“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.”

~ Elie Wiesel

PREFACE

NOTE: I know this is long, I will be dividing the 3 parts into the separate articles that they are consolidated below for easier reading once the piece is complete. Dividing it too early becomes too clumsy for me when still in its early release phase and I’ve autistically “got it out of my system” and I need to rearrange paragraphs across sections. In the meantime, I recommend using Medium’s built in “Listen” feature! And stay tuned, I’ll be making a summary and conclusion video :)

(That said… if you're a white person who thinks this is too long to read, that's *precisely why you should read it, and why it was written, suck it up, fuck, lol)

I’d like to begin by (once again, meep) apologizing to my closer friends & comrades who yet again got in the path of my wrath the past few days. I know it’s all too easy to be vicious behind a screen. I do my best to remain empathetic and respectful and check my own privileges especially around the education and experience I have received. So if you are a long term friend (who prolly know this side of me by now anyways 😇) know you are just caught in the crossfire of a rage I am always learning to channel better. So I apologize for any CAPS-LOCKED bluntness that comes out disrespectfully which removed from in-person contact, would likely otherwise be friendly!

For this reason — I can openly get frustrated with the ignorance and unrecognized privilege in folks as I’ve quite literally been studying the topic of ethical violence for decades… And that, leads me directly to this article.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”
~ George Santayana

PART ONE: No Justice, No Peace

THE EXISTING VIOLENCE… OVER “THERE”

I’d like to begin by being as ultra clear as I can be from the outset: everything discussed below is in no way meant to be encouraging senseless violence. This is about studying the conditions and climate in which it is currently manifesting. A look at history: decades, if not centuries of the sociological math that has brought us here. And finally, my argument that due to these factors it will become increasingly and unfortunately inevitable, which is precisely why we, especially those of us with privilege who may not experience it directly, must make a cold & hard examination of the ethics of it when it becomes time to respond and defend. Especially on behalf of the defenseless under fascism.

Violence is already, and has always been happening.

I’m some random ass straight white dood learning to manage my rage that I often only have an intellectual/proxy understanding/clinical witnessing of what it must feel like to carry the tragedy of so many lived experiences. Experiences that I will likely never share, for all the reasons, due to my privilege. And I loathe even writing this, because it sounds like I’m capitalizing from it. So please factor that when reading anything that follows. I’m trying to remove myself from the equation, while simultaneously using my privilege as an umbrella to help shield those without a voice… as we all should.

So, it shocks me how few people had even heard of Charlie Kirk. To be clear, it’s okay that you haven’t. Yet so many people in my feeds have formed and preach their political views openly — and yet he remains absent from their radar. Meanwhile to his victims… he has been unescapable. This is privilege beyond words. And this level of ignorance to the key players of the fascist takeover in the US and thus globally — causes me to consider if I should ever listen let alone take seriously the views of these people ever again.

Know thy Enemy.

My profession is to address the roots of health problems. The stems from my life’s work educating on the mechanics of privilege and how violence is displaced to the marginalized… especially peoples used as cannon fodder in other countries. And it has always fallen on the deaf ears of those who benefit from said privilege. Just like it always has… for its actual victims. What will it take for us who too often benefit from death & destruction elsewhere, to realize that this is, and will become personal? We cannot breath our air, our bodies are riddled with microplastics. And “this is fine”. This will take radical action to begin counteracting the rachet effect on behalf of the voiceless, that only leads in one direction.

The writing has been on the wall my entire adult life, and as my references throughout demonstrate this has been ongoing even before it. As many Leftists can attest this isn’t soothsaying: this is a logical conclusion (what I call “math”) when you study anti capitalism. This should not come as a shock.

When we see riots flare up in places like Nepal (🙌) or Greece and especially in Palestine, there is always a sparking incident which ignites the pre-existing smouldering fire of oppression. As in all points of history, and like many chemical reactions, it is through acute phases of popular direct-action movements that the most dramatic shifts from one state to another occur.

It is quite clear by now to all that the warnings of the last few decades — all warned by the actual Left, have manifested and subsequently become accepted in the mainstream. Violence against women. Economic crisis. Climate change. Massive species extinction. Sustainable war. Natural disasters. While the point of this article is not to tease out the specific links between the global economic crisis and this recent assassination, one can assume that there are deeper underlying root causes. These crises connect as symptoms, and by extension, one can assume that there are more riots and direct actions to come as the symptoms worsen.

This time the call came from within the house. But at some point… It will be the genuine call for the necessary — and justified — need… for violent revolution.

Whose side will you be on?

From Palestinians to the riots in Greece, the direct actions of the Tyendinaga Mohawks and the Algonquins of Barrier Lake (to bring us a little closer to our own backyard — oh how soon things are forgotten), have all occurred because of specific acts of oppression, over a background of chronic general oppression. The attacks on their livelihoods, on their autonomy were personal attacks. Poverty, discrimination, exploitation.

People and species are dying every day. But it’s always “over there”, and then another distraction (release the Epstein files). Another school shooting. Another nameless mother. Another vanished indigenous person — met with an outright refusal to “waste resources” on searching landfills. Meanwhile, we are now distracted hundreds of crisis chapters past even talking about the climate anymore. It’s like we’ve all but given up — all because our mainstream media outright refuses to discuss and instead serves as a deliberate arm to obfuscate the reality of how bad things really are in the planetary destruction we face.

Meanwhile the billionaires who cause all of this… build bunkers. (Release the Epstein files.)

So, pardon me for my unbridled rage surfacing from time to time. Because bluntly, it sure would be nice if there were more folks in my community ferociously speaking out and taking action against the serious fucking trauma too many experience regularly. The more the rage is absorbed and expressed by community support, the more it dissipates for the victims of it.

The more the rage is absorbed and expressed by community support, the more it dissipates for the victims of it.

I am all too aware my takes can be controversial. They shouldn’t be. This is why I can reply with such ferocity that I may later often regret: Because to me, this demonstrates a total privilege from many in my community & networks. Blatant ignorance on these topics and it shows as they are all too quick to share their latest “take”. Instead, if you are removed from the violence of rape and racism:

• Spend hours reading/listening to the talks of the Black Panthers, the Zapatistas and First Nations peoples
• Advocate on behalf of those murdered in the Amazon, on behalf of capitalist “progress”, witness the toxicity and devastation of the oil/forestry/mining industry.

Then read:

• How Nonviolence Protects the State — Peter Gelderloos
• Pacifism as Pathology — Ward Churchill
• Endgame — Derrick Jensen (while he has since had some controversial anti-LGBTQ+ takes which I do not support, the books remain a solid intro to the insanity of our world, and stand on their own)
• (Personal Placeholder: Another book I had ages ago and leant it out and never got back and its name frustratingly eludes me — regardless, further references at the end of the article)

White folk: When drilled down, ask yourself: Is what you are afraid of, is them coming after you? Or are you authentically concerned with them coming down harder on the marginalized? And if so — what will you do to stand in their way?

Because many in the privileged class have been pushed so far to this normalized insanity that people don’t even know how insane this all truly is: we are born into that pot of boiling water. In contrast, from the perspective indigenous peoples experiencing untold centuries of oppression, violence and bloodshed both human and ecological: We are already living in the apocalypse.

And this is its endgame.

ON PACIFISM & LIBERALS AS AGENTS OF FASCISM

On the non-violent front, I appreciate where many of you are nobly coming from, I do. And it should be quite obvious to anyone who knows me, how deeply peaceful, peace loving, and especially dedicated I am to alleviating the suffering I am in anyone I come across — from my professional practice to our dancefloor comrades.

But peace… needs teeth.

Obsessed at a young age with the Tibetan Shambhala Warrior lineage and studying Tulku’s & the Boddhisatva vow, this compassion is ingrained in me to such a degree that I can too often self-sacrifice: with an at times deeply subconscious self-sabotaging dismissal to feel deep contentment as long as those around me continue to suffer. I’m not sure how that comes across, healthy or not, it is what it is, and it’s the topic of another essay. My reason for introducing this here is that from this angle, it becomes achingly evident that many are coming from a hyper privileged angle. Too many have never even questioned their own literal inborn baseline income/economic class/status which shapes nearly every aspect of one’s fundamental worldview.

Because as I see it, how can I *truly enjoy the privilege to dance freely — if *everyone cannot dance with me?

Because violence is advancing on far too many, already. And why it hasn’t on you, is a privilege. And if you have experienced it, then it should only take a minor dose of empathy or extrapolation to understand others who have in different forms, as well.

I am just beyond sick of living in a world where all people want to do is go back to some mythical “normal”, when normal has always been the problem. And why it may not have been for some is because of the mountain pulpits of unquestioned privilege they too often preach from. The internalized propaganda is sickening and yes, I struggle in how I best respond to it when I see. But I only see it, as FAR too many victims experience it.

Few “pacifists” I see truly are educated on actual pacifist theory and literature to have enough of a critique of the reality and very much at times necessity of armed uprisings. Stop listening to white/mainstream pundits, and like the Prince Shakur video above, listen more to the marginalized survivors of the war already being waged.

Preaching non-violence is what has allowed capitalists to keep pushing us further and further towards this insanity. The actual Left has been completely crippled in forming actual coherent political parties to reclaim the actual Left/Right dynamic, let alone revolutionary organizing — while they rape and murder, people and planet.

As basically all my friends have heard me say countless times: if someone breaks into your home and will kill your family — do you sit down and send “positive vibes”? Or do you do what is right, what is ethical, and fight and possibly kill — by any means necessary? The only ethical choice is violence — possibly to the point of ending a life — its life or death, you or them.

Pacifists and Liberals, as I’ll demonstrate, only serve those in power.

And what happens if this keeps happening, generation after dwindling generation? Of both indigenous peoples, cultures, ancestral wisdom… and total species extinction?

Because for too many, this is not a thought experiment — this is the daily choice they face.

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

~ Desmond Tutu

So, to brush it off with “eye for an eye” only feeds the white colonialist machine of brushing the burden of violence of to the marginalized which is thus either prejudice… or outright racism. Either way — status quo.

As discussed in “Pacifism as Pathology” (p60, Like Lambs to the Slaughter), we have en masse surrendered to internalized Nazi gas chamber pacifism. Churchill argues with his own references that there were always exponentially more prisoners than there were SS guards. The Jewish/Romani/Queer etc prisoners all knew those camps lead in one direction and one direction only. So if death was the only way out then then based on rationality alone, why did they not rise up sooner? Because of deeply numbing fear coupled with a clinging to a poisonous naïve hope.

Denial.

Because good humans balk at the idea of killing others. Even when it is the rational thing to do. But Nazism… is fundamentally irrational, fundamentally evil. Afterall, even individual Nazis had families and were also just “doing their job”, right?

So while I am absolutely not invalidating an experience none of us can fathom (save Gazans) — when presented from this context these are obviously and factually irrational emotions that kept them numb and in denial, blinding them to the reality of their options. Yet when taken from this overview from our privilege of hindsight, should lead to only one conclusion: violently overthrowing the guards, attempt after attempt, one kill at a time. They were dead either way, the risk would have been worth it.

But this is a hyper-rational extreme petri-dish thought experiment. Yet, this is the precise dynamic of abusers and their victims — and we all too often ask ourselves “why didn't hey just leave?”. Because arguably worse than physical abuse, they had been psychologically beaten. This is why we tend to identify and empathize with billionaires — rather than the homeless on the streets.

I present this here to honour those who have died under colonialism/fascism, to learn the lessons once and for all as a psychological vaccine. This internalized pacifism is precisely what oppressors want from us — absolute submission & identification with our captors. Our captors have since become far more strategic and have learned that when reversed, when psychological dominance comes before physical threat (carrot & stick and all that) that it can be injected, cultivated, manufactured at a large social scale. Whether through artificial wage stagnation causing perpetual stress, or by blatant consumerist distraction now peaking in the social media “influencer” era, especially here in North America (it was, in fact, the genocide of the Native “Americans” and Henry Ford that inspired Hitler, after all).

If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out that’s not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even pulled the knife out much less heal the wound. They won’t even admit the knife is there.

~ Malcolm X

Again, referring to Churchill (p67), white people will prop up Ghandi, and Fox News will callously celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. “Day”… while deliberately obfuscating the armed revolutionary Black socialist movements that shielded and enabled his rise to allow him to speak for as long as he did. And then look what happened.

Pacifism enabled Nazis. Violence defeated them. It enabled the Brits in India, and despite the colonizer's efforts in whitewashing history, pacifism did not defeat them: the armed uprisings that shielded Ghandi, did. But those names are not remembered. Pacifism empowers Fox News, who to this day take MLK Jr out of context while ignoring the Black Panthers and Malcolm X. Pacifism is the language the colonizers want you to speak. Because it changes nothing.

People who hold open the doors to fascism without themselves fully stepping through it are part of the same mechanism that allows fascism to flourish. The door wouldn’t be open if it wasn’t for them.

This is what Remembrance Day and “Never Again” was supposed to be for. This is why I constantly call liberals and centrists, “Good Germans”:

“As we say in Germany, if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you’ve got a table with 11 Nazis.”

Preaching nonviolence shoulders the burden of violence to the people who are already bearing it. The plant wouldn’t exist without its roots: Fascist enablers or sympathizers are fascists. We need JUSTICE.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out — 
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — 
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — 
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

~ Martin Niemöller

The bourgeoise class enslave or destroy for profit, turn the living to the dead then amass the wealth which they then pass it along through generational endowments and capital investments which gives them kickbacks and lobbying power. And then when they enter the political sphere, they rig the game to convince us to vote; when in factual reality, the game is two sides of the capitalist class stroking each other to make only superficial changes to the facade while the corporations stay in power. (I will be expanding this, in an upcoming piece entitled “Two Wings to Capitalism Can Fly”)

We are already imprisoned boiling frogs. Stop giving the psychopath oppressors discussed next this satisfaction: Fight back before it’s too late. While we have passed the point of no return for climate change, at this point my only hope is to overthrow this inherently unsustainable system and set our polestars on healing these social and planetary wounds. If we have the intelligence to read this on our high-tech devices, then we surely have the intelligence to reverse and decolonize psychiatry and the planet.

We just need to get them the fuck out of our way.

While the majority of North Americans benefit from the subjugation of Third World countries and ecosystems, to continue the illusion of “business as usual” — having been completely stripped of even a passing vision — let alone the time to dream of how much better and beautiful life can be.

They have robbed us of this.

Pacification: Liberals/Centrists as Fascism Enablers

PART TWO: Know Justice, Know Peace

FACING THE REALITY OF VIOLENCE

To be clear: I’m not saying non-violence is wrong, I’m saying two things can be simultaneously true. We need all the tools at our disposal and must not dictate nor stand in the way of those who fight back by any means necessary. Because FAR too many of act on behalf of the police/state agenda… and are completely unaware.

I see people talking about the gruesome death of Kirk, and avidly disavowing violence, as if this were your first time actually seeing it. That is privilege. Because TELL THAT TO THE KIDS WHO SEE THIS GORE NEAR DAILY IN AMERICAN CLASSROOMS… AND IN GAZA. Because these are indeed the same mechanisms: the normalization of capitalist military industrial complex internationally benefitting from arms sales to both sides of conflicts, for decades.

And we are propagandized to choose “sides” — while being played like a fiddle by the actual “deep state”.

Because look where all this nonviolence has gotten us: the world has been watching, cripplingly powerless, as they commit the atrocity of atrocities in Gaza — and we have been completely ineffective against their calculated, cultivated, psychotic sadistic hubris.

They are bathing in, and literally thrive from this suffering. It is their absolute modus operandi and must be addressed as such.

So, if the death of a Nazi is used as warning (excuse) that it will only “create more of them” — then they were already a Nazi to begin with. To debate this otherwise is victim blaming in the highest order. This is akin to intentionally staying next to an acutely infectious person and then blaming them when you get sick. The variable is choice. Therefore, in a country that has had more school shootings than any nation on earth, this becomes mathematically inevitable. And it is the Conservatives/Republicans who are entirely, vote after vote, exclusively at fault. Not a vigilante or resistance movement: all legitimate Leftists, by definition, do not identify with — and in fact abhor, the capitalist “Democrat” party. Yet with that said, it is beyond clear that even in this microcosm, the Dems are clearly on the right side when it comes to gun laws.

Some recent studies show that civil protests are more effective than outright violence. But… colour me skeptical. As times get more and more desperate, we need all the tools in the toolbox — not the tools oppressors dictate as “permissible”. These are not normal times, not when the entire narrative had been hijacked by a propaganda machine far more sophisticated than the Germans could ever dream of. These inconclusive studies are often pushed by the biggest of mainstream media conglomerates that serve only to uphold the status quo.

This type of violence is an unfortunate reality that I will keep stressing mathematically must happen, must surface, and must be addressed, for there to be any change this is the expression of a suppressed illness for it to finally be cured. The violence has flowed from top down, or without any change in global systemic change for FAR too long.

And the math, the inherent mechanism of the system and its agents, continues, playing out their scripted roles placate a sense of normalcy. On the one hand, we see MAGA immediately without evidence blaming “The Left”, while black people immediately, without reason, become targets and must shut down schools.

Meanwhile, the other half express empty calls for nonviolence. In either case, it suits them and their agenda to do so. Too many only come out with these takes when violence flows in the “incorrect” direction (a self-admittance of socially accepted internalized propaganda if I ever saw one). They will call for “reason” and “cooler heads” because violence is only sanctioned to flow top down. Then in a week’s time, they will go “back to normal” — the “normal” violence of blocking gun control laws killing more students, and blocking women’s access to safe abortion, protecting pedophiles all while claiming to protect children. This is what conservatives and fascists, backed by the Heritage Foundation *do. There is no reasoning with them when it is literally their modus operandi.

Pundits & news personalities in the US are acting like they still exist in a “liberal democracy” and are calling for a return to normal. JFC — how are people not seeing the reality that fascism is already here? How much worse will it have to get? Considering Jan 6 and “when it happens” do you think Project 2025 is just going to go away with a vote? Drumpf is a useful idiot, and boyyyy are theyyyyy itching… We haven’t even cleared the 1-year mark yet.

This is the most powerful country in the world — with a total hegemony on world order via total control of the capitalist military industrial complex with bases in nearly every country. The system is functioning exactly as it is meant to, everyone playing out their roles, perpetuating wealth and power accumulation. Stop. Pretending. Otherwise.

If justice cannot be enforced, then the only remaining option is retribution.

“The people in power will not disappear voluntarily, giving flowers to the cops just isn’t going to work. This thinking is fostered by the establishment; they like nothing better than love and nonviolence. The only way I like to see cops given flowers is in a flower pot from a high window.”

~ William S. Burroughs

Inside Stephen Miller's Reign of Terror

MASTERING FIREBENDING

STOP. DEFENDING. A RAPIST. FASCIST. PEDOPHILE. ADMINISTRATION. THEY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE, IF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM IS CORRUPT AND ACTIVELY PREYS UPON ACTIVIST COUNTER-MOVEMENTS, THEN STATISTICALLY INEVITABLE VIGILANTES ARE ALL WE CAN PRAY FOR.

So let’s wake the fuck up. People online have some serious studying of decolonized history to do. Deaths are already happening, the war has already begun. If you cannot see this, then flatly, you are under propaganda. For any change to happen THEY. NEED. TO. FEEL. THE THREAT OF FEAR.

INDIVIDUAL SELF DEFENSE IS NOT CONTRAVERSIAL. So logically further, armed resistance movements protecting the victims of hate, should not be either.

Like… how the tf do people think we beat the Nazis in World War II, with flowers? Now then factor in the slow but steady and above all deliberate exceptionalism specifically demonstrated primarily by the United States since then, in circumventing international law, and ultimately rendering the United Nations as a symbolic and too often useless agency. While I am outside my knowledge range here, here have the peacekeepers been in regards to Gaza? Why has the UN been ultimately toothless due to non-binding gestures?

So from both the global state, down to local level, we the proletariat class have had one of our “bending” elements stolen from us, one of the tools in the toolbox: We need Firebenders. People not afraid of mastering Fire. Mastering rage, standing up to injustice that may not directly affect them and… the reality of potential ethical violence. Having the hard discussions and actually being prepared for the boot of fascism when it arrives at your doorstep, or better yet putting yourself on the line in advance to stop its march.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBMJT-SggT7/

I went through years of a direct-action activist phase and later found my path to making greater social impact was through medicine and leadership. But I make absolutely no qualms with people chaining themselves to trees, sabotaging pipelines, or fighting back against racism and hatred by any means necessary. As long as it is targeting the actual source of oppression appropriately (vs the propagandized scapegoating that scapegoating that feeds fascism) when the traditional methods of justice have failed — I refuse to gatekeep/tone police how others seek justice or react for their trauma from this lens.

There is a difference between the violence capitalists engage in by-proxy like these CEOs do, versus retribution. To argue against this is to say indigenous peoples or the civil rights movement weren’t justified in fighting back. Capitalism controls the narrative on violence via the police state and military industrial complex. It is acceptable when it flows top down but here you are essentially coming to their aid in the exceedingly rare moment someone uses the masters’ tools against them. Hence the frequent “bootlicker” comments many receive — because that’s exactly how this functions.

This attitude perpetuates capitalist/ruling class monopoly on violence. We need the threat of guillotines because without posing an ACTUAL threat, they will keep on killing THE ENTIRE FUCKING PLANET because pacifism and “permitted protests” works to their benefit — and precisely why they tolerate it.

So yes, the violence has already been happening for ages and we may need MORE “Luigis” to STOP theirs. Ethical violence is real. Look at the recent success in Nepal.

Movements, well intentioned or not, will have unforeseen consequences — some good, some less — but all are required. We must shake the entire system to its core and introduce new variables towards the path to a better world.

You cannot keep hiding behind some fear-based view of “producing more Charlie Kirks”. We cannot predict the future. But sometimes what must happen in the present reality we face… should.

IGNITING & UNIFYING AN ACTUAL FEARLESS LEFT

This is where education and action combined as praxis are required. We must study the chaos that ensues in a power vacuum such as after the French revolution. We must study history, and especially anarcho-socialism to ensure the process leads to complete results: tangible benefits for the marginalized, for workers and for ecosystems. Nothing less.

Democrats are capitalists and therefore not the real left — and are further therefore absolutely lame ducks because they have NO other ethics beyond rainbow capitalism. Which, from Kamala, to the NDP — has clearly been unmasked and is failing miserably.

They are NOT the answer: They will attempt to seize power, restore the existing order, and once again, we are back on the wagon that will again, inevitably lead right back to where we are now: with an impending climate apocalypse.

From this context, it’s downright pathetic hearing Musk’s sob stories, playing the victim and act “surprised” that the “Left” is supposed to be the side of peace while his pathetic cars burn — like bro: the Left has always been about direct action against the powerful & privilege — may I again point you to the Black Panthers. These movements didn’t exist in a vacuum, but the right conveniently boosts MLK to cloud the fact that he couldn’t exist without their armed branch. They are literally propagandizing people to portray Leftists as the enemy to pave the way towards *actual* state violence.

THEY ARE LUCKY THAT WE HAVE A PEACEFUL MAMDANI. As history has revealed, Fascists will always lose to an organized revolutionary vanguard. The next generation of Left leaders will be less diplomatic. In fact, with the climate countdown officially over — we should be well beyond this point by now.

So the view of the Left having a vague moral high ground is internalized propaganda against clouding what any Leftist movements are, blatantly ignores history thus serving the oppressors controlling the narrative: the story of how we “should” act. This, by definition, means they still retain the power. They made the same argument against the Black Panthers.

To be clear, I’m not saying vigilantism will trigger a revolution, I’m saying this is yet another domino in a chain that is already falling towards it. All empires collapse. “Fascism is capitalism in decay”. This is the rot of a system that deliberately underfunds education, obscures history, and teaches subjugation in every classroom. If Drumpf wasn’t elected, it would simply be a matter of time before the next fascist steps up to the plate.

“It will remain bloodless — if the Left allows it to be”

803K views · 55K reactions | Rest in Power ✊ | The Resistance

From terrorizing the black community, to Asian hate, to the trans minority and women’s rights, they have deliberately created the exact conditions for these moments to inevitably occur and will blame “the Left” no matter what happens. So, the Left may as WELL begin to fight back. The longer a lack of any coherent and armed resistance movements take, the more isolated cases of insane lone gunman will happen.

In other words: this is bullying psychology 101. Bullying, especially domestic abuse, often creates more bullies — now multiply the effects of an entire fascist government is strategically dehumanizing an entire group of people then… again… psychological statistic inevitability. Except in these cases — THIS. IS. DELIBERATE.

They are creating the conditions, and then using the results to continue the violence. There is no way out of this, to argue in any other way is to argue that spring doesn’t follow winter: This is how fascism works.

Do not. normalize to this. Do not minimize. What they want is to shift the window on what is and is not acceptable. When the voices of justice or basic human decency start sounding radicals to you, then you have officially become indoctrinated.

GOOD RIDDANCE TO A STOCHASTIC TERRORIST

So… good f’kin riddance to Charlie fucking Kirk. May all who support this regime shake in fear as too many others have, henceforth. Fuck him and his Toilet Paper USA x Heritage Foundation. May they all live in the same fear that they have caused to the lives of countless others. To all who support or mourn him — fuck you and your lack of self-reflective privilege.

So while the purpose of this essay is to prevent further violence, this was inevitable, and the mathematical positive that comes from this action far outweighs his life. The human and ecological world is actually a better place without him, now for the next decades of toxicity without him to come. And we need to STOP being afraid to say so. Because the families of the women who have died because they couldn’t abort because of this piece of shit aren’t afraid to feel, even a moment of joy, if not celebration, that a stochastic terrorist has been permanently silenced.

We must stop pretending like we aren’t already at war and ignoring the lives who have already been lost. The loss of his life will save others, NOT vice versa.

People afraid of “martyring” him are playing into propaganda. The facts are facts — because I’ll keep hammering: we are already at war. By this logic, I do hope anyone posting against this specific case, all made an equivalent post defending every death caused by those saved by the atrocities directly caused by his cult-like support of this administration and the indirect the deaths caused by him. If not — you’re swallowing propaganda: stop pretending as if this is not already going to worsen, that even more nameless marginalized will be sacrificed under your selective outrage.

Put another way: If those against the death of Kirk and any who deaths who might follow him had their way — then literally nothing would change.

Whether caused by a Leftist or not… I argue that future history books will see his unaliving likely proving to be a net positive: This man had a destiny leading towards his own fascist presidency and would continue to exponentially destroy via stochastic terrorism more and more lives increasingly directly, the further he ascended.

Charlie Kirk and The Hate Speech Algorithm

They. Are. Terrorists. We must stop being afraid to call them that. Anything else, validates their doublespeak and control on the language we use… and hypnotizes us out of reality itself.

Good. Fucking. Riddance.

Kirk, "Political Violence" Hypocrisy Shitposting

PART THREE: Diagnosing the Inevitable

INSTITUTIONALIZED PSYCHOPATHY

Musk and Trump represent pure unbridled wealth and power beyond comprehension: it would take centuries for them to spend this obscene wealth. These people live in the psychotic demonic combination of Christian Nationalist (*ahem* Nazi) Project 2025 coupled with a delusional tech bro paranoid dream world where money is no object. After normalizing the ability to do anything, their extreme worldview can only be satisfied with extreme desires: they glimpse a forbidden that is still out of reach — and like the vampires they are, must satisfy their urges.

And it is because of these truly rare, truly extreme cases of psychopathic narcissism that could only lead someone to these positions of unimaginable wealth & power, their narcissistic tendencies give them no other option than to satisfy their desire for the truly dark and truly forbidden. Whether Epstein or playing chess with politics on the global stage These people cannot be dealt with rationally. Unlike China’s response to Jack Ma, we do not have a mechanism to keep these people in check. In fact, the purist capitalist system of the hegemonic United States exists to prevent it: it by definition encourages and yes rewards greed and ecocide.

Controversial Take: I value ALL life as equal; I am not human centric — because all life is required for all life to flourish. While humans can absolutely be stewards towards the higher evolution of our planet and all the untold magic that could await us (more on that in a future essay), in the meantime… I couldn’t give any less fucks about the capitalist AIPAC climate denier genocidal oil lobby meeting guillotines to replenish and restore the sanctity of our oceans. So while this could come across as another form of cold-heartedness, and my own form of psychopathy — there are countless differences: these people literally proclaim their view of empathy as an illness (while I know too well the unprofessionalism of making a mental health diagnosis publicly — if that doesn’t define psychopathy aloud, I don’t know what else could). There is the total fantasy paranoia realm of projected fear and enemies everywhere (likely fed by their deep deep subconscious guilt and inadequacy)

A single fucking fish contributes more to the vitality and beauty of our world than they ever could.

Think about that each time you eat — and then get offended by what goes against the grain of the propagandized state sanctioned violence of who deserves to live, and the voiceless victims of capitalism.

Surrounded by levels of wealth and power that transcends borders and reaches globally for the first time in human history. With the insatiable project towards global colonialist expansion centuries behind us, this late-stage capitalist manifestation, with few remaining to “conquer” they must now instead create their own boogeymen. Create threats that do not actually exist by demonizing a scarecrow of some mythical “Woke” Left (far removed from any actual coherent Leftist theory, let alone violence caused by them). These people are on a one-way path to self-destruction and will take the planet down with them.

Trump has evaded every step of the justice system, exposing it as the mere veiled tool that has long kept us subjugated, but rarely applies to them — it is now on full display. Fascism cannot be reasoned with. In toxic debate bro endless comment feed social media era, we would have done this by now. Reasoned our way out.

All fascists either stir fear in their base or stir fear among their victims. Like Pennywise in “It” these people thrive off creating fear because they exist in a world where they themselves have nothing to fear, completely disconnected seeing others as only numbers or tools to amass more power and then discarded once used. And like Pennywise, they by definition can only be defeated by feeling fear. The fear they have created in so many others.

Gislaine Maxwell has shown us that even with time, the consequences of their actions will too be circumvented. While we witnessed in Nepal the total overthrow of their government, at this level of global wealth & power, like Alex Jones, or Kissinger, they will insatiably claw back power given any single opportunity.

This is a diagnosable disease.

Yet — buried in these paranoid incoherent threats designed to portray themselves as both victims and victors, by demonizing the most marginalized with the most powerful stories of oppression, by outright attacking antifa — literal antifascists — they are giving us the answers.

This is why revolution is inevitable and why the Left must grapple with what this means. And what your role in it will be. The system is broken beyond repair. The only way out of this, mathematically — is violence. It is the ethical thing to do. Be it by violent coup of military overthrow, the bullet of an assassin, or a revolutionary moment — it has become inevitable. And not only must we face it, but we must also begin to redefine our relationship with it.

Remember, the bloodshed was already happening. Mothers, school shootings, erosion of healthcare causing countless more deaths in an already broken system, Palestinians slaughtered by US arms, devastation of ecosystems and species loss due to rolling back climate laws etc etc. They are saying “let us rape you, and if you fight back, we will rape you harder.”

This was built into their plan, they were waiting, and if it didn’t happen, they would certainly manufacture it. This is how history works. The only way out, is through, and the only way through is through revolution. It won’t be pretty — and that sucks. They will martyr him, but let’s stop pretending the war wasn’t already happening.

They are saying “let us rape you, and if you fight back, we will rape you harder.”

Our system has normalized Charlie Kirk’s levels of hate to the degree that they are rewarded. He was a very, very, VERY sick and hate filled man — and like all with the disease of colonialism, it must be addressed. We must not be afraid to decolonize psychiatry to use the colonizers language against themselves. We are the many, they are the few. In the world I want to build these people would be diagnosed early on and re-educated rather than platformed.

Yep — I said re-educated. As I’ll prove in upcoming essays, this is literally scientifically, and above all ethically, true and I’ll be backing all of this up with data and references as I continue the journey of publishing my books.

If we do not face and study the history and reality of violence it will only be a matter of time before it shows up on our Canadian doorstep. For the Indigenous here — it already has.

Fascism in Canada

Please read the books I have outlined above (I’m sure there are more!) then get back to me before these knee jerk gatekeeping takes on who gets to use violence, and when. In the meantime, I am studying this phenomenon to educate and sound alarms so that we do not import it here to Canada. We bought ourselves time with the NeoLib Con Carney (FUCKING COINED! 🌯) — but as PP showed — it’s lurking in the shadows here in the backyard of our own colonialist rooted country.

We need to reclaim and then rewrite the dominant narrative. Colonialists and extreme lobbying/crony Capitalists are manifestations of patriarchal hate and must be quarantined, diagnosed, and addressed as such.

Our future will not be pretty, and more innocent lives will be lost. But they are already being lost in a system designed to forget and erase. It’s time we, especially those most privilege among us — stand up and help the nameless be remembered. With climate change now guaranteed, our very survival is at stake. Like the Lorax, we must speak for the voiceless.

#releasetheepsteinfiles

WERE NOT DONE YET! MY VIDEO CONCLUSION ON ITS WAY!

References

• Ethical Violence
• Kirk and "Political Violence" Shitposting
• Fascism 101 (aka Right Wing Disinformation not Left)
• Project 2025: Neo Fascism
• Free Speech & Hypocrisy
• Peterson & the Alt Right Pipeline
• Defeating Fascism

FURTHER READING (From DeepSeek)

The following list of top 10 highly reviewed and influential books expands on these themes, covering critiques of nonviolence, histories of revolutionary movements, and theories of change that embrace a broader spectrum of resistance. These are foundational texts in a critical genre that examines the limitations of nonviolence from a radical, often anarchist or anti-colonial, perspective. They argue that strict pacifism can be a privileged position that inadvertently maintains oppressive state power and that a diversity of tactics, including strategic militancy, is necessary for effective liberation struggles.

Top 10 Highest-Reviewed Books on Critiques of Pacifism & Liberatory Strategy

1. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Why it fits: The absolute cornerstone of anti-colonial revolutionary thought. Fanon, a psychiatrist, analyzes the psychological and political necessity of violence for the colonized to achieve liberation and reclaim their humanity. It is the philosophical and moral foundation that later works like Churchill’s and Gelderloos’s build upon. It is consistently one of the most highly reviewed and influential political books of the 20th century.

2. Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis

Why it fits: While primarily about abolition, Davis’s work is deeply informed by a politics that understands the state’s use of violence and the need for communities to defend themselves. She comes from a tradition (e.g., the Black Panther Party) that critically engaged with nonviolence and argued for the right to self-defense. Her work is a practical application of moving beyond state-centric, reformist (nonviolent) solutions.

3. Anarchy Works by Peter Gelderloos

Why it fits: A direct follow-up by the same author as *How Nonviolence Protects the State*. This book is a highly accessible and well-reviewed compendium of real-world examples of anarchist principles in action throughout history and across the globe. It provides the positive vision of organization that complements the critique of nonviolence.

4. The Failure of Nonviolence: From the Arab Spring to Occupy by Peter Gelderloos

Why it fits: Gelderloos deepens his critique by analyzing major 21st-century movements. He argues that whenever a movement embraces a strict nonviolent ideology, it fails to achieve its goals and is often co-opted. This book is praised for its timely and concrete historical analysis, making the theoretical critique from his first book more immediate.

5. Negations & Refusals: A Libertarian Analysis of the Sixties by George Katsiaficas

Why it fits: This book provides a crucial historical analysis of 1960s movements, highlighting how militant wings (like the Black Panthers and the Viet Cong) actually drove forward the agendas that the more peaceful wings of the movement are credited for. It’s a highly regarded academic work that supports the “diversity of tactics” argument.

6. Blood in My Eye by George L. Jackson

Why it fits: A raw and powerful collection of letters written from prison by Black Panther field marshal George Jackson. It is a seminal text on revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-racist struggle that explicitly rejects pacifism as a viable response to genocidal state violence. It is a classic of radical prison literature.

7. The Battle for the Arab Spring: Revolution, Counter-Revolution and the Making of a New Era by Lin Noueihed & Alex Warren

Why it fits: For a more journalistic and historical account, this book provides essential context. It shows the complex interplay between nonviolent protest and armed rebellion in the Arab Spring, demonstrating how movements that began peacefully were forced to confront extreme state violence, leading to difficult tactical debates.

8. The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp

Why it fits (as a counterpoint): This is the *bible* of strategic nonviolence. To fully understand and critique a position, you must engage with its best formulation. Sharp’s work is the most comprehensive and highly reviewed case *for* nonviolence as a pragmatic political technique. Reading Sharp allows you to see what Churchill and Gelderloos are specifically arguing against and to test their critiques against the strongest opposing view.

9. Revolutionary Nonviolence: Organizing for Liberation by Dave Dellinger

Why it fits (as a nuanced view): Dellinger was a lifelong pacifist and radical who engaged in deep dialogue with militant movements. This collection offers a perspective from within the pacifist tradition that is critical of its liberal, passive elements and argues for a more confrontational and militant form of “nonviolence” that seeks to actively disrupt oppressive systems. It provides a crucial internal critique.

10. Fanon: A Critical Reader edited by Lewis R. Gordon, T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting, & Renée T. White

Why it fits: To truly grasp the context of Fanon’s argument about violence (which is often oversimplified), this reader is invaluable. It collects essays from leading scholars who dissect, critique, and apply Fanon’s work. It elevates the discussion from a simple debate about “violence vs. nonviolence” to a more complex understanding of psychology, colonialism, and liberation.

These books will provide you with a deep, well-rounded, and historically grounded understanding of the debates surrounding pacifism, violence, and the strategy of liberation movements.

Justice: Facing the Reality of Violence… and its Ethical Inevitability was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Background/Required Reading by the Author:

• TCM Terminology & Skeptics (Wind, Dampness etc)
• Roots to Sky’s Covid Resources (Quick primer, applies to all colds & flus)
• The Essence of Chinese Medicine (101 Overview)
• This free edition will be incorporated and extensively expanded in the upcoming printed & paid version of “The Inspired Health Handbook”
• Our Raindrop Immunity Library

The ancient Chinese obviously did not have microscopes, existing millennia before the concept of ‘germs’ even existed. So while we take the idea of microorganisms as a cause of disease for granted today, people in traditional cultures had to devise advanced theories and treatment approaches for infectious, contagious and epidemic diseases.

While at a first glance of the simplicity of some of these folk remedies, it might be easy to dismiss these approaches as “inferior” to what we now know in modern medicine — quite the opposite is true. In fact, because these types of illnesses were much more prevalent in these times (primarily due to a lack of a sophisticated public sanitation systems and indoor plumbing), these were essentially the primary targets for medical developments at the time.

So while the isolated pathogenic causes were unknown treatment & prevention protocols became highly advanced.

Highly advanced and technical textbooks have survived the ages and while in China have never stopped developing —these have since been essentially ‘discarded’ due to modern bias. While many of the diseases they treat are no longer common, all modern TCM practitioners receive advanced training in them. Why is this? This is simply due to the power of the way these doctors of ages past made the connections between the fine balance of the state of our own immune systems, the strength and type of the pathogen (the germ), and the flux our outer/seasonal environments.

Thus, the TCM approach acknowledges and actively integrates both “terrain theory” and infectious pathogens. Terrain theory is often scoffed at by skeptics, which I will dismantle in a later edition, as it is quite frankly stupid: how many times have you been the only one who didn't get sick after prolonged exposure say to family members? What are the variables between individuals here? This is TCM science in action. Conversely, many folks deep down conspiracy rabbit holes focus on terrain theory/prevention alone— to the point of even denying viruses exist! (Like… wtf.) As Covid-19 showed, strong novel pathogens can take down even the healthiest of people.

So let’s discuss both prevention, and treatment approaches — both of which our modern world has much to learn.

Wei Qi: On “Boosting” Our Immune System

Our ability to adapt to changing seasons reflects our overall state of health. If we are stressed, have poor eating habits, or are overcoming another illness or health concern, we are much more susceptible to what were known as ‘external invasions’ of bacteria or viruses. We are like a brittle bamboo, breaking in the ever-changing winds rather than flexing and adapting. On the other hand, if we are in a state of strong health, eating according with the seasons, and in a relatively stress-free state of mind, we become like the bending bamboo: again, the case of observing our friends or co-workers getting sick around us, while we remain untouched. So, the Chinese were rightly more concerned with the preservation of our own overall state of health & immunity, rather than the isolated microbes that cause the illness. Health, like disease, is wholistic.“

In Chinese Medicine the immune system is more viewed as an external “force field” (shield) known as “Wei Qi”- aka Protective Qi. As I have frequently noted, for our purposes, “Qi” simply means optimal functioning : If you have a great immune system, then ipso facto you have strong Wei Qi.

So very simply according to TCM principles, to produce a strong Wei Qi we must first ensure each of these systems are functioning optimally, symptom free:

• Digestive Qi
• + “True” Qi (overall vitality)
• + “Zong” Qi (respiratory + circulatory function)
• = Altogether produce a strong “blossoming” of healthy Wei Qi.

So what we TCM practitioners are saying is when restoring/maintaining optimal immune system markers especially when a person is in a general poor state of overall health (as from the TCM symptom pattern view and on lab reports, many, if not most Westerners are ), we must take the total overall health of the individual into account.

Deficiencies are primarily due to poor diets, chronic inflammation, and stress-related immune suppression. Essentially — why some people get sick, while others don’t. In fact, a “divine lottery” is precisely the what launched and defined Chinese Medicine as a new advancment in medical understanding, away from the “shamanistic” (for lack of a better term) divine will of the gods from previous cultural beliefs.

We do not believe this a lottery, especially when TCM symptomatology is completely capable of predicting who is more likely at risk —in the case of Covid-19 besides the obvious comorbidities. Specifically, there is research to prove that this, and numerous other herbs not mentioned here (such as Tulsi, Turkey Tail) can “significantly increase levels of the immune system’s T-helper cells and NK-cells”, as well as Vitamin D. I will provide more evidence on this front in a later edition.

Thus, the clinical focus was prevention — duh! So I many ways from this perspective it is indeed modern medicine than begins to look primitive and lottery based.

That said, while our advanced herbal formulas were indeed strong - but not much can match the power of a vaccine or antibiotic! So here we find the future of modern and traditional wisdom.

Traditionally, it was seen as far better to get a strong cold or flu with intense fevers or other symptoms, and then experience a rapid recovery, ideally 2–3 days in total length, with few if any lingering symptoms thereafter. And ideally, feeling great afterwards! This is a sign that the strength of the body’s ‘Defensive/Protective Qi’ (Wei Qi) is strong enough to put up a fight (the fever) and expels the infection. Conversely, if an illness slowly creeps in and lingers around stubbornly for weeks at a time, never really fully coming to a head, this is a sign that the Wei Qi is weak (deficient) and unable to fight back efficiently.

Returning to Spring: A Modern, Ancient Approach to Weight Management

The Winds: Colds & Flus TCM Treatment Approaches

Chinese Medicine distinguishes two primary common (there are numerous others) types of common colds & flus — all of them begin with the concept and name ‘Wind’.

It was theorized that a dominating factor in the development of these illnesses was due to rapidly changing weather patterns and our body's ability to adapt to these “windy” seasons. Further, the nature of wind itself is often very moving and can appear and disappear in an instant, much like the quick and out-of-the blue onset of these common conditions. Lastly, “Wind” penetrates from outside us from our external environment and was thus technically called “External Wind”.

Have you ever “caught” a chill? Even the most skeptical science-minded people can attest to this!

Wind is either paired with Heat or Cold, depending on which symptoms predominate. As the diagram below demonstrates, there are other pairings, but for the purposes of this article, let’s explore these two common patterns.

TREATMENT OVERVIEW

While the following linked page was clearly specific to COVID-19, the same tips still apply. That said, I will be significantly updating it in a future edition here.

Start Here: Cold/Flu Action Plan Summary

But to boil it all down: If you are someone who experiences frequent or lingering colds — Yu Ping Feng San (Jade Windscreen) available in any given Chinatown and taken for about a month during the “Windy” change of seasons is a safe bet for most people. While rare unwanted effects can occur (such as “Dampness” symptoms for some) for the general public this is a safe bet without the guidance of a TCM practitioner, given the instructions or contraindications on the bottle are followed.

If conditions worsen or no changes are noted, speak to a TCM professional. Strictly avoid in the case of auto-immune conditions

WIND-COLD

(Primary text: Shang Hun Lun)

• Chills predominate, or an aversion to cold/windy conditions
• Watery runny nose, clear or white mucus production
• Body aches (cold causes a constriction of Qi)
• Mild thirst, primarily for warm drinks

REMEDIES

• For very early stage signs of a cold, miso soup with scallions (green onions) and ginger is the absolute best for early stage Wind-Cold! Feel free to add any other simple neutral vegetables to the base.
• Predominately chilled with a runny nose? Drinking strong fresh ginger tea and then taking a bath to sweat yourself out is the quickest way to vent it out of your system. Consider adding epsom salts or a fist sized chunk of ginger to the bathwater. Continue sweating wrapped blankets or wearing a robe while sitting on a couch or somewhere cozy. Go straight to bed afterwards, but be cautious not to keep sweating while in bed — avoid sleeping in damp sheets! As well, it is important to continue to drink plenty of fluids through this procedure to avoid dehydration — the body needs water to fight against the pathogen.
• Crushed raw garlic is amazing for colds (chills, stuffiness) but should be kept to a minimum if you have fevers and a sore throat — a little bit will still be beneficial in these cases, but ensure you are keeping yourself hydrated & drinking mint & lemon tea described below.
• Note the modern addition of cayenne can be extremely irritating for irritated membranes and is best avoided (this point will be expanded).
• MANY ADDITIONAL NOTES IN UPCOMING EDITS!

WIND-HEAT

(Primary text: Wen Bing Xue)

• Fever predominates, or an aversion to heat and/or dryness
• Sore, irritated throat, hoarse cough
• Yellow mucus production (phlegm, nasal)
• Excessive thirst, especially for cool drinks

REMEDIES

• For your throat, strong mint tea is very good, use 2–3 tea bags (a dose that is more medicinal rather than casual) and keep it covered while it steeps and in between sips (this traps the ‘volatile oils’ in the tea. These oils are essentially the most therapeutic component — you don’t want them to evaporate!). You can mix in honey and lemon if you’d like. Gargling with sea salt is also hugely helpful.
• In cases of extremely high fever, especially in children, juice a daikon radish and promptly drink.
• In physics, heat rises. The traditional Chinese observed this, and associated many symptoms that affect the head and upper body with ‘Heat’. Thus most headaches are considered a form of Heat. With headaches we generally want to cool heat and descend Qi.
• AGAIN Many more additions in upcoming editions.

FLUCTUATING WIND-COLD/HEAT

• This is an experience of the pathogen and your Wei Qi struggling to gain the upper hand.
• Alternating chills/fever
• Possible digestive concerns
• Thirst, but desire to drink only in small sips
• Mixed symptoms above

It is important to note that many Wind-Colds will transform into deeper Wind-Heats in around 24 hours if not treated on first signs. If you think back, or witness the next time you catch a sore throat, you will likely see this is the case. Adapt your protocol accordingly!

A Peek into Advanced TCM Etiology & Treatment

Chinese Medicine differential diagnosis and herbal formulas clearly demonstrate a marked difference from our modern biomedical counterparts.

So again, while I cannot stress enough that I am pro-vaccine & pro evidence-based medicine this next section offers a peek into the sheer difference in the advanced diagnosis and treatment of these illnesses.

This can be simply demonstrated by a common illustration: have you ever noticed how, despite being the same mutation of any given annual influenza virus, how your experience of the flu may greatly differ than your family or friends? Modern medicine makes essentially zero attempt to address let alone explain these differences — whereas TCM treats these observations as fundamental to the prognosis of the patient. Thus, TCM practitioners could, and above all should have been stars in the treatment protocols of Novel Covid-19.

So, despite these common infectious illnesses described simply above, it is important to note that the treatment approaches can be very advanced in their differential diagnosis presentations — yet these are still considered they are still considered common 101 TCM training.

This is in contrast to what are known as advanced “Lingering Pathogen” or “Gu Syndrome” theories where we address highly technical diseases such as Lyme Disease or severe rare tropical diseases.

TCM Differential Diagnosis of Common Colds & Flu

• https://www.americandragon.com/conditions/CommonCold.html
• https://www.americandragon.com/conditions/Influenza.html

Where my work has been since the pandemic, is not only to promote these tools especially as we waited for vaccines, but further, in examining some of these more extremely acute formulas we might note some endangered species ingredients or other potentially toxic ingredients in these formulas.

My conclusion: we must be studying these ingredients to find their active chemical constituents and replicate them in labs for mass production to preserve and honour the origin species. Further still, we must learn from these professionals of the past the true meaning of compounding medicines — combining active ingredients for maximum potency in severe illness and studying the outcomes of formulas that inherently counterbalance side effects and can be individually customized — rather than simply one pharmaceutical at a time and hoping for the best — working in the dark as to why and who might have a side effect to the medications.

When to “Defend” and When to “Attack”

If you are taking any herbal tonics or adaptogens it is important to stop taking them the moment you develop any acute symptoms of a cold or flu (chills/fever). You can resume them once the stage passes. Tonics include Ginseng, Atractylodes, Codonopsis etc. The theory behind this, is that herbal tonics nourish & strengthen all life — including the germ!

So while it’s great to boost your system after you have pushed the bug out (you still may have mild lingering symptoms like a sniffly nose, etc), while the illness is in its acute stage you want to focus on pushing the cold/flu out of your system while directly killing the bug.

Upcoming Additions (Published in “The Inspired Health Handbook” vol 8)

• Expanded “Boosting Immune System” Section
• Stomach Flu/Traveller’s Diarrhea
• Hayfever/Allergic Rhinitis
• Matt’s Advanced Clinical Insights & Treatment Approaches to Gu/Lyme Disease

The Chinese Medicine Expertise Treatment of Colds & Flus was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Yes that’s a working subtitle. Another Live Draft: Continuing the legacy of Murray Bookchin’s Social Ecology

Preface

I feel called to say in advance that it's likely that with some of my “newer” friends this (rabid) activist side of me may come as a surprise to you (especially since, because of my field, I’m often seen as a “hippie”… which admittedly may have been true in my history, lol — but only for a short period).

But no — I’ve been an anti-capitalist my entire life it all began at a young age when — despite my pubescent angst — I made the observation that despite my family stresses and struggles, I loved my parents and knew they were doing the best they could — but instead were acting out of generational psychology and the stresses of modern living without authentic community support.

So, while my “protest” activism peaked in the Iraq war/9–11 era, I again had a similar insight: that my way to act as a greater “fulcrum” of change, was to turn my sights to addressing the “roots” of these issues: the basis of my Roots to Sky medical practice.

This is an exploration of this journey and the intersectional dots I have connected to address the “Roots” — to maximize the biggest possible ripple effect, rather than strictly the symptoms. Because of the scale of this project and the scatteredness of my drafts I may use temporary social media meme “citation” as placeholders. This is because I have them handy as personal notes because the comments within are often excellent, I have them filed to deep dive proper citation in later editions. (Basically — I’m busy). So, as with much of my writing, this is a magnum opus series, and is thus what I call a Live Draft.

Introduction: Rant & Resources

Capitalism is the exploitation of workers to derive “profit”, which they then trade to benefit their class rather than the workers who were required to produce said goods & services. They own the fruits your labour, not you. Period. Full stop. If you do not reinvest the profit into the workers who allowed you to achieve “success” then you are by definition guilty of exploitation. If you do re-invest — then you are not a capitalist. Even if you own stocks, you are a worker, not a member of the capitalist class.

As that is indeed what it is.

So when you hear of the success of the “stock market”, the term “investing in capital” or “bringing capital home” or any other use of similar terms, what they are openly talking about, is profit exploited from labourers and then traded amongst their class. They don’t “work” as we know it: they trade “capital”.

Thus: if the so-called profits are directly and immediately reinvested to those who helped achieve the project, then the entire concept of profit as we know it, does not exist: it is a self-contained system rather than our two tiered one. Wages are what they agreed was the better step after feudalism, we are now “free” to spend money, but only in the further exploitative marked-up system that again benefits them. Prices do NOT reflect actual costs vs value of products, nor labour — otherwise we would have a much higher minimum wage (if it were to exist at all). While I am personally working out levels of tiers in profit-sharing a business within this capitalist ecosystem, the literal definition of capitalism is what I have described.

Capitalists, the ownership class, trade in “capital” amongst themselves to extract even more fictitious value by a system that they themselves have devised that should only trend infinitely upwards, to hell with people and planet. Thus, the attempted socialist “worker” revolutions (some misguided, some not — this will obviously be dissected); when any pre-mature coercive elements are removed, these movements can be read as reclaiming “public ownership”.

Yet, as I will demonstrate — when drilling down to the absolute fundamentals beyond the exploitation and reduction of humans as “workers”, anarchists argue that it is based on the inherently flawed argument that dominance/authoritarian hierarchy exists at all. That the land itself, and what the land produces naturally, is something that can be “owned”. Many indigenous cultures, which embody the principle of “usufruct” absolutely exist in direct antagonism to capitalism: the concept of ownership itself is an illusionary and simply does not exist in reality without violent tribalism and police states. Along the same lines, anarchists seek to de-centralize, not more centralizing, to return power to local communities which are more adaptable to changing needs via syndicates. (Thus anarcho-capitalism is a contradiction in terms and a misnomer, I will argue later, for a form of right-wing libertarianism: because anarchists are inherently community/mutual aid focussed — whereas libertarians are essentially the purest form of hyper-individualism. And hyper-individualism, is sociologically and anthropologically — never how humans have evolved to operate as a collectivist species.)

We should be aiming better than that if we are a supposed “advanced” species. These examples egalitarian indigenous modes of organizing are not out of necessity/scarcity: it is out of institutionalized factual recognition of our place in nature. Here I point to the Six Nations peoples, to name but one. The core agreement of nature itself is to give back what you take — as shown by the classic link below. Capitalism — as I will demonstrate — by definition breaks this agreement. It is the conversion of life into death, and unlike circular regenerative compost, it poisons. It does not give back: it, like its feudal predecessors, it privately consolidates it is inherently and inevitably predatory and unsustainable.

Instead, the ruling capitalist class actively sabotage the science that could have initiated climate action decades ago. Naomi Klein’s book “This Changes Everything” details the lengths of which capitalists have gone to destroy our planet in the name of profit. So — we’re well past the time for excuses of some Band-Aid utopian startup that will save us all. It will get consumed like all the other ones: because the fundamentals of sustainability are in direct opposition to capitalism’s endless upward market index. It’s too late. Capitalists do not breed innovation, workers and students do.

And capitalists, by literal definition, exploit this.

And people will endlessly criticize the mass social movements to overthrow it, calling them “failed” — while turning a blind eye to the very real failures of capitalism: the concentration of wealth at the expense of our literal entire planet, plastics in every ocean and bloodstream, and perpetual war via the military industrial complex, namely in sabotaging these movements. (Like seriously, if only some of you knew, and actually felt how bad the ecocide truly is — I refer to Derrick Jensen’s Endgame as a starting point here). But we’ve numbed ourselves to it. This is precisely due to capitalists shifting their strategy from slavery/feudalism — to placating the masses with consumerist distractions: a brilliant strategy indeed.

There is a reason, flawed or not, why there have been so many attempted revolutions to overthrow this system: because it inherently rewards exploitation of people & land, and corruption. Excusing “crony capitalism” demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding on the mathematical inevitabilities of capitalism — as has been dissected and demonstrated by indigenous cultures, Marx, Engels, Kropotkin, Bakunin, DuBois, Davis, Hampton, Bookchin, Chomsky — and countless others — for centuries.

So, what follows will be an extremely thorough dive totalling (well over 100 pages so far) into this outline with much deeper references & context.

PREVIEW TABLE OF CONTENTS

I have been writing this book since at least 2007. Each Section below will have at least ten sub-parts (and even further sub sections). I expect it to total 300-500 pages.

PART ONE: Definitions

1. Introduction: I Have No Idea What I’m Talking About
2. Getting Clear
3. The Core Fallacy of Capitalism
4. The Nature of Fear: The Psychology of Conservatism, Capitalism… and Colonialism
5. Incentivising Corruption: The Myths of “Crony Capitalism”
6. No Ethical Consumption
7. Two Wings so Capitalism can Fly

PART TWO: Propaganda

1. Lessons & Positives
2. Left vs Right Part 1
3. Left vs Right Part 2
4. Hypocrisy: Soros, etc
5. Conspiracy & Propaganda: Distraction While the Planet Burns
6. AI: Artificial Intelligence under Capitalism vs Anarcho-Socialism
7. Deliberate Mis & Disinformation (hoooo boy)
8. “On Socialism” vol. 2
9. Case Study: China

PART THREE: Inevitable Fascism

1. Fascism & Palestine
2. Left vs Right Part 3: Liberals as Agents of Fascism
3. Naomi Klein & Diagonalism
4. Men, Masculinity… and Fascism
5. Racism & Privilege
6. Turning the Living to the Dead
7. The Police and the State
8. Enantiodromia vs Horseshoe Theory: Far Right vs Far Left

PART FOUR: Solutions

1. They are Giving Us the Answers
2. Taken to the Extreme
3. Reclaiming the Left & How to Shift the Overton Window
4. Anarchism as Psychology
5. Case Studies: Zapatistas & Black Panthers
6. Crossroads: Sustainability & The Laws of Nature
7. Mastering Firebending: The Ethics of Violence
8. Principles: Know & Stand Your Ground
9. Contextual Time (can't wait for this one)
10. Case Study: The Social Application of Indigenous/Classical Chinese Medicine [CCM](this is my medical thesis, and I’m trying to decide if it will become part of this book, or summarized here)
11. Social Ecology: Distilling Eco-Anarcho-Socialism for a New Generation
12. Pole Stars vs Idealism: From Solarpunk to Pandora

The Fundamentals: From the Ground Up… Literally

1. The Fatally Flawed Concept of Ownership of the Land

Let’s start at the beating heart fallacy of capitalism: my fundamental disagreement with the concept of private ownership of the land.

Countless indigenous peoples fundamentally institutionalized that they did not “own” the land. Instead, they viewed the land as a gift and were thus stewards. They shared the wealth (“usufruct”) it provided and by extension protected the natural world.

This is most obvious when we see the blatant destruction of the Amazon, a total lack of actual democratic say in the matter, and extinction of species in volumes never seen before in our history. These are proven to not be simply blamed on population growth, but rather the deliberate creation of unsustainable market products — for things that simply aren’t needed, a century of blatant consumerism that is now choking plastic waste in every river and bloodstream on the planet.

Socialism attempts to produce goods according to the needs of the people. This is a real-time response and offers valid critiques on the sheer number of pointless unhealthy products we are literally convinced to consume by highly refined capitalist marketing brainwashing machines. I’ve been studying them since I graduated school: Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent(1) is a fundamental here.

I am now a multiple business owner, and while I struggle with varying levels of success (largely in capitalist terms — in sheer contribution to human wellbeing, my numbers are off the chart — no “profits” will ever reflect this), and Founder Institute alumni I have a deep working knowledge of capitalism and the “startup” process.

We are being sold shit we do not need, impacting our health and the planet all in the name of a never-ending upward index for shareholder profit. Wars and ecocide are required to continue to produce these goods. Might there be some merit in exploring more sustainable economic models? And to me, a deep, unbiased, de-propagandized look at eco-centric anarcho-socialism my provide some solutions to scale back our consumerism and endless pursuit of economic “growth” and stock market appeasement.

In all seriousness — how few of those I encounter truly understand(2) let alone think about the sheer havoc, murder, and ecocide Canadian capitalist mining companies have done, the world over to produce the goods we take for granted? Not to even begin to open the can of worms to the insane capitalist military industrial complex that literally profits off war and pushes global war agenda — all to continue this push for selling the cheapest produced products at the maximum profits.

To return: all of this, from its very foundations does not respect, let alone even acknowledge the laws set forth by nature. The literal rational mathematics of sustainability. And some may say that indigenous cultures institutionalized these worldviews by “necessity”, but as I will prove, this is entirely untrue depending on the culture examined. And it is these we must now study — our survival depends on it.

REFERENCES & REQUIRED READING:

• Capitalism is the Conspiracy
• Pacification: Liberals/Centrists as Fascism Enablers
• Billionaires & Late Stage Capitalism
• Capitalism vs Health
• Black Politics & History
• Indigenous Sustainability... or Ecocide
• PRAXIS: Unifying the Canadian Left
• THEORY: Anarcho/Socialism/Decolonial
• Grief & Climate Capitalism

Capitalism as Pathology was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Our nerves here in Canada, especially Ontario, are shot. We’ve had three back-to-back elections drowning us everywhere we look since November. And hey, let’s add a dash of annexation tossed in there for good measure — project 2025 yo.

So, I’d like to begin by saying congrats to everyone who fought the good fight . This is as good as it can be these days: we bought ourselves some time — and that’s literally all.

We on the Left are all allowed to take a moment to breathe slightly easier, that we didn't follow the path of the Americans. Say what you want about nationalism, but when our literal identity is formed by the reflection of not being like the fascist hyper-capitalist country to the south, to me, and the purpose of this article, the question then becomes who are we? And is there hope for us to continue the war to turn this into a country that truly serves the people? Especially now on this new geopolitical climate-change stage.

I'll be honest - at the end there, and this is absolutely privileged of me to say, part of me would have been absolutely indifferent if Poilievre won. Just so the MapleMAGA would get a taste of what's happening in the south of the border so we could rub it in their faces once PP's mask came off and boy would it ever.

But fortunately, for the rational among us, we can learn this lesson from afar, and point to the U.S. as a case study in what NOT to do. And I think that's what we just did. And this gives me hope.

Invoking Ghosts to Prove a Point

In the Canadian elections' homestretch, I tried to lean into reminding people of Stephen Harper’s legacy. If Poilievre could invoke the ghost of Trudeau (while people apparently totally forgetting we had a f’kin global pandemic and emerged better than most) we should also be reminding of the perils Harper & the IDU.

Following Harper’s footsteps, Poilievre tightly controlled the media to ensure a carefully crafted public persona. This is terrifying… and revealing. He didn’t take follow up questions as the other parties did, while the others allowed themselves to be natural with friendly interviewers like Nardwuar. His constant attacks on the mythical “woke” were the dogwhistle we on the Left all knew would result in defunding and actively hurting people I personally care about. This constant negative attack strategy, slipperiness and shape shifting over the years, his weird sloganeering, everything about him is, quite simply, not what we should want in a leader.

A specific example was his constant fearmongering on crime. Crime is an electoral nonissue, one of the last things on many voters minds, especially considering that crime is generally a municipal/provincial discussion. Thus, he is created it as an issue — which then enabled his suggestion to use the notwithstanding clause. This was openly promoted in an election. Thus reveals the Canadian branded slippery slope of fascism. It reeks of Trumpism and that is what we are fighting against in this context of annexation threats. Poilievre only changed his tone for obvious political election gain in what would have been quite the dramatic mask off moment.

But the difficulty here is changing the narrative altogether: we on the Left absolutely knew those voting Conservative had a point: while they called out Carney’s blatant neoliberal banker background — but they then hypocritically failed to turn that critical lens towards PP. Had they done so, we would have all had a class-consciousness awakening moment — a moment to pull back the propaganda curtain to see that it has never been about the false dichotomy of the two wings of Capitalism. We must reclaim defined doublespeak use of the term Left vs Right and stop falling for their bait.

It is a class war.

If we aren’t them, then who are we?

It is obvious the Conservative party isn't going to evaporate, but might there be signs of hope for real change? If we take this lesson and return to Canada’s classical identity of not being the United States; if we aren’t them — then who are we, exactly?

Canada just voted, not necessarily just for Carney — but for a return to normalcy & sanity (whatever that means in this neoliberal hellscape). And that’s what we need more of: to continue to distance ourselves from the proto-fascism incubating here.

Through contrast, they may finally be able to see the grand “it”: Capitalism.

So this should be the question for the Conservative party: if the failed Trump fear mongering shtick didn’t work here (how many times now?), perhaps returning to the progressive Conservative (if such a thing exists, e.g. O’Toole, I don’t know) side of things may bode better next time. Perhaps distancing from the voice of the Trumpist Alt-Right is the answer: allow them to find home and fester with PPC where they belong.

As I’ve been repeatedly reminding others in my social media posting, it’s never just been PP I’ve been worried about: it’s sussing out the members of the party, what they stand for, and what they want to usher in. The current incarnation of the Conservative party represents an acceleration of conspiracy & disinformation, with pedos like Matt Gaetz and fascists like Alex Jones, Mrs. Jordan Peterson all vocally supporting Poilievre as evidenced by this amazing mapping.

For those who identify as rational conservatives, it’s time to get real and begin drawing hard lines.

We need electoral reform and we need it yesterday.

Work Backwards

I pray everyone get clear on the values they believe in and then work backwards to find which party closest aligns with those. For me, sustainability, truth & reconciliation, LGBTQ+/BIPOC (and that includes the Palestinian people), and public funding specifically health, education & housing, while strengthening unions. These are obviously the traditional purview of the NDP. But when the Conservatives are threatening to both import and nurture homegrown fascism, many of us were again forced once again to choose the lesser of two evils: neoliberalism or fascism.

To be clear: Few on the actual Left are Carney supporters. By definition, we are anticapitalist and like all educated/principled “Leftists” we see them as two sides of the same coin (detailed essay on its way). I’m sure I could have agreed with many of the points made by those hypnotized by the Cons. I’m sure I could have leaned harder to vilify Carney; however even at cursory glance the sheer level of shallow clearly disinformation obnoxious low quality opinion pieces (often Russian influenced) spoke volumes. Beyond that, I just didn’t care to. Once again, I saw people railing against Carney yet hypocritically supporting PP and it’s just… bluntly brain dead, I’m sorry. We need to do better in this climate-change endgame.

All politicians are liars, and it's excruciatingly frustrating that these are the people supposed to be representing us. While few politicians in this era will truly represent the people, what I gauge my vote on is whose *trajectory closest aligns with mine: it’s not about the captain of the ship, it's where the ship is headed. And bluntly in no way shape or form do the Cons represent anything remotely close to the Canada I’d like to build. So, while we may fundamentally disagree on our vision of “Canada” — I care about the differences: I care about climate, indigenous, housing, and containing the actual Trump Derangement Syndrome. When we have actual neo-fascists aligning with the Cons, we had to grudgingly accept the neoliberal status quo.

Organize & Galvanize

So, as we emerge from a razors edge, we must take the lesson of Kamala and the Democrats down south. We must witness the resurgence of Bernie Sanders and AOC (despite Bernies’ weak stance on Isreal) and get ahead of the curve, buck the trend, and begin our campaign now. We educate and lean even more vocally towards our democratic socialist (aka public) values — isn’t that what we’re all so “proud” of our in national identity right now, when it’s all boiled down?

So we must conclude it’s time to turn the volume up by leaning into the things that have always classically defined “Canada”, at least on the global stage: MORE truth & reconciliation, electoral reform, bolder climate action, better public services. The world is watching and needs us — meaning YOU.

It’s once again important to highlight that in Canada, we vote for our local MP’s, not directly for our Prime Minister. The landscape is about to dramatically change, and we need a shake up since in many ways — we’re once again right back to where we started from: new paint on a POS car.

Leftists are often caricaturized as “never happy” by those who suckle on the boot of capitalism while enjoying the fruits of our labour (weekend, public health, women’s rights, unions, minimum wage, environmental protections, etc etc — all fought for and won by the Left. And then quickly normalized and taken for granted).

We must re-evaluate our approaches: we must get friendly, open-hearted, local — and we must get joyous. In the next stage of educating. we must transcend beyond the whatever their next culture war bait they lay, and stress the roots of these intersectional issues: class war.

It’s time to reclaim the framing of the argument.

So bluntly: if all ya’ll anarcho/demo-socialists have been lurking/self-censoring in the shadows of social media, after what we’re seeing in the States — the time is NOW to raise your voice while we still can here in Canda. Be not afraid to shake things up and educate & build networks of mutual aid. Because Carney does not represent us. We didn’t vote for him. We voted against Poilievre.

I know many have been more than vocal on the Palestine/Indigenous front, but my point here is that it is time we take back the narrative and call out and address the structural roots to these issues: Capitalism. Otherwise, it's just liberal bandaid after bandaid.

If they are mask off — then so should we. Enough of these games.

It's Revolution or Death Part 2: Heads Up, the Revolution is Already Here

Because it’s not just about Carney. Make no mistake, the Far-Right Cons are gonna get juuuuuust as much organized in this neoliberal pause we bought ourselves. As the rachet effect demonstrates, we are merely only one step behind the U.S.

And there can be no real change if we keep playing the game by the rules they have set: they must feel us as a legitimate threat.

Choppity chop.

But first, touch grass

My personal plan will be to launch our weekly community acupuncture and livestream discussions to amplify the voices I feel are underrepresented and so much more via InspiredWarriorCollective.ca. I’m looking forward to getting back to my usual focus of activist healthcare and entrepreneur-ing to balance out my strictly political education campaign.

Rebuilding the Left & NDP

I invite you to step outside your comfort zone and adopt the “every little bit helps” mode of thinking.

If you’ve at all appreciated the work I’ve done with the mega little time I’ve had to help to clarify, educate, and debunk, please join our Inspired Warriors Fb group if you haven’t already, and please join our Discord to really start discussing real change for this next chapter of Canada & Ontario. It really helps make me feel like this work was worth it.

I suppose this is why I’ve always called it a “Spiral Journey” since each time around I’ve been adding more bricks to the foundation of what I’ve been building — we cannot rush nature towards ripeness…

The Time to Rebuild the Canadian Left is Now was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Yeah, he says a lot of great and true things but he characterizes himself as a myopic who claims he doesn’t understand other arguments about feminism, or social democracy, for example, meanwhile blaming postmodern neo marxists for those two things, equating them to the murderous ideological precipitate of Jo Stalin and to this day, he hasn’t adequately explained how exactly these postmoderns are even advocating for an equality of outcome. who’s doing that? where are theses politicians and artists seizing the means of productions, because I don’t see them. he strawmans his pet projects to the point where he sounds like an idiot. and he’s not, and that’s my frustration with him. that, and his unwillingness to disavow himself from the actual soft core race realists he hangs out with.”

(Sic —Quote currently unknown, likely from Quora)

While much has been written dismantling Mrs. Jordan Peterson, I found there to be a missing piece of the picture lacking discussion: his general factual inaccuracies about quite literally everything. Are “the reactive Left” misinformed about him — or are his followers, repeating that he is being “taken out of context”? What is the truth on the matter, and further, is any of this dangerous?

This is my deep dive into sussing out the sheer amount of misinformation he posts on Twitter, and thus ties into my current blog/book thesis of the misinfodemic Far-Right onboarding we find ourselves in.

Which Side are you Actually On? The Hyper-Reactive Left in Context Part 1 of 2

I’ll begin with clarifying as I preface with all of my essays (perhaps overkill at this point). I’m not trying to single anyone out , I’m not trying to shame his followers in any way. I’m studying the phenomenon which I began as unbiased as I could, else I risk being the same hypocrite I dismantle in my writing. But nor am I one of those people “taking Peterson out of context”, I strive for my critiques to be fair and balanced as that is what I’ve been doing all these years: observing him, making mental notes, remaining on the fence — until now. Why now? Because there are notable dangerous trends happening, and its beyond time to call them out.

Just as with the misinformation warning labels on social media, I wonder if any of Mrs. Peterson’s dedicated followers have ever stopped to think that perhaps the hate-on for JP is valid: that there might be a reason that people have such strong views, and it is his followers who might be missing something? If you are one of these — have you considered taking genuine time to research why? I now have. Let’s examine what I’ve found — and especially analyze JP’s starkly obvious descent into political pandering and toxic ideological identity politics distractions that he so hypocritically rallies against.

This essay is not geared towards me taking down Peterson point by point, instead I let the links and videos provided do the heavy lifting. Instead, my aim is to weave together these separate angles into asking what purpose does this willful, if not blatantly unintelligent negligence serve? And like the Pied Piper, what direction does it lead his followers in?

Until now, I hadn’t worked to disprove Mrs. Peterson (okay I’ll stop, hopefully the underhanded point has landed) as I was never really all that impressed with him. I frankly simply never saw the appeal that seems to captivate so many on both sides. He says some okay things here (when he sticks to his field), he stays flatly stupid things there (when he opines into others). Nothing all that profound, and certainly nothing to compare to the other more legitimate thinkers & writers out there who didn't spring to fame because of a disinformation temper tantrum. I didn’t debate at the outset of his fame because he frankly never captivated me to speak for or against. I cannot fight every battle and settled my view on people having the right to believe whatever you want as long as I don’t see it causing harm to self or other. And I no longer see this as true: as Peterson… is very much causing harm. And has been for some time.

And now, I wish I had spoken up sooner.

My political side hasn’t been activated in such a degree since the Iraq War, then the ‘08 Palestine War — until the pandemic. Previously rarely coming up in my conversations to such a degree because the world hadn’t been so polarized and… racist climate changey. I have been more publicly posting on the political spectrum as of late (rather than pure healthcare) to use my life-long political background that led me to my profession, to point to other books & authors for those interested in breaking out of what I see as a capitalist social media algorithmed hypnotism. And, as soon as I began my honest exploration of JP, with his increase in inflammatory/derogatory Twittering, I quickly found his glaring lack of evidence-based flaws.

While in principle I make a rule of trying to not throw the baby out with the bathwater; if you do resonate with him my core point here is that because of the slippery slope into his personality cult, know that there are many other views than his (Gabor Mate stands out clearly). That essentially nothing he has written or said is unique that hasn’t been said somewhere else, from other more prominent psychoanalysts or political commentators far more worthy of the spotlight than him (I will provide a detailed list in future additions).

And flatly — I strongly do not resonate with his approach or style; his lack of embodying the values he preaches, and above disavowing all the Alt/Right-wingers he platforms. His psychology content is at times insightful (when not clouded by word salads, and again nothing spectacular compared to other modern peer-reviewed notables), but as I’ll show, it is his politics that are deeply (deeply) flawed. Thus, it’s important to never attach oneself so religiously to one single point of view. This is the definition of critical thinking.

And many of his followers do. Peterson acts as gatekeeper, a window into a dangerous funnel — hypnotized into perspectives without understanding the greater political landscape of which these views are a mere fraction of.

The fact that people either don’t see, ignore, or at least seriously acknowledge his obvious flaws is terrifying, and it is here that I begin to draw parallels of this being… a cult onboard.

These are not over-exaggerations: He is a bestselling author and now major political figure via DailyWire and has been leading a vulnerable generation down a misinformed, and dangerous slippery slope. My professional job is to address the “roots” of the social and health problems I see — and he is one of these.

cognitive tailings on Twitter: "As his former colleague noted, Jordan Peterson wanted to buy a church and amass a congregation. His desire to be a preacher isn't subtle. https://t.co/fCqBmX49yp / Twitter"

As his former colleague noted, Jordan Peterson wanted to buy a church and amass a congregation. His desire to be a preacher isn't subtle. https://t.co/fCqBmX49yp

Examining Why the Trend Exists

In our society, one can argue that there is a general lack of strong benevolent male role model, a “father archetype” (as Robert Bly explores in “Iron John” and the 90’s men’s movement — a stark contrast to our modern “manosphere”, which I will be exploring in depth in another article). We certainly do not see this in our politicians, CEO’s, and other men in power (#metoo). Young seekers are ushered into Peterson’s world and begin to identify themselves with him, and other toxic figures like Andrew Tate for this reason.

Despite his attacks on ideology, he is very much an idealogue. The issue is that Peterson holds by-definition oppressive conservative values, whether he admits it or not. This is evident in his podcast or who he selects to platform — hosting known racists/those with heavy racist followers like Ben Shapiro (more referenced below). Peterson opens the door, and his followers digest his platform in blind faith.

Could there be value in Peterson acting as a guardrail to an over-exuberant Left? Perhaps. But here we find the slippery slope, now deeply needing to be examined after the racially motivated Buffalo slayings and his absolute muteness on Roe v. Wade. The fact that the Alt/Right associate so strongly with him, is the concern and that’s why I have always kept him at arm’s length, never openly promoting him, just studying him as a phenomenon and quietly asking — why is the Far Right attracted to him? I now argue, it isn’t so much about what he says — it’s about the topics he stays silent on.

When you have actual Alt-Right proclaiming themselves as Peterson/Shapiro fans because now they have a figure for a conservative leader, actively pushing free speech (nothing inherently wrong with that, but as I said in my previous series, “freedom of speech does not imply freedom from consequences”), but when these people don’t actively and articulately denounce racism, the Alt-Right, and white supremacy at every chance and discussing the repercussions of extreme free speech, this inadvertently gives Nazis a platform. Like flies to rot.

As demonstrated by my reading list, Peterson has actively worked against the core concept of white supremacy, presenting it as a myth. Yet not once have I seen a video or a post about how to be an ally or highlight an excellent anti-racism speaker he supports. The silence is deafening. And then his followers wonder or decry his the association with the Far Right. A decent person would strongly and clearly provide their followers with such tools if they were being mischaracterized.

The trend exists: the Alt-Right are attracted to Peterson/DailyWire (see end of essay) and his conservative anti-feminist anti-LGBTQ2+ (by extension) views so we must reverse engineer why.

Many of JP’s fans are so immersed in Peterson yet so not immersed in actual anti-racist authors or political heavyweights such as David Graeber or Noam Chomsky (I clarify my views on Chomsky’s flaws below), that it’s almost next to impossible to explain without the landscape being equally immersed in the other side to form an actual balanced opinion. Promoting him every chance they can to try to convert and validate themselves amongst a majority who either flatly disagree with JP or at the very least are blasé about his appeal.

And now this leads up right to the PPC party, and in turn linked to the anti-vax “movement”, and the sheer amount of Right-wing disinformation I’ve been documenting since the pandemic began. And now we have a rise in factual murderous extremism, Right-wing populism, nationalism, and neo-fascist Trumpism — and then just as expected, opening the door to holocaust deniers who are “expressing themselves freely” all while recruiting members to their ranks. Hate speech laws exist for a reason. Your right to free speech stops when it actively promotes violence towards others.

The Morning: The right's violence problem

These are dangerous times. And this is why Peterson has been called “dangerous” — because those without critical thinking training/higher education are easily swayed by his flatly wrong charisma. Convenient when considering Peterson attacks “liberal education” thus perpetuating the issue.

If you are about to approach this article to “debunk” its arguments, without applying the same debunking skills to Peterson: then you are in a cult.

Complicit Silence

It must be contrasted in hearing how venomous towards the “radical Left” Peterson opines, yet he remains completely silent to the far more actually dangerous radical Right — to my knowledge, I have yet to hear him take the equivalent vocal stance, and that speaks volumes.

So, it’s important to be actually vocal and knowledgeable in the valid criticisms of Peterson, to separate one’s stance from him in many regards saying “I support this, but I certainly don’t agree with that” rather than blanket support.

You know… show evidence of critical thinking.

For example, his followers are quick to criticize BLM/CRT /DEI but not once did I see JP post about supporting POC during the George Floyd protests or taking a deep dive into racial politics in general to help set the record straight in that moment for the history books. So, in the context of racism, without being educated and outspoken as an anti-racist is essentially a veiled racist action. Sorry. This is why it’s important for Peterson to equally push back again the Far Right, in a vocal way — the whole Desmond Tutu “if you are neutral in times of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” thing.

His followers must empathize & speak not just to defend JP, but also to empathize, speak out & criticize him when it is needed — because there is validity to the anti-Peterson points, and if his followers willfully ignore it and remain religiously defensive… well that… kinda brings me to the point of my cult theory here. Rather than seeking confirmation bias, actually put effort into learning and speaking with the other sides valid criticisms.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m sure somewhere Peterson has been vocal in some degree against racism, has general vague anti-racist values like most people of any political spectrum can claim — but the key here is that anti-racism is a verb.

Anti-racism is a verb.

So, despite being an apparent supporter of First Nations etc, the key is that it’s important to be aware of these other big issues and how they connect, specifically the reasons why he attracts the Far/Alt-Right. And therefore, it’s important to not become quite so hypnotized by him. Despite there are flaws with every personality, again there are far (far) more influential professors or authors to “get into” that reveal Peterson is a small (*ahem* petty) voice in the grand scheme of political discourse.

Mental Health is No Excuse

I am all too aware of his very apparent mental emotional health concerns (and have certainly made my own private diagnoses but expressing them is unprofessional). Whilst normally forming a diagnosis would warrant my compassion and understanding being a mental health specialist, instead, I frankly have no remorse. Not when his views literally cause damage. Damage to the psychology and humanity of the transgender community, worsen misogyny, muddy the waters of climate skepticism and our very future, delay progress on Covid, and above all act as an on-ramp for subtle to overt perpetuation of racism especially by platforming the likes of Stefan Molyneux. Where was his compassion or remorse for any of these wrongs?

Study Shows How the 'Intellectual Dark Web' Is a Gateway to the Far Right

It’s obviously okay to be wrong, we all are at times, we’re all doing our best to help our corners of the world, just as Peterson believes he is. In watching and reading his literature I do think his heart was often in the right place — but he has slipped down his own rabbit-hole as evidenced in his recent scathing delusional video response to Elliot Page. The difference is being noble and admitting his mistakes when he makes them especially from someone with his following and academic background — and when these mistakes actually cause harm empathizing and speaking/writing about it. A good genuine person with honest intentions would admit their wrongs on all these fronts rather than blame shift. (And then lashes out at having his license revoked — as a medical professional myself, it's no surprise to anyone… but him).

Thus… He is not a good person.

No remorse for willful ignorance.

Fifty Shades of Whey on Twitter: "Remember when Jordan Peterson's flawed logic was tied in a knot by Jim Jeffries 🤡 pic.twitter.com/D4t6iuakP1 / Twitter"

Remember when Jordan Peterson's flawed logic was tied in a knot by Jim Jeffries 🤡 pic.twitter.com/D4t6iuakP1

“Out of Context” = Strategically Vague

Peterson talks with confidence on subjects he knows very little about — and that is often precisely his appeal to his audiences. He “muddies the waters and hopes you’ll think its deeper”, alongside Shapiro’s “I’m not an expert, but…”

Breaking down these tactics are far beyond the scope of this article, so I’ll let these all speak for themselves:

bad_stats on Twitter: "This is one of my favorite Jordan Peterson moments from a few years ago. pic.twitter.com/vZ3v051E5b / Twitter"

This is one of my favorite Jordan Peterson moments from a few years ago. pic.twitter.com/vZ3v051E5b

Jordan Peterson Resource Page | Noah Berlatsky on Patreon

Wrong. And Dangerous.

So when I say that in my research I’ve read & bookmarked juuust as many articles defending Peterson, I have. And in that research, I've come to the conclusion that in these “positive” reviews all follow the same tropes and fail to call out his blatant wrongness I have been outlining. Which causes me discredit the majority of them. Let’s examine:

On Hypocrisy & Selective Reasoning**

He claims to be afraid of fascism and totalitarianism yet is completely silent on book burnings or laws enacted in Florida. Worse in fact, is exactly the opposite and vocally supports them. He criticizes the hyper reactive “snowflake” “Left” while repeatedly having public nervous breakdowns and nonsensical reactionary ramblings. And then returns to signal boosting Tucker Carlson.

On COVID (read the comments):

Dr Jordan B Peterson on Twitter: "This should be a bombshell: Treatment with Ivermectin Is Associated with Decreased Mortality in COVID (compared to Remdesivir) https://t.co/F7JbLO5Efo / Twitter"

This should be a bombshell: Treatment with Ivermectin Is Associated with Decreased Mortality in COVID (compared to Remdesivir) https://t.co/F7JbLO5Efo

bad_stats on Twitter: "He falls for every single one of these. Folks, just google things https://t.co/AyTdjgouNI / Twitter"

He falls for every single one of these. Folks, just google things https://t.co/AyTdjgouNI

Dr Jordan B Peterson on Twitter: "More of this please. https://t.co/ZBeIqoXmro / Twitter"

More of this please. https://t.co/ZBeIqoXmro

Canadian Resistance 🇨🇦 on Twitter: "The Rolling Thunder clowns didn't get this message: pic.twitter.com/fF9FOMN3cl / Twitter"

The Rolling Thunder clowns didn't get this message: pic.twitter.com/fF9FOMN3cl

On CLIMATE (Read the comments):

As if Peterson has ANY valid training and now he’s a climate change expert? I provide breakdowns of his intro to Bjørn Lomborg’s ridiculously dangerous book under “Further Reading”.

bad_stats on Twitter: "Holy moly. I don't think I can do this. First words out of Peterson's mouth in the Joe Rogan interview are complete self parody. I can't even dunk on it. pic.twitter.com/hIDYPi0KDc / Twitter"

Holy moly. I don't think I can do this. First words out of Peterson's mouth in the Joe Rogan interview are complete self parody. I can't even dunk on it. pic.twitter.com/hIDYPi0KDc

☀️👀 on Twitter: "in his talk w/ jordan peterson just now, joe rogan completely went along w/ his deranged climate science denialism. but he called out candace owens for the same. rogan just makes up his views on the spot based on who he's talking to and how he feels on that given day. pure idiocy pic.twitter.com/uYAYxsnyoy / Twitter"

in his talk w/ jordan peterson just now, joe rogan completely went along w/ his deranged climate science denialism. but he called out candace owens for the same. rogan just makes up his views on the spot based on who he's talking to and how he feels on that given day.

hasanabi on Twitter: "jordan peterson went on rogan looking like an oil baron to do 30 minutes of some of the most insane oil lobbyist propaganda ive ever seen. / Twitter"

jordan peterson went on rogan looking like an oil baron to do 30 minutes of some of the most insane oil lobbyist propaganda ive ever seen.

Dr Jordan B Peterson on Twitter: "Please listen to this man. https://t.co/Dqf3KTTZNk / Twitter"

Please listen to this man. https://t.co/Dqf3KTTZNk

Extinction Rebellion on Twitter: "In the light of the psychologist @JordanBPeterson's recent "stunningly ignorant" comments to @JoeRogan about climate models, here is a reminder that climate scientists have been making correct predictions about the climate for many decades now. https://t.co/yBVSk2KDRU / Twitter"

In the light of the psychologist @JordanBPeterson's recent "stunningly ignorant" comments to @JoeRogan about climate models, here is a reminder that climate scientists have been making correct predictions about the climate for many decades now. https://t.co/yBVSk2KDRU

The fact is that Jordan Peterson is wrong.

About everything he opines about. He’s wrong about “Cultural Marxism” his favourite conspiracy boogey man which he clearly knows little if anything about (nor provides any tangible examples to debate); he’s wrong about Bill C16 & free speech/identity politics (see also Cultural Marxism); he’s wrong about climate change (he was even featured on the back cover as a reviewer of this book — as if he has any authority on the topic, more debunking links below); he’s dramatically wrong on all things Covid-19 — everything from masks to ivermectin to the convoy, and even tweeted his support for Ron DeSantis disgustingly treating masked children with contempt.

Jordan Peterson's "Postmodern Neomarxism" Is Pure Hokum

TakedownMRAs on Twitter: "YouTube is funnelling young men vulnerable to extremist grooming into the far right, and it starts - as multiple studies have shown - with videos from Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson. https://t.co/cyYC7jyl6y / Twitter"

YouTube is funnelling young men vulnerable to extremist grooming into the far right, and it starts - as multiple studies have shown - with videos from Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson. https://t.co/cyYC7jyl6y

He sticks his arrogant nose in every topic rather than sticking to his lane, and even when he does stick to his lane his lectures on Jungian psychology — his ex-profession — are denounced by Jungians and cognitive psychologists themselves, as Cass Eris explains in depth above.

Here I will assert even my authority and dissect his wrongness on his Yin/Yang — so called “order/chaos” philosophical errors. He clearly has no firm understanding of the TCM/Taoist concepts beyond a passing, white-washed glance. And this fundamental flaw then leeches into his wrongness on gender and feminist politics. I will devour this in a future essay when I complete my reading of this textbook as Peterson simply has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to Yin/Yang theory. For now, I will provide these next few thoughts as this topic requires its own series and is my particular area of expertise.

This is cultural mischaracterizing, and colonialism in action, especially when considering the matriarchal Six Nations governance. Instead, he beats it into his readers the reductionist and flat-out wrong mischaracterization of woman and the natural world as “chaos” which we must keep under ordered control rather than embrace. (Note that his book is subtitled “An Antidote to Chaos”, and within he hammers his association of “chaos” with “femininity” and its ultimate subjugation as the solution.)

It is a blatant upholding self-serving patriarchy rather than an unbiased discussion philosophically seek the truth of the matter and drawing one’s conclusions secondary to observation. You know, the whole ‘being a scientist’ thing. It is a Judeo-Christianizing misrepresentation of cultures others that his. With his heavy reliance and even pedestalling of Christianity it becomes obvious who his target audience is. The opposite of legendary comparative cultural analyses from Jungians like Joseph Campbell (who would be spinning in his grave).

“We were struggling for position before we had skin, or hands, or lungs, or bones,” Peterson writes. “There is little more natural than culture. Dominance hierarchies are older than trees.” He insists that gender and class hierarchies are ordained by nature and validated by science… to which I say Murray Bookchin and the entire field of anarchist theory would like to have a word with you, you projecting know-nothing know-it-all.

He is flatly wrong about biology and evolution, as animals have differing gender and social roles that simply do not follow those of humans. That list is long and far beyond this article’s scope, but fear not fellow lobsters, they are dissected in the resources I have scattered throughout this piece.

His entire clinical angle is biased, skewed, so while white young men, who actually might need to buck up, being born on 2nd or 3rd base gives less wiggle room for excuses, but does that same logic apply to the traumatized and marginalized finding a public recognition *of their existence* for the first time? It is a stage will normalize yes critique but also do so with compassion and listening not telling equals perpetuating “I know what’s best” mentality.

I argue he quite likely would approach this with more care concern and compassion of which he rarely if ever demonstrates to these communities, if his client base were marginalized.

Completely dehumanizing, quite literally invalidating trans-peoples existence… via misinformation.

ScienceVet on Twitter: "So. Hi new people! Apparently, we're gonna talk about sex. Like physical sex! Because... there's some confusion. First, sex defined: We're talking physical sex here, not gender. Body parts, hormones, and genetics (and more). BLUF: BIOLOGICAL sex is a spectrum1/ / Twitter"

So. Hi new people! Apparently, we're gonna talk about sex. Like physical sex! Because... there's some confusion. First, sex defined: We're talking physical sex here, not gender. Body parts, hormones, and genetics (and more). BLUF: BIOLOGICAL sex is a spectrum1/

• Masculinity, Feminism, & LGBTQ+
• Stop Using Phony Science to Justify Transphobia

You often can’t logic someone out of a position they didn’t logic themselves into.

If the fundamental pillars of his thesis are false, his gaps in logic are the polar opposite of what I or any academic/medical professional/activist strive for. When I write about science I speak in science, when I write about TCM philosophy I speak in “flowery” metaphorical language because these are their appropriate lanes. Yes I may make mistakes, we are all human — but his are now sociopathic.

Bluntly: If you are in the JP camp of protecting freedom of speech in fear of some mythic authoritarian “Leftist” movements suggest you honour a person’s personal pronouns (the law was NEVER about this made up concern — the entire springboard that brought JP to fame is dun dun dunnn *misinformation*) meanwhile you are actively silent let alone outright enraged at the actual real world Republican book bans and Anti CRT propaganda perpetuating racist denial of factual history (don’t like this part? I’ll refer you to the database of articles I have ready to back up my point here) — then you — by definition are a hypocrite and need to step back and swallow some hard truths before making any further public proclamations.

So if he is flatly wrong about nearly everything he speaks of — then at this point his literal only social function is Far/Alt-Right cult onboarding.

Pathway to the Alt-Right

Bigot (noun): a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.

Please watch this entire following series (and Cass Eris’s above) before continuing — you know, the way Petersonites expect us to watch his entire diatribes lest we “take him out of context”.

Kahuna on Twitter: "Yes, but now imagine you were not an honest person and want to sell conservatism.You too, would lie about easily googable stuff.Facts, after all, do not care about feelings so you must protect your audience from them. / Twitter"

Yes, but now imagine you were not an honest person and want to sell conservatism.You too, would lie about easily googable stuff.Facts, after all, do not care about feelings so you must protect your audience from them.

Gillian Branstetter on Twitter: "Federal proecutors have charged a California man with threatening to bomb the headquarters of @MerriamWebster over the dictionary's definition of "girl," "woman," and "female," blaming what he called "the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny agenda" https://t.co/hsbOxz2MPD / Twitter"

Federal proecutors have charged a California man with threatening to bomb the headquarters of @MerriamWebster over the dictionary's definition of "girl," "woman," and "female," blaming what he called "the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny agenda" https://t.co/hsbOxz2MPD

• We Need Diverse Books on Instagram: "PEN America has compiled a report on book bans in the US-including where it's happening and which books and authors are getting banned the most. It finds a "profound increase... [in bans on] books that relate to communities of color and LGBTQ+ subjects." Read the full report at the link in our bio."
• The 14 Characteristics of Fascism, by Lawrence Britt, Spring 2003
• Jordan Peterson & Fascist Mysticism | Pankaj Mishra
• Fascism 101 (Right Wing Disinformation not Left)
• Peterson & the Alt Right Pipeline

Fascist Enabling… is Fascism**

“I’ve studied Nazism for four decades. And I understand it very well. And I can tell you there are some awful people lurking in the corners,” Peterson says. “They’re ready to come out. And if the radical left keeps pushing the way it’s pushing, they’re going to come.” Jordan Peterson, explained — Vox

Peterson follows many of the traits outlined in the links above: hypermasculinity, misogyny, religiosity, disgusting attacks on the marginalized, historical revisionism/glorification (his mythical “West”), his blatant hypocrisy, on and on. While he doesn’t check off all the boxes — it’s most.

Is that what a “man” is, Jordan?

That said, and this is critical: I describe why I call him as such due to the classic German saying “If 9 people sit down at a table with one Nazi without protest, there are ten Nazis at the table.” Anyone who supports Trump and his literal textbook fascism, is a fascist enabler — thus part of the same mechanism by definition. Fascism doesn’t appear in a vacuum. Jordan Peterson is fascist by-proxy — thus a fascist.

His hypocrisy is my key point — it is factually true that the Far Right post-Trump, Neo Conservatives are the immediate violent threat and direct pathway to a fascist resurgence. This is the fact-based reality as I have evidenced.

This manufactured rage leads readers down the Right-wing path the opposite side of pro-choice, of public health, of discussion of the history and perpetuation of racism, LGBTQ+ misinformation, of climate delay and denial.

But sure, go ahead and keep being propagandized that the problem is the “woke-Left”. Highlighting the immature left caricaturizing while ignoring prolific authors like Naomi Klein (this will be expanded). Meanwhile the Right is quite literally attacking the foundations of democracy and regressing us to some MAGA mythic fascist past.

So while attacks on “woke-ism” can at times a valid discussion, are largely pathetic while the planet is burning, Nazis are rising and y’all are telling us to focus on those issues? Especially when considering the “pushback” against CRT and C-16 etc are flat out misinformation?

What appears to be universal vs culture and history dependant taken at face value precisely because his target audience tend to be otherwise uneducated in the broader landscape.

So, if you remain a follower who can’t see or won’t admit these glaring, factually disproven flaws in his entire narrative then… You are deeply embedded in a fundamentalist cult, and it is past time to shake out of it.

Conclusion: Breaking the Spell

“Why do you hate Jordan Peterson?” The Mega-Thread. : enoughpetersonspam (reddit.com)

1. Encouraging Critical Thought and a Debunking Mindset

Yes JP might say some things that inspire you — few people argue against that. Take what you need then move into the bigger world and you’ll become more and more aware of his obvious shortcomings as you break the spell.

I speak often of Chomsky as a foundation for some of my socio-economic critiques— but I’m also all too aware of his flaws and can speak on them. I absolutely do not take him religiously, I see the tent he is in, and I compare and contrast with others to fill in blanks or to counter narratives. But I selected Chomsky as foundational due to his extraordinary use of citation for nearly every sentence in his books. This allows the reader to participate, to do further research, and to critique the sources of his conclusions. So while Chomsky has his flaws, it's important to recognize that this approach is the total opposite of Peterson.

Chomsky has declined in recent years but the point I make is to survey the political landscape, if you are quick to point Chomsky’s flaws but turn a blind eye to your far worse right-wing guru, this is religious hypocrisy. I debunk Chomsky, do you debunk Peterson?

The key here is comparative analysis. This is rather than blindly agreeing with someone “because they said it”, as I’ve written in my previous pieces on misinformation, continue to find the hard wall of fact. If you know… you are actually after the truth of something. And when one genuinely takes an unbiased look at Peterson’s work and views — they are minefields of fallacy, missing context, religiosity, lack of citation, and blatant misinformation.

And ideal example in the field of psychology would be examining this book — one of my all-time favourites purely for its presentation: Maps of the Mind by Charles Hampden-Turner | Goodreads

From here it becomes blatantly apparent of which outdated modes Peterson writes on, and to whom his target audience is: conservative men. Not the pursuit of Truth — his “rules” are beyond biased. “Facts are not feelings” amirite?

2. Ask yourself: can you name four things you DON’T like about Peterson?**

If you can’t — you might be in a cult.

3. Clearly demonstrate a commitment to anti-racism and quality anti-racist education, before critiquing the flaws/grievances within the antiracist movement.**

Like the rest of us. This is also known as you know… being a good person with integrity.

4. Take time to explore the effects of capitalist social media algorithms, as well as mechanisms of cult onboarding**

We need to be highly aware of what algorithms feed us. My personal political views predate Facebook’s influence by about a decade and have not dramatically changed in this time, only deepened as my critical thinking skills developed. Not because of stubbornness or clinging to my own ideologies no — it is because my core life thesis remains the same: the project of building an egalitarian, fact-based, sustainable world.

Because I want to be proven wrong, because I am constantly trying to debunk myself. But in a pandemic when the general public doesn’t have such a background we find ourselves like the boiling frog. “Algorithmed” Unless it directly does concern you or your community.

Data & Society — Alternative Influence (datasociety.net)

Data & Society — Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online (datasociety.net)

He quite simply doesn’t deserve the success he has received as there are MANY other speaker and authors saying the same things he says (clean your room etc etc), with a much more approachable less agro yang excess approach. His book is mediocre in the big literary picture and only became a “best seller” because he “owned the libs” in a Youtube video and his fans bought it droves — not the other way around, standing on its own merit.

His views are almost entirely negative, where is he using his power? Zero climate, zero anti racism, none of the actual major issues of the day, there are countless other speakers saying similar things who are much more inspiring and actually making progress in the world.

Take what you need and move onto the much bigger world — He should not be the main tent pole; else you find your tent hosting the Far-Right without knowing it.

We are indeed in dangerous times. And nihilistic regressive Peterson, doesn’t allow us to envision a better world for all.

Further Reading

• My Master Peterson & Alt Right References
• Why does Jordan Peterson resonate with white supremacists? — Long View on Education
• Some Thoughts on Gender, Free Speech and the Ethics of Public Discourse | by Sean Smith | Medium
• Jordan Peterson’s shocking remarks remind us how Nazi apologism has crept back into our political debate | The Independent | The Independent
• Exposing Jordan Peterson’s barrage of revisionist falsehoods about Hitler, the Holocaust and Nazism — Haaretz.com
• “Why do you hate Jordan Peterson?” The Mega-Thread. : enoughpetersonspam (reddit.com)
• Lux Copp’s answer to Do you support University of Toronto professor Jordan B Peterson’s right not to be required, by law, to use ‘genderless’ pronouns? Why or why not? — Quora
• The Enticing White Supremacy Of Jordan Peterson | The Boeskool
• Study Shows How the ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ Is a Gateway to the Far Right
• Jordan Peterson Resource Page
• Gabor Maté on Jordan Peterson
• Jordan Peterson Resigns as a Professor — Unsurprisingly | by Mitchell Peterson | Jan, 2022 | Medium
• http://ditext.com/wordpress/2019/01/02/jordan-peterson-an-example-of-a-sincere-bullshitter/?utm_source=pocket_mylist
• Jordan Peterson and Citational Practice — Pyriscence
• The Intellectual We Deserve ❧ Current Affairs
• Richard Poplak sets Jordan B Peterson’s house in order: a (scorching) review of 12 Rules For Life
• Jordan Peterson Is Coming Back, And His Message Is Even Worse
• If the Right Can’t Teach People to Hate, It Has Nothing At All
• Jordan Peterson, the obscure Canadian psychologist turned right-wing celebrity, explained
• I was Jordan Peterson’s strongest supporter. Now I think he’s dangerous | The Star
• ‘Word salad of nonsense’: scientists denounce Jordan Peterson’s comments on climate models | Climate crisis | The Guardian
• Why Can’t People Hear What Jordan Peterson Is Saying?
• Jordan Peterson’s Bullshit
• What the left gets wrong about Jordan Peterson
• Critiques of Jordan B. Peterson’s ideas

BJORN LOMBORG

• Bjørn Lomborg — Wikipedia
• A closer examination of the fantastical numbers in Bjorn Lomborg’s new book — Grantham Research Institute on climate change and the environment (lse.ac.uk)
• Debunking Lomborg, the Climate-Change Skeptic (newsweek.com)
• False Alarm by Bjorn Lomborg; Apocalypse Never by Michael Shellenberger — review | Science and nature books | The Guardian
• Bjorn Lomborg’s false comfort | Canada’s National Observer: News & Analysis

Breaking the Cult of Mrs. Jordan Peterson was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

1. Grind beans
2. Play with cats
3. Remember I'm making coffee
4. But the floors need to be swept first
5. Put water in stovetop espresso dealie
6. Giggle at an inside joke with myself
7. Did I bring that thing from upstairs downstairs?
8. But cats
9. Put grinds in dealie
10. Jfc put the thing on the stove wtfff
12. Write a Facebook post about how it takes me an hour to make coffee
11. Did I turn the stove on?
12. Yey espresso!
13. Finish writing post on couch while giggling
14. Realize why tf am I not drinking the coffee I'm writing about
15. Cuz it's still in the kitchen and has no milk
16. Add milk
17. Enjoy!
18. Realize it's noon.

My 18 🌈Simple🌈 Steps to Making Coffee in An Hour was originally published in Spiral Journeys on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Originally published on RootsToSky.com in Autumn 2021

I’d like to admit my obvious biases and motivated reasoning (and own my previous frustration) as my post/pandemic writing and posting moves forward.

First, it’s my professional job to protect public health — as mandated by the province of Ontario’s CTCMPAO regulations. Second, specifically as a TCM practitioner, it’s also my job to protect individual health. I strive to balance both angles. Then, on a personal level, I also happen to have a sister with Down Syndrome and have an obvious interest in protecting her — a vulnerable member of society, and quite possibly a literal angel incarnate. She is immunocompromised. Further, I am also a member of a large highly active cross-culture “underground” community. For all these reasons I am always alert to how fast this virus can spread — on guard the entire pandemic for my friends, patients, colleagues, and their families.

It's what I do.

These facts may have given me an admittedly angled view of the pandemic. Yet, as has been obvious from the beginnings of my ranty pandemic posting: My job has also been in debunking misinformation to protect mental health from unnecessary additional stress and overwhelm in a pandemic (so where are we — four jobs now?) So, it would be rather hypocritical of me to not check my own blind spots.

Yet in many ways above even my medical interests, I am a student of history: of historical methods of health, of economic systems, of the search for the roots of hierarchy and inequality that result in normalized but no less pathological internalized oppression mechanics. Of which most of us are blind to (in the sense of the cliché “does the fish know of the water in which it swims?)”. Blind to what caused past civilizations to rise and fall and how impudence and assumed permanence led to their downfall.

While at first these perspectives may seem to be disparate topics, my purpose in writing is to connect the dots: from indigenous wisdom to anti/vaccine capitalism, I hope to reveal as quite neatly and obviously interconnected. We must understand our place in history — both where we come from, and where we are our “story” … as there are many chapters to follow. Thus, these small trends point to bigger ones.

Symptoms pointing to disease.

In the pandemic/misinformation/political leaning articles that I have written and those that will follow, I often use jargony words and technically-accurate-but-still-wordy-run-on-sentences and make assumptions in baseline education. I know I should avoid this in my day to day blogging. But simply because in a science-based era using science-based words as we all normalize discussions of viruses, mRNA, and vaccines; now essentially a century of fact & evidence-based experience, capable of wiping out smallpox and polio, it is critical that we equally uphold/strive for baseline levels of education and critical thinking that gave birth to these miraculous achievements.

(Assuming of course, that individuals participate in community preservation over self-interest… because community preservation is in the self-interest of the individual, and as I’ll prove, humans are a communal species).

Similar to what I wrote in my Covid Resources webpage, in my in-person debates I may have at times been wrong about, for example, the specific mechanisms of vaccinology — this is quite simply because I’m not a vaccine research scientist. As essentially none of my readers are. Do you trust your mechanic? Do you trust me with my specialized training to treat you with TCM? Then equally, let’s stop assuming we know more than my countless medical professional and research scientist colleagues who are essentially in unanimous agreement that vaccines work (not counting the debunked quacks that make up any given population).

What is more likely, more rational: believing a fringe (but at times necessary) paranoid/conspiracy/outlier, what I call “guardrail” minority group; or trusting those who literally day-in-day-out exhaust themselves on the front lines of advanced research or taking care of our loved ones in ICU, discussing and correcting themselves?

So let’s slow the f’k down and recognize how far we’ve come as a species and how to continue this progress. Or… experience another intellectually stunted, climate apocalyptic, class-divided/wealth concentrated return to aristocratic dark ages. If we are all talking about sciencey things like viruses (like seriously — camman — none of us have even seen one, we *only* know they exist because of science) — then let’s level up our game.

Thus, my role has always been debunking misinformation to protect public sanity, not convincing people to get vaccinated. And by simply launching my quest to provide accurate information — be it TCM or infectious disease — I re-established my socialized pro-vaccine stance, as a result of the sheer nonstop amount of misinformation articles and memes I have been sent (nearly always in an attacking, rude manner rather than a problem-solving friendly mindset.) … (Thanks to anyone who has approached me with professional respect!).

The more I debunked, the more I concluded: get vaccinated.

This (mRNA vaccine, etc) is us improving on what we’ve learned since 1918. This is the first pandemic in a social media era. And we will do even better in the next pandemic, but no response will ever be perfect. Nor will any vaccine.

It seems there is always a conservative (I mean that in the true sense of the word) minority resistant to change present in any group. But should they dictate the course of pandemic measures? Of course not. Raise your voice, but don’t expect the majority of the public to bend to your will. (For some: how does it feel to be a minority — quite possibly for the first time in your life? Perhaps some reflection on privilege is required.)

Thus, it has never been my intent to make this about partisan left/right us/them politics: it is about keeping things in context. It is an appeal to reason, to actual research, to evidence-based decisions… the lack of which currently happens to neatly overlap with the growing, selfish, violent xenophobic “Right” that is factually far far more of an immediate threat to our health and our civil future than the reactive “Left”.

It would be less of an issue if the so-called “Right” wasn’t routinely factually wrong, putting lives (and the climate, as these views are linked as you’ll see in my book) at stake for anti-science hyper-individualist partisan antiquated self-interest.

Yes, that’s right — reality, science, and basic human decency — factually lean “Left”. It’s time some deal with that. And we should be angry. Angry for being co-opted, used as a tool to maintain unequal health & wealth distribution, and for a machine that perpetuates misinformation that is both delaying the end to this pandemic — and killing both people and planet. We all should be learning everything we can right now to stop the rise of actual Nazis, para-fascists, anti-science, vaccine distribution inequality, cronyism, disinformation, and racism. And how these facets are all connected. And I’ll prove how.

My target audience is people on the fence, or people who “think” they might lean Right — when in actuality when asked to reverse engineer their beliefs, actually do lean Left — but are currently being hypnotized by the likes of misinformation peddlers.

Perhaps it’s time reorient our political spectrum with basic human decency at the centre, rather than calling it “Left”?

Don’t like any of these statements? Then please challenge them. As a scientist — I want to be proven wrong. And in the literal countless pandemic debates I’ve debunked, I have yet to be. Not when it comes to conspiracy and vaccine science. So no, I am not “too sure” — every article and video I have debunked and then documented (over and over and over and over again), has by default… lead me to these conclusions. As a consequence: not by intent.

So no, I am not “too sure” — every article and video I have debunked has by default… lead me to these conclusions. As a consequence: not by intent.

Seriously — directly speaking to my community — does anyone else have an *evidence based* debunking database? So maybe — just maybe, it might be worthwhile listening to the peer-reviewed majority of medical professionals who are highly trained, clinically experienced, regulated by governing bodies designed to protect public health (despite the outsider appearance, the governmental regulating bodies of healthcare professionals serve the *public* not the practitioners — especially here in Canada with socialized healthcare — yanno — for the people). Ask us questions, rather than attack.

So… Dialogue.

I have the luxury (and neuroses) to maintain a database — overworked front line nurses witnessing choking deaths — often do not.

This now leads me to admit the key factor I’ve been avoiding, compartmentalizing, intellectualizing, throughout the pandemic with my wordy posts and no-fucks-given memes:

Feeling.

Behind it all — all of this — I’ve been feeling SO damn much — TOO damn much, because I care SO damn much that I don’t want to see my loved ones in ICU.

Because I don’t want to say, “I told you so”. Because I’ve treated both Covid — and Long Covid (of which TCM is especially adept at treating [/selfpromo]) and I don’t want my mind-over-heart based, naïve, hyper-individual focussed friend circles having as-yet-still-unexplained-by-science symptoms that last months, if not causing permanent damage to your “Jing”, your “True Qi”, your reserve tank of your potential. Ending your life prematurely now, or as we age together. And then infecting others. Because my little sub-culture is especially social.

And who will be there to treat you, to help you, to save you, to rejuvenate you? The nurses, doctors, and scientists, who yes unanimously agree — the vaccines work (yes even in Omicron, at reducing transmission, ICU admissions & deaths) and it is only the fringe, easily debunked quack doctors and pundits (no population is immune to stupidity), who’s voices are amplified by social media algorithms (*ahem capitalism), misinforming you otherwise.

So no, these highly educated but still human sectors of our species are not perfect. But our ingenuity as modern homo-scientus** is to self-correct when evidence is provided. Please re-read that: The ability to self-correct when evidence is provided. To admit one was wrong in light of new evidence.

With that said, note that most of my pandemic-era writing was unplanned (in the sense that I had much more formal health & “inspired living” related writing in the pipelines, before being rudely interrupted by misinformation/political chaos), and is/was thus more ranty, direct, at times arrogant and hastily posted.

But it also awoke something in me, to begin sharing my words in their imperfect status, rather than waiting for some mythical “perfectly-worded someday”.

So please follow along — as I continue to dispatch “The Politics of Health Misinformation”…

**(I made that term up, if you use it, you owe me money) … (I just looked it up — I’m not counting the Italian term because I’m English and we all know that nothing is real until the English say so)

Admitting my Covid-19 Biases: A Reflective Re-Introduction to my Pandemic Blog Series was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Originally published on RootsToSky.com in October 2021

You are a statistic. In a pandemic, what governments are concerned with are statistical trends — not individuals. Community. When looking at a crisis from a public health infectious disease lens (read: community health, which a pandemic is), lives trump personal freedoms. To expect anything otherwise from any government, is to expect an apple to be an orange. They aren’t concerned with your (often hyper-privileged western libertarian) needs.

Wikipedia begins its discussion of eugenics with “Eugenics is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those judged to be superior.”

So while some may have rationalized the pandemic as “survival of the fittest”/natural selection aka “natural immunity”, it is arguably purely eugenics. What I instead see is a failure to recognize that third world countries are begging for vaccines meanwhile first world countries are stockpiling them because they work. Which is inherently classist/racist. Because as medical professionals repeat: “natural immunity = deaths”… and someone else’s death is not your choice.

I’m all too aware that death is a part of life and maybe — just maybe humanity itself needs a natural population culling because we are killing the planet via overconsumption — but this boils down to capitalist exploitation rather than pure population growth [references incoming]. We not superior to the forces of nature.

These pandemic rationalizations do not factor that:
i) with our inherently top-down society, this results in absolutely disproportionate deaths that favour the ruling class (yep — complaining about freedoms — while wearing clothes made by someone paid pennies by a multinational conglomerate because of built in supra-governmental regulatory tax evasion aka capitalist neoliberal “globalization”)… (I just wanted to say all that, it felt good); and
ii) we are evolving as a society where we have effective tools to prevent needless deaths and by not distributing them evenly at what point do we call this economic genocide?

The question we are attempting to answer is: do public health mandates encourage more mass vaccinations and thus reduced ICU occupancy: yes or no? If yes then regardless it is in the public’s best interest as a whole to proceed with them, even if they tread into individual freedoms. Because you are a statistic, not a unique snowflake. Not in a global pandemic. You will be squeezed. We all will be. We are a human community, this is a fact. And only time will give us this answer, in hindsight.

So yes absolutely, full support that our system can do better — scream, protest, raise our voicez so that just as much public government funding goes into better antivirals, ventilation, TCM research trials, supplements trials/send free Vitamin D (?) to every home, anything proven to work and reduce ICU admissions to take the burden off the hospitals.

But keep in mind — whether in TCM or orthomolecular (supplemental) medicine — literally nothing can prevent a global pandemic with a specifically identified, genetically sequenced single causal factor: a virus — the only, isolated cause of the COVID-19 disease and public health crisis… like a vaccine.

This is modern biomedicine at its absolute best: extraordinarily powerful in finding a single identifiable pathogenic cause of disease to prevent public death trends. While “Eastern” medicine looks after the complex, wholistic ecosystem within the individual.

I’ve dedicated my life to helping others from both approaches… and the vaccine is the most evidenced-based, fastest, easiest way to prevent my friends and their families from drowning in the hospital.

Community.

Yes, if our stubborn elder family members refuse a vaccine that is their choice. But keep in mind that certainly the medications they are likely currently taking are causing far worse side effects than any vaccine ever would. And it’s not just about them — it’s about who they might also have been in contact with — depending on their age group, taking down a nursing home. High triglycerides are not contagious. What happens if it was you who were the one to be the one who infected them — and subsequently killed them? Can you not feel that?

And then our century of modern healthcare workers bettering our species, enabling others who may have died, to thrive — who may then go on to do great things because smallpox or polio didn’t destroy everyone they love so ruthlessly, so discompassionately, so cold, so effective.

Taking all this into consideration, this is unfortunate and complex but keeping in mind that:

1. This is a pandemic with an end/normalization point (herd immunity/stabilized endemic infectious rates), almost certainly due to wide vaccine acceptance.
2. People complained about smoking banned from indoors but then quickly adapted — in contrast this is a temporary division.
3. At least we aren’t being drafted. This is a minor inconvenience civic (public) duty whereas many of our grandparents had literally no choice but to go to a freakin war. How infringing on individual rights is that? But again, it was to protect the greater social good — which means the sacrifice of individual freedoms. But get this! This just in: the draft and the war ended!

In other words: This is our generation’s draft — and many I see are draft-dodgers, piggy-backing on the freedoms won by the rest of us. The convoy/antivax crowd are not the Vietnam/Iraq War Resistors they may think they are. History is already not looking kindly.

Y’all have too many unquestioned privileges to be whining this much about masks and vaccines. We live in an era thanks to modern science where we have the option of an incredibly safe vaccine and freedoms won by our grandparents’ deaths. And so many Canadians — especially friends I know, just soaked up those (socialized) CRB paycheques. Some for valid reasons — others, because they could.

Be humble, take it down a notch… If you think you are tired of all this, imagine our nurses. Honour the vast majority who are protecting you — but don’t expect to be given special privilege, this is pure arrogance. In a public health crisis, we all have to do our part, and if getting vaccinated isn’t yours, then respect the restrictions placed by the professionals who’s literal training and job this is to reduce case… and body counts.

So please don’t flip the script on who exactly, are the arrogant ones.

… And accept that your part… is sacrifice. As all ours is. We sacrificed and got vaccinated. And based on global public health research (stop thinking that North America is the centre of the world), then it has been shown that with proven reduced transmission and above all reduced ICU admissions, then as less of a burden, those who opted to get vaccinated are afforded more access to public experiences.

What really is your reason for not getting a vaccine? Fear? That can be quelled by asking questions. Or maybe it’s just on some vague libertarian (ugh) principle? As always — dear libertarian — look into mutual aid.

Mutual Aid & Alt Economies

I argue in a public health crisis, we must stop thinking we, as individuals, are special. That’s the self-centred hyper individualist *problem* and it’s worth repeating, a pandemic is a public health crisis, and we are all statistics. What matters is math: if sweeping social restrictions can be shown to reduce transmission then it is by-definition the correct course of action for a government, who is beholden to the majority, to implement them.

Seatbelts: Would we assume someone is rude if they refused to buckle up? If someone lit up a cigarette next to us in a restaurant?

Until desperation forced our hand on measures — we wouldn’t know what worked and what didn’t, until we tried.

So, let’s refocus the narrative on the nurses, doctors, and vast majority of truckers who have worked themselves to the bone to keep the food on our tables and will be there for those who flaunt public health policy and wind up in ICU.

Because the rest of us… are masked, vaccinated, have moved on and couldn’t care less about tantrums.

You are a Statistic: Public vs Individual Health was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I have made a deliberate effort to not discuss vaccines in person in my immediate circles as I know it can be a hot topic (which frankly…. blows my mind). And in the rare encounters that the topic has come up I’ve had to backtrack my language around my use of the terms “uneducated” or “misinformed”.

While obviously certainly no one wants to feel their views are invalid or dismissed and I own that — at no point was that ever my intention. At no point was I ever using any terms in condescending ways — simply stating simple facts: it is likely that many folks do not have enough education on a topic to form factual conclusions, as I write on the intro of my Covid Resources webpage.

So please ask those who do, to help clarify or confirm your views so you can make educated decisions, and we can move forward in dialogue. It’s okay to not have the answers! None of us do! But some are much closer to “fact” — because that is the entire premise of science itself.

What I’m seeing in this internet “research” era is the equivalent of someone cooking a few meals once or twice — then assuming they know more than a professional chef.

Have you been trained in how to read and conduct research? Did you read textbook after textbook, getting the chance to ask medical questions from world class teachers? Did you write exams to test your knowledge? Did you perform case studies, and contribute new research to your field? Are you licensed and regulated by the province and are a recognized medical professional from a peer-renowned accredited school? Did you write board exams? Have you been in clinical or research practice, refining and constantly applying and updating your skills in the field?

Are you right now, perceiving those questions as patronizing?

If I, or any other medical professionals have been perceived as being such, it is entirely due to the person framing questions. Attacking or dismissing the education that gives us a legitimate platform to stand on: it is not our job to tiptoe around your insecurities.

Let’s own and acknowledge our limitations. I routinely do this, by sticking to my lane and instead pointing to expert in their fields. Because any tension is immediately quelled when someone approaches with an inquisitive, problem-solving mindset — respecting the education and experience of our medical professionals. As you would with your mechanic. Simply ask us questions, and defensiveness vanishes.

Please don’t throw isolated studies at us as if you have found the single study that the CDC or Nature somehow missed (despite them being the ones that published it) that single-handedly debunks all logic in vaccinations, despite their obvious meta-analysis recommendations to get vaccinated. The pros far, farrrr outweigh the cons. Isolated studies are not meta-analyses, the CDC (made up of highly trained individuals — could you get a job at the CDC?) etc. is obviously aware of them — but must factor countless others — including ones with contradictory results which I’m often aware of and factor in my own reporting.

Let’s begin by admitting our levels of training, and that without such training, there is a higher likelihood of being misinformed. No one ever said alternate views aren't allowed. But realize opinions are not facts, and simply approach people who have advanced training with respect and by asking questions to facilitate dialogue not debate.

So, when it comes to the blurred line between personal and professional relationships, my duty will be to public health during a historic pandemic, not catering to misinformed peers who are more than welcome to ask questions as to why I have drawn my conclusions. When I have a public record, a literal database of studies and essays showing the steps I have taken to arrive at where I have, backed against clinical training — all of which seems to have been apparently ignored.

And yet… we are the arrogant ones.

There is a difference between arrogance and experience. And even when arrogance is obvious, recognize the frustration and exhaustion behind it, likely felt by the entire medical community. And further, there is a major difference that with said experience, comes the realization of how much more there is to know. There is a major difference in doing casual internet research, versus the type of research people with professional degrees do when actually treating and caring for people when actual risks are involved.

When the health or even life of a person is in your hands, research takes on an entire massive layer than casual interest people simply have no experience with.

And while some more natural healthcare professionals may claim that they have more success without the use of vaccines these points become irrelevant when this is a public health not individual health crisis, and the vast majority are already vaccinated. If complementary health workers were to be truly respected in their field, they would still listen to science — since all modern approaches whether natural or not are indeed science-based medicine. How else did we discover all those supplements? How else are we reading this on our phones? Otherwise, they are by-definition cherry picking, especially when vaccines are one of the safest modern medicines in existence precisely because they are addressing a single known causal factor.

We’re the ones protecting you and will be there when you need us. (Also this.) The only reason why the remaining unvaccinated holdouts have made it this far is entirely because of your community who are protecting you with up to 90% vaccination rates. The “I haven’t gotten Covid yet” etc anecdotal arguments are now old and yet another example of selfishness I’m simply done with tolerating.

Vaccines work. Deal with it. It’s not us who have to do the accommodating — this is a blatant spoiled/entitled mindset, it’s the unvaccinated/unmasked who have to accommodate the safety of others through your choices, not the other way around.

Stop seeking confirmation bias by talking to people who support your views rather than approaching trained medical professionals. It is not those of us who work in the field who are turning our backs. It is others who are turning their backs on us. This is the same mechanism that ties right back around to cheering for front line medical workers…

And then spitting on them in convoy protests.

Arrogance: Flipping the Script to Respect Medical Professionals was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Article originally published on RootsToSky.com in February 2022

With Part 1 on the hijacking by far-right elements on the convoy/mandate issue now posted — I absolutely do not want to mischaracterize the entirety of the protests against mandates — I would be loathingly hypocritically cherry-picking.

“What is not being reported is the demographic where the virus seems to be spreading most. At least in my town, the virus is predominantly spreading through the lowest socioeconomic demographic — in particular, homeless people suffering from addictions. Our hospital is overrun with addiction cases in the best of times and now we see that is where the virus is taking hold. Addicts and those already compromised are the bulk of cases entering hospitals now. That is where the problem lies and it would make sense to focus efforts there instead of continually imposing restrictions across the entire population. We know enough about the virus now to target where it spreads instead of broad-sweeping actions that are having little effect — the case numbers have not moved much in months.”

Quote source currently unknown

I’ll begin with a great example of being on the fence:

Why I'm for COVID vaccines, but against vaccine mandates. - Peter Attia

Note: Yet even in reading this piece from what I can tell he is: falling victim to base-rate fallacy, never takes long Covid into account, fails to recognize that natural immunity = deaths, and seems to fail at considering the impact on society of over-run ICU admissions which in turn delays other lifesaving procedures, and that young people still transmit Covid. Here is his follow-up.

What I argue here on the mandate topic, as I write in all my pieces is: Keep things in context. Everything that has happened in the journey of the COVID-19 historical pandemic — when viewed from the lens of a century from now by historians — will all make perfectly logical sense in its medical progression.

Just as I closed my first essay with a thought experiment, let’s do it again here. As I’ve repeated on social media, keep in mind I have a medical background bias — something which skews my views in ways my general community may not have access to.

1. A global pandemic emerges. The first in the social media era — a totally new variable. Some governments panic. Some under-react. Some respond exceedingly effectively and should be studied.
2. It is the job of a democratic government to protect the public, in a public health crisis, of which we are all statistics.
3. Because literally no one has the answers for a novel virus — broad, sweeping over-reactions are warranted: lockdowns, social distancing, masks. This is the equivalent of accidently shattering a glass on the ground and screaming “nobody move!”. All while the actual trained scientists whose job this is do peer-reviewed science, to collect data, to find out which approaches are valid and work, and which do not. The equivalent of looking for the remaining glass shards after the initial sweep. This reveals where to draw lines to shape public policy, society by society, inevitably towards social group to social group until endemic normalization. Where we can step, and where we cannot.
4. Meanwhile, right on schedule (and not in a conspiracy sense — more because professionals are f’king professionals) after the first wave of vaccines emerge, their results gathered. Science does as science does, collects data, and refines the next wave of more targeted treatments, while social scientists continue to study post-first-wave-mass-vaccine-campaign trends which then influence public policy to better target remaining pockets, as discussed in the quote above.
5. This is a process. Mistakes are made — but data is shared. The goal is public health preservation. If a vaccine causes adverse effects in 0.0001% of people, but the virus kills 1% — by public health interest — it is worth it. You are an unfortunate statistic. No one expected a global pandemic like this, we must work with what we’ve got. There has never been a such thing as a perfect vaccine. But a vaccine does give the majority of people shoes to walk on the glass.
6. Segments of the population resist. “I have the right to walk on glass!” Sure, but this spreads the glass around and risks others cutting their feet. In a loose timeline: at first for very valid reasons (“these vaccines are new, I don’t trust them!”), which are then debunked as the science proves and sheer numbers of ICU admissions drop substantially. This then morphs into people resisting in principle, which again, can be dismantled and debunked in public discourse. Then finally with little logic remaining in their moved goalposts, increasingly stricter “restrictions” are placed to squeeze holdouts in the statistical interest of public health (and, next point, to get people back to work), until some jurisdictions cross legal lines as some tactics prove useless in the attempts to increase vaccinations. (It all comes down to numbers: if mandates prove to work, use them, if they don’t, scrap them), while others do not. Keep in mind — this is global and makes sense in a historical timeline. Not every government responds this way — therefore this is not some “coordinated” conspiracy. (Please get a grip on reality with that one…)
7. The virus evolves. We must adapt. A new virus emerges which behaves differently (Omicron). Potentially more virulent with more likelihood than ever to overwhelm hospitals had vaccines not entered the scene. Many governments knee-jerk react, defaulting to similar restrictions in the first wave simply due to too many unknown variables — all to keep hospitals and therefore society, functioning. We continue to learn. Patience.
8. People become exhausted. Fringe groups emerge. These are all logical symptoms of a public overwhelmed. Extremist groups and political parties attempt to capitalize on these confused masses, whispering sweet-nothings into their ear, giving a sense that ‘you are not alone’, all to continue to consolidate their fear-based xenophobic power, especially post-pandemic.
9. This has happened before and will happen again. We are not above nature nor history. What matters is how we respond.
10. But either way literally no *human* wants a perpetual pandemic and perpetual mandates. Certainly not capitalists who want you back to work and needlessly consuming, not in lockdown receiving CRB.
11. Thus: Nothing out of the ordinary so far. No need for further rushed panic, shutting down highways now for weeks. If mandates aren’t working, then neither are the tactics to hold a country and industry hostage. We heard you. We are all tired. Go home.
12. This cycle may repeat as nature doesn’t follow our rules. Mask up, get vaccinated until our actual medical leaders, not politicians say we are in the clear.
13. We finally move on. The vast majority are vaccinated, the pandemic stabilizes becoming endemic as we reflect on Omicron to understand what a valid response was and what was an over-reaction to move towards the predictably manageable — no longer overwhelming hospitals. What remains, however… is the galvanized, co-opted, concentrated fringe minority residue, now increasingly isolated, heels dug deep, increasingly dangerous, and susceptible to…. the right moment when a certain charismatic leader emerges.

Read between the lines. We’ll see.

Why I see this as a Black & White issue

Dr. Amit Arya on Twitter: "If your idea of "learning to live with COVID" means that People with Disabilities, immunocompromised people and young children have to stay at home while the rest of society opens up without adequate protections...you are part of the problem, not the solution. / Twitter"

If your idea of "learning to live with COVID" means that People with Disabilities, immunocompromised people and young children have to stay at home while the rest of society opens up without adequate protections...you are part of the problem, not the solution.

Whenever I have made this being a polarized issue argument, it is entirely because in a global pandemic in my view you have two choices: get vaccinated — or wait outside the way you previously did prior to the advent of the vaccines, until green lights are given — for you, nothing has changed.

It’s really that simple.

Why, suddenly, because vaccines are available and the general social consensus tide changes as a result, are you automatically awarded the right to ride on the coattails of those who are vaccinated?

You aren’t awarded privileges in society for… abstaining from society.

But wait — how is this view any different than the so-called “socialist” Universal Basic Income that I publicly promote? Am I being hypocritical?

The difference is that this is a temporary global infectious disease. These mandate issues will rightly be challenged in a civil (not partisan) forum when the time comes. Precisely because all pandemics by-definition end. Disaster capitalism will find something else to capitalize on. Biological pandemics in a civil society…. end.

Whereas in a non-pandemic society — these policies do not neatly cross-over to capitalist society: In one case, irrelevant to the dominant social system — a contagious pandemic rages, in the other: the dominant social structure depends on classist exploitation, it is its cause of wealth inequality. And those at the “bottom” have little if any choice in the matter. How golly else do them billionaires make all them billions?

So, if you choose to not get vaccinated then you by-default choose to wait outside during mandates. Especially when vaccines do prevent transmission. And while not as perfectly as many hoped, the key is that they strongly reduce transmission between vaccinated individuals should a breakthrough infection occur. Thus in a room full of vaccinated people viral transmission is extremely minimized, until more and more unvaccinated enter — simple biological math.

This is why they were asked to wait outside: to maintain the health “force field” of those who chose to look after others than just themselves (meaning, even past the at times murky transmission issue, more importantly — by keeping themselves out of emergency rooms & ICUs — and this includes so-called healthy people hopped up on ill-proven supplements they “heard” worked…)

And your employer chooses to protect the health of their employees against infectious disease. Would you wear a condom if you have sex with your co-workers? Further, keep in mind it’s in the best interest of capitalism for the vaccine to work to get you back to “the way things were”, after all.

Further still, what gives you the right to proceed to said normalcy? Nothing has changed since the pandemic began, except vaccines, and if you don’t want one then you have to accept that life is still essentially locked down for you until the rest of us normalize these waves. Otherwise this is the equivalent of skipping ahead in line without earning it. The way billionaires do — via exploitation, the sacrifices others made.

We didn’t make up this pandemic reality. So don’t attack us for navigating it and doing our part to get us, as a human community out. So no, no one owes you an apology. It was never about you. It was always about others. So please “wait outside” until professionals figure things out. If you choose to not do your part to protect public health (of which you are merely a statistic — please stop thinking you are special, unless there is a non-choice immunocompromise), then expect some limitations on your ability to access public institutions. You can’t have it all.

That is the definition of privilege.

Long story short: Let the professionals whose work this literally is, who are moving as fast as they can (and will be harassed for both moving too fast and for moving too slow in this instant gratification vanity era) — let us do our f’king work, and at the very least, approach us with respect.

Valid Mandate Concerns: Why I Argued in Polarized Terms was originally published in Inspired Warriors Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.