Tag: philosophy

The Intrinsic Evil of Equality

Bruce Charlton highlights an explanation of why equality is not merely impossible, but intrinsically evil:

For some time now; William Wildblood has been probing-away at the concept of equality, and exposing the evil of its roots and application.

He has recently reached what seems to me a very deep understanding of exactly why equality has proved so adept to the purposes of evil, so comprehensively hostile not just to all transcendental Values or Goods (i.e. virtue, beauty and truth), but more fundamentally to God and divine creation.

Equality is the great dogma on which liberal Western democracies are built. It might have seemed like a step forward at a time when the gap between rich and poor, powerful and weak was as great as it was, and the movement towards less inequality surely did bring certain benefits in the short term.

But the flaw that lies at its heart is now being revealed. If equality, and equality alone, is taken as the foundation of a culture then that culture will collapse into the lowest common denominator and it will eventually collapse altogether.

Equality is totally contrary to human nature and to enforce it is to force human beings to live against both their natural and their spiritual instincts. It becomes a tool to push the higher down to the level of the lower.

This does not mean that the higher should dominate the lower (except spiritually) but liberty and equality are not natural bedfellows despite what the ideals of the Enlightenment may pretend, and it is liberty that is the great spiritual quality as far as human beings are concerned.

Equality is often said to be rooted in Christianity. If it were how strange it is that it is never mentioned in the Bible and was only discovered to be a Christian virtue 1800 years after the time of Christ. Oneness in Christ is a Christian virtue but that is not equality which is a materialistic distortion of it.

Equality is actually a property of unformed matter, matter untouched by the creative breath of spirit, which is why you see it most at lower levels of evolution. The more life evolves, the more unequal it becomes because the freer it becomes and yet within that inequality there is also a spiritual oneness.

To realise the truth of this apparent contradiction is one of the major goals of the spiritual path. It and it alone explains the mystery of love.

I have highlighted the key phrases. For them we can see what lies behind the drive for equality – a spitefully destructive hatred of creation itself; the desire to reduce creation to chaos.

One thing I’ve noticed is that nothing good ever comes out of what the proponents of equality propose. Even their greatest successes, such as the passage of the Civil Rights Act or the institution of gay fake marriage, inevitably result in evil consequences. Notice how the supposed benefits are always abstract while the costs are material.

DISCUSS ON SG

Rule By Ontology

William S. Lind considers the nominalism and magical thinking of the Washington elite in the wake of the imperial debacle in Afghanistan.

How could the whole Washington defense and foreign policy establishment get it so wrong? One answer is that, if you want to become and remain a member of the establishment, you must never make waves. Since almost all the people in question want to be something, not do something, they follow that rule regardless of where it leads. A defeat in war is but a small matter when compared to a risk to their careers.

Another answer is that members of the establishment are almost all nominalists. That is to say, if they give something a name, it takes on real existence in their minds. The Afghan National Army offers a perfect example. Because we called it an army, gave it lots of American money, equipment and training, and knew its order of battle, it was an army. But it wasn’t. Apart from a few commando units, it was a ragtag collection of men who needed jobs and had little or no interest in fighting. Those men seldom saw their pay, because it was stolen before it reached them. Rations and ammunition often suffered the same fate. That army collapsed overnight because it never really existed outside the minds of establishment nominalists.

That same nominalism applied to the entire Afghan government. Washington nominalists thought it was real; Afghans knew it was not. A Marine battalion commander just back from Afghanistan put it best. He said, “Talking to a 14th century Afghan villager about the government in Kabul is like talking to your cat about the dark side of the moon. You don’t know what it’s like and he doesn’t care.”

We see nominalism running all through American policy-making. Washington nominalists think Iraq is a state. It isn’t, because real power is in the hands of ethnic and religious militias. The state is merely a facade, but since it has a parliament, elections, cabinet ministers, etc. it is real to nominalists. Not surprisingly, our policy there has been a series of disasters ever since the initial disaster of invading the place.

The Washington elite’s nominalism is not restricted to foreign policy. It looks at the U.S. military the same way. If you call something an army, it must be able to fight, even though you have filled its ranks with women, made promotion depend on Political Correctness rather than military ability and given it bureaucrats for generals. When it loses a war, as it just did in Afghanistan, it must be a matter of bad luck. The fact that it ceased to be a real army decades ago is not recognized.

The Washington establishment’s civilians have been soaking in nominalism ever since they began their “education” at various elite institutions. Woe to any who pointed out that the U.N. has proven worthless in one crisis after another, that our “democratic” allies are all really oligarchies or that “human rights” vary enormously in their definition from one culture and people to another. To call an entity a state or an army or a democracy means it magically becomes one. And the magical thinking that dominates the establishment’s picture of the world leads to repeated debacles from which it learns nothing.

Ontology is bad enough when it passes for philosophy, it’s downright ludicrous as political ideology and government policy. But it’s worth questioning from whence it comes, as it ultimately derives from the “as above, so below” occultism of the pharisatanics who presently dominate the imperial capital. This belief in word spells not only describing, but defining and dictating reality is not magical thinking, it is the sort of magickal thinking utilized by those who worship the god of this world.

UPDATE: If you still had any doubts about the nature of the god that is worshipped by the judeochristians, consider the following tweet.

“Just a friendly reminder that banning abortion violates Jewish women’s ability to practice our religion.

Sarah Marian Seltzer, 31 August, 2021

Indeed.

DISCUSS ON SG

When Gammas Rage

It’s so predictable, and more than a little amusing, to see how Gammas inevitably react when you inform them that you have no interest in listening to their Very Important Opinions or their Very Honest Questions, and will not subject yourself to their Very Valuable Instruction and Very Substantive Criticism.

Notice how they immediately go on the attack, and in doing so, underline the need for their exclusion. Meanwhile, they fail to observe that literally hundreds of people approve the policy.

  • I don’t even know who you are but you sure sound like a faggot to me.
  • “I won’t tolerate any of those hurty words!!! I can’t deal with the emotional fallout that comes from any criticism of my opinions!”
  • Jesus…. I feel like I just caught AIDS from your weak ass gab flex.
  • Writers from Teen Vogue have thicker skin than you do faggot.
  • This makes you sound weak.
  • I’ll just mute you instead so I don’t have to see this kind of drivel. Gamma (cough-cough)
  • Since you failed to provide context for your post, your attempted message is ambiguous at best.
  • 🤣😝😆🤣😂🤣😂 That was hysterical, so on this platform of yours if I’m getting this right is you and only you have a opinion and only you can get all in their feelings? 😝🤯😆
  • sure thing. that is the sole purpose of a social media platform. to be all alone.

They are all blocked and muted now, of course. It works every time.

DISCUSS ON SG

Confucius Condemns Neoliberalism

A philosophical experts on Aquinas considers the applicability of The Analects to today’s catastrophically atomized society.

What is essential to a well-functioning society? In a famous passage from The Great Learning traditionally attributed to Confucius (551-479 B.C.), the philosopher says:

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.

Things being investigated, knowledge became complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families were regulated. Their families being regulated, their states were rightly governed. Their states being rightly governed, the whole kingdom was made tranquil and happy.

From the Son of Heaven down to the mass of the people, all must consider the cultivation of the person the root of everything besides. It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what should spring from it will be well ordered.

These words from the great man of the East would be warmly endorsed in the West by ancient thinkers like Plato and Aristotle and medieval thinkers like Thomas Aquinas. But they run counter to the modern West’s liberalism, including the libertarian brand of liberalism that too often passes for “conservatism.” The liberal attitude is that the moral character of individuals does not matter for social order so long as the right rules and institutions are in place. Part of Confucius’s point, and that of any conservatism worthy of the name, is that rules and institutions are ineffectual without individuals willing to subordinate their desires to them. And individuals who do not seek the good (so as to “rectify their hearts”) and the true (thus pursuing the “investigation of things”) can neither curb bad desires nor cultivate good ones. The brute force of legal coercion cannot substitute for this missing moral fiber. As we read in chapter 2 of The Analects:

The Master said: “Lead them by political maneuvers, restrain them with punishments: the people will become cunning and shameless. Lead them by virtue, restrain them with ritual: they will develop a sense of shame and a sense of participation.”

And again:

Someone said to Confucius: “Master, why don’t you join the government?” The Master said: “In the Documents it is said: ‘Only cultivate filial piety and be kind to your brothers, and you will be contributing to the body politic.’ This is also a form of political action; one need not necessarily join the government.”

And in chapter 12:

The Master said: “I could adjudicate lawsuits as well as anyone. But I would prefer to make lawsuits unnecessary.”

In such passages, Confucius reminds us that the personal is the political, not in the totalitarian sense that absorbs the personal up into the political and tries to mold attitudes and actions via state coercion, but on the contrary in the humane sense that devolves the political down to the personal level, in the recognition that social order depends more fundamentally on prevailing morals and mores than on legislation.

Wisdom comes in many forms. And it is remarkable how often wisdom from wildly disparate sources ultimately direct us toward the same conclusion.

Comments Gone, Gammas Hardest Hit

An unusually wise and insightful commenter who calls himself “Savantissimo” is complaining about the absence of post-Google comments here at AC’s place:

Looks like Vox Day isn’t going to have comments at his new site, and is going to leave deleted all the hundreds of thousands of comments that people, many of them unusually wise and insightful, collectively spent many years writing.

He really does think that it’s all about him, or should be.

First, I have made it perfectly clear since 2003 that I don’t care about the comments. I permitted them as a courtesy, nothing more.

Second, it is a distinct pleasure to no longer have to spend any time moderating the hundreds of spam and troll and wise and insightful comments. I had no idea how much time I was wasting on it until I suddenly didn’t have to think about it anymore.

Third, why was it my responsibility to preserve the comments of those unusually wise and insightful individuals? I arranged to back up my posts, so why weren’t they wise enough, or insightful enough, to preserve their own comments? It’s precisely because I didn’t regard their comments as mine, or think their comments were all about me, that I did not consider myself to be responsible for them.

Fourth, we’ve already been through this. Literally no one cared that all the Co-Comment comments were lost. Comments are intrinsically ephemeral, and while they are not entirely devoid of value, they are seldom worth the effort that is required to police them. And furthermore, despite what certain wise, insightful, and totally disinterested parties insist, literally no one reads any site for the comments. As has been repeatedly confirmed on this blog, and numerous other sites, getting rid of the comments doesn’t reduce the site traffic at all.

And fifth, we have SocialGalactic. Chats and superchats are coming to UATV. There is no shortage of opportunities for engagement within the community.

By the way, the comments aren’t actually gone. So, if you are seeking unusual wisdom or insight in them, you can still do so.

Discuss on SG.

Bindery Campaign update 5

Days Left: 23

Status: 50.3 percent of goal.

The Iliad: 170/500

The Odyssey: 165/500  

First, thanks very much to everyone who has already backed this campaign and is making the next big step possible. Second, as requested, we will add two more ways to support the campaign next week, at more affordable $50 and $150 levels. Third, I will remind you that I am neither customer nor technical support and all attempts to pursue either through this blog or on the Darkstream will be deleted and ignored.

I understand that many organizations operate under the principle that “the customer is always right”. We absolutely do not. To the contrary, we operate under the principle that could be described as “the customer is probably retarded”. This is not to say we do not appreciate, respect, or hold in the highest regard everyone who supports our projects and makes them possible, but the negative baseline is necessary if we are to successfully anticipate even a small fraction of the customer-related problems that inevitably arise over time. Remember, MPAI.

For example, there is literally nothing we can do about a customer spamming our emails besides telling people – usually to no avail – to check their Social folders and whitelist our URLs. There is nothing we can do about a customer not giving us a shipping address, or moving without telling us that his address has changed. We cannot accept payment from an expired credit card. We cannot force anyone to read the emails that we send them. We are legally barred from contacting customers who intentionally remove themselves from our mailing list. (Believe it or not, one or two people do this almost every time we send out a mass email. Almost invariably, they later complain that we’re not keeping them informed.) These are the quotidian realities we face.

Moreover, until the bindery becomes operational, our ability to ensure that everyone gets their books in a reasonable timeframe is limited because we do not ship them to anyone. We literally never see them at all, and while our two primary partners have the best of intentions, both of them tend to fall short of the level of service that we consider to be acceptable. That is one of the primary reasons we are creating the bindery! In order to provide the level of service we wish to provide you, we have to control the entire process. And right now, we don’t, and unfortunately, neither of our partners are anywhere close to the Amazon level of operational performance and efficiency.

Now this doesn’t mean we aren’t 100-percent committed to ensuring that every single supporter and book buyer gets his books eventually, one way or another. For example, to address those who haven’t received the Junior Classics 1-3 hardcovers, the reason we aren’t losing any sleep about sorting out your problem right away is because you know we are going to be sending you books 4-6 this summer, and given our limited influence over the very large printing and distribution company that ships them, it is more effective to sort out each shipping problem with them once rather than addressing it multiple times. Trust us, we’ve been working with them for years, we know what works and what flat-out doesn’t.

As for what is taking so long to produce the Junior Classics, in addition to the editorial and layout processes, we are going through literally thousands of images, selecting hundreds of them, then carefully checking to make sure that they all work together aesthetically as well as with the related stories they illustrate. This takes time. This takes a LOT of time. Sure, we could have just taken the Easton approach, scanned the 1918 editions, and shipped all 10 volumes together six months ago, but that’s not what we do. 

I have the lovely two-volume Easton Press edition of The Tale of Genji. It is the exact same interior as my little octavo edition of the Waley translation I used in my Japanese literature course in college, scanned and blown up to royal octavo. And by “exact same”, I mean every typo and ink blot is perfectly replicated.

And I don’t believe that’s what our readers want. While we will use existing layouts for certain books in which the layouts cannot reasonably be improved – such as the Landmark history series, just to name one example for no particular reason at all – our standard modus operandi is to create new and unique layouts for each book in the Library.

I understand that some people would prefer that we provide gold-plated customer service. Since that’s not what we do at present, it would probably be better for such individuals to not do direct business with us, wait until the regular products are available through the mainstream channels, and pay the full retail price for them then. But it might be useful to reflect upon why so many of our customers are not meremly happy, but delighted with our products despite our horrific, bordering-on-nonexistent customer service.

We don’t spam, we don’t market (yet), we don’t even have an active dedicated Internet site at this point in time. All we do is make the highest-quality books that you can buy while systematically addressing one operational problem at a time. I very much hope that we can eventually reach the point where our customer service is as good as our interior layouts, but that is going to take at least two years, because it cannot be the priority at present. It will improve, just like the UATV technology is improving, but the process is intrinsically a gradual one that can be maddening at times.

Think about it. Are you really going to be happy with a gold-plated concierge service that calls you twice a day to inform you that your books are still not ready and you will not receive them today, tomorrow, or next week?

The cognitive alarm of the doomed

I disagree with Ann Barnhardt’s theory of why those who were foolish enough to submit to Covid vaccination are inclined to push it on others:

The reason why so many DeathJabbed people are pushy and adamant about you getting the DeathJab too, is because deep-down they fear that they made a stupid mistake and don’t want to be alone with their freely-chosen error. If they go down, you have to go down with them. It’s inconceivable and enraging to them that you made the right choice and they did not. They followed “the scientism”. You HAVE to be wrong. Even if you are right, you MUST be DeathJabbed too so that everyone suffers equally.

Re-read that, and then substitute in the free choice that Lucifer and one-third of the angels made in declaring that they would not serve God and never, ever see the Beatific Vision if the Second Person of the Triune Godhead incarnated as a Man born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s exactly the same dynamic. The Rebellious Angels chose poorly, and now want every other human being to suffer their eternal fate, to be damned, never to see God by their own incomprehensibly stupid and irreversible choice, out of pure, unquenchable SPITE.

The problem with Ann’s analysis is that most of the vaccinated, at this point, don’t see themselves as having made the wrong choice. They may be mildly concerned that they did, but given the overwhelming magnitude of the media propaganda, their concerns are little more than a niggling doubt at this point.

That’s why they don’t want to hear that you’re still fully human, still unsterilized, and that you have not submitted to the experimental gene therapy. They simply don’t want any doubt cast on their preferred narrative where scientists are good and worthy of trust, where governments act for the benefit of their citizens, and where life and liberties are essentially safe.

It’s very scary to step outside that narrative, just as it would be very hard for the average cow heading for the slaughterhouse to step outside the herd. It’s not spite or misery loving company that causes them to put pressure upon you, it’s merely an understandable preference for a belief in a nice, easy, and essentially good world instead of the fallen planet ruled by evil sociopathy that it actually is.

Leave them to their ignorant bliss. There is nothing you can do for them now, except permit them to live in peaceful, unthinking tranquility until the brutality of the real world forcibly intrudes upon it.

Meanwhile, the vaxx-pushers continue pushing fake news in a futile effort to trawl for more gullible idiots.

Always watch your tongue

This is precisely why I don’t permit negative “jokes” or “warnings” or “fears” or “worries” to be posted here in the comments. Words not only describe reality, they shape reality by influencing thoughts.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CURSES

In essence, a psychological curse is another word for a negative post-hypnotic suggestion.  This type of a curse can occur, for example, when someone tells you that you will have an accident, or die, or develop a disease, or something else negative will happen to you.  Sometimes the curse is placed accidentally, while at other times it is done to a person quite deliberately to harm him or her.

For example, doctors often place curses on people when they say in an authoritative tone, for example:  “You have cancer, and you may die of it.”  Several reasons for this are possible:

  1. The doctor is just trying to scare the patient into following the doctor’s orders.
  2. The doctor is just sloppy with words, and does not intend to do harm.  However, such words can instill needless fear and horror in a person – and this is quite common.
  3. The doctor is projecting his or her own fear of death or of disease.

Teachers or parents sometimes inflict this kind of curse on students.  They make statements, at times in a loud voice, such as “You will become a bum”, or “You will waste your life”, or similar negative statements.  Once again, sometimes they say this to help a child to work harder in school, for example.  However, this is not the way to do it, in my view.  Often, parents and teachers are just projecting their own fears onto vulnerable children, or worse, they are trying to upset the children and vampirize or steal energy from them.  

HOW CAN AN OPERATIVE REINFORCE THIS TYPE OF CURSE?

When negative suggestions are spoken to you, the person making the negative suggestion may consciously or unconsciously use hypnotic methods to “implant” the suggestion of misfortune deeply in your subconscious mind.  This is an important part of black magic or voodoo.  It is also used in satanic rituals and cults, during rapes and beatings, and during brainwashing, which is related to curses.

WHAT OCCURS AFTER A SPOKEN CURSE IS MADE?

In many cases, if the post-hypnotic suggestion or psychological curse is accepted by the subject, then a proportion of the people to whom it is spoken will actually go on to develop the problem that was spoken of.  One hears about this often in psychological therapy sessions, for example.

A teacher may have told a student that she is stupid when it comes to mathematics, for example.  If the student accepts this, she mysteriously finds that cannot excel in this area. An angry mother may have told her teenage boy that he will end up just like his drunken father.  If the boy accepts the curse or post-hypnotic suggestion, then he mysteriously finds himself drawn to alcohol.

This type of conditioning is extremely common, in fact.  Most people, I would say, must deal with these types of curses or post-hypnotic suggestions that parents, teachers, doctors, attorneys, and anyone else in authority hand out, often without thinking much about it.

When combined with a rape or torture of some other kind, these suggestions become even more powerful and this is used to control people, often for the duration of their lives.

This is also why the Prosperity Gospel, also known as “name it, claim it” theology, is fundamentally wicked. It’s literally practicing psychological magic in order to obtain material wealth. Scott Adams, for example, is a very successful practitioner of this sort of psychological magic.

But this is why relentless positivity of mind, the determined avoidance of negativity, and the refusal to live in fear are vital for the Christian. It’s also important to pay attention to the lyrics of the music one listens to; classical music is much better for your mental and spiritual health than imprinting your mind with emo goths droning about how unhappy they are or metal gammas screaming about how they hate the world because everyone hates them.

Skeptical? Test it. The next time it’s late at night and you’re feeling down, or feeling afraid, or wallowing in self-pity, listen to the following three songs. Crank them up. Sing along. Then measure how you feel versus how you were feeling previously.

Then keep in mind that the effect works both ways. Over time, you’ll begin to observe that luck, like confidence, builds on its own success. I don’t merely hope to be fortunate and I don’t just know I’m fortunate, I fully expect to be fortunate. Remember, the ancients’ idea that Fortuna personally favored some individuals and disfavored others wasn’t an invention ex nihilo, it was an observation.

This is why God tells us to bless others, and not curse them. At the very least, stop cursing yourself do not permit others to do so.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

James 3:3-12

Note: never, ever, assume that because I highlight something someone else wrote somewhere that I agree with, or endorse, or encourage you to read, that site, the author, or anything but that which I have highlighted here. If it does not say “read the whole thing” then there is no need to read the whole thing. Many people have glimmerings of the truth. No one grasps the whole.

Build your own platforms

 It doesn’t only apply to technology. And furthermore, always keep out the SJWs and Karens:

In 2001, I was asked to coach the first 8-year-old all-star baseball team. My wife was concerned it would take up every weekend of the short summer we have in Massachusetts and she was dead against it. I declined but told the league if my son made the team I’d gladly help out…

The coach who accepted the position chose his team without having a tryout. I didn’t care that my son didn’t make it, but other coaches and parents demanded a formal tryout. I was asked to help out at the tryout so I put on the catcher’s gear and got behind the plate during batting. I also hit outfield later in the day.

The kids and their parents were told they’d receive calls in a couple of days… We got a call and my son didn’t make the All-Star team. In fact, other than two additional players, it was the same team the coach had already chosen prior to the tryouts. The tryout was simply a formality…

My son took it hard as did a lot of his friends, they wanted to play summer baseball. My son asked me why we played in the spring when it always rained and not in the summer when the weather was nicer and the Red Sox were playing. I told him that next year I’d start a summer baseball league so all kids could play summer baseball, not just the All-Stars…

My son wanted to go to the first game to watch his friends play and as much as I didn’t, I said okay. We watched as both teams made a dozen errors each and every kid either struck out or walked, there might’ve been two hits the entire game. At 8-years old there was very little difference between the kids who made the All-Star team and those who tried out and didn’t…

The next spring I spoke with the Director of Parks & Rec about my idea to start a summer league and she wanted me to pitch it to the Recreation Commission at their next meeting. At the meeting, I told the members about the need to start a summer baseball league so non-all-stars could play baseball through the summer and improve their skills. I told them how much I had enjoyed putting my glove over the handlebars of my bicycle when I was a kid, heading to the local playground, and playing baseball all day with my friends. I went on that these experiences weren’t available to our kids and that the league would be dedicated to recreating that sandlot experience where they would have fun without all the pressure put on them in other leagues… They liked the idea and were willing to support my league and make it a Park & Rec summer program, naming me as the director of summer baseball. They asked me to become a member of the Rec Commission, but my plate was full and I’m not big on board meetings, and so I declined their offer.

We advertised the new league in the local newspaper and I went to the equipment manager of the regular league and asked him if I could borrow four equipment bags for the summer. There were more than 50 not being used just sitting in the equipment room at the little league complex. He said he’d have to ask the league president. I called him back a few days later and he said it was going to be discussed at a “special meeting”…

I called a week later expecting the answer to be yes and why not, these were the same kids who paid to play in their league during the spring. They declined and said they unanimously decided not to lend me any equipment for my summer league…

Read the whole four-part article by initially clicking on Read Part One Here. This man did a really good thing, creating a summer baseball league for all the boys who weren’t permitted to join one of the official recreation league teams. It was a smashing success. However, he made a crucial mistake in not keeping entirely clear of the local Park & Recs bureaucracy, and ended up seeing the whole thing collapse while being publicly accused of criminal misconduct.

Never forget this: each and every and any success will attract parasites. So don’t accept any help, assistance, or investment from problematic people and organizations. The moment his request to use four equipment bags was rejected, he should have known that these were people of whom to steer well clear.

Also, if offered organizational power, take it. You can always resign later. One of my minor corporate missteps was rejecting a seat on the board of a public game publisher – you’d know the name – because what they really needed most urgently at the time was my design skills. But if I’d accepted the board position offered instead of successfully suggesting the alternative of a design contract, I would have outranked the lead producer, who then wouldn’t have been able to prevent me from implementing what needed to be done on the design side.