A Pox on Both Your Political Houses
A Pox on Both Your Political Houses
We could just invite the other ants over and ponder about the hand that keeps shaking that jar...
Team R versus Team D is an intrasquad scrimmage, mounted by players from the same team, meant to distract the screaming throng from the fact that the stadium is on fire and their cars are being stolen in the parking lot.
-Unknown Man
This little ranty post isn’t going to change anything. It’s not going to change the identity of political affiliation. Do you ever even see any other colors besides red and blue? It won’t change how my friends digitally scream at each other on FB. (As an aside, I took FB off my phone during the 2016 (s)election season.) This post is certainly not going to change American politics. Not until we broaden our understanding of how Team Red and Team Blue are two cheeks of the same stinky Uniparty butt.
Now, you can try and take a plunge into a broader understanding of the connections by, as an example, looking at Mathew Crawford’s graphs and listening to his latest UniLARPy podcast which goes down rabbit holes that you would never normally consider. Still, I know there is a pretty large number of you who read this stack as the only delineation of dissident opinion (and I do much appreciate it and consider it a not-so-lightly-taken responsibility) so I will offer some inferential steps and low-brow memes to expand your perspective and shift your focus away from the Rah-Rah-Rahs of the political arena.
Because, by golly, gee whiz, palsie-wowsies, our naïveté has gotten us in a pickle we seem to be choking on.
Now, my best friend sometimes tells me she doesn’t care for me using the word “normie” and challenges me pretty hard to define it. And although “NPC” and “normie” can be used interchangeably, most people ask what an NPC is (non-player character) whereas “normie” is pretty self-explanatory, but the main trait that I want to lean on here is that this moniker describes a person who buys into reality at face value; that they do nothing to explore, let alone, participate, or clutch your pearls, expose or change the illusion of the matrix.
Approximate Definition of Normie: A person gravitating to social standards, accepted practices, and fads of their own time & geographic grouping without broader cultural perspectives from which they draw. Normies possess a lack of interest in ideas not easily accessible or being outside of their/society's current range of acceptance. A straight. A follower.
online chat friend
Does the word sound derogatory? Perhaps. Is that sometimes necessary to nudge the complacency stasis? Absolutely. Remember, magic happens outside your comfort zone. So, strap in normal friends. This one is for you.
If you’ve heard “Vote blue no matter who!” or “Ride the red wave!” and have nodded in agreement, then you might be a normie.
If you have never wondered why your life doesn’t seem to fundamentally change, why wars rage on for years at a time, or why the value of your buck keeps diminishing no matter if you’re living under a blue-colored or red-covered government, you might be a normie. Heck, if you don’t even realize the value of your money is diminishing, you’re an NPC of the order of which reading this article will produce entirely undramatic drafts from the Overton window.
If you held your nose and cast your ballot for the lesser evil, you might be a normie.
And it’s ok. Not only was I a normie at one point, but I would have been proud to call myself one because I thought the reality we were sold was pretty great. I get to practice my civil duty and have my voice heard? Sign me up! That reality was sunny skies and green pastures.
But this might just be the election that shakes you out of the clutches of the normie narrative network (n³)! I got sucked out of normie world during covid, but politics is a much less subtle and much more entertaining arena. Surely the insanity is pretty obvious!
The performers never let up! Some deliver cackle word salads and some deliver court statements; some lie about working at McDonalds and some fake working at McDonalds; some dodge bullets, some dodge questions...This circus never runs out of acts! They got you defending the actions and words of the candidate of your choice, which, by the way, looks extra ridiculous on social media because those who pile on with sycophantic vigor are screaming into the silo, usually beginning with an outcome rather than an observation, inherently biasing their thoughts. Even if they research before stating their hypothesis in some random comment, it further biases them to follow the ideas already alive and well in the political milieu. New thoughts and challenges are extremely rare, extinct in the digital format, but we still have a shot of exposing ourselves to them if we just take the plunge and sit at the same table with those whose views we think are in opposition. In person. And then listen.
That’s right. I’m proposing you perhaps don’t shy away from talking to your weird MAGA-hat-weraing-at-the-Thanksgiving-table uncle this time. Heck, give your pink-haired fairweather activist son a call! And if you don’t know anyone in your own family from the opposite team, talk to strangers. Maybe even avoid talking about the candidates themselves but listen to what their needs are. There is so much more commonality among us. The real divide is between the poor and ultra-wealthy; between the servants and masters; between the psychopaths and the rest of us. Not between red and blue. Sit on the same table and make beautiful shades of purple together.
Start here:
Venture into here:
Until you come to the inevitable conclusion:
And if all that fails, see if you recognize the markings of the con in this short clip:
It’s going to be uncomfortable to realize you’ve been had. Heck, as an immigrant who was finally naturalized as a citizen and given the right to vote, I cast my very first one for Obama! Yes, I say this with much embarrassment, but I say it so you know, my dear fellow normie, that I, too, was an NPC once. In my defense, Team Blue runs a real good scam on immigrants. We’re told that the Republicans don’t even want you here (which is true, Team Red!) but neither team acknowledges the fact that the whole bird, including its two dirty wings, is responsible for destabilizing the world which causes mass migration. I fell for “democracy.”
Democracy is an illusion. No sooner conceived than dead. Democracy simply implies a rule by the majority. I trusted the media. Obama offered “hope.” I was quickly disabused from such illusions by his second term. There are people out there who still think that this war criminal was a good leader; that he had a vision for an America that would finally turn a new leaf.
The simple truth is that there are no new leaves in this political system. The US is a gimmick.
The truth is, if we get together and begin to listen to each other’s plight without the preconceived notion of what the other person represents based on some political affiliation, the puppeteers won’t even look out from behind their puppets until it’s too late. It might not seem like the saviors presented on the Punch and Judy stage are made of felt and thread, but they’re not kept together by much.
There is real power in crossing the imaginary dividing line and shaking hands with a supposed adversary. You might find that not relying on political leaders to solve your issue allows for solutions on a local level; a solution in which you actively participate because it affects you; not something you can delegate to a paid-for-suit-wearing politician. Nor some far-removed committee in DC whose members are politricking and treating their pockets. The individual “you” is the smallest community. And that community is in dire need of a leader. Be it.
I've searched all the parks in all the cities and found no statues of committees.
Gilbert Chesterton
Only then can we lift our individual voices in harmony with one another. An interesting thing happens when people from different walks of life come together to solve an issue. They create something bigger than themselves - the solution - and that gets protected by the newly formed community. And then, without trying to sound like a hopeless optimist here, that community becomes a parable choir. In a parable choir, one person can sustain a note only as long as their lungs allow them, but when others join in singing, as their lungs allow them, the note can be sustained forever as one person takes a breath while others sing. We can sustain our autonomy from political interest as long as we keep participating in our own solutions.
And although this video collaboration with my adolescent son based on Russell Blake’s words was about the last midterm elections, it equally applies to the general election because we keep thinking voting is going to change something, so I’m reposting it here.
But here is what might change if we parlayed and met with those we considered our enemies:
understand how the system is designed to never be changed through voting
as stated above, create local solutions based on each community’s needs
we can organize and add a protest vote category on the ballot, similar to Europe’s NOTA votes so at least the country starts being aware of how many disaffected voters there are even if elections are being rigged, even if elections aren’t real choices
we can learn historical significance of certain events and take steps towards rectifying them
but the biggest benefit of sitting on the same table is that we can get out from behind the stereotypes our rulers have us display and touch grass, together, until the system grinds to a screeching halt without the cogs that keep it lubed and running
Now I have a hypocritical confession to make. I am trying so hard to unbury myself from underneath a bunch of crippling medical debt, that I took up a job as an election judge. I know, I know, what in the world am I thinking working the election after telling everyone how kayfab it all is? But if you think about it, in the grand scheme of things, what better unbiased judge than me, right? I don’t have a pony in this race and I do wish to uphold the integrity of ballot counting to the best of my abilities on the human side.
What happens in the Dominion system is above my paygrade and I have a true desire to see how it works up close. Now here is the funny part. When I applied, I had to state an affiliation, but because I am not a Democrat nor a Republican, I answered “neither” and in Chicago, this apparently means “Republican.” I’m sure it has to do with a shortage of red judges, but if they want to make me wear an identifying tag, this might draw some serious side eye from voters. I will keep you faithful readers posted on how all that pans out.
But if I was a betting gal, I’m pretty sure Trump has been anointed as the next winning pony. Don’t know if Kamala is trying to lose on purpose, but the foreshadowing in the plot seems to point to a Trump presidency. The iconic shots seem to favour him:
The meme gods seem to love him:
And his base seem fired up and having lots of fun:
But for them, it’ll be just another fake victory. Give them Trump to keep them thinking the system works. A Trump win will be the conclusion of this season’s brainwash.
It still doesn’t prevent me from enjoying some wholesome conspiratorial and astrological fun as Isaac invited me along to put some memologies together for his 4th installment of The Mystery of the Orange Moonchild:
It was a tight turnaround, especially because I couldn’t work on any of it in public settings out of fear people would think I’m some kind of Tumper. I am an equal opportunity offender, similarly to The Dor Bros and holy shiitake mushrooms you have to see this minute long video because AI is out of control.
And don’t forget, my normie brothers and sisters, no amount of voting is going to get us out of this. Talk to the other side. At this point, you got nothing to lose.
The author of Visceral Adventure believes in the gift economy and therefore offers all content with no paywall, asking you to contribute whatever amount feels good to you. Since value is unique and subjective, only you can decide what (if any) contribution is gifted at this time. All contributions benefit and support my family.
To upgrade to a paid subscription to this stack, click on the button. For a one time gift, click on this Ko-Fi link. Or if sats is your thing, I have one foot on the BTC exit ramp and you can contribute here:
bc1qlh9r0h5czgp9cv6pzfpmwr7zg30tud7fdrx0dd
As always, thank you for being a part of my journey.
I would profit from an experiment to separate lucid sober diagnosis of what is the case, as I find mostly unerring in your analysis here, from the widely varying inferences what to do about actual power as it expresses - ranging from ‘stick a fork in it, you’re done’ to thinking toward (sorry!) local accountable democracy leveraged through a dense web of minimum cross-reassurance providing global agreements (contracts, not oaths😂), such that the simplicity of violence is out-cultivated with better if more complicated options.
I'm. not gonna lie - this all makes my head spin. I'm going to go sitwiththetrees. 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲XOXO