Author: VD

Money isn’t everything

But it helps, although a little less than one might assume. A study quantifies just how much money will help the average man improve his prospects:

Women are more likely to find men attractive if they think they have a bulging wallet, a new study has found – but for men it’s still all about the looks. The study suggests that women are four times as sensitive to salary when considering a male partner as men are when choosing a female partner. 

The study, published in Evolution and Human Behaviour, used photos of men and women alongside information on the subject’s annual salary to see how it influenced their attractiveness ratings on groups in America, China, and Europe.

John Speakman, one of the authors, said: ‘A man can move himself two points higher on the attractiveness scale we used if his salary increases by a factor of ten. For a female to achieve the same two-point effect her salary would need to increase by 10,000 times.’

What’s interesting is that two points on a ten point scale is LESS than the amount a woman increases her attractiveness simply by losing weight. And, of course, it demonstrates the utter foolishness of women attempting to use their careers to attract husbands. The female business executive is reluctant to marry any lower than a Senior Vice President, but the male SVP will usually prefer to marry the pretty young trainer at the gym.

Three authors weigh in on Worldcon

Jim Butcher, Larry Correia, and John Scalzi all have something to say about Worldcon’s decision to ban Jon Del Arroz from attending.

Jim Butcher is unimpressed

Don’t agree with Larry about everything, but when it comes to WorldCon and the Hugos, I think he’s got a point or two which are, based upon my experiences with WorldCon, difficult to refute.

The choices made by various folks involved with WorldCon have, over time, convinced me that there’s quite a few more less-than-nice people there than at other conventions. As I get older, my remaining time gets increasingly valuable. If I went to WorldCon, that’s a weekend I could have spent with some of the many wonderful people in my life, or with excellent and nerdy readers who don’t much care about politics and just want to do fun nerd things. Or I could have spent that time writing.

There’s probably a lot of perfectly wonderful people helping with WorldCon, and there’s certainly a lot of nice people attending. But it’s sort of hard to see them through the crowd of ugly-spirited jerks, and the nice people of WorldCon? They are completely inaudible over the noise the jerks are making.

So for the kind people at WorldCon, I hope you catch me at another con or signing sometime, and thank you so much to those of you who buy my work.

To the jerks, may you meet no one who displeases you, and I hope that your con goes exactly the way you want it to go.


Larry Correia hasn’t even been paying attention.

Wait… so how did WorldCon embarrass themselves now? They banned a dude because he’s got the wrong politics and he’s loud and annoying about it? Heh. These assholes have allowed stalkers, creepers, weirdos, sexual harassers, and pedophiles to attend, but at least those folks had the right politics and thus were not guilty of any dangerous wrongthink.

And now they are saying that they booted him because he said he said he was going to wear a body cam to protect himself from false allegations.

I can’t imagine why a conservative author would want to cover his ass at a con in enemy territory… oh wait.

A few years ago NK Jemison tweeted about how she heard that Larry Correia was horribly rude and racist to a poor Author of Color on a panel at GenCon! GASP. So immediately ten thousand social justice nitwits retweeted about my horrible racism.

Until I responded with Oh really? Which panel? Because every panel I was on at GenCon was recorded. Let’s go to the tape.

And that shut that nonsense right down.

If you are an author with the wrong politics, and you are at a con surrounded by social justice warriors who love to make up accusations, you would be a fool not to keep witnesses around.

Is Jon annoying? Eh, I’ve talked to him about his tactics for activism. We’ve got some disagreements. Different strokes for different folks.

But banning a guy for being annoying? Have you ever been to a scifi convention? ?

But they can’t come out and say he has the wrong politics and his activism bothers them, so instead, as usual they make up some crap about feeling “unsafe” and “harassment”. Which is funny, because with SJWs harassment is a one way street. And they can harass the shit out of anyone who disagrees with them. And if you don’t like it here is your official WorldCon wooden anus.

Personally, I wrote off WorldCon after they demonstrated they are an insular circle jerk. I proved my point about them a few years ago. None of this is surprising now.


And John Scalzi is at his projecting, posturing best. I’m sure we’re all surprised.

John Scalzi@scalzi
So a convention pulled an obnoxious twit’s attending membership and as a result a bunch of other obnoxious twits are boycotting the convention, and now I think every convention has an easy template for ridding itself of obnoxious twits.

John Scalzi@scalzi
His self-winding persecution complex doesn’t require me or anyone else, and I don’t give a shit what that sad little boy (or his equally sad party pals) does or thinks about anything.

Sure you don’t, Blobby. Now go eat another box of donuts while your career – and, thanks in part to you, your publisher – continues to spiral into the ground.

Narcissist vs psychopath

Anonymous Conservative explains how similar behaviors stem from very different sources:

My view of the Narcissist is their amygdala is too painful when triggered, and their brain is not able to handle the stimulation of it. The narcissists I have observed would actually see their brains melt down when triggered, and it would manifest in what looked like incredibly unpleasant physical symptoms, almost combining a seizure, and the gastrointestinal upset and sickness of a major illness.

The psychopath is the opposite. Their amygdala is not there, so they don’t really feel fear. I am reminded of the character Hannibal Lector in the book Hannibal. At a critical moment, man-eating hogs are released, and rush toward Hannibal, who is holding FBI agent Clarice Starling in his arms. But the pigs move around Hannibal, because he feels no fear, and the pigs detect it. Although the scene is fictional, that is how psychopath brains operate.

Now narcissists, out of necessity, eventually hack their brains by using a false reality to shut off that amygdala-pain. They develop the ability to force their brain to believe something untrue, just so their amygdalae will feel relief and their amygdala will not turn on. I am quite certain it begins in childhood. As children however, I am not sure if they force themselves to believe an untruth, and that eventually becomes more more common as their brain finds it relieves angst, or if the untruth, when contemplated, is so relieving their brain cannot tell it from the truth. From their amygdala’s perspective, that would feel the same as when we find believing a falsehood irritating, and as a result we seek relief when we default to truth.

But once a narcissist develops this hack, now their amygdala’s influence on the brain and behavior is very similar to how a psychopath’s amygdala influences the brain and behavior. It is as if the amygdala is not there. The psychopath just feels nothing, while the narcissist alters their beliefs until they feel nothing.

Interestingly enough, he concludes that narcissists are more dangerous than psychopaths, because psychopaths are too clueless to be able to conceal themselves or their deeds very effectively.

Kare wa modoranakereba naranai

SJWs strike Japan:

A Japanese TV programme has sparked accusations of racism and cultural insensitivity after a comedian painted his face to impersonate Eddie Murphy.

The New Year’s Eve show featured celebrity comic Hamada appearing in a Beverly Hills Cop skit with his face blacked up.

Using makeup to lampoon black people – a practice known as blackface – is seen by many to be deeply offensive. Protest over the show have grown over the past days.

US-born writer and columnist Baye McNeil – who is black and has lived in Japan for 13 years – drew attention to the show on Twitter, arguing that black people were “not a punchline nor a prop”.

Seen by many… outside Japan. In related news three months from now, Baye McNeil’s visa expired, he was unable to renew it, and was forced to return to the United States.

The costs of convergence

The end of season statistics are in for the NFL. Average viewership per game.

2015: 17.9 million
2016: 16.5 million
2017: 14.9 million

That is a 16.8{1a9740d54aaadd1290ec59721f654a3d9aaf924aeae0d9d35ee2fe84bc4370ea} viewership decline in two years.

The NFL appears well on the way to follow the course set by Marvel and NASCAR, which amounts to about a 50 percent decline in ten years. Given that there are 256 games in a season, that loss of three million viewers per game represents 768 million lost game-viewings.

Convergence is costly.

And this is why you don’t chase money

As I wrote previously, Bannon really is not a strategic thinker. It’s much better to build a broad, self-sustaining support network than depend upon the momentary whims of the ultra-rich:

Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon has reportedly lost the support of billionaire backer Rebekah Mercer after he suggested he might run for president himself.

A person close to Mercer told The Washington Post that she no longer supports Bannon. According to the report, Mercer was frustrated with Bannon’s strategy in the Alabama Senate special election and pulled her funding after he told other major conservative donors that Mercer would back Bannon in his own presidential bid.

Bannon, now head of Breitbart News, supported Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore, who was dogged by allegations of sexual misconduct, in his eventual defeat to now-Sen. Doug Jones (D) in December.

“The core constituency for Breitbart is what you would call the Trump Deplorables. That’s the audience. And if they’re asked to choose between Steve and Trump, they’re going to choose Trump. That’s clear,” a person familiar with Breitbart News’s operations told the Post.

It was unclear from the report whether Mercer, who bought a stake of Breitbart News from her father in November, will continue to back the right-wing news site. The report said she is no longer backing any future Bannon projects.

To be honest, this initial support for Milo and Bannon, followed by sudden withdrawals of that support, looks more than a little strategic itself.  And seriously, the partnership was always destined to fail if a loose cannon like Bannon can cut his own supply lines with nothing more than some obviously unserious musings about his own political prospects.

Mailvox: roles are not interchangeable

Szopen shares an important observation from recent Polish history:

One acute political commenter made once a remark, that great guerilla leaders do not necesarily make great generals in regular war, nor great political leaders in time of peace. He noted that in context of Poland: that to oppose the communism and fight it effectively, one had very specific mindset. Sniffing the enemy agents, conspiracies, be suspicious, not willing to make compromise etc. That were the great traits when you were in conspiracy – but later made awful politicians when communism was (somewhat) defeated. Most of the great leaders of so called “democratic opposition” went on to become leaders of infighting, low blows, unable to compromise over even tiny issues in order to defeat the recovering left. He proposed that leaders of the resistance should get state salaries, become cult objects and then put into solitary luxury mansions, with everyone trying very hard to make their lifes comfortable and as far from the current politics as it is possible.

I guess most of current leading figures of the alt-right, with VD, Milo and Molyneaux should get their million dollars when the right take over the institutions and win the culture fight.

Another thing, from my observation is that people fighting against all odds, who are constantly being called the worst names, either become broken and give up – or start to share also similar traits. Cejrowski was on of the few guys who influenced hundreds of thousands young Poles. I loved watching his programs. However, in his later age he became an unbearable, arrogant arsehole. There is something similar about few other “lone fighters”. They raised the generation of rightwingers, but they lost something of their soul in the process, carrying the load in the times when no one was appreciating them. They seem to gain “f* you” attitude about everything they did. That’s understandable; otherwise they wouldn’t be able to do what they did. But still, for me they look like old, battle-hardened veterans with scars all over.

It’s amazing that VD is able to still be able to be, at least sometimes, polite.

One thing that people consistently fail to understand about me versus my fellow “leading figures” for lack of a better word is that I have always been an athlete. Not only that, but I have excelled in both individual and team sports, and discovered that I vastly prefer team sports.

That is why I can work effectively with others, and why I completely refuse to even try to work with those I identify as being self-serving, attention-seeking, or simply incapable of playing well with others. As I often tell people, the best way to get to know a man’s true character is to play with him on the soccer field. Every characteristic, from courage and determination to laziness and a desire to avoid responsibility, becomes readily apparent to his teammates. You just can’t hide anything from them.

It’s disappointing when those who have been assisted and supported by others affect to have become too important for them and attempt to move on, but then, they will learn their lesson soon enough as the support they need will not be there for them when opposition arises, as it always does. That is why it is always vital to never forget either your base or your allies, or to fail to protect their interests as assiduously as you look out for your own. The more the Right learns to do that, the more effective it will become.

Conservative Hispanic writer banned

PJ Media covers Worldcon’s unconscionable banning of conservative Hispanic writer Jon Del Arroz on obviously specious grounds.

Jon Del Arroz won’t be going to the Worldcon science fiction convention, even though he is the leading Hispanic voice in science fiction and he bought a ticket. The multi-award nominated military science fiction author was banned publicly from the upcoming festivities in San Jose, California, without ceremony or explanation by Worldcon’s Incident Response Team. “At this time we are converting your membership to Worldcon76 to a supporting membership as you will not be permitted to attend the convention. On your personal blog you have made it clear that you are both expecting and planning on engendering a hostile environment which we do not allow. If you are found on the premises of the convention center or any of the official convention hotels you will be removed,” the organizers wrote….

Del Arroz believes that the banning is politically motivated since he is not only a science fiction author but a strong conservative voice at The Federalist and Dangerous (Milo Yiannopoulos’s new venture) who routinely speaks out about the blacklisting of conservative voices in science fiction.

“With Worldcon’s statements about ‘intent’ to violate their rules, and failure to specify rules, this is a clear targeting over my politics because I’m a vocal Christian and Hispanic Trump supporter,” says Del Arroz. “The left claims I should be banned for controversial political opinions, but the only opinion I espouse on a regular basis is that artists should not be blackballed for their politics. That shouldn’t be a controversial topic. It is imperative that artists be free from fear of retaliation of their industry in order that they might create great works of art. This is the ultimate free speech issue.”

Del Arroz is contracted as a writer for Castalia House’s spectacular answer to SJW Marvel, Alt*Hero, which will issue a major challenge to social justice messaging in comics. PJ Media reached out to Castalia’s lead editor, Vox Day, for his take on the blacklisting. “The decision of the SJWs at the 2018 Worldcon to ban a well-known Hispanic conservative from attending the event is not surprising,” said Day. “It is, however, not a little ironic, as they have historically had no problem permitting child molesters and convicted sex criminals to attend Worldcons over the years, including Walter Breen, Arthur C. Clarke, David Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Edward E. Kramer.

 The Walter Breen incident with Worldcon was especially horrifying as told by his daughter Moira Greyland Peat in her latest tell-all, The Last Closet, which describes her life growing up in a pagan LGBTQWTF family and spills the darkest secrets of a science fiction community that turned a blind eye to child sex abuse.

Considering the known and suspected sex criminals who are still permitted to openly attend Worldcon, it’s almost astonishing that the organizers would dare to call attention to their attendance policies in this regard. Almost, but not quite. What I find more astonishing is the idea that Jon Del Arroz, or any sane, functional human being, wants to spend any time at all in the depraved Star Wars cantina of science fiction fandom.

The picture below demonstrates why the wise parent will never permit any child or teenager to attend Worldcon 76 or any other science fiction convention. It was taken at a science fiction convention and two of the children pictured confirm that they were abused by the man in the photograph. The third committed suicide. For a considerably more detailed case against science fiction fandom, read The Last Closet: The Dark Side of Avalon.

Will Bannon recover?

Katie McHugh thinks so, and has some interesting insights into Bannon’s character when she’s not talking about herself:

Will Bannon recover from this nuclear strike? Probably, but the radiation will hang around for a long time. What if Breitbart decides to drop its mask of acting like Trump and the MAGA movement’s conscience and decides to begin trashing Trump? It won’t end well for them: The Left will use them as a weapon against Trump and the base will thrash them before they stop reading them.

As for the White House Leaks — why do people talk to the media at all? Because every human being has an innate need to confess. That’s why people leak to the press and why they talk to the Opposition Media. Bannon is a Catholic, but has he heard of a priest?

Bannon is a warrior and a brilliant man; White House work was not for him. He wanted out. Sigmund Freud talks about “the death drive” and that may have been an unconscious cog turning in Steve’s mind as he spoke to the media….

Bannon has an excess of Logos and Pathos, but little Ethos. He rarely helps people whom he used as an energy source. More importantly, because he shoots from the hip, he doesn’t have a good sense of Kairos, which means striking at the opportune moment, while the iron is hot. When all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail, and Steve struck without discrimination and with wild abandon, cold or hot irons. Sometimes he hit the mark. Other times — no.

Bannon runs on a frantic energy that propels him forward. During my first phone conversation with him when I was interviewing with Breitbart, he kept asking me what I thought of this and that, and kept getting more and more amped up as I reeled off my thoughts. “What do you think of immigration?” he asked. “I think it affects everything,” I said offhand as I wandered around the art section of a Barnes and Noble. “Yeah!!!!” he yelled back. Whoa, I thought as I pulled the phone away from my ringing eardrums. This job is going to be awesome. Later, I thought, did I make a mistake by not majoring in studio art and going into journalism? Maybe these people should have left well enough alone and let me draw and paint all day instead of letting the velociraptor out of the pen. “That one: When she looks at you, you can see she’s working things out.” And at eight months, Bannon’s Valkyries are what is called “lethal”… When you’re blessed with the gift of aggression and you’re permitted to use it, establishments will fall before your eyes. With one jawbone, you can dispatch an entire army.

That same energy that drives Bannon and drives me also drives many talented and intelligent people who never learned to harness their energy like the bucking bronco it is. It brings people in and then it repulses them, because every action has an equal and opposite reaction. You must learn to tame it and reign it in, so it’s yours and it doesn’t run you. Fall asleep in the lap of your vices and you’ll wake up in the hands of your enemies.

This is why I always thought it was mildly amusing when people talked about Bannon as if he was some sort of master strategist, the Bill Belichick of politics. The truth is that Bannon is a superb tactician and he isn’t a strategist at all. It was always Trump who was the strategist; what confuses people is that Trump is a better strategist than tactician even though he verbally shoots from the hip as if there is no tomorrow.

Bannon made several several mistakes – what part of DON’T TALK TO THE MEDIA is hard for the Right to understand? – but the worst one was that he judged Trump by his own standards, thinking his achievements justified a modest amount of disloyalty. But Trump always, always, always places loyalty first and foremost. That’s why he often puts more responsibility in the hands that are less than competent than one might like to see. Fortunately, what keeps this from being a fatal flaw is that he is also a strong enough executive to not hesitate to remove that responsibility once he sees they cannot handle it to his liking.

Bannon will recover because, being a tactician, he has cornerback memory. Tacticians tend to bounce back quickly, as if nothing ever happened. Once he recovers his energy, no doubt he’ll be causing serious heartburn for the mandarins of some industry, somewhere. But it could be anything; it won’t necessarily have anything to do with U.S. politics.

That being said, it’s unfortunate to see that even at the very top levels, the Right remains almost totally incapable of working productively together or looking out for each other’s interests. There are a few, a very few, who play well with others, Mike Cernovich and Stefan Molyneux being the foremost examples, but for the most part, if you’re on the Right, you’re either wholly-owned by an interest group or you’re on your own.