Leo's Blog: Infinite Insights — Page 9
If you want to get really nerdy and develop a profound understanding of what fundamentalism is, I've got just the resource for you! It's called The Fundamentalism Project. This was a 10-year academic research project into the empirical study and analysis of fundamentalist movements around the world. It produced a series of 6 books on the subject which you can find at the link below:
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/FP.html
It's heavy reading, so this is not for the laymen, but if you're nerdy enough you might like it, and there's some gold in those books. Frankly, just one of the books should be enough. I recommend buying one with the newest date.
These are not self-help books, these books are for people who want an academic understanding of fundamentalism.
First, watch this clip of Musk and Rogan talking about how the left is a "death cult" because Musk found one radical leftist in the New York Times who said that mankind is a cancer upon the planet:
So because of this Musk (and Rogan's fanbase) support Trump and the right.
But the right's base are Christian Nationalists. They worked for Trump and wrote a 900 page manifesto for Trump's next term. Now observe that these Christian Nationalists literally pray for the End Times:
You see? This is the bullshit that the human mind spins up when it comes to rationalizing its own political biases and positions. This is what I mean when I warn about Double-Standards, Self-Bias, and Self-Deception.
By any objective measure, the American MAGA right is a Christian death cult. They write national policy based on this. They nominate Federal judges based on this. Yet Musk eagerly funds and supports them on the grounds that leftists are the death cult. This is the level of absurdity that our politics has produced.
It is galling when right-wingers and Trump supporters dare to claim that the Trump administration is anti-war and pro peace. These people pray for Armageddon. These people believe that Muslims are demons. These are the people staffing Trump's next administration. Don't ever speak to me about "anti-war" MAGA. Such people are incapable of being anti-war.
And at the same time, leftists whine about how bad Biden is on Gaza. Meanwhile Trumpists literally believe that Gaza is run by demons and Satan. How do you think Christian Nationalists will handle Gaza?
Intelligent talk by the wise Daniel Schmachtenberger:
Schmachtenberger is one of the only impressive public intellectuals. Everyone else is playing a lower game.
One of the most disappointing things I've realized in understanding how governments work and how politics works, is that every intelligence agency in the world is basically a collection of clinical psychopaths and sociopaths.
Intelligence agencies are based in pure selfishness and survival, not truth or consciousness. Many of the world's problems stem from this. When I was younger I was naive in assuming that intelligence agencies cared about being fair and honest. They don't. It's just a raw exercise in power and self-bias.
If the world is to be a fair, decent, and peaceful place, intelligence agencies would have to place truth and fairness as their top priority. Until that happens there will be conflict, exploitation, domination, and war.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat has brilliant analysis of wannabe authoritarians:
(skip to timestamp 13:30 for the start of the talk)
I love how she, even though an academic, doesn't try to pull her punches by doing the "both sides" thing. She lays out the reality without giving a damn if it indicts half of the American electorate. It just is what it is. Don't let the American right gaslight you. You are not crazy. They have lost their minds due to their inability to cope with Stage Green.
In a nutshell, what is happening in American politics?
50% of the population is developmentally, morally, emotionally, and intellectually incapable of accepting Stage Green, and they are going through an ego backlash. They would rather spoon with the Devil than admit that Stage Green is more evolved than Orange or Blue.
This explains everything you see in mainstream and non-mainstream media.
Look at how simple and clear it is!
What was the economic system in Nazi Germany? What were Hitler's views on the ideal economic system? I encourage you to research and contemplate these questions.
Conservatives would like you to believe it was socialism. Of course that's not what the historical record shows:
In recent weeks it has come to light just how much Silicon Valley tech bros and oligarchs are lining up behind Trump. People like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreesen, Mark Zuckerberg, David Sacks, and many others of their ilk. At first this may seem odd because isn't Silicon Valley supposed to be liberal and progressive? In some sense they are. They are culturally liberal. However, the one thing all these guys have in common is that they are megalomaniacal oligarchs. What they want above all else is POWER. They don't fundamentally believe in democracy (one person one vote). They believe that their opinion should matter more than everyone else's. So just like in Nazi Germany, the capitalists, industrialists, and tech oligarch's moral principles are secondary to power and profits. The industrialists in Nazi Germany supported Hitler because Hitler was good for business — at least for a while. Hitler enabled them to extract wealth from and rule over the workforce.
Understand how society is actually structured: No dictator or ruler in any nation holds power alone. There is no such thing as one-man rule. Power is always accumulated through a network of elites who all scratch each others backs, working against the majority of the people to extract wealth. A small group of wealthy, egotistical, shameless, ruthless, anti-democratic, corrupt, sociopathic, megalomaniacs form an alliance of convenience with a ruler or autocrat. They strike a business deal. The deal is this: the oligarchs get favorable conditions to keep exploiting the masses, while the autocrat gets the power to curb-stomp any democratic reforms which would redistribute power and wealth more evenly across society. Government is thus made into a wealth-extraction vehicle. The purpose of the government is not to serve the majority but to serve a tiny exclusive minority by leeching the majority dry.
This is how it works in Russia, in North Korea, in China, in Saudi Arabia, and of course in America. America is not above this! American oligarchs are fundamentally no different than Russian or Chinese oligarchs. The underlying psychology is the same: extract power and wealth by any means possible. The biggest difference with American oligarchs is that they have deluded themselves into thinking they are the good guys, that they are evolved and decent. Of course tech oligarchs side with Trump, because a truly progressive President would break up all their monopolies and regulate their theft of data. American oligarchs have invented a customized ideology which convinces them that they are not oligarchs, that they are not corrupt, that they are liberal and not fascist. But the reality is that they are anti-democratic monopolists who will support fascism as soon as it is convenient. Because their business is their top value.
If Big Tech doesn't get behind Trump, and Trump wins, he will deliberately use government to damage their businesses. They know this, so they start to kiss Trump's ass. This is nothing new. They also know that Trump has no moral principles and he doesn't care about doing what's right for democracy — such as serious anti-trust regulation — so if they kiss his ass he will grant them favors and deregulate them, which means they can exploit the masses like never before.
Capitalism, fascism, and oligarchy go hand in hand. Large corporations and billionaires don't care about democracy, or equality, or fairness, or truth, or consciousness — they care about getting more power for themselves. But, like what happened in Nazi Germany, in so doing they end up killing the goose that lays the golden eggs — the foundation which allows for business at all: which is rule of law, fair markets, and general stability. American capitalism is eating itself alive, as it did in Nazi Germany. These American capitalists have convinced themselves that the solution to America's problem is more capitalism, more power for them to solve the problems. How perfectly convenient. "Just give me and my friends more power and money and we will solve all of Americans problems. We promise." That's what these egomaniacs have convinced themselves of, and they have no one around to tell them otherwise because everyone in their social circle benefits from and echos back to them their corrupt perspective. These people are so corrupt they don't even understand they are corrupt. Their corruption is like a black hole that consumes everything out to an infinite horizon. And it's painted over with a veneer of liberalism, progressivism, and high technology like robots, AI, fancy electric cars, rockets, mobile apps, and free 2-day shipping.
But there's a plot twist: These oligarchs aren't just bribing the politicians, they are are also bribing you, the customers! The unconscious deal they made with you is: they will supply you with cheap or free goods and services to help your survival in the short-term, and you will shut up and not question the corruption and erosion of democracy, truth, and consciousness. Instead of serious consciousness or understanding, you will sit there and click your phone for hours like a fucking monkey. Or you will get distracted investing in their tech stocks, hoping to make a quick buck.
What really runs societies is an insatiable thirst for power and domination, a thirst by a minority to get rich off the backs of the majority. It has always been this way, and it is still this way today. But today's American oligarchs are foolish enough to believe their own virtue signaling and innocence. The extent to which a nation is able to prevent this exploitation (and it occurs in many degrees), is the extent to which a nation is great. Almost nobody understands this or how to prevent it, and this is why politics is so tricky. People don't even understand what the goal of political action ought to be and why.
In conclusion, the Devil is a businessman and you are his mindless bitch.
Ta-daaaa!
Note: Of course, don't make the mistake of thinking that this oligarch capitalism problem only exists on the right. It also exists on the left. The desire for power and wealth corrupts every mind, regardless of your ideology. Corruption is a force that transcends all belief systems, all moral systems, all political systems, all economic systems, all classes, all virtue signaling, all good intentions, all spiritual and religious inclinations, all stages of development. Corruption, like gravity, is universal.
Note: Socialism does not solve the problems I am talking about. You can't solve the problem of corruption by switching to socialism, because all your socialist leaders will also be corrupt! If the solution was that easy, I wouldn't be talking about it, it would have been solved 100 years ago.
Note: Don't forget, you cannot demonize businessmen because business is how you survive. If you're not a businessperson yourself then your certainly work for one. Or you conduct business with one. So you're not above this problem. You are swimming up to your neck in human shit, and you produced some of that shit yourself. This is our situation.
I like this financial news and analysis YT channel.
This is just a sample, he has 100s of informative interview videos:
I am not endorsing any particular market predictions. I just share this with you to help build your financial literacy and intelligence. You should be skeptical of any market predictions made by any expert. These finance experts love to talk as though they know what's going to happen but of course they are just guessing, so don't be a fool and gamble your money on what any expert proclaims. Think for yourself. But it's good to hear a wide variety of finance perspectives to jog your thinking, which is why David Lin's channel is a goldmine.
I already told you that Trump is a Devil. Now, after this assassination incident, watch carefully, because this is where the Devil's artistry will shine.
Now the Devil and his religious Christian minions will attempt to frame the Devil as an angel, spared by God for a holy purpose. It's like if the Devil trips and stubs his toe while in the process of committing his crimes and starts to cry about how he was wronged, how noble his purpose was despite this cruel injustice. Please! Spare us the shit.
All of this is pathetic and comically predictable. Watch it play out and watch millions of people get fooled by it.
When the assassination on Hitler failed, he framed it as God saving him to pursue his holy mission of eradicating the Jews. And so Hitler doubled down in his zeal. I expect something similar to happen here.
Do not get me wrong. Assassination itself is the act of a devil and has no place in a healthy democracy. Even though Trump is a Devil, assassinating him is not right. We are not fascists so we do not condone such means. If you use the ways of a devil to stop a devil, the devil wins because he has successfully multiplied himself into your mind. Corruption is not defeated with corruption. It is clear that assassination is a form of corruption. As conscious beings we stand against corruption, regardless of by whom, by which side.
Two things here are simultaneously true: 1) Trump is a dangerous shameless authoritarian Devil, and 2) Assassination and political violence is wrong. There is no contradiction. Do not let anyone gaslight you into feeling bad for calling Trump out as the Devil he clearly is. Seeing devilry does not mean condoning violence. Nor does it imply taking joy in watching the Devil suffer from his own karma. I take no joy in this situation. It is tragic and embarrassing for the human race.
Also, do not get me wrong when I call Trump a Devil. This is an advanced spiritual metaphor, not a mindless demonization. It's ironic that when I call him the Devil I am not demonizing him, as say, Stage Blue Christians demonize their enemies. I use the notion of Devil in a sophisticated, clever, poetic, allegorical sense. I do so consciously because it is so fitting for a character like Trump, because it has huge explanatory and predictive power, and because it presents an opportunity for a profound spiritual teaching. I do not call Trump a Devil out of personal hate, nor do I want you to hate Trump or wish him or his followers harm.
Do not be fooled by all this assassination noise. Remember, the Devil is a chaos agent — he creates chaos around him because it serves his ends. Look past the noise to see that the violence done to Trump has not changed anything fundamental about this race. The situation is still exactly the same: Trump is a dangerous, corrupt, criminal authoritarian who will do grave damage to democracy and the American people if he is reelected. Do not let anyone distract you from this only relevant point. But now Trump is even more dangerous because he's out for revenge with no holds barred and the religious fools who support him will be whipped up into a lather, spinning delusional religious bullshit to justify their corruption, manipulations, and thirst for power. They will be more shameless than ever.
All of this is a prime lesson in the workings of devilry. I'm just pointing it out, although it should be obvious to anyone with an ounce of consciousness.
Warning: There will be much fatalism going round now about how Trump's re-election is inevitable, that his victory is guaranteed, that it's all over, how heroic he looks, etc. Do not capitulate so easily to fools and authoritarians. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is over. Trump is as wrong and as corrupt as he has ever been. This assassination changes nothing. It is more important than ever to call out MAGA devilry, fascism, and corruption. A wounded devil is still a devil. A wound does not make a devil an angel. Shooting Hitler in the ear should not make him any more sympathetic.
With all that said, do not resort to violence or even the glorification of violence. Do not stoop to the level of fascists, or you will become no better than them. Dealing with the Devil is a tricky and counter-intuitive game, so stay conscious. Using the Devil's own means against him can easily backfire and feed his power while eroding your own.
Do not take joy in the Devil's suffering. Do not feel sorry for the Devil. Understand that the Devil's suffering is self-inflicted, his karma. The reason decent people oppose authoritarians like Trump and their corruption is because corruption breeds injustice, and injustice breeds violence. And once the violence starts, everyone is a target. In the end, everyone lives to regret the violence, even those who thought they had the upper hand. Do not feel fooled by his crocodile tears, Trump loves violence, but now it has boomeranged on him. The Devil is only crying his crocodile tears so that you let down your guard long enough for him to bite you.
The bottom line here could not be more clear and simple: Donald Trump should not be allowed within a 1000 miles of any position of power or public office. If he is, disaster, chaos, corruption, and suffering will follow.
All this chaos is not a mistake, it is the natural result of allowing devils to have power. The chaos is the point. The Devil is a sly artist.
Check out this 19th century Tibetan ritual mask for sale at auction:
