The Pharmacopeia

The Pharmacopeia

A linguistic quirk that's become a hallmark of dissident jargon is the convention of referring to one or more "pills" as shorthand for certain mental states. Being bluepilled means uncritically accepting the official narrative on one or more issues. Taking the red pill indicates that one has wised up to…
November 24, 20204 Comments
The Optimate Moment

The Optimate Moment

 A reader comments:You seem to be taking the present situation pretty hard. I think you will find that, as Trump was unable to implement his agenda due to the "swamp" that the same effect also works on the Democrats. The country is too big and the Constitution puts too many…
November 19, 202013 Comments
The Corpse of Conservatism

The Corpse of Conservatism

The 2016 presidential election will go down in history as the last. Now that one party can commit rampant vote fraud, and the other meekly accepts the fraudulent outcome, the US is a de facto one-party oligarchy. Simulated elections will still be held for show, but everyone will know them…
November 18, 20206 Comments
The Doomsday Model

The Doomsday Model

Russian scholar Peter Turchin has developed a model of societal collapse that's already yielded startingly accurate predictions. Acquainting yourself with his work is probably a good idea because, if he maintains his track record, we probably won't be enjoying the next 5-10 years very much.The year 2020 has been kind…
November 17, 202013 Comments
Forensic Geekery

Forensic Geekery

Spend enough time on this blog, and you'll soon discover that contextualizing the generations, especially in regard to pop culture, gets a lot of page space. The memory-holing of Generation Y that came down from Madison Avenue at the turn of the millennium and only recently fell out of fashion…
November 10, 202022 Comments
Art Lasts

Art Lasts

Hang out around science fiction authors long enough, and you get the sense that they're all crazy. John Scalzi claims that Donald Trump and the weather conspired to give him writer's block. Patrick Rothfuss and George R. R. Martin have cited similarly temperamental reasons for not finishing their popular series.…
October 28, 20209 Comments
Alt Revolt out of Control

Alt Revolt out of Control

A recurring theme since the sci fi genre began has been the machine revolt. Whether you date that beginning to Frankenstein or "Rossum's Universal Robots", science fiction has always conjectured that one day, man's inventions would get fed up with us and push back. This sci fi conceit is, perhaps…
October 15, 202023 Comments
Web Comics Autopsy: Penny Arcade

Web Comics Autopsy: Penny Arcade

Pop culture trends come in cycles. A new property shows up on the scene, gains traction, and explodes in popularity. Entropy always gets a vote, though, and the IP holders inevitably turn to milking the brand. A consequent decline in quality follows, and the brand--sometimes the whole genre--goes moribund. The…
September 23, 202020 Comments
You Can’t Save Everyone

You Can’t Save Everyone

 A reader shares this conversation which proves how deep the Pop Cult conditioning goes.The context of this particular discussion was the NFL. You're just as likely to hear the exact same script from Pop Cultists who are still addicted to Big Two comics, Hollywood Movies, and corporate top 40 music.Note…
September 10, 202031 Comments
Confessors Not Martyrs

Confessors Not Martyrs

If anyone still doubts my advice to stay away from protests or who insist we "Need more heroes like Kyle Rittenhouse," I refer you to the latest search term popularity data from Google Trends. Those who are convinced we should send more young men into the lions' den in order to…
September 4, 20206 Comments