Cheap Thinking

AKA conspiracy theorizing

Once upon a time, I was an active libertarian. What follows comes from my personal experience with libertarians, along with my observations. At the end, I will tell you about the action I take.

The best part of the libertarian movement was their non aggression plank, and their recognition that each individual is sovereign unto him or her self. What brought about the divorce between me, and the libertarians, was the growing number of anarchists in the party, and movement at-large. What keeps us apart is this same movement, and the growing left leaning libertarians. Add onto this list, beginning with the top spot, conspiracy theories.

When I was active in the LP, some 15 years back, I heard a few theories. Mostly, at that time, it was 9/11 that occupied most people’s minds. JFK was still a thing, as were the Clintons and their coke business. Belief in these theories was shared with the super conservatives of the GOP. Then, when Obama came along, he took everyone’s eye off the usual suspects with the birther movement. However, nothing, no nothing, can equal the frenzy of the Covid theories. What we have now is the starvation of the world’s population theory, followed by the idea that the vaccines have, and will kill, millions of people. And, drum roll here, Bill Gates is one of the leaders of this movement. His goal? To have a mere 500 million individuals alive on this Earth. That number is less than the population in the year 1300 AD.

There are many more conspiracies out there. Just read the Lew Rockwell blog to get a stomach full of fear and loathing. Especially fear.

Fear is the method millions of marketers and muckrakers use to sell product and politics. Have you seen the newest ads on the internet that proclaim if you sleep on your side, you will suffer from memory loss? And if you elect Republicans, women will revert to being the property of their husbands. Ad infinitum, ad nauseam, you can find this stuff all over social media.

How did we get to this place?

Cheap thinking.  Which is to say,  non analytical thinking. You can also call it, wild thinking. Or, primitive thought. It is looking at an event that overwhelms one, and then proclaiming the gods did it. Earthquakes and floods, and huge buildings crumbling down to the ground, only gods are capable of such actions. To blame the gods is to remove blame from human beings, except that someone sinned so badly, the gods had to punish them.

Yes, you know what I speak of. Climate change is due to our sins as modern human beings driving cars and eating meat.

I can see, that in a thousand years, the 9/11 story will be a myth, taught in schools, but there will be few human actors in the story. It will be the hand of a god that threw those airplanes into the buildings.

That takes the responsibility off the shoulder of humanity.

Back in the ancient times, using the gods made sense of a world wherein there were no engineers to discover how to use the Earth, and no scientists to experiment and find the reason why life was as it is. Back then, it was all superstition. Superstitions allow leaders to control their followers. In a day and age when many things do have bone fide explanations, the charlatans of the secular world are every bit as ludicrous as the religious ones.

The charlatans of fear theories are the new religions. Because, as any atheist will tell you, religion is all about fear. Well? Am I right?

This too, is brought to you by capitalism. A person has gotta make a buck. If you cannot put out an actual product that people find useful, how about giving them Critical Race Theory? That’s a growing enterprise! And just how does RFK, Jr make his money? That’s right, selling “protection” from fear.

Why do people get caught up in these games? You can blame the dumbed down education, but I would rather look at some data. About 68% of the general population fall into the middle ground of IQs between 80 and 115. That means 16% are not so smart, and 16% are rather smart to genius.  However, it’s the big middle on the upper side that seem to buy into the theories. So, next question: why?

It is my turn for a theory. Whenever a people feel that things are so very much out of their control, that’s when the fictions appear. They grasp at straws because the truth is too easy, and too uncomfortable. For example: Most pregnancies are not caused by rape. Yet rape is one of the bigger arguments for why we need unrestricted abortions. The pro abortionists use the fear of a raped woman becoming pregnant as their selling point. The truth, that most women get abortions because they don’t want the child, is not talked about among the supporters of abortion. To do so would mean having to tell the truth about why the majority of abortions are performed. Here’s another: The theory that the Covid vaccines will kill us gives the believers a reason why these vaccines are pushed by a government they cannot control. It is not good enough to simply say, “No thank you,” and walk away from the “jab”. Their need is to convince you that the vaccines are dangerous. In this way, they can feel as if they have done something to stop the hated government. And that they have a fellow traveler in the vaccine wars.

Of course the government goes on, as do the millions that have been vaccinated, and women who do not want their child will continue to get abortions. It falls under that general, catch all phrase, “Life goes on.” After all, talking conspiracy is a lot less stressful than actually taking up arms, and taking action. Man, that is work! As George Bernard Shaw said, “Liberty means responsibility. That’s why most men fear it.”

I stopped reading Lew Rockwell, or paying attention to the LP, and the anarchists can keep their wishes neatly tucked into their brain. There is a reason why anarchy does not appeal to most people. (Reread the Shaw quote for that reason.) And a revolution, which would be the method to change government, or get rid of it altogether,  is truly a huge endeavor. Fantasying is so much easier.

Me? I don’t look to make heaven on Earth. I do like passing knowledge on, and helping people gain skills. Restoration, as I call my school, will have no conspiracy theories. No cheap thinking will be allowed. We will examine the dichotomies of the human condition: that people are both dark and light, good and bad, with a host of human conflicts inside them.

Restoration opens after the Labor Day week, September 12 . Come take a class. History, language, elocution, and leadership are the subjects taught. All these subjects are in the tradition of our civilization here in the West. I seek to see these skills restored. Thus the name. The subjects are tough, but enjoyable. Truth is taught, no matter how uncomfortable that makes you. Nonetheless, you will learn things you can use. You will have new skills that will elevate you. Especially if you are an ambitious individual.

It is the ambitious who can lead us out of this mess we find ourselves in. See you in September.