My Life

 While listening to Orwell's 1984 on Audible during my commute last week, one of the things that I noticed was the use of hatred by the Party to control people. It seems to be a common authoritarian tactic. Nazis used hatred of Jews, queer people, and immigrants. I'd been taught the word "scapegoat" when I was in elementary school. It's a tactic that authoritarians use to rally support. They say such-and-such minority group is why things are so bad in our country, so give me power to exterminate/deport them. And it seems to be quite effective. I have no background in behavioral psychology. My knowledge about it is that of a layperson. So I was curious about how the emotion of hatred is at acting as a unifying force. I found this article on the matter which discusses why hope is more effective than hate. I also found a scholarly article explaining why hope is better than hate.What I understand about it from reading those is that hatred burns out quickly. It isn...

  The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. These iconic words from George Orwell's 1984 explain the effects of propaganda on the people. In a book about Adolf Hitler, Walter C Langer said this about Hitler's strategy. His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.  I remember reading 1984 when I was younger and being exposed to the concept of doublethink he introduced in the book--the state of accepting two contradictory statements as simultaneously true and experiencing no cognitive dissonance from it. I observed how multiple times throughout t...

 It's been over a decade, about 14 years, since I last attended church (at least regularly, I've gone for special events for family members who invited me). So I've forgotten a lot of the things I learned, the stories that we'd discuss, aside from the most common or popular ones. One story I do remember takes place in the book of Alma, the largest book within the Book of Mormon. I share this story not because I believe it actually happened but because I see a parallel with what's currently happening now in our society and the events laid out in the Book of Mormon. There were two main peoples, the Nephites and the Lamanites. At this point in time the Nephites were ruled by judges rather than kings. My best understanding of the government is that it was some sort of republic. The book continually refers to popular votes ("the voice of the people"). And apparently there are judges. I imagine it might be similar to the way we have tiered judges in our federal ...

 ICE is an agency I have long had a problem with. I do not see why we demonize immigrants and feel some strange need to expel them from our country. However, under the current administration the organization has gone from being distasteful to being downright pure, unadulterated evil. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/us/chicago-apartment-ice-raid ICE raided an apartment building in Chicago yesterday. They detained every single resident of the building. This includes US citizens. They say they're going after the most violent. They say they're going after the criminals and the undocumented immigrants. That is a lie, pure and simple. They are not targeting criminals. They are not targeting undocumented immigrants. They're not even targeting immigrants. They're arresting and detaining citizens. They're indiscriminately arresting people, detaining them in facilities that they're not even admitting are detainment centers--to deny access to members of Congress, who do hav...

 I want to make my position very clear. I am anti-fascist. I am anti-authoritarianism. I am opposed to dictatorships. I am opposed to military coups. I am opposed to consolidation of power, particularly in the executive branch. I want to be clear so there is no question on my position.  In June of 2025, Trump sent national guard troops and marines to occupy the city of Los Angeles. This was against the wishes of both the governor and the mayor. During peace time, the national guard should be under the control of the governor. The president should not have power to control them. Yet, he was allowed to. The fact remains clear. This was a military invasion. It was occupying military forces sent to a US city. Trump declared war on his own people. The troops remain there still.  This month, Trump took control of the DC police and deployed the national guard in DC. They are occupying the city, armed while walking the streets. He is pressing this war on his own people. He is occ...

 I believe that it is crucial to remember what it is that we celebrate here in the USA on July 4th and why. July 4, 1776 is the date the Continental Congress formally adopted the resolution on independence from Great Britain. The draft written by Thomas Jefferson can be found here  and the revised text as adopted by the Continental Congress can be found here . For the purposes of this post, I will be pulling quotes from both versions of the document. Unless specified otherwise, all quotes in this post are taken from the Declaration of Independence.  In the Declaration, a list of grievances is given detailing why the colonies decided that it was necessary to declare themselves a new nation and separate from the British Empire. I highlight some of those grievances here in order to portray why I believe we should neither take freedom for granted nor think of July 4 as a day to celebrate independence, but rather as a day to remind ourselves of how precious and fragile freedom...

 This post is to serve as an expository on my feelings about the virtue of integrity. I personally value integrity very highly. It is something that I strive for in my daily life. It is something that I value and respect in other people. When I see a person who clearly does not have integrity, my respect for that person invariably plummets a noticeable amount to the point that it is virtually impossible for me to look positively at someone who lacks integrity. What does integrity mean to me? First and foremost, I would say that integrity means being consistent with your words, thoughts, and actions. To state something which is contrary to what you believe is to be intentionally deceptive and is therefore a symptom of a lack of integrity. A person with integrity will be honest. They will disclose information the way they understand it to be. They will act in accord with the words that they speak. If they tell you that you should behave a certain way, they will also themselves behave...

 My single biggest criticism of the works of Tolkien is just that it is so obvious all throughout the story which entities are good and which are evil (I suppose with the single exception of Saruman, whose treachery is unknown toward the beginning). But everything is black and white. In Peter Jackson's portrayal, all the good guys are handsome or beautiful and all the bad guys are ugly and disfigured. This is a common problem in many TV shows and movies, particularly older ones or ones targeted to children. Real life is not that way. In real life we have people who seem good from one angle or another and might actually be doing something bad in secret, or perhaps the same actions seen as good by one party may be seen as evil by another.  I was arguing with a stranger on Facebook yesterday and during that argument he stated "If you enter this country illegally, your freedom is irrelevant to us." Honestly, I was shocked by this declaration. Rights which apply to some people...

 Anyone who knows me surely is aware of the fact that I bear no good feelings towards Donald Trump. The purpose of this post is to enumerate many (definitely not all) of the reasons why the emotions I harbor toward him are so negative. I want to make it clear that while I disagree with conservatives on points of policy, I am angry that they have three times chosen that man in particular to represent their party. Yes, I'll always be happier seeing a liberal in the White House than a conservative. But most conservatives I could just live with, tolerate, roll my eyes at. This one is different. It's not because he's conservative (which I don't even believe that he is, to be honest--I think he has no scruples or morals or values). It's because he's a wretched excuse for a human being. I am aware that it is common for Trump supporters to believe that some, many, or all media outlets lie and cannot be trusted. In this post, I share links to many differing media outlets...

 As with most of my positions, my view on controlled substances is that we should allow for the broadest application of liberty that is reasonable. My opinion on the legalization of recreational drugs is informed by the outcome of the Prohibition era in the US. During the 13 years wherein alcohol was banned via Constitutional amendment, we saw an increase in organized crime and the sale of alcohol on the black market. It didn't stop the consumption of alcohol, it merely increased the danger in doing so. And we can see now how the use of illegal recreational drugs has added danger due to the illegality. For the purpose of simplicity, I will  use the term "drugs" in this post to refer to recreational substances (which are typically illegal or restricted). The United States has 3500 people per 100k which use drugs--far more than any other country. By comparison, Canada has 1920 and Mexico has 496. One reason I quote these statistics is to show just how very racist it is to ...

 I'm not educated in psychological matters, or matters relating to mental health or human relationships. All I know, and all I mean to convey here in this post, is from my own personal experiences and the little bit of googling on the matter that I have done. It's baffled me how such a large portion of the electorate in the USA has not only voted for Trump in three consecutive elections but they also seem to be supportive of his messaging and his actions while in office. I'm struggling, trying to comprehend the phenomenon, to little avail. I found this particular web page discussing narcissistic manipulative inconsistency . I recommend reading it and getting an idea for how narcissists behave toward their victims. That article is specifically talking about parents abusing their children, but I believe it can be applied to any number of relationships. So what caused me to eventually find that article, and consider this topic of manipulative inconsistency, is the way Trump ha...

 I think by now the term "gaslighting" is ubiquitous enough most people know it. It's a tactic that abusers use to manipulate their victims. And I see it often employed in the political sphere. At Trump's inauguration, Elon gave the Nazi salute. It's obvious. It's clear. There's no mistaking it. His arm, straight out, at the most commonly used angle for that salute. That's what it was. And he and his fans are denying it. They're even trying to compare it with actual Nazis doing the salute to prove the difference. It's gaslighting. We know what we saw. That's the gesture he did. There's no doubt. There's no confusion. There's no point trying to deny it, and people who recognize it for what it is are not crazy. He did the Nazi salute and he is a Nazi by his beliefs and the agenda he's pushing. The current administration is pushing to end diversity, equity, and inclusion. They are terrified of diversity and people who are diffe...