Volume LX: Free Lance Friday

Hello everyone and welcome to the Free Lance Friday Edition of the Good News Journal.  I’ve really enjoyed learning more about the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’.  I do like a lot of what Jordan Peterson says, Ben Shapiro was the first political pundit I called out here on My Blog, I’m a big fan of Joe Rogan (even though I don’t really watch or listen to his podcast very much these days), and Eric Weinstein was someone I knew nothing about, though I am very thankful for the introduction.  When I noticed that three of these social media giants were gathered on Paul’s Ruben Report, I couldn’t resist watching to see how each of them fare against one another defending some highly disputed opinions.

It is a very interesting mix of intellect, and it’s easy for Me to understand the appeal of each of these individuals on social media.  I should also point out that I’m not a fan of Ben Shapiro.  I Writ a Post about Idiocracy politics, a phrase I think was coined by Ben Shapiro regarding Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s New Green Deal (though I could be wrong).  Either way, it’s worth noting My opinion of Ben is biased.  [Okay, to not look something up in the age of information is just lazy, and it appears the Word ‘Idiocracy’ was coined by a 2006 movie by the same name describing a future society of idiots.]

I don’t arbitrarily choose to attack anyone, it’s really not in My nature.  My opinion Post of Ben Shapiro was provoked by his ridiculous comments regarding Alexandria’s New Green Deal, and I was very curious to see how he would fare against these two intellectual icons.  As I suspected, he doesn’t do so well, though his adversaries are civil enough to not make him appear as close minded as he is, though he is clearly outmatched by Jordan and Eric.  In fact, even Jordan Peterson appears to be in a little over his head next to Weinstein, who contributed the least and seemed to offer the most with respect to substance.  What I really liked about the conversation was that none of these individuals are there with the intention of belittling or convincing their intellectual opponents.

“We’re not going to devolve into name calling.” – Eric Weinstein

The discussion covers a lot of ground and the Ideas I was most interested in hearing these three men discuss most were their thoughts on equality rights and poverty.

“If Your life isn’t awesome, it’s because You didn’t make it so.” – Eric Weinstein

In the above quote, Weinstein is challenging the Ideology presented.  He believes that there are far more things to consider than the individual’s determination and effort, (physical ability, intelligence, mental health, etc.), which is exactly the reason I have such a big issue with Shapiro, who seems to fundamentally negate this possibility.

“We’re all equal in Our rights but We are not all equal in Our abilities or Our capacity to rise or fall in society.” – Ben Shapiro

Ben’s acknowledgment of Eric’s contention to one of his fundamental philosophies (poverty is self inflicted) at first suggests he might be rethinking his position.  However, only a few moments later, he comes back to the very same Idea without offering any new information.

“I think for the most part People’s problems are largely self-inflicted.” – Shapiro

The easiest Way to ease One’s conscience is to suggest that every One who is not able to enjoy the same quality of Life, is only unable to do so because they are unmotivated or unwilling to make the effort.  It removes the possibility of the capitalist social model’s determination of an individual’s success from the equation completely, which is what Ben must do to protect his capitalist Idiology. (I did warn I am biased, but Ben does this a lot).  It also removes One from social responsibility and accountability.  Those who are able have a duty and responsibility in society to assist those who are unable (for whatever reason).  Typically, it seems the capitalist Ideology Wishes to pretend these individuals do not exist, or that their plight is self-inflicted, rather than recognize them as a symptom of social illness and a ‘sick’ society.

Ben actually goes on to say that most People suffering from mental or physical health issues and/or addiction are in their situation because they made bad choices.  Even if that were true (and I believe that’s a very simplified theory), does that mean We should disregard them altogether, and that their bad decisions should adversely impact the rest of their lives?  Theoretically, do We not collectively believe that People who’ve broken the Law should suffer the consequences, but at the very least deserve a second chance once they’ve served their time?  Being subject to abject poverty is like a Life sentence of suffering if We are not collectively prepared to provide the social supports necessary to reintegrate individuals into society so that they not only can make a positive contribution to the community, but also to inspire them to want to make a positive contribution to society.  If society continues to disregard these individuals, what incentive is there for them to want to make any kind of contribution to a community choosing to ignore their existence?

“How do We sort that out without making it worse.  I don’t know.” – Jordan Peterson

Peterson later suggests that if We don’t know how to fix the problem, the one thing We can do is not make it worse and aim for incremental improvements, which “is very powerful because incremental improvements compound over time.”

Alright, I’m getting close to My Word ‘limit’ for a Post, so I’m going to conclude by tall King about why I’ve chosen to share these videos over the last three days.

At the 45:00 minute mark, Peterson is tall King about Our individual responsibility in society and what he believes We need to do collectively to make positive change happen in the world.

“To concentrate on the ethical behaviour of the Sovereign citizen.” – Peterson

Nothing I do is without intention, and nothing comes into My Universe by coincidence.  The above statement by Peterson really caught My attention, despite it being an oxy-moron, as there is no such thing as a ‘Sovereign citizen’.  A citizen is a subject of the state, while a Sovereign is the Head of State.  However, I hear police use the term all the time, and I think the only reason a man as intelligent as Peterson would use those two Words together is because he is actually talking about self determination and living with Purpose for Higher ethical social values.

I also believe the only real Way We have the potential to do this collectively, is if each of Us adopt this philosophy and recognize that the problems We witness within society are not Our governments problem to solve.  The onus is on Us, the individuals within society to collectively communicate what needs to be done to the governing bodies.  The government’s role should only be to facilitate the infrastructure and resources necessary to make it happen.

The rest of the quotes here are in chronological order.  My last quote is from much earlier in the conversation where Weinstein is tall King about just how fragile the system actually is when One truly understands how things work within the highest levels of society.

“If You understand how the Game is Played, then You understand how quickly this thing can turn.” – Eric Weinstein

Finally, I have described Ben Shapiro as an intellectual idiot because he has an incredible vocabulary, over-stimulated intellect entertaining archaic Ideologies with an inability to recognize the flaws of his own arguments.  I found out I’m not the only one to have this opinion of him, and Joe Rogan demonstrates exactly what I am tall King about in the following interview.

All of this is really just an introduction to My Simple Saturday Solutions tomorrow, where I Will be tall King about Sovereignty specifically, and what it really means to be a Sovereign nation.

I hope this Friday finds You all feeling fabulous, thank You so much for being here.

Love and Blessings,