Psychopathy is fit

A science experiment backs up the PUA theory concerning the attractiveness of Dark Triad men:

In his research Mr Brazil recruited 46 men to produce two-minute videos of themselves to be shown to prospective romantic partners.

They were interviewed by a female research assistant in the clips, and spoke about what they’d do on a first date or what they looked for in a relationship. The same men were then tested to measure whether they had psychopathic personality traits, and to gauge their social intelligence and their views on sex.

A group of 108 women then watched the videos and rated the men on their attractiveness in general, how sexy they thought they were, and their confidence.

Mr Brazil found that the higher a man scored on the psychopathy test, in general, the more attractive he was considered to be by the women.

Stop trying to be “nice”, gentlemen. There is a reason why “the Perfect Gentleman” was an involuntary celibate. And don’t believe the music, ladies. It’s not mere coincidence that the guy who sings about how he can treat you better and how you deserve a gentleman is a closeted homosexual.

A world without books

Is a world that can be revised at will and knowledge can be erased by those who would rule over you:

The vast treasure trove of information contained on Google, our modern Library of Alexandria, torched by Julius Caesar’s soldiers in 48 BC, is vulnerable not only to some catastrophic event, like an asteroid strike or, potentially worse, a cloistered pimply hacker, but to the manipulations and contraventions of those who seek to rewrite world history.

The greatest threat to man is the ennui and apathy that comes with the belief that there is no great threat. And what threat could be greater than that of the leather-bound, typeface word – painstakingly and somewhat redundantly in the age of laptops and smartphones – imprinted onto the palpable, creamy pages of parchment known as books, falling into the black hole of oblivion?

In 2010, the world got a ‘canary in the coalmine’ moment with the announcement that Encyclopedia Britannica, after a 244-year-long run, would cease publication of its paper editions.

The Guardian’s obituary for the “dinosaur,” owned by Swiss banking magnate Jacqui Safra, deserves repeating.

“Its legacy winds back through centuries and across continents, past the birth of America to the waning days of the Enlightenment. It is a record of humanity’s achievements in war and peace, art and science, exploration and discovery. It has been taken to represent the sum of all human knowledge.

And now it’s going out of print.

For some readers the news will provoke malaise at the wayward course of this misguided age. Others will wonder, in the era of Wikipedia, what took the dinosaur so long to die.”

There are other harbingers of impending disaster that demand some handwringing, and not just for nerdy bibliophiles. Webster’s Dictionary, for example, aside from honoring “justice” (hint: think ‘social justice’ lunacy as opposed to sober-minded legal justice) as its word of the year for 2018, has shown a marked tendency for allowing the more questionable elements of modern culture to seep onto its pages like a coffee stain.

Fight for the West. Preserve human knowledge. Support the Junior Classics. Because this is a generational and existential project, and it’s just getting started. As evidence for the strong interest in this, the campaign is now at 700 percent of goal.

Books hold insight into a world that cannot be altered or destroyed from the distant data overlords hunkered down in Silicon Valley. Books are anchors in a storm-tossed sea of change, where it is nearly impossible to get a secure footing. Books provide harbor from the tyranny of men, hell-bent on destroying any vestige of the past so that their plans for some future dystopia will meet less resistance. Books, the ultimate source of wisdom and knowledge, handed down through the ages, remain the last bulwark against tyranny. Treasure your books and never turn them in; they’re our lifeline to a benevolent and decent future.

Clueless cowards

It’s reprehensibly stupid when sports reporters not only can’t stick to sports, but insist on publicly demonstrating both their complete ignorance of geopolitics as well as their intellectual cowardice.

Enough already with the politics. From John D.: “We get it. You’re liberal and you hate the POTUS. Just shut up already about it.”

I will spend some words from time to time calling it the way I see it.

I am a coward for not addressing China last week. From Jeff Cannon Sr.: “You’re a coward, Peter. A quiet coward. Thank the ghosts that your industry is dying an accelerated death … Avoiding the subject of China while taking another needless shot at the president cost you a loyal reader. Good day.”

You mean you don’t want me to stick to sports?

One overriding thought about the NBA-China-United States-LeBron-Morey story: If Daryl Morey expresses his opinion wishing good luck to Hong Kong for its freedom fight from China, and if China gets incredibly ticked off about it, that is understandable. China is not as free as the United States. So of course China will be angry. So what? The Chinese run their country their way. We run our country our way. Why should anyone in the United States—particularly someone who has benefited from the freedoms of the United States like LeBron James—kowtow to China? Our belief is that our citizens can speak freely, which is what Daryl Morey was doing. China should understand this is who we are. Who cares if China is offended? If the Chinese don’t accept that we have a right to criticize them, well, tough. And if it costs the NBA billions, such is life.

I get it: It’s not my money at stake. But it’s outrageous, honestly, that China would be outraged at us. If they want to prevent their citizens from speaking freely, that’s their business. We allow our citizens to express opinions, on everything. They should understand that.

Why should the Chinese understand that? Why should anyone understand that, especially when it is observably false? Peter King would disemploy, disavow, and forcibly silence anyone in his power who expressed an opinion of which he did not approve on race, sex, or sexual abnormalities. Why should he affect outrage that China should wield its economic power as it sees fit?

If Sports Illustrated had simply stuck to sports, it might not be circling the drain now.

An exciting week in Barcelona

The protests continue in Catalunya:

Separatist Catalan leaders on Saturday called on the Spanish government to hold talks as thousands protested for a sixth day in Barcelona.

Protestors accused police of “repression” and chanted “we are people of peace” following a night of clashes during which nearly 200 people were hurt.

They called riot police who had sealed off the demonstration “occupation forces” and one young demonstrator who asked to remain anonymous told AFP: “For me, this is not violence, it is self defence.”

Overnight Friday, radical separatists had hurled rocks and fireworks at police who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Regional interior minister Miquel Buch, who backs the movement for independence, urged protestors to be peaceful on Saturday.

Regional president Quim Torra meanwhile said in a speech: “We exhort the head of the government to fix today a day and hour to sit with us for unconditional talks.”

His demand for “unconditional” negotiations, addressed to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, appeared to be aimed at ensuring that a referendum on independence, currently a non-starter for Madrid, was up for discussion.

Barcelona has been rocked all week by protests against a Spanish court’s jailing of nine separatist leaders on sedition charges over the failed 2017 independence bid.

Emergency services said Saturday that 152 people had been injured in overnight clashes in Barcelona. Dozens more hurt elsewhere in Catalonia, taking the total to 182.

Authorities had already reported 500 injured since protests started Monday.

The reality is that the world is barely beginning to enter into a retractionary period, which means that ALL of the active irredentist movements from Catalonia to Scotland to the US southwest are likely to eventually achieve their goals of separation and political sovereignty.

Those who don’t understand socionomics or the patterns of history will naturally be inclined to be skeptical, but then, how many of them foresaw these developments nearly 30 years ago when the Swiss and Norwegian votes to reject the European Union, in 1992 and 1994, respectively, signaled the beginning of the end of the massive global expansionary cycle that followed the first world war.

Mailvox: Army rot in OCS, part I

An email from a US Army officer who shares his perceptions of an organization in decline after completing Officer Candidate School:

I’ll just say that my experience is very fresh. I think it’s important to give a bit of backstory to how I’ve become so disillusioned, because in military culture disillusionment is automatically regarded as a defense mechanism for underperformers. I come from a military family with a line of high US officers. I used to believe in all the neo-con talking points that my peers endlessly spout. I even tried out for special forces, I believed in the whole US military thing so much….

“Equal” Opportunity: 
I believe you and your fans will already know of the low standards women are held to, so I’ll just share a risible story of the worst example here. The first Friday of the course OCS always has a “Class Up Run,” of 3 miles at about a 9-minute pace. We were sternly warned that falling out of formation would result in a day-one reset, which carries with it the sentence of being a holdover at the Company HQ barracks. This is the worst thing candidates fear being done to them short of dismissal. Well, wouldn’t you know it but four brown females decided to walk the last mile. Nothing happened to them. All of the First Sergeant & Company Commander’s aggressive warnings (and these guys are infantrymen with the latter having the vaunted Ranger tab) were subsequently memory-holed.

Second Generation Modern Warfare Training: 
All the training we’ve received here is precisely in line with what Mr. Lind would call “Second Generation.” It is procedure obsessed and crushes innovation. Oh, they talk constantly about the awesome talent of the Imperial German Army (Stormtrooper tactics) and the later Wehrmacht innovations and pretend that their manuals and whatnot are derived from them, but in practice that’s a lie. If you tried to innovate outside the holy law of the field manuals, you would provoke a mighty REE the likes of which a gamma would give when his perceived ruleset is broken. The training tries to pound you into a box and then stay in that box.

The F-Word and A Culture of Gullible Murderers: 
“Freedom.” That’s all you gotta say to get the otherwise decent men that comprise my peers to want to murder people en masse minding their own business in their own countries. It’s a variant strain of NPC “orange man bad,” except it takes the form of “Taliban/Iranian/Russian/Chinese bad, me kill.” They love talking about killing people without regard to why, who, or the consequences so long as the act is justified by authority figures, whom they – most of them anyway – believe without reservation. This leads me to my next point…

What I Call the “NuBoomer” Sub-Generation: 
Boomer mentality has been successfully transmitted to a subset of millennials who are making up most of the high-spirited white officers. They are boomers except that they were born in the 90’s or very early 2000’s. What is boomer about them? The previously-mentioned automatic, sacrosanct trust in authority. If the media and gubmint tell them Iran blew up the ships, they believe it. Fake belief in the Bible; they will either be ‘cultural’ Christians who read Thomas Jefferson’s heretical tract as a substitute for the real Bible, or blithely ignore the politically incorrect passages of scripture. They furthermore embrace civnattery wholeheartedly, talking about how awesome it is to have fifth columns and grifters representatives from all colors and creeds in the ranks. Not to mention women and LGBT+ (soon to add P). Questioning mainstream narratives is beyond the pale  to them, and they love to consume mainstream ‘culture,’ i.e. movies, Netflix & pay-to-win games. These are the young men that the neo-cons are dependent on keeping sated and nationally/religiously unconscious for it is they who fight the imperial wars with high morale.

Part II to follow on Monday.

Hey, I sent the letter!

Y’all never said nothing about not sending MORE letters! Boris Johnson circumvents the Remainer Parliament’s attempt to force his hand.

Late tonight – just before the midnight deadline stipulated by ‘wrecker’ MPs – a total of three letters were due to be sent from the Government to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council.

The first was the letter demanded by the Benn Act, which asks the EU to delay Brexit beyond the October 31 deadline – but not signed by Boris Johnson – using the exact wording specified in the legislation.

The second was a covering letter, written by Sir Tim Barrow, the UK’s Permanent Representative in Brussels, which made clear that the first letter was from Parliament, not the Government.

And the third was a letter from Mr Johnson, which was also sent to the leaders of the other 27 EU nations, in which he disavowed the first letter by making clear that he does not want any delay to Brexit.

In it, the PM said any further hold-up would be ‘deeply corrosive’, and would ‘damage the interests of the UK and our EU partners’.

The historic batch of correspondence, which were sent by Sir Tim in both hard copy and electronically, represents the Prime Minister’s defiant riposte to the ‘rebel alliance’ who scuppered his attempt to finally secure Commons support for Brexit today.

Mr Johnson is also steeling himself for an instant legal challenge from pro-Remain groups to his three-letter ploy on the grounds that he did not sign the Benn missive.

However, No 10 lawyers have pointed out that the Benn Act only orders the PM to ‘send’ not ‘sign’ a letter.

It’s fascinating to see the Right and the nationalists finally playing the game by the same rules as the Left and the globalists. But playing by the letter of the law rather than what you believe its spirit should ideally be is the only possible way to play if you have any intention of winning.

600% and counting

News of the availability of the 2020 Junior Classics is has observably spread as far as Australia and Hong Kong. If you are similarly interested in acquiring one of the greatest homeschooling assets ever printed, whether in digital, hardcover, or deluxe leather editions, you can do so here.
The campaign owner is aware that the campaign cannot be found by searching for it on Google or the crowdfunding site. That is by design, so there is no need to repeatedly inform us of that fact. If you wish to help spread the news about the , please feel free to post the animated GIF above with a direct link to the campaign attached. And thanks very much to the Classics backer who created the banner.
In other crowdfunding news, we are aware of about 500 AH Vol. I omnibuses that have not yet shipped due to a problem with the order formatting. We are in the process of fixing that with the printer, so if you have not yet received your omnibus, just sit tight, as this is just a minor procedural problem.
UPDATE: The Heirloom perk is intentionally priced higher than the sum of its parts because certain backers have requested a means of providing additional support to the project.
UPDATE: Both the leather and the case-laminated hardcover editions are printed on acid-free paper that meets the ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 standards for archival quality paper.

Science fiction ethics

I’m trying to think of a less useful, more intrinsically irrelevant concept than utilizing science fiction as a lens with which to consider the ethics of war….

Generally, three families of theories about the ethics of war have some credibility or prestige within modern liberal democracies. We can question whether the third is technically an ethical theory, but it plays the same role, and I think it does contain at least a residual ethical element:

  • Pacifist theories, which, with limited exceptions and variations, rule out acts of violence.
  • Just war theories.
  • International relations realist (or simply “realist”) theories of war. These are basically theories of enlightened self-interest.

Before going further, it’s important to note that there are other approaches that now lack credibility among thoughtful people in liberal democracies. These approaches emphasize such things as empire, personal and national glory, spreading religion or ideology, the idea of war as a kind of adventure or grand game, or as character building, and so on. A whole range of such approaches were once popular, but are now commonly viewed with disdain.

Historically, that is a recent development. These approaches to war lost credibility as a result of the horror of trench warfare in World War I, the immense destructiveness of the atomic bombs used in World War II, and the hydrogen bombs developed soon after, and doubtless other historical developments. But at least until World War I, these older ideas had great currency.

Prior to that time, few narratives of future wars included warnings against the horrors of war as such, or against the horrors of a future form of war. Where they expressed warnings, as they often did, it was usually against geopolitical and military vulnerability, as with “The Battle of Dorking”, a novella by G.T. Chesney (1871), and, in the Australian context, The Yellow Wave by Kenneth Mackay (1895). The great exception here is The War in the Air by H.G. Wells (1908), which I’ll return to in more detail.

The article is not entirely uninteresting for anyone who is interested in military history or strategy. But the idea that science fiction offers anything – anything at all – to say on the subject is objectively risible. And this intrinsic irrelevance is underlined by the way that the opinions of “thoughtful people in liberal democracies” are meaningful, let alone definitive.

Repatriations are officially on the table

What the media pretends is unthinkable is already happening:

Mexico has deported over 300 Indian nationals to New Delhi, the National Migration Institute (INM) said late on Wednesday, calling it an unprecedented transatlantic deportation. The move follows a deal Mexico struck with the United States in June, vowing to significantly curb U.S.-bound migration in exchange for averting U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports.

“It is unprecedented in INM’s history – in either form or the number of people – for a transatlantic air transport like the one carried out on this day,” INM said in a statement.

The 310 men and one woman that INM said were in Mexico illegally were sent on a chartered flight, accompanied by federal immigration agents and Mexico’s National Guard. They arrived in New Delhi on Friday.

Isn’t it remarkable what a little standing firm can accomplish? The ease with which China has caused both the NBA and Hollywood to kneel demonstrates that the US government and other US organizations could easily break the mainstream narrative, it only requires a little backbone of the sort that has hitherto been lacking.