, we are seeking a sense of belonging
It dawned on us around 2018 that our symbol was only a symbol, and more and more of the people in our "big tent" peeled off. Maybe this correlation with interest in "tribalism" means nothing, or maybe it tells the whole story
One problem with attempts to foment American nationalism is that it draws a lot of people pretending to be nazis (the big problem with national socialists is that they are socialists, though of course, they have some other problems, as well...)
"Nebulous monolithic scapegoat" is a cognitive antipattern: the same sort of people who point out that blaming everything on "the jews" is overly reductive will then go on to blame "neoliberalism" or "the patriarchy" or even "the cathedral." Rationality is a myth
On the other hand, it really is true that the only meaningful political distinction is friend/enemy, and all the principles and constitutions in the world are just 4d chess tokens that boil down to black and white. I don't mean that in a racial way but what can you do
Technology makes previously hidden things visible. Print and typography made private inner experience outwardly legible, and helped awaken the nationalisms that arose in previous centuries https://t.co/KOQABtnZyB
In the same way, technologies of instant mass peer-to-peer communication made certain previously hidden commonalities much more visible, and now we can quite accurately describe America as two nations, one cup. https://t.co/4LyCyYPBJl
I don't really believe in "free speech" – there's no such thing. What there is is "tribe speech" and "other tribe speech". If you are the dominant tribe by a mile, you have the luxury of allowing other tribes to talk freely. Otherwise, "free speech" is pure liability
Free speech, which is an indulgence that the powerful can afford to grant to their inferiors, is eroding precisely because the dominant memeplex is losing power, and it no longer finds this luxury to be within reach
The reason there is only tribe speech, not free speech, is that marketplaces of ideas behave the same way as marketplaces of capital. The medium of exchange becomes distributed according to a power law, and that's just how power works
That means there will always be things you're more or less obligated to say, regardless of whatever high-minded notions you have about truth and freedom. The definition of freedom that americans use, as a pure negation, is non sequitur https://t.co/ktXEyIxQz9
The argument for free speech is that true ideas are supposedly able to drive out false ideas. This might be true in the world of homo economicus, but it's not true in the world of homonormativity https://t.co/D1l6xI7BEa
The truth is that ideas that make you feel good will always drive out ideas that make you feel bad. No no, dear reader, I don't mean *you*. You are a steely-eyed realist with a special dispensation of intellectual grace that liberates you from motivated reasoning
But for us mere mortals, us earthbound ones, truths can be very dangerous, and the herd to which you belong will only give you so much elasticity. If you stretch the norms too much, they snap
We resent the groupthink of other groups, especially when they impose their thoughts upon us, but we have also placed far too much weight on being "independent." Yes, there are times to go against all herds, but a far better thing is to choose the herd that values you yourself
You can belong to a herd of one, but that really does just make you a loser. There's nothing sadder than internet tough guys who posture and puff out their chests about how free-thinking they are. We know, we know; you're not like all the other girls.
Group-minds die if they can't reinforce themselves. Faith is a contract that exists among the members of a group, and it's something they continually renew amongst themselves. The goal of online censorship is to stop you from renewing your faith.
That's why if there's any hope at all, it starts with our communication networks. We must be able to talk to each other without persecution. We must have hard-to-fake signals of loyalty to a common cause. We must be able to transact freely with each other. These are table stakes
There are many new and exciting technologies for both communication and payment that will help us to support each other, but all of them are in their infancy. Crypto is still nowhere near the thing we need it to be, and if it ever gets there, it will be the true end of the USA
Twitter is enemy territory. That's a huge part of its appeal. When we're here, we're behind enemy lines. By fighting and fighting visibly, we give hope to each other. It sends the message: you are not alone.
Combat sharpens us, but it also warps us. The medium is the message, and the places you invest your mental effort ultimately determine the shape of your mind. Gab is a different place, with a different shape. Some might even call it cozy. I could do with a little coziness.
We should not concede the commons. A big part of the reason I started writing here was to try to show that it's possible to be literate and nuanced while also being hard right. I have found some friends also who succeed in setting that example
We should continue to develop friendly spaces, and right now I feel the temptation more than ever to retreat into escapism and inner exile. Quietism, passivism, and defeatism are seductive, but it's not what I want for myself, and it's not what I want for you, my friends

More from Zero HP Lovecraft

Baudrillard perfectly captured the feeling of modernity when he referred to our state of affairs as “after the orgy” we have seen liberation in every sphere: political, sexual, and social. Women, Art, unconscious drives—all are free! Baudrillard’s question is: what now?

Baudrillard noticed, before any reactionary blogger uttered such a critique, that we are now caught in a perpetual simulation and re-enactment of the revolutionary liberation that has long passed


When younger people resent “the boomers” one gets the sense that what they resent most of all is that they have MISSED the orgy, and now they can’t discern their parents from the crowd.

After the orgy comes the gender war. I do not call it the sex war because let’s bite a bullet, gender is only mostly correlated with sex, and lefty males are spiritual women, and THEY KNOW IT which is why they are so sympathetic to gender


Since the dawn of agriculture at least—female historians of both sexes tell us—we have been living in Men’s world, where women were brutally subjugated by men. Women’s liberation is the total reversal of this, a vengeful subjugation of men. This is dubious but let’s lean into it

More from For later read

Wow, Morgan McSweeney again, Rachel Riley, SFFN, Center for Countering Digital Hate, Imran Ahmed, JLM, BoD, Angela Eagle, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Lisa Nandy, Steve Reed, Jon Cruddas, Trevor Chinn, Martin Taylor, Lord Ian Austin and Mark Lewis. #LabourLeaks #StarmerOut 24 tweet🧵

Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, launched the organisation that now runs SFFN.
The CEO Imran Ahmed worked closely with a number of Labour figures involved in the campaign to remove Jeremy as leader.

Rachel Riley is listed as patron.
https://t.co/nGY5QrwBD0


SFFN claims that it has been “a project of the Center For Countering Digital Hate” since 4 May 2020. The relationship between the two organisations, however, appears to date back far longer. And crucially, CCDH is linked to a number of figures on the Labour right. #LabourLeaks

Center for Countering Digital Hate registered at Companies House on 19 Oct 2018, the organisation’s only director was Morgan McSweeney – Labour leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. McSweeney was also the campaign manager for Liz Kendall’s leadership bid. #LabourLeaks #StarmerOut

Sir Keir - along with his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney - held his first meeting with the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). Deliberately used the “anti-Semitism” crisis as a pretext to vilify and then expel a leading pro-Corbyn activist in Brighton and Hove
There is some valuable analysis in this report, but on the defense front this report is deeply flawed. There are other sections of value in report but, candidly, I don't think it helps us think through critical question of Taiwan defense issues in clear & well-grounded way. 1/


Normally as it might seem churlish to be so critical, but @cfr is so high-profile & the co-authors so distinguished I think it’s key to be clear. If not, people - including in Beijing - could get the wrong idea & this report could do real harm if influential on defense issues. 2/

BLUF: The defense discussion in this report does not engage at the depth needed to add to this critical debate. Accordingly conclusions in report are ill-founded - & in key parts harmful/misleading, esp that US shldnt be prepared defend Taiwan directly (alongside own efforts). 3/

The root of the problem is that report doesn't engage w the real debate on TWN defense issues or, frankly, the facts as knowable in public. Perhaps the most direct proof of this: The citations. There is nothing in the citations to @DeptofDefense China Military Power Report...4/

Nor to vast majority of leading informed sources on this like Ochmanek, the @RANDCorporation Scorecard, @CNAS, etc. This is esp salient b/c co-authors by their own admission have v little insight into contemporary military issues. & both last served in govt in Bush 43. 5/

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Margatha Natarajar murthi - Uthirakosamangai temple near Ramanathapuram,TN
#ArudraDarisanam
Unique Natarajar made of emerlad is abt 6 feet tall.
It is always covered with sandal paste.Only on Thriuvadhirai Star in month Margazhi-Nataraja can be worshipped without sandal paste.


After removing the sandal paste,day long rituals & various abhishekam will be
https://t.co/e1Ye8DrNWb day Maragatha Nataraja sannandhi will be closed after anointing the murthi with fresh sandal paste.Maragatha Natarajar is covered with sandal paste throughout the year


as Emerald has scientific property of its molecules getting disturbed when exposed to light/water/sound.This is an ancient Shiva temple considered to be 3000 years old -believed to be where Bhagwan Shiva gave Veda gyaana to Parvati Devi.This temple has some stunning sculptures.