News Flash: One year on, Men STILL Prefer Debt-Free Virgins without Tattoos!

Quality never goes out of style!

Readership: All

Believe it or not, it’s been exactly one year since we saw the Fembo power game being exhumed in the skirmish around Lori Alexander’s article, Men Prefer Debt-Free Virgins Without Tattoos (July 16, 2018).

The crux of the fracas was largely caused by the fact that a woman (Lori) declared that men (should) also have (at least) a share of the decision-making power in the spouse-choosing process.

This bit of truth seems intuitive to me, but obviously, western society has become so riddled with feminist hamstertalk, that this truth is no longer obvious, nor goes without contention. But obviously, the matrixarchy really doesn’t want alternate models to be considered, discussed, or explored.

Just in case anyone had absentmindedly dismissed that men’s fetish for undeflorated virginas as just a passing fad, or an outdated, overrated gimmick designed to trap unsuspecting men into marriage, our undercover correspondents have just reported that this illogical craze continues on, unabated.

Imagine that!

Related

Lori’s article received quite a lot of attention in the Manosphere. For anyone interested in a refresher, the aftermath was discussed in the following posts.

• Christianity and Masculinity: Lori’s Men Prefer Debt-Free Virgins Without Tattoos (July 20, 2018)
• Dalrock: (July 23, 2018)
• Spawny’s Space: Missing The Point Deliberately(July 24, 2018)
• Dalrock: Well played.(July 26, 2018)

 

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Moon Day Review – The Escalation of Anarchy

Note: July 3 – New (Waxing) Moon

Lynx for June 30 – July 6

1. Rise Up Times (feat. Helena Cobban): The Ethics of Regime Change (2019 July 3)

If you’ve ever lived abroad for more than a few weeks, you’ll know it’s mind numbing to see the news reports in foreign countries. Why? It’s because they cover angles that the Global Nooz Network (GNN) won’t tell you about. Here, Cobban discusses American Interventionism in a way that was hard for me to believe until I lived abroad for several years.

“…behind a public façade of supporting mass movements and “democracy promotion,” a great portion of the regime-change efforts undertaken by Western governments still relies on fomenting the kind of “palace coups” that were a staple of CIA operations during the Cold War…”

“…the massive investment that Western officials made in projects to bring about regime change (or regime collapse) have thus far failed. The civilian populations of both Syria and Venezuela—and of half a dozen other countries targeted by Western government for regime change—now find themselves trapped in crises of deep impoverishment, displacement, and infrastructure collapse from which no easy exit is in sight. The governments that launched or supported all these regime-change efforts bear some responsibility for this suffering.”

Cobban goes on to list several tactical tools in the jiffy quick Regime-Change toolbox.

1. The encouragement of high-level defections.
2. Ever-tighter economic sanctions, the effects of which (despite claims of “targeting”) are nearly always devastating for citizens of the sanctioned country.
3. The creation of new “mass protest movements” in these countries, or the co-optation of existing ones.
4. The intense use of information ops and communications ops intended to bolster the “opposition” and to discredit the targeted government. (This was a Cold War staple, too.)
5. Cyberattacks, including on infrastructure vital to civilians’ wellbeing.
6. Deployment of highly politicized “humanitarian” activities aimed at relieving the suffering only of populations opposed to the targeted government and not those still loyal to it. (This politicization of humanitarianism violates the long-held precept of the political neutrality of humanitarian action and thus diminishes the chances of real humanitarian action being possible in the future.)
7. On occasion, as in Gaza and Syria, the use (and support of use by others) of actual military force.

To the rest of the world, Orwell’s Big Brother has already arrived, and is now supported by your tax dollars.

2. Asia Dialogue (feat. Wataru Kusaka): Why Filipinos have come to embrace authoritarian ‘discipline’ (2019 July 3)

In this excellent article on the political transformation of a burgeoning economy, Kusaka cites ¡SCIENCE! to explain the transition of legitimate politics and the reconfiguration of violence, resulting in the current popularity of Dirty Duterte.

“Neoliberalism and populism have damaged the balance between liberalism and democracy: populism, because it radicalises democracy while undermining liberalism in the name of the popular will of ‘good people’; and neoliberalism, because it radicalises liberalism while undermining democracy by reducing the ‘demos’ which is responsible for democracy to ‘homo economicus’.

Consequently, the vector sum of extreme populism plus neoliberalism leads to a ‘state of exception’ in which a sovereign state can legitimately kill ‘dangerous others’ in an alleged crisis.”

Kusaka goes on to explain how the emergence of an extremely fluid party system, penetration of the media to the masses, and increased levels of migration for work and remittances, has produced a new political morality which focuses on definitions of a ‘good we’ vis-à-vis ‘evil others’. These ‘evil others’ would be the liberal democratic elites on top, and those on the bottom who are too poor or lazy to get an education and work abroad.

As a result, this new middle-class moral populism has presented a serious challenge to the traditional interest politics (concerned with the distribution of resources) in deciding the outcome of national (and possibly other) elections.

When Filipinos get an honest chance to succeed by working hard, it’s amazing how moral they can suddenly become. The Protestant Work ethic declares that if people are moral, then they will work hard, except the Philippines is Catholic, so here, hard working people become moral. I expect we’ll see the rise of Gothic Filipino Banditos within 20 years.

3. The Ethnic European (feat. Mike Walsh): Nearly Half A Million Flee Lawless London (2019 July 3)

As bad as a Puritanical Asian-Hispanic culture might sound, it’s definitely better than what’s going down in London town.

“New figures show that record numbers of Londoners are fleeing the capital as a result of soaring violent crime rates and the high cost of living.  The brain drain, most of those packing their bags and getting out are self-achievers, whom the capital can ill afford to lose. The departing successful-set are being replaced by benefit-laden migrants thus adding to the drain on the capital’s resources.”

Stats released by the Office for National Statistics show that in the year to June, 340,498 Londoners left the city while just 237,270 migrated inwards from the rest of the country – a net loss of 103,228.”

“336,000 Londoners already left in 2017, a figure significantly higher than the 255,140 who left in 2012.  However, London’s population is still increasing thanks to immigration from abroad.”

No thanks to policy makers who allowed unfettered immigration and made it commonplace, literally.

4. Biblical Signs in the Headlines (feat. Michael Sawdy): INDEPENDENCE DAY SHAKING: America’s Modern-Day Sodom Struck by Strongest Earthquake in 2 Decades (2019 July 4)

Meanwhile, the Night of the Living Dead continues on as usual in Californica, where environmental catastrophes are seen to be the cause of all things unholy, instead of the other way around.

“…instead of acknowledging that all of the rare and historic earthquakes, wildfires, and hurricanes are all God’s way of getting our attention after falling so far away from Him as a nation, the youth of today are brainwashed to believe that it’s all a result of random “climate change” or “global warming.”

The Left is right in saying that natural disasters are caused by human activity, but they are wrong in thinking those disasters might be allayed by “reducing the carbon footprint”, or some such nonsense.

“As long as many Americans continue to believe this lie promoted by men and women who have never picked up a Holy Bible in their lives, the judgments of the LORD will only continue to get worse. No amount of “climate action” taken by this generation, or any generation, will ever prevent the future weather catastrophes from getting worse.

The only thing that will ever prevent future disasters in America and the world is turning from SIN, repenting of it, humbling ourselves under the Almighty Hand of God, and returning to Him with all of our hearts. Until we do, mark my words, the judgments (especially in Godless states like California and New York) will continue to fall upon the USA.”

By the way, if this doesn’t make sense to you, then just close this browser window and go to Fazelook or the next article in Puffington Host, in order to continue enjoying your Politically Correct State of DeNile.

If you wish to continue reading, then be informed that you have chosen to take the Red Pill.

5. The Orthosphere (feat. Kristor): The Sigil of the Orthosphere (2019 July 2)

6. Dark Brightness: Mistrust all public religion. (2019 July 3)

7. Collective Evolution (feat. Richard Enos): Powerful New David Icke Documentary Implores Us to Become Renegades (2019 July 3)

8. Dark Brightness: Woke Journal (2019 July 5)

Here’s a real classic piece from Dark Brightness, which brings us to the Apocalypse Now.

• A quote from McCain describing the echo-chamber hegemony of the urbanite elite in politics and media.
• Soldier fly larvae proteins being used to create food for exotic pets, and soon, Soylent Green for the masses.
• Automated Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning systems designed to monitor and regulate all human activity.

Now welcome Big Brother home to roost, from his unspoken international interventionism, to turn his austere gaze onto the Yankee codgel. Once home of the free and the brave, now ghetto of free stuff to the slave.

9. The Red Quest: Location and logistics, married guys (2019 July 5)

To pop the last candid cherry on the lake of Anarchy, The Red Quest offers tips on how married guys can slink around the bush.

“You still need good fundamentals, you still need to approach, you still need to accept rejections, etc. etc. But if you are married and trying to hide it, you also worry about your approach being rejected and then the woman telling on you to your wife… so why get married, or stay married if you already are married? Sounds like a lot of bullshit.”

Yes, there are other alternatives to affairs, such as this one: Created for Connection.

“Big problem for those guys is also probably location and logistics. Good game is tough in suburbs and always will be. Other moms are likely targets.”

Good neighbors pimp yo mama! All soccer moms and cougar MILFs on display! Step right up here, laydied and gentrymen. Take ’em down for the count!

“There are a small number of chicks who actively prefer married guys, and a larger but still small number who don’t mind the married guy. Some chicks will actively reject married guys.”

There are also some women who don’t give a d@mn about marital status, one way or the other. The only question is whether he is Mr. Right Now.

“Amateurs worry about what to say, pros worry about logistics…”

Cons set up a system of logistics, such that the action is promulgated automatically and reliably.

Such is the world we live in.

In closing, a line of classical poetry from the 20^th century of horrors.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

~ Dylan Thomas

Moon Day Review – Howling at the Moon

Insane journalism, asinine politics, good laughs, and a few wise words…

Note: Wanking Moonshine

2019 June 16-22

Get this…

1. Campus Reform (feat. Grace Gottschling): EXCLUSIVE: PSU poised to punish prof who proved point with hoax ‘dog rape’ article, despite receiving global praise for prof (2019 June 21)

“In 2018, three academics decided to challenge esteemed “peer-reviewed” academic journals by producing and submitting false articles with what they thought were ridiculous theses.

Articles on rape culture being perpetuated in dog parks, fat bodybuilding, and the presence of toxic masculinity in “breastaurants” such as Hooters were all submitted, reviewed, and published by esteemed journals without a shred of fact or verifiable support.

Of the 20 “intentionally broken academic papers” written by the trio, seven were accepted and published in academic journals — the same journals that students are encouraged to consult when writing papers of their own. Another seven of the 20 were rejected, with the rest pending review before the ruse was uncovered.

Helen Pluckrose, James Lindsay, and Portland State University professor Peter Boghossian documented and announced their hoax project in an interview with The New York Times in October 2018.

Since then, their work uncovering the errs of academic research has garnered praise and support from thousands of students, academics, and other individuals across the world.”

“These [hoax] results raise serious questions about the methods of several seemingly legitimate academic journals.”

But Drs. Pluckrose, Lindsay, and Boghossian were not the first to publish fake science for the purpose of trolling the scientific publishing industry.  Dr. Alan Sokal pulled this stunt way back in 1996!

“Most notably, PSU administrators received an email from Alan Sokal, a physicist who currently teaches at New York University. In 1996, Sokal, much like Boghossian and Co., challenged what he believed to be a flawed process within academic journals by submitting an article, “Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity“ in the cultural studies journal Social Text.

Sokal’s article, although tongue-in-cheek and intentionally poorly sourced, was published after being peer-reviewed by the journal editors. Months later, Sokal published a letter outing himself for what happened and criticizing not just the journal, but the loose standards emerging across academia.

“Throughout the article, I employ scientific and mathematical concepts in ways that few scientists or mathematicians could possibly take seriously.” Sokal states, referring to multiple instances where he mentions concepts made of “pure invention” on his part.

“In sum, I intentionally wrote the article so that any competent physicist or mathematician (or undergraduate physics or math major) would realize that it is a spoof. Evidently, the editors of Social Text felt comfortable publishing an article on quantum physics without bothering to consult anyone knowledgeable in the subject.”

After the 2018 hoax articles were exposed, many began referring to the project as Sokal Squared, or Sokal 2.0, given that the authors in both cases claim to have written the articles as a parody to challenge and ultimately improve the methods being used in academic publishing.

“It seems to me that it would be a grave injustice to punish Professor Boghossian for a violation of the letter of the [Research Misconduct Policy] that did not constitute in any way a violation of that policy’s purpose and which moreover was undertaken with the goal of serving, and which did, in fact, serve the public interest…” Sokal wrote to PSU administrators.

“If anything, Professor Boghossian and his collaborators should be congratulated for raising important issues in a forceful and unconventional manner; and Portland State University should take pride in having such a distinguished public intellectual on its faculty.”

And while fake science continues being published, real news is being papered over with entertaining stories about our favorite female comedian…

2. Campus Reform (feat. Cabot Phillips): Even students say AOC’s ‘concentration camps’ comment too ‘extreme’ (2019 June 20)

“This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border,” she said, before doubling down in an Instagram live video.

The comments immediately sparked outrage from many, including the World Center For Holocaust Research, Yad Vashem.

The group responded to Ocasio-Cortez by saying, “Concentration camps assured a slave labor supply to help in the Nazi war effort, even as the brutality of life inside the camps helped assure the ultimate goal of ‘extermination through labor.”

“Wanting to know what college students thought of the comments, Campus Reform‘s Cabot Phillips went to George Washington University in Washington, D.C. with a copy of Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet.

It soon became clear that students on both sides of the aisle found the congresswoman’s comparison appalling.”

Phillip’s video shows students shaking their heads and snickering.

“I think it’s a bit extreme.”

Even naïve, liberalized students of Propaganda Indoctrination University™ (PIU) are becoming aware that the joke is up.

But, wait, there’s more! As the ‘logical leaps of faith’ from congress wimmin AOC continue to make us laugh, one hard core Polish bad-@$$ makes it all that much easier.

3. The National Sentinel: Member of Polish parliament invites Left-wing mouth Ocasio-Cortez to see some REAL ‘concentration camps’ (2019 June 20)

 “A member of Poland’s parliament has invited ‘Democratic Socialist’ Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to fly to their country to see what real “concentration camps” look like after she accused our Department of Homeland Security of running some along the U.S.-Mexico border.

As noted by The Conservative Brief, Ocasio-Cortez has been under fire from conservatives after claiming on her Instagram account earlier this week that DHS and Border Patrol were rounding up illegal aliens and stuffing them in concentration camps, comparing it to the Nazi Holocaust against Jews, in which more than six million were exterminated.”

That’s right! Old man Trump put his good ol’ boy Kushner in charge of the camp, just to make sure the ICE coffin patrol was packing those pill boxes just like Himmler did in ’45!

“She doubled down, though, after being criticized for her remarks (she even used “never again” in her Instagram video, a phrase widely known to be associated with the Holocaust), proving she is completely clueless (and outrageous)…”

How could AOC do more good for the world? By continuing her career as a stand-up comedian, or by returning to hell’s kitchen and dicing up those delicious, kosher beef enchiladas for the (((men)))?

On a more serious note, here’s a relevant story that’s been kept under the thug.

4. RT News: Assange lawyer reveals Pentagon behind pursuit of WikiLeaks publisher (2019 June 21)

“A lawyer for WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange has confirmed that the Pentagon – not the White House or any other government agency whose secrets he leaked – was driving the nearly decade-long campaign to destroy the publisher.”

And another…

5. Greg Palast (feat. Nicole Powers): Mexico City: Palast Wins Journalism Award (2019 June 17)*

“The Association of Mexican Journalists has awarded Greg Palast their 2019 prize for International Reporter for his exposés on the theft of elections from Georgia to Mexico and his reporting from Venezuela.”

Palast’s acceptance speech (in the same link above) is worth a read.

“If my fellow Americans seem as ignorant and crazy as chihuahuas, foolishly electing people like George Bush and Donald Trump, forgive them, because my countrymen don’t get the truth through their news, only exposure to a torrent of cheap propaganda.

But let me defend my countrymen.

Americans never elected George Bush. In 2000, I discovered how Bush stole the election in Florida. My story for BBC, The British Broadcasting Corporation, was published all over the world — except in my own nation.

And later, in 2006, they stole another election. Here, in Mexico.

I directed an investigation for The Guardian of England that proved, without any doubt, that AMLO [now President Lopez Obrador] had won. That story was completely disappeared from the media in my country.”

“Today, as I accept this honor, I am sadly aware of the absence of my fellow journalist, Julian Assange.

Assange is in prison today for the sole crime of letting Americans know the truth about their own government and the deadly crimes of our leaders.

I am honored to accept this award — from a courageous nation of journalists far more courageous than me, who have given their lives to report the news. All I can do is commit to honor your award by continuing to fight to uncover the truth, whether in Caracas or Mexico or Washington.”

* H/T: Rise Up Times

6. Matthew Cochran: Disgusting Things Ought to Disgust Us (2019 June 20)

In this diatribe against the mentoring of children by Fairy Queens, Cochran lays it bare.

“None of this is accidental. It’s precisely how “grooming” works for pedophiles. They try to get their targets used to small actions they would ordinarily find disgusting so that when they finally act, the child’s revulsion doesn’t reflexively kick in and interfere until it’s too late. Right now, the Spirit of the Age is grooming both children and parents at the same time. It wants the kids growing up thinking disgusting things are normal. It also wants the parents to back off from our God-given responsibility to train and attune our children’s innate sense of disgust towards disgusting things. It makes sure our kids are exposed to a constant diet of perversion while making parents so scared of being seen as pearl-clutching bigots that we fail to do anything about it.”

I could really wax medieval on this point. The Spirit of the Age should not be regarded lightly.

“Parents, you cannot afford to step aside. This will not pass you or your family by.  Whether you stand alone or with others, you need to know what is going on and refuse to submit to it no matter how loudly people scream “bigot” at you.  Do not let it pile up so deeply in your children’s lives that you all become used to it.”

I remember when I was a kid, I could feel a sense of guilt and apprehension whenever one of my peers told a lie, or talked about sex in an inappropriate way. This discernment is a healthy part of the innocence of youth. But as young’uns grow older, continual exposure to the dark side will sear the conscience and pave the way for a lifetime of sin.

Cochran offers an important point. Do what you can to protect children’s minds and hearts from perversion.

Now here’s something truly disgusting…

7. Snapper TRX: “Ethics Departments”, or, How to Kill Your Game 101. (2019 June 20)

Square Enix’s ethics department pressured the game’s creator, Tetsuya Nomura, to greatly reduce the breast size of Tifa, one of the main characters in the remake of Final Fantasy 7. We’ve yet to see whether this decision will sink FF7 faster than Disney sank Star Wars.

Snapper asks,

“So are big busted women unethical?”

Women with a nice butt and curvy legs can rev up the temper of a man’s libido, but a woman with beautiful breasts inspires confidence and satisfaction in a man. The Bible even says so, in Proverbs 5:19 (NKJV). Seeing how male confidence is now “toxic”, that would render wowzerly busted women “unethical”, according to the Feminist Power-Fear ethical system. We can’t have anything that might inspire a man to feel confident!

Like this?

Yeeeaaahhh… Feeling more confident now?

Last of all, this read is surely worth a good chuckle.

8. Insanity Bytes: A Rare Cougar Sighting… (2019 June 19)

It’s hard to find real news, but unfortunately, cougars are not all that rare. However, it’s not every day that you see one climbing the trees to scope out hawt male targets!

“Cougars as you know, tend to prowl around chasing younger men. I do not think of giant cats when I hear that term but rather of older women. Here is a photo of one in her natural habitat, probably watching a softball game…”

And so… I’ll leave you laughing.

Moon Day Review – Running up that hill with a little help from my Dad

Note: Last full moon before the solstice (June 21).

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author [originator] and finisher [perfecter] of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” ~ Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)

Back in 1985, there was a noteworthy and highly memorable song called Running up that Hill by Kate Bush. Back then, the song received very rare airplay, usually only by special request.

Why?

The song was intense, ethereal, and harrowing… and the lyrics included a line which was considered borderline blasphemy at that time,

“And if I only could
I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get him to swap our places…“

Listening to the original version now seems reverently 80’s-ish, and has therefore lost its signature edginess. However, a newer cover was made by a British group, Candy Says.* This version sounds – now – much like the original version did back in 1985 – tense, tragic, and transcendent.

This group is categorized in the Lo-Fi genre, which is similar to Chill Out. As a whole, this genre appeals to me because it contains those elements of inspiration, passion, and non-digital live recording which give the listener the impression that this is “real music” that will “take you there” – a time-honored musical concept that was forgotten sometime during the Grunge movement.

The more I read what we call the news, the more I believe the faithful are assiduously climbing that final summit.

* H/T: The movie, Close, based on the life events of Jacquie Davis, a world class female bodyguard. Critical reviews report ratings ranging between 39-51%, citing “subtle-racism” and “tediously predictable”. In a recent post covering Dark Phoenix, Blair Naso quipped, “If [the critics] hate a movie it’s probably pretty good.” Here, here, I fully concur.

Father’s Day

Yesterday was Father’s Day in the U.S. So on that note, I want to say that I have the greatest Dad ever. He took me on the road when I was an adolescent. We went all over two states in the Midwest, hiking, camping, and doing basic survival stuff. He taught me to fear God and have faith, to relax, to teach people how I want them to treat me, to not let people roll you, and to think twice about everything before I believed it.

While we were off doing Man-stuff together, I discovered that my Dad has the most riotous sense of high-brow humor, cracking off-color jokes funnier than any stand-up comedian I’ve ever heard. My favorites are his “Translations”, in which he rephrases something that someone said in more truthful, authentic words, often times with a revealing twist. It never fails to leave me ROTFLMAO. I’ve picked up on a little of that habit, but not nearly as zany as his.

In giving lessons in masculinity, nobody does it better than your own father. I would even call my Dad my best friend, and I believe he would say the same thing of me.

“Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” ~ Psalms 103:13 (KJV)

2019 June 9-15

1. PA Pundits: Dads make THE difference! (2019 June 16)

“The Hebrew word for “father” is “ab.” Abba, meaning “Daddy”, comes from this word. The source of a thing is its “ab” or father. The source of all relationships is at the core of fatherhood. The functions of fatherhood include: Originator, Author, Founder, Source, Sustainer, Protector, Disciplinarian, Leader, Head, Caring One, Creator, or Developer. If these titles sound paramount, it’s because they are. The father’s role is so important and that’s why it’s under attack in our nation.”

“Dads teach their sons fatherhood by the way they mentally, emotionally, and spiritually groom them. Boys pass down what they caught from their dads, not what they were necessarily taught.

The father is the starter.”

“Dads are responsible for imparting confidence, courage, and character in their children. The presence of the father is needed. There is no present that can replace his time, love, and passion.

The relationship to your earthly father is a direct connection and link to your relationship with our Heavenly Father. Your earthly father is the first impression you get of God our Father. Many children in America have an absentee dad, so they believe God is truant as well. The godless youth culture we see is a direct reflection of apathetic, antagonistic, and alcoholic dads.

Dads make THE difference!”

2. Spawny’s Space: It Is Always “The Herd” (2019 June 14)

“Let’s face it; the world needs intelligent and practical fellas figuring this all out, then imposing some discipline on the herd for its own good.  If only there was a word for that.  Maybe we could invent one here.  We all look up to the Glorious Patriarch; perhaps he could be of help.”

In my writings, I refer to this practice as “wife management”. An extension of this exercise to a larger group would be called “herd management”. In traditional Christianity it’s called “shepherding”, or “pastoral care”. But somehow the true meaning of husbandry has gotten lost and denigrated over the years. “Patriarchy” refers to the social structure, not the practice of “shepherding” the herd.

Brother Earl adds,

“Without the social structure it becomes much harder to shepherd the herd. Or if you will…without giving men their Godly authority (or undermining it at every turn), it’s harder for them to practice their responsibilities.”

Besides Patriarchy, how else can fathers find it easier to practice their Godly authority more responsibly?

3. Donal Graeme: Selected Sunday Scriptures- #151 (2019 June 16)

One answer: Respectful children who honor their parents can make fatherhood a joy. Here, Donal cites the Sirach, Chapter 3.

“³ Those who honor their father atone for sins…
⁵ Those who honor their father will have joy in their own children, and when they pray they will be heard.
⁶ Those who respect their father will have long life…
⁷ they will serve their parents as their masters.
⁸ Honor your father by word and deed, that his blessing may come upon you.
⁹ For a father’s blessing strengthens the houses of the children…
¹⁰ Do not glorify yourself by dishonoring your father, for your father’s dishonor is no glory to you.
¹¹ The glory of one’s father is one’s own glory…
¹² My child, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives;
¹³ even if his mind fails, be patient with him; because you have all your faculties do not despise him.
¹⁴ For kindness to a father will not be forgotten, and will be credited to you against your sins;
¹⁵ in the day of your distress it will be remembered in your favor; like frost in fair weather, your sins will melt away.
¹⁶ Whoever forsakes a father is like a blasphemer…”

Call your Dad and give him some joy.

4. Adam Piggott: Podcast #111 – The Golden Rules Episode (2019 June 10).*

We know rules are for those who lack (1) a well-honed sense of discernment, (2) the good sense of responsible agency, and (3) the presence of mind needed to comprehend the dynamics which necessitate the rules.

Adam gives some sage advice for men and fathers in the practice of business and family management, and he boils it down to some simple Golden Rules.

The Management’s Rules for selecting Administrator Membership:

1. No fluffs
2. No wimminz
3. No exceptions

A single girl’s rules for attracting a husband (which are also good for her father to keep in mind):

1. Long hair
2. Stay thin
3. Debt Free
4. Virgin
5. No tattoos

A wife’s rules for maintaining a happy marriage (to be enforced by hubby):

1. Long hair
2. Stay thin
3. Sex on demand
4. Eliminate Verbiage

Adam’s “Rules” are classic! Print them out and Frame them on the wall.

* Thanks to Adam for commenting on last week’s post in his podcast.

5. Vox Popoli: The literature we have lost (2019 June 13)

Vox, the one who introduced the Socio-Sexual Hierarchy to the Manosphere, no longer produces any Red Pill theory, and most of his work has degenerated into commentaries about either society or his publishing business. I usually skip over most of his posts, but this particular post contained a significant insight in regard to how education has changed over the last century.

“Whoever has committed to memory in childhood such Bible extracts as Genesis i, the Ten Commandments, Psalm xxiii, Matthew v, 8-12, The Lord’s Prayer, and I Corinthians xiii, such English prose as Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech, Bacon’s “Essay on Truth,” and such poems as Bryant’s “Waterfowl,” Addison’s “Divine Ode,” Milton’s Sonnet on his Blindness, Wotton’s “How happy is he born or taught,” Emerson’s “Rhodora,” Holmes’s “Chambered Nautilus,” and Gray’s Elegy, and has stamped them on his brain by frequent repetition, will have set up in his mind high standards of noble thought and feeling, true patriotism, and pure religion.  He will also have laid in an invaluable store of good English.”

Vox concludes,

“What has happened to the former “Junior Classics” in the last 100 years is both a prelude and a microcosm of what has happened to the West as a whole. It’s something that can be seen in everything from the transition of blasphemy laws to hate speech laws and the musical descent from “The Hallelujah Chorus” to “Christmas in Hollis”. First, the Christian influence was pushed to the side, then it was removed and replaced with a focus on secular aesthetics, then the aesthetics were abandoned and the original purpose of the institution was entirely lost.”

When I was in high school (late 80’s) and college (early 90’s), the required reading included classics such as Louisa May Alcott, Ambrose Bierce, Lewis Carroll, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell (1984, Animal Farm), E. A. Poe, William Shakespeare, H. D. Thoreau, Mark Twain…

My Christian mentors advocated authors such as G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, George MacDonald, Henri Nouwen, J. I. Packer, Derek Prince, A. W. Tozer, Warren Wiersbe (The Strategy of Satan), and as of late, Timothy Keller…

I’ve always felt that these works contributed to my set of beliefs and character immensely. So why do we not see young people reading these same works?

In lieu of a proper education in classic literature, I kindly suggest fathers may consider assigning selected readings to their children.

6. Dark Brightness: Daybook (2019 June 13)*

This post contains a collection of quotes that, as a whole, inspire us to lift our eyes to see the vision of eternity.

“…those who are of Christ are becoming clear, and they are not all in his church (which is wise enough to know that they [present an] evil to sort out).”

“I am haunted by a sense that the End Times are nigh.
It is as if the battle lines are being drawn, and the No Man’s Land between Heaven and Hell is shrinking day by day, hour by hour. There will be no Switzerland in the next world war. Every soul is being forced to take a side.”

I won’t cite any more, so as to not spoil the readers experience. Please click over to Dark Brightness for a Daytrip of his apocalyptic prophecy.

* I haven’t cited (or even read) DB in a while, largely because the extensive reformatting of his blog has made it troublesome to follow until recently.

7. The Rabbit Hole

I came across this site which appears to be an aggregator of selected Red Pill / Manosphere posts – something which is sorely needed.

Here’s another rabbit hole…

Moon Day Review – The Hall of Frame Control

The theme for last week, 2019 June 2-8, is building and maintaining Masculine Frame.

1. New Manosphere Blog: Florida Life (M. J. Davis)

J. Davis, of Doing Marriage Right fame, decided to take his Red Pill blogging ministry to younger married men on a new direction. So he has closed down his old site, and started a new blog, Florida Life. He has detailed his rationale for this decision in his first post, A New Start (2019 June 3).

Davis started things off right with a post entitled, Victim Mentality is Toxic to Your Success (2019 June 8)

“Accepting the only person you can control is the man in the mirror will go a long way in you realizing you are not a victim. You cannot control your wife, your boss, your parents, not even your kids. We all make our own decisions and are held accountable for them (at least we should be). You cannot change other people. You can guide them, suggest, lead by example, but it is up to them to decide whether or not they will follow. All you can do is make yourself the best leader you can. It may take years of work if you have been living a substandard life. Some may never follow. You cannot control that. Just understand that them not following does not make you a victim.”

2. Snapper TRX: Feminism’s (a) Bitch (2019 June 3)*

Snapper’s post gets the Golden Sigma Award™ (GΣA) this week for his profound insights on the true nature of Feminism.

“In feminism women are not the chattel of a single man but the chattel of an entire network of men bent on using women as a voting bloc to garner themselves control. See, women live longer than men and there are more women than men out there. To a politician it makes perfect sense to gain control of women by “allowing” them to vote because women make up a larger percent of the population. Control the larger percentage and you can control elections. Control elections and you can control the elements of society and culture. Women also make up the majority of money SPENDERS in the West while men make up the majority of money EARNERS. So control women and you can control where money goes as well. This control is easily achieved by creating women-only benefits like VAWA, no-fault divorce, welfare and easy abortion.”

“You see, ladies, you ARE kept! You think feminism frees you but feminism is just another name for a chain of control. In return for your servitude you aren’t given anything, the government just says it will look the other way when you have done something wrong or stupid allowing you to think you are free from the consequences of your actions when, in fact, you are not!”

“You’re not baby factories anymore, you’re VOTE factories!”

“Feminism is no freedom from tyranny, it is merely trading one supposed tyranny for true tyranny! The tyranny feminists think they are being freed from are named RESPONSIBILITY and CONSEQUENCE. They do not, in fact, escape these at all, but trade their freedom to a true tyrant who simply removes RESPONSIBILITY and delays CONSEQUENCE until there is no opportunity to change one by taking the other.”

Just underlying Snapper’s argument, we find the main tenets of Jack’s Law of Feminism.

“Feminism is the assertion and justification of women’s rejection of male authority in favor of an institutionalized social ontology which is dictated by the Feminine Imperative.”

* Reblogged by Free Matt Podcast.

3. Evolutionist X: Equally True, Equally False (2019 June 3)

The author discusses how the proper Frame depends on the context. When the context is sufficiently incoherent with the Frame, in regards to the truth of a matter, it results in three outcomes.

1. Confusion
2. Cognitive Dissonance
3. Deception

A mastery of Frame control requires one to identify when a given Frame is incoherent with the context, and use this knowledge adroitly.

The author mentions a couple applications of Frame control relevant to argumentation and trans-Feminism.

“…sufficiently complicated arguments can confuse non-experts even when they are totally irrelevant.* Switching levels on someone is a fast and easy way to confuse them, especially if you have studied the subject more than they have.

People do this when they want a particular outcome, usually political. For example, people who want to promote trans rights will recount an array of technical, medical intersex conditions in order to claim that the biological categories of “male” and “female” don’t exist. Of course, the biological categories of “male” and “female” do exist, as do people with rare genetic disorders; the one does not disprove the other, and neither tells you what to do about anything trans-related.

I feel like there needs to be some efficient (and recognized) way of saying, “Yes, this is true, but on a different level from the one I am addressing. At the level I am addressing, this is false.”

* Related: Slate Star Codex (feat. Scott Alexander): Getting Eulered (2014 August 10)

Also, the Excentric Frame Award™ (AKA the BOOby prize) for this week goes to Evolutionist X for their imaginative thought experiment, A short argument for vending machines full of experimental drugs (2019 June 5).

“…illegal drugs are optimized for being highly addictive, yes, but also for working really well. And through trial and error, people have figured out how much they need, how best to take it, and how often for the optimal effects.

In other words, simply letting lots of people mess around with drugs results in really effective drugs.

The downside to the black-free-market refinement of drugs is that lots of people die in the process.”

I see another evolutionary biology argument burgeoning here, similar to “abortion thins out the genetic stock of those women willing to eliminate their own progeny.”

4. Biblical Gender Roles: Would Society Be Better If Girls Married as Soon as They Menstruated? (2019 June 4)

In this long, cultural reframe, BGR examines several possibilities with supportive arguments. It’s quite inspirational to read.

• Why Modern Society Disapproves of the Pubescent Marriage of Women
• Putting Maternal and Infant Mortality Rates in Perspective
• The Societal Impact of Economic and Social Independence for Women
• The Arguments Against the Marriage of Pubescent Women Are Faulty
• Why We Should Support the Practice of Pubescent Marriage
• Early Teen Women Are Very Fertile
• Early Teen Women Are More Moldable

On that last point, last year, J.T. Anderson (of Saving Eve) and I did a study of “Wife Moulding” as a sub-topic of my writing project on “Discipline in Marriage“.

We found that ideally, “wife moulding” should begin at an early age by the father, and the sooner the husband takes over, the better. However, the current culture encourages women to have a long period of independence between living at home with her father and being married. This “season of singleness” for “finding herself” is catastrophic to the stability of marriage.

Moreover, the whole topic of “wife moulding” is anathema to the philosophical foundations of feminism for several reasons.

1. It presumes that men and women are not fundamentally equal.
2. It presumes that women are not independent, nor should they be.
3. It presumes that women do not have free moral agency, but are subject to the decisions of men (father and husband).
4. It assumes that men have authority over women.
5. It posits that men determine a woman’s life course and purpose for living.

In the same post, BGR also entertains some rebuttals from Susan Titkemeyer, a writer at Patheos. Titkemeyer tried to round me down once on the topic of promiscuity in the Church. I’m surprised that my writings about Marital Discipline haven’t gotten any kickback (yet) from authors like Titkemeyer. I think this is because women know, deep in their hearts, that they are happier and better off with a man at the helm. It’s no secret that women constantly fantasize about being “ruled over” by a handsome, powerful, loving man, but they’re too proud to admit it. I covered this phenomenon under several posts listed in the second link above.

Update: Since writing the above comments under the OP at BGR two days ago, Σ Frame has received 150+ referrals (and counting) from BGR. Marital Discipline and Wife Moulding were hot topics at the time I studied them last year, but this traffic indicates that the demand for this knowledge and the related skill set has continued to grow.

5. The Orthosphere (feat. J.M. Smith): In Defense of Anecdotal Evidence (2019 June 5)

Runner up for the GΣA, J.M. Smith, supports the admission of anecdotal evidence, provided that the information is diligently and faithfully interpolated (to alter something by insertion or addition) into one’s world view.

“Your fundamental understanding of the world matures and develops when you interpolate new data, and much of this new data comes to you in the form of anecdotes.”

Learning is the process of doing the hard psychological work required to fit a new piece of information into the complex interpretation of reality that one presently holds.

“Every anecdote is not what my epigraph calls a “wicked anecdote,” for I may share with you some private intelligence that improves your opinion of a man, or a place, or an activity.  But every true anecdote is potentially disruptive because it will add to your understanding if you are not resolved to remain a simpleton, and will take the trouble to add it to the stock of what you know. The anecdote may be a “wicked anecdote” that explodes an innocent illusion, or it may be a generous anecdote that adds color and depth to what you already know, but true anecdotes should be interpolated, and should not be brushed off as merely “anecdotal evidence”.”

Learning is difficult because whenever a contradiction arises, you have to make critical decisions about what is true, and what your false notions are, and change your beliefs and thought processes accordingly.

6. Illuvitus: Feminist Eisegesis (2019 June 5)

Second runner up for the GΣA, Illuvitus, is becoming a Master of Frame regulation. The next and final challenge is to be able to do this in situ.

“When you encounter a command in Scripture that you don’t like, you have a few options available to you. You can reject it, accept it, or take a more creative approach and impose a new meaning on it.”

“A feminist, thoroughly imbibing on Marxist toxin, doesn’t like the passages in Scripture that contradict feminism and all his pet liberal causes, so he imposes new meaning on them. At least in this instance, his motive is clearly stated:

“Unfortunately, since many of the dominant voices throughout church history, have been straight, white, males, this has meant that the church has been slow in pushing past the flimsy exegesis, and damaging assumptions of our past. […]

Instead of being the sexist, misogynist many have taken him for, I believe that Paul brings the challenge of feminism to the Church.”

It’s worth remembering that if this is true, 2000 years of Christians were women-hating, racist, homophobic, sexists who couldn’t understand Paul. It took secular anti-Christian feminist and sexual revolutions to get the church to finally see the light. Paul was, in his mind, obviously a far-left radical.

What I’d prefer, though, is for those who think all of these things to stop reinterpreting Paul and just say what they really think: Paul was wrong. Honesty is much better than manipulation.”

That would be nice, but that level of self-awareness and honesty won’t be found in someone who is denying the truth of scripture.

7. Do What’s Right (feat. Ed Hurst): Radix Fidem Curriculum: Framework (2019 June 7)

Ed Hurst is writing a series of posts about how to develop and maintain faith in the Lord God. I like Ed’s perspectives, because he comes at it from the ground up – the subjective “journeyman’s” experience – which is a view of the Truth you’ll never hear from any Western pulpit. This particular post spoke to my heart about what God requires of us, and what He doesn’t.

“In order to breathe life into your communion with Christ, you must start that long journey of conditioning your mind to think in a biblical frame of reference. Don’t plan on arriving at some destination; explore the territory and discover the delights of God long hidden from you by your own sin nature.”

Ed’s words resonate with something one of my college professors (who was a devout believer) used to repeat to the students he was closest to, “Life is a journey, a process, not a goal or destination.”

“Clearly that’s not just mechanical obedience. Such is not a bad place to be, if you don’t mind being treated as a slave or servant in God’s household. But real authority is vested only in the divine family. Your authority over Satan rests on a child’s delight in the Father. The Father reciprocates that delight. He is not a legalist as the Talmud alleges, but it is all very personal and full of favoritism. It takes a lot willful disobedience to irritate God enough to be turned over to Satan. That shouldn’t encourage you to push your luck, so to speak, but should make you feel safe when you inevitably miscalculate in your obedience. It’s not a question of performance, but a heart-led desire to please Him.”

A question to ponder: How does one become God’s “favorite”? Read on for some clues.

“The whole idea is that you learn to identify with God and His agenda. It sounds slavish to our Western ears, but this is how reality actually works. Satan is no legalist, either, but he does like making us think legalistically. That’s where he makes the most profit from us.”

I’ve always felt at a loss for the knowledge of how God really operates. From reading Ed’s posts, I’ve come to understand that the Western culture of my origin has formed in my mind certain methods and expectations that do not correlate with the way God actually works.

Because of the Ancient Near East culture shock, Ed writes using many parabolic illustrations, which require extensive immersion to fully appreciate. He offers further clarification of his views in a following post, Radix Fidem Curriculum: It’s Personal (2019 June 8).

“We should be eager for divine justice. Even when it means our own punishment, we are eager to see justice live on this earth. We live in a fallen existence and perfection is simply impossible, but the wrath of God is the same grace for us as the blessings. Indeed, for us it’s all the same. We are driven to see justice as its own reward and don’t fear the loss of anything we have here, least of all our lives. […]”

I believe one of the best ways to tell whether a person is a true believer or not, is whether they are afraid of God’s justice, or they welcome it.

“So we are quick to call for God to visit, to bring His wrath and His rewards. It’s all the same to us. We aren’t counting the personal costs because none of it will follow us into eternity. It’s all just a tool for His glory.

It’s personal, not mechanical. This is one of the hardest things for a Western mind to absorb: Everything is personal. Nothing is impersonal; objectivity is a myth. In God’s eyes, everything in this world belongs to some person. Someone is accountable to Him for everything. Since the only way to avoid the worst misery of God’s wrath is to keep it friendly and bold with Him, we seize our own culpability for failure. We openly confess our failures and request His power to correct our flaws. This ameliorates the Curse of the Fall for us, and the Father treats us favorably. That includes natural consequences. We submit willingly to whatever comes with that package.”

This is relatively easier to do with God, but it’s hard and risky to let other people in on the real deal — people Ed refers to as “slaves” (believers subject to a legalistic conscience), or “cattle” (unbelievers).

“But we know that the slaves in His Creation are not so fortunate. They have long striven to depersonalize everything and remove themselves from responsibility. […] We aren’t vindictive in holding people accountable to our personal sense of disappointment, but we do try to step back and let God’s justice work in their lives. And if it doesn’t come out like we expect, we accept what God does and move on with the mission. We don’t pretend to know all the private counsel of the Father in dealing with the cattle in His herds.”

God knows what He’s doing, whether you do or not, and whether you like it or not.

“We certainly can and should know His will for us individually. We know that we must keep an awareness of personal responsibility over everything God puts in our hands. We can and should know when a tool has outlived its usefulness in our mission, and let it go. […]”

A question to ponder: How well acquainted are you with God’s will for your life?

8. Rinse Before Use: Intensity isn’t always a good thing (2019 June 7)

Zlotybaby offers a lot of insight as to why some relationships start off with a bang, and suddenly end with being ghosted.

“As a rule, a person looking for a full-time, all-involving romance is looking for a distraction because they’re not happy with where they’re at. That means that if a guy sees you for the first time on Monday and wants to see you on Tuesday and Wednesday too it’s not because you’re so amazing. Sure he must like you but he’s mainly trying to fill the void. Similarly, if a girl is always available to meet you, I’m smelling trouble.

There can be two main reasons why a person could be so available. Option 1 is that they literally have no life. Maybe they have a job but as a Billy No Mates have no friends, maybe they have no interests, maybe they don’t even work. In any case, a LOT of free time is a red flag.

Option 2 is that they don’t have a lot of free time but they’re ditching everything for you. While everyone will understand occasional flaking on a friend when you’ve started seeing a really cool person, a drastic change of plans for someone you’ve just met is a bad sign. It may be an indicator of low self-esteem or simply a lack of relationship maturity of someone who thinks that it’s healthy to let a partner be literally their everything.”

“[…] If they want you around all the time instantly, it’s not about you being amazing, it’s about them trying to ground themselves by entering a relationship ASAP.”

“[…] if you’re worried that saying “no” to them may mean the end of it you may be right. Isn’t it proof though that it’s ultimately not about you, or even the connection between the two of you but about them desperately looking for something? […]”

Having this insight can help a person keep things in perspective when considering a potential relationship that starts up “hot and bothered” (British), or “hot and heavy” (American; entendre intended).

9. Laughing at Feminism: Spiritually Two-Timing their Husbands (2019 June 8)

Sharkly has only been blogging for a month, and married women have started contacting him for “spiritual consultation”. Sharkly smartly responds by quoting 1^st Corinthians 14:35, “If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.” He explains,

“In my mind it would be insulting and create distance to ask a husband for guidance, and then do something else, after he gave his plan.  And going to other men for spiritual headship, is just two-timing a woman’s own head.  I wouldn’t advise it, unless her husband has clearly and repeatedly refused to give her any guidance on the matter after she has asked him for it clearly and she has conveyed to him sincerely that she intends to follow his advice, so long as he does not guide her into a greater sin than her failure to submit.”

Women often worry that their husbands might ask them to do something “sinful”, never realizing that their true sin lies in their doubts and suspicions of their husbands’ motivations, and the pride that prevents them from listening and submitting to him as his wife. Ultimately, by refusing to trust their husbands, they are refusing to trust God to work through their husbands’ leadership.

“Some husbands may have become hesitant to give their wives spiritual direction, knowing she’ll just openly defy them, thereby putting them to shame, or worse, submit herself to some other man’s spiritual direction.”

Most women are too proud, vain, egotistical, distrustful, or foolish to talk to their husbands openly and get to know their minds. So they definitely won’t ask their husbands for what they want/need/expect. In fact, women will talk to everyone (and their handsome brother) EXCEPT that one person who can change their circumstances.

“[These] women are squandering a chance to have more unity in their homes, by finding out what their husbands’ spiritual desires are, and then indulging them; a chance to motivate their husbands to exercise more spiritual leadership; and a chance to build closer spiritual intimacy with their husbands.”

I think it’s acceptable to answer some of their questions in a post (using pseudonyms of course), but in general, Sharkly’s approach is right on! We should keep the private communications to a minimum, out of respect to God’s power working through their husbands. Sharkly added,

“They’ve got an opportunity to build together, but they’d rather get some other man’s opinion on where the bricks her husband has just laid, should really go, and then they take their husband’s brickwork back apart based upon some second opinion from somebody who has no clue what the husband is even building. I don’t doubt some of these ladies would ‘shit a brick’ if their husbands were alerted to what they were up to, behind their backs.”

Secrecy can also be an idol, you know.

“I can only imagine that church leaders must get this all the time also. I doubt too many of them respond by trying to reinforce the husband’s headship over his wife. I bet they use the opportunity to AMOG, and join in the second guessing, without ever redirecting the wife back to the husband.”

Been there, experienced that… Pastors and Christian counselors tearing down the authority of the husband over his home and marriage, and daftly believing they’re contributing something good to the Kingdom… It’s absolutely inane.

“I believe among the ancient idolaters the husband would always function as the family’s priest. Sadly, even the idolaters of eons ago, could teach our Feminist churches wisdom about family roles and values.”

10. Amerika (feat. J. P. Wilkinson): 75^th Anniversary of Toxic Amerikan Masculinity (2019 June 6)

Finally, a most satisfying read from J. P. Wilkinson about the present State of the Union.

“The Duke of Wellington had a telling quote after his civilization-altering victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. “The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.” What he meant by that was something far beyond a condign and fitting tribute to the positive socialization that occurs through school athletics. A hard upbringing led to hard men. Wellington’s hard men sliced and diced the French under Bonaparte. Wellington was telling us that men are not born capable of defending hearth and home. They are honed and steeled to be capable of such a task.

Wellington also said of his army the following: The scum of the earth… but what fine soldiers we have made them. […]”

“… when you allow your men to atrophy; your civilization is a joke that nobody continues to find funny. You then die.

So look at the civilization around you. Do you see enough toxic masculinity to have a prayer of a successful D-Day Invasion? If not, take an interest in your male children and do something about this. If you do not have a prayer of being able to execute D-Day, you may not have too much of a prayer. This is what your boys may one day have to be capable of.”

As the saying goes… Soft times breed soft men. Soft men bring hard times. Hard times create hard men. Hard men enjoy soft times. We’re approaching the third season.

Freeze Frame transmission concluded.

The social contract is up-ended, but fortunately, I’m out!

Statistics on student loan debt, the debacle of debt on both recipients and society, and how a few people have dealt with this burden.

Readership: All; especially those with student loan debt

I did it! At the age of 47, I finally paid off my student loans!

I took the first one in 1990 when I started college, and I signed a promissory note for the last one in 1997 when I started graduate school.

It’s been a monkey on my back ever since. I’m not alone.

Statistics on Student Loan Debt

The Chamber of Commerce has reported some very depressing statistics on student loans [1].

• 60% of all students have some form of debt by graduation.
• There is more than $1.5 trillion of student debt owed in the United States.
• This debt is owed by 44.5 million people across all demographics.
• 2 million of those people owe more than $100,000 and 0.5 million of them have a loan for more than $200,000.
• In 2017, $106.5 billion was borrowed. That is down, however, from the peak of $125.6 billion in 2010.
• Tuitions costs have continued to rise; the decline is due to fewer people enrolling in college each year.
• 40% of the total federal student debt is from graduate programs.
• Master’s students borrowed $18,210 per year on average during 2015 compared to an undergrad’s $5,460.
• The average debt of a master’s graduate is $51,000.
• The cheapest master’s degrees are an MBA. Those with an MBA averaged $42,000 in debt. Those that graduated with a master’s degree in medicine and health science averaged $162,722 in loans.
• Of people with student debt, only 37.5% are below the age of 30. The other 62.5% are older than 30.
• 3 million borrowers are currently deferring their federal student loans. In this instance, deferment means that interest doesn’t accrue.
• 6 million borrowers currently have federal student loans in forbearance. Interest is still piling up for them.
• An astounding 4.7 million borrowers have their federal student loans in default. That means that 10% of all people with student loans haven’t made payments on their debt in more than 9 months.
• Students that left college before completing their degree are more than twice as likely to eventually default on their loans compared to students that graduated.
• More than half of all defaulted debts are on loans that amount to less than $10,000.
• 45% of students that graduated in 2018 have student debt.
• Their projected retirement age is a creaking 72 years old (compared to the average retirement age of 66 in 2018).
• 11% of graduates don’t believe they’ll ever have the opportunity to retire.

For those interested, there are two primary federal student loan forgiveness programs.

1. Public Service Loan Forgiveness – Is intended to be for eligible federal, state, and local government employees as well as employees at 501 (c) (3) non-profits. After exactly 10 years of on-time payments, the remainder of the debt is to be forgiven. However, as of September 2018, only 96 out of the 30,000 applicants have been accepted to the program and forgiven. Don’t count on this one.
2. Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program – Teachers that teach 5 consecutive years in a qualified low-income school can be forgiven between $5,000 and $17,500 of their debt. About 40,000 teachers received aid from this program in 2017.

Although the Chamber of Commerce reports that 10% of student loans are in default, the Wall Street Journal claims that More Than 40% of Student Borrowers Aren’t Making Payments (2016 April 7). A third source [2] says only half of student loan recipients were in active repayment status, as of the fourth quarter of 2018. Image from [2].

Whichever statistic you choose, the situation looks grim.

Some are taking the easy way to get out of debt – by moving abroad

I’ve read several stories about how some Americans have been so overwhelmed by student loan debt that they fled the country.

CNBC (feat. Annie Nova): These Americans fled the country to escape their giant student debt (2019 May 25)

The article from CNBC takes note of the life improvement experienced by one debt ridden American expat in India, Chad Haag,

“Milestones that seemed like pipe dreams back home, like starting a family, and owning a house, are now on his horizon in India. Last year, he married an Indian citizen, a professor at a local college. He has a five-year spousal visa.”

Some of my cousins believe the reason I have lived abroad since 2004 was to escape my student loan. But it’s not true. I understand that feeling of being overwhelmed by debt, and not being able to make payments on time, but that’s not the reason why I moved to Asia.

I continued to make payments after moving here and it was a pain in the @$$. In order to send money to my student loan guarantor, I’ve had to make half-day trips to an international bank located downtown and ask them to issue a bank check. This always took a couple days to process, so then I had to make another half-day trip later in the week to pick up the check. On top of making the payments on the principal and the 4.5% interest, I had to pay additional banking fees, currency exchange fees, and checking fees for each check, which added about 9% to the total.

Busting A$$ (No Kidding) Is No Good!

The Violated Social Contract

I took out those loans in good faith in my future earning potential, and I had every intention of repaying every penny. But for all my effort over the years, I could never pull ahead and get on top of it.

My father urged me to stop making payments altogether. His suggestion surprised me because he may be the most honest man I know, and he is a deacon and the treasurer of a Southern Baptist Church! I could not imagine such a statement coming from him. So I had to ask him to explain his reasoning behind his advice. He said that whenever banks loan out money, they have to assume the risk that some of the debtors will never be able to repay the loan. They have to figure this into their calculations as a potential loss. To minimize these losses, banks need to scrutinize every potential loan beneficiary before doling out the cash, to make sure each one is able to repay. Obviously, banks haven’t gone to enough trouble to protect themselves against making bad investments, so they should accept these losses. This was made abundantly clear during the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008.

During the subprime mortgage crisis in 2008, it was mobviously clear that banks and government insurance agencies made poor investments, with a back-up plan up their sleeves to foreclose on owners who defaulted. This brilliantly contrived scheme forced competing and relatively more honest banks out of business, and it stole repossessed properties from thousands of hard-working Americans, as well as ruining their hopes and dreams in the process. These banks and their supporting agencies were never held accountable for their irresponsible and unprofessional business practices. Instead, the common man had to take up the $lack.

When we consider the current student loan debacle, with 10-40% of the beneficiaries in default, subject to wage garnishment, and being pulled into federal court, I have to ask, what is their back-up plan for recouping their investment? They can’t repossess an education, and they can’t recover their investments through wage garnishment if the benefactor cannot find a sufficiently high paying job.

Furthermore, why is it that student loan debt is the only debt that cannot be forgiven through a bankruptcy settlement?

I hate to think about this, but the only thing I can think of, is that the powers-that-be have engineered a massive plan to subject the American people to debt slavery and to impose all of the associated constraints that go with it.

This could be part of a plan to limit population growth by discouraging or postponing marriage and raising a family because of insufficient income – a move to completely obliterate the once majority middle class, which has been the time honored cornerstone of the American republic.

It could also be a carrot-and-stick approach to convince the masses that socialism has many benefits, leading to their agreement of a gradual takeover! Heh…

Any way you look at it, it’s one more Harbinger of the Impending Collapse of the U.S. Social Security System (2019 April 12)

How did I repay my student loan?

In 2009, I had my student loan paid down to $26,622.10. Then my first wife left me and cleaned out our savings without any notice. I was so broke that I had to borrow money from my parents so that I could hire a lawyer for the divorce proceedings.

Needless to say, I was unable to make payments for a few years until I got back on my feet. During this time, my loan went into default and was sold to a collection agency. Because of the interest and collection fees, the outstanding balance ballooned to an astronomical $58,619.37 within 5 years!

One day, after reading the amount I owed on a statement, which was 2.7 times the sum of the original loan figures, I was seriously considering taking my Dad’s advice.

But my conscience afflicted me, so I prayed about what to do…

“God! I always had the intention of repaying this loan, but I just don’t think I can do it. Should I take Dad’s advice, or are You going to make a way for me to repay this loan somehow?”

After a few months, I got an answer to my prayers.

My wife was always complaining about the place where we lived. Her parents finally got fed up with hearing her complaints, and urged us to buy our own house. I always thought this wasn’t an option, because we didn’t have enough money for the down payment. But her parents agreed to give us enough money for the down payment. I would still be responsible for the monthly mortgage payments, but that would not be a problem since I would no longer need to pay rent. The mortgage is only US$80/month more than what I was paying in rent.

We had to take out a loan to cover the balance, but I was able to get a 30-year home owners loan at an interest rate of 1.65%. So I just asked for $30,000 more than the remaining cost of the house, which did not raise any flags because it was less than the amount offset by the down payment. I put this extra amount aside to pay off my student loan.

After I was awarded the loan from the bank, I called the agency responsible for collecting my student loan and negotiated a lump sum settlement in cash. I sent them a copy of an old statement, proving that the original loan amount totaled $24,560, and that the balance stood just under $26,000 in 2011. I wrote a long-winded explanation for why I was so far behind on my payments, and I offered a cash settlement of $20,000. They made a non-negotiable counter-offer of $30,913.38, and I accepted it as an opportunity to escape the 4.5% interest rate, the guilt of debt, and all the hassle of making regular payments.

I made arrangements with my bank to pay the amount using a credit card, so that I could reduce some of the checking and handling fees. Unfortunately, the exchange rate was at a 5 month high, so that cost me an additional $1,518.

In summary, I consolidated my loan into a hotly appreciating real estate investment at a much lower interest rate. I thereby escaped the horrid student loan trap and became a homeowner at the same time.

God answered my prayers! Hallelujah! I’m totally out of the rat race!

References

1. Chamber of Commerce: Student Loan Statistics
2. Medium-Knoema (Feat. Ivan Lapickii): US Student Loan Debt Accumulation Showing No Signs of Slowing (2019 January 24)

Related

• Forbes (feat. Josh Freedman): Student Loans are a Drag on the Economy and Society (2014 February 11)
• World News U.S.: 20 Reasons to Date Foreign Women (2018 May 20)
• Buzz Feed News (feat. Anne Helen Petersen): Here’s Why So Many Americans Feel Cheated by their Student Loans (2019 February 9)
• Vox Popoli: Why the US is moving towards socialism (2019 April 9)
• Do What’s Right (feat. Ed Hurst): DIY Glory Shine (2019 June 29)

The Parable of the Pressure Cooker

Preserving the passion that is a prerequisite for fulfilling a person’s quest for love and long term sexual and marital satisfaction can be likened unto a pressure cooker.

Readership: Young women and high-SMV men

The Frame: The Current SMP is Jading and Self-Serving

Judging from my own experiences in tempestually promiscuous settings and sexually tinged situations, it seemed apparent that the underlying goal of the purported ‘inner game’ was to stuff your heart behind a wall of arrogance (purveyed as DHV) so as to NOT lose control of your passions! If you ever lost control of your desire, you would be booted out of the SMP (dorm room, frat house, etc.) in a jiffy, and labeled something akin to “a rude, desperate loser” or even a slut, (which is a label far from the truth in this case, because true sluts have had so much casual boinking, that their natural libido has been jaded into ancient history).

Young women and a few high-SMV men (over the past 30 years, especially) cannot wait (postpone gratification) to the point that their will power is overruled by their passions. Many of them might think they’re waiting, but they’re not. They are dating different men, chatting with many men online, experimenting with sex, diddling around with random guys who drop by for the Friday night strip poker game…

Individuals who are bound by conscience or social customs might justify their relative righteousness by telling themselves that they’re not “going all the way”.  Although there is some value in declaring certain sexual misadventures as “off limits” (outside of marriage), this approach ignores the fact that they are still putting themselves into highly tempting situations and pressing their sexual desire to the limits of their self-imposed legalism.

Women who are not bound by conscience or social custom may play by a different set of “rules”, supported by various flimsy axioms, such as “I want (or am trying) to lose control!”, or “If it feelz good, do IT!”, or “Number thirty-three out of sixty-nine of these men will be the ONE!” All of which only indulges their feminine imperative, kinks up their socio-sexual (and psychological) anisotropy, leading them to nurture and hold many high expectations of a man, while expecting nothing from themselves. This invariably leads to the despoilment of their MMV.

Girls who fear the social stigma of the carousel might opt for the Boyfriend route, often with a hot, but manageable Beta, but the end is the same.

In sum, they are seeking out, and provoking their passions like wildfire… and doing so until all their natural passion is completely dissipated.

And this is colloquially called “finding one’s self…“, meaning, “finding one’s self relieved of authentic sexual passion and the idolatry of lurrve“. The only benefit is that the destruction of the distraction of desire makes it easier for an individual to think clearly about life — but at what cost?

Bottom line…

• They are not learning to contain and channel their passions.
• They are not entering into the crucible of unconsummated desire and growing spiritually through the experience.
• They are not preparing themselves with serious intentions of marriage.
• They are not learning how to get along with a man.
• They are not coming around towards realizing that a romantic relationship cannot ultimately satisfy the deeper longing of their souls – and that only God can do so.

No, their vanity and ego satisfaction remains as their primary driving force.

Once a sufficient amount of carnal knowledge has been gained from their sexperiences, the ability and opportunity to experience a true passion that is strong enough to overrule their will to self-determination, is lost forever.

The Pressure Cooker

The pressure cooker is a sealed container which works by trapping the steam produced from boiling the liquid inside the vessel, thereby causing the internal pressure and temperature to rise quickly. After the contents are cooked, the steam is slowly released so that the vessel can be opened safely.

The pressure cooker’s higher temperatures and pressures allows food to be cooked more thoroughly (abstinence allows young women to mature emotionally) in a shorter amount of time.

Food toxins (STD’s) can be reduced by pressure cooking (abstinence).

Conclusions

Young women should stop throwing their clams of great value before hunky handsome pigs who will trample them and dash out the next morning, leaving them as an Alpha widowed future cat lady.

Young Chads who have the opportunities to titillate and tempt gals with the Tingle should be more circumspect and choose wisely. Think of her as another man’s daughter, or some other guy’s future wife.

There is a reason why the Bible emphasizes sexual purity.

When young women choose to remain chaste, when they choose to keep a lid on it until the kettle boils over, then they may have a chance of finding the love of their life, and a passion strong enough to add value to a marital relationship.

Unless the journey embarks along this process, the deep, authentic passion needed to keep the marital bond glued together during times of trial and temptation will be spilled and lost. Unless passion is preserved for the marriage bed, then the resulting marriage and family will remain half baked.

Related

• Roosh V: If You’re Instantly Attracted To A Man, He’s Bad For You (February 12, 2019)

The Egosyntonic Art of Tone Policing

The art of Tone Policing is rife with benefits and setbacks, in terms of argumentation and effective communication.

Readership: All

Western Society Hosts the Tone Police World Headquarters

Whenever Westerners travel to African or Asian countries, they are surprised or shocked by the outrageous verbosity and emotional nature of the verbal communication among the locals. They are prone to look down on such interactions as being unreasonable, uncivilized, or even deranged.

But once you understand that Western culture nurtures its citizens to have an odd and disingenuous habit of cutting all emotional overtones out of verbal communication, then Africans and Asians might not seem so maniacal after all.

This overreliance on logic and dignity is a blind spot that best exemplifies itself in the ego state of an individual, which is often employed (and sometimes abused) as a heavy weight tool used in monitoring and controlling the behaviors of others.

The Pseudo-Moral Force of the Ego (as used in Tone Policing)

Western literature and entertainment commonly showcases the ego as a pridefully sinful and annoying human quality to have – an Achilles heel of the human psyche.

But this is merely an endemic expression of false modesty.

This showcasing of the ego is an embodiment of Christianity, garnished around the trope of unmerited favor and redemption.

From this arises the adherence of Anglo-European culture to a Righteousness vs. Guilt ethical system. As such, one’s state of righteousness (or guilt) is often socially communicated through the ego.

Make no mistake, despite the widespread incrimination of the ego, Western culture worships those with a robust ego, and rewards those with the will and finesse to brandish their ego fearlessly in the pursuit of their desire.

On the flip side, “bad guys” often get the impression that people with a strong, healthy ego are proud and arrogant. But this is merely Psychological Projection.

Morally decrepit people usually appear to have a weak ego, and consequently, those with a weak ego are commonly assumed to be bad people, especially those who cling to principles and “rules” as a false front of righteousness.

Truly, having a stronger ego makes it easier to express one’s self, as it allows one to talk about one’s thoughts and feelings more directly and more authentically.

Having a healthy, well balanced ego enables one to showcase more confidence and gives one the power needed to create one’s own happiness.

Having a stronger ego will reduce one’s perceived need for satisfaction and gratification.

Having a vibrant ego brings relationship satisfaction on its own terms.

In this way, a healthy ego keeps one happy, in control, and out of trouble.

As a result, having a robust ego gives one the power to inject one’s self into a situation and have an impact on other people, and it is easier to get what one wants out of an interaction.

Characteristics of Tone Policing

Tone Policing cannot be contained in any one simple action, but may encompass many forms of verbal and non-verbal exchanges.

Basically, Tone Policing suggests that people should distance themselves from their own emotions of anger, frustration, or fear, in order to be heard. But these emotions are often a central part of the issue, and should not be neglected.

Tone Policing can put a heavy damper on expressing the truth, including the subjective truth of emotional expression, and the factual truth of raw, ugly reality.

• It is a manifestation of the Western Aristotelian epistemology, coupled with the Righteousness vs. Guilt ethical structure.
• It transforms the dialogue into a style of formalized debate.
• It allows the Tone Police to define the terms and conditions in which the conversation is held.
• It assumes a manufactured binary condition, that emotion and reason cannot coexist, and that reasonable discussions should not involve emotions.
• It exercises control over a conversation by managing the uncontrollable emotions involved.
• It assumes that emotional expression curbs the logical process and hampers finding a solution.
• It assumes that the outcome of the discussion will be one of mutual agreement, which may or may not be an acceptable outcome.
• It can be used to avoid difficult or uncomfortable topics.
• It suggests that people should distance themselves from their own emotions of anger, frustration, or fear, in order to be heard.
• It forbids an authentic emotional expression of communication, which is necessary to establish a true form of bonding.
• It derails a discussion by critiquing the emotional undertones of the message, rather than the message itself.
• It is often used to denigrate or dismiss the emotional person as being disrespectful or uncivil.
• It can be used as a silencing tactic.

As you may see, the art of Tone Policing is rife with benefits and setbacks, in terms of argumentation and effective communication.

All Political Correctness is a form of Tone Policing, and both Conservatives and the Left are guilty for using Tone Policing to dismiss opposing arguments.

The most decorated soldier of WW2, Audie Murphy, and a Military Police Officer.

How to Properly Tone Police your Neighbor

In summary of the previous section, Tone Policing can be used to either strengthen your position, or undermine your opponent, and it can be used for arguing either honestly or dishonestly.

The pseudo-moral force of the ego is utilized as a key component of applied Tone Policing. We might even think of Tone Policing as an arm of the ego. As such, Tone Policing is a two edged sword, and the cutting edge is determined by the motivations of the individual.

The goal of Tone Policing is to handle every sort of person with dexterity and finesse, and to scope out friends, allies, and enemies.

The purpose of Tone Policing is to monitor and control your social interactions so as to keep things upbeat and humming smoothly.

The art of Tone Policing involves employing your own ego to lock horns with the egos of others, ideally to find a mutually fulfilling adjustment for all involved. This requires discernment, wits, emotion work, and personal refinement. Iron sharpens iron!

Case Study 1: Handling a Bully

People frequently use an overbearing ego to sway other people to always do his/her bidding, without any consideration of the needs of others. In this case, his/her ego devolves into a blundering stick. This behavior is often accompanied by displays of physical intimidation.

Tone Policing may help such a person to become aware of their super-ego, and teach them to use it to control their ego. Once the element of egotisticality is removed from their ego, they may grow to enjoy hanging around people who are very reasonable and rational, because the super-egos of such people can influence their life for the better.

Case Study 2: Handling a Proud @$$

If you’re dealing with a spoiled, proud @$$, who thinks he/she can use anger and shame tactics to bully their way through an argument and do or get whatever he/she wants, then Tone Policing can reign them in to some extent, by cutting their ego out of the argument, and requiring them to deal with you as a real person. Tone Policing this type of person on a regular basis, and not tolerating boisterous emotions, nor giving into their demands, can help that person’s ego grow to be more balanced and healthy.

Case Study 3: Handling a Low-Class Braggart

If you’re dealing with a brash, egotistical person, who tramples on the opinions of others, who lacks common courtesies in conversation, and you’re not willing to be that raw with them, then Tone Policing can be used to establish emotional boundaries which can be helpful in controlling and maintaining the relationship. Be prepared for criticisms like, “Stop being my Mom!” But after a while, they’ll understand that they can’t be that way around you, and (hopefully) they’ll let it go.

Case Study 4: Handling an Honest but Overconfident Ego

If you’re dealing with a person who is generally good natured and reasonable, but who has an over-inflated ego that makes them difficult to get along with, then it is counterproductive to try harnessing his/her ego through Tone Policing. In this case, one may find better results through ascertaining an area of mutual respect and appreciation, preferably one which is the source of his/her excessive pride, and engaging in some friendly competition. In this case, the challenge of the competition is what will humble the person and fine tune their ego state.

For all of the above cases, once the overgrown unruly ego has been successfully tamed, the relationship may have a chance to grow past merely being a superficial interaction of power games and chest thumping.

After a modicum of trust has been formed, then you may prefer that the thumb screws of Tone Policing be loosened up to allow a more honest and authentic style of communication.

Related

• Σ Frame: Political Correctness is Personality Castigation! (2007 January 5)
• Σ Frame: Why Political Correctness won’t solve Racism (2016 September 7)
• Σ Frame: A Brother is Borne Out of Adversity (2018 June 10)
• An excellent description of identifying and modifying the ego state can be found at Do What’s Right: Pastoral Psychology and the Heart 02 (2018 December 28)
• Σ Frame: The Tone Police – to protect and serve the rabble (2019 January 12)
• A recent post from X-Splat, When a good pump hypes you up into narcissist mode (2019 May 28), describes at least three cases of effective Tone Policing.

Moon Day Review – A return to normal

As you may have noticed, I had some trouble putting together the Moon Day review these past couple weeks.

The first challenge was a constraint on my time. My in-laws visited us from out of town, which proved to be a stressful experience for both me and my wife. My wife’s relationship with her mother is filled with chronic anxiety, so I needed to give my wife a little extra attention and encouraging admonishments.

During this time, I also had to finish grading midterm exams and other assignments which took several days.

The third challenge was the content. I found a large number of noteworthy articles, and it was thought-provoking and time consuming to sift through them all. I couldn’t do them justice by simply posting the link with a brief excerpt. Some topics were sufficiently profound that I decided to make some of them into separate posts, soon to appear in the near future. Time allowing, I may go back and compile the reviews for the last two weeks and post them with back dates.

So here are the articles from the Hall of Frame for the week of 2019 May 19-25.

1. Rob Says…: Confession to the World (2019 May 20)

“…a little over four years ago, I committed a crime. I did something that could get me locked up for the rest of my life. In some areas of the world, it could get me executed.

I have committed Murder in the First Degree.

It was premeditated. I did it in cold blood. I did it without remorse as to the suffering of the individual that I killed. And I would do it again given a chance and if I had to do it again.

Who did I murder, you ask?

Just this guy I knew. I knew him my whole life and he was one miserable, unhappy son of a bitch. In all honesty, what I did to him shouldn’t be classified as murder, if anything, I should get a medal for what I did. If anything, I should be considered a hero. I don’t consider killing him as an act of brutality so much as an act of mercy. I put that motherfucker out of his misery.”

Click his link to read on for the most dramatic twist of the year!

2. Desni Linkovi: Fatherhood lost: How abortion affects men (2019 May 21)

“As astonishing as it may seem, according to the experts, fathers of aborted children often feel even worse than mothers.”

“If you or a man you know is suffering from the loss of a child through abortion, help and healing is available by contacting www.menandabortion.net. You can also visit www.fatherhoodforever.org.”

H/T: Larry’s Musings: Socio-critical links: Feminism, new world order, and abortion’s effects on men (2019 May 22)

3. Amerika (feat. Johann Theron): Breaking The Feminine Ceiling (2019 May 21)

The Feminine Ceiling is defined as a collection of prominent cultural fads and false notions which prevent women from performing their best – as women.

“Feminism denies what women do well, and therefore, sends women off on a quest for a false goal.

In order to perform, a woman must recognize who she is and what she does well. The feminine ceiling is of course unseen because the current environment incentivizes and advocates the opposite, where women seek to break the glass ceiling to achieve male performance parity.

This requires that they cross another kind of glass ceiling, one formed of knowledge, towards becoming proficient in jobs that fit their skillsets.”

Theron finishes with a comparison of the United States and Tanzania, and a warning against integration.

4. Biblical Gender Roles: The World of the Handmaid’s Tale: Not Completely Bad (2019 May 24)

Biblical Gender Roles brought to my attention one screenwriter’s vision of a future reformed patriarchy. The author of BGR also analyzed the series in terms of its allegiance to Biblical principles. In sum, certain points were found wanting, but certain other aspects were right on.

I enjoyed reading this because it stretched my imagination to envision a return of the patriarchy.

5. On that same note, Sharkly wrote a brief road map about How to bring back Patriarchy (2019 May 21) – what needs to happen to get back Overton Even.

“The respect society gives to men, in general, is regulated and set by two factors:

1. Society’s beliefs about men and what they deserve.
2. What men have been conditioned to expect, and what they willingly endure.

The second factor, what men expect and tolerate, adjusts with and is set by the first factor, which makes the first factor ultimately the determinant factor.”

One addendum I would make is that the terms “male superiority” and “female inferiority” should refer to their respective places in a hierarchical structure of society, and this should not be misinterpreted as misogynistic.

Farm boy concluded in The Herd Revisited (2019 May 25),

“So what is the cure?  Rational. practical men.”

6. Free Matt Podcast: Reject the Social Credit System (2019 May 21)

Mogadishu Matt’s message is one that needs passed along.

“I would like to call upon the human resource world (and our society) to reject the concept of a social credit system. It will destroy the diversity of talent. It can hurt a company’s ability to make money. (Your talent pool will dry up). To sterilize the flavor of your employees is to make things dull and boring. Our everyday lives can be [better, not] worse.

Don’t ‘unperson’ the exciting elements of life. We need the spice of a different set of tastes.

[…] the public and even an oft maligned group of human resources personnel can help stem a terrible tide.

Support the concept of true diversity and put value in differing opinions. Let tech companies and the world know that no one needs a “white washed” world.”

7. Black Label Logic: The Empathy Key (2019 May 23)

Carl, at Black Label Logic, spells out the differences between Cognitive and Emotional Empathy. If we presume that empathy (or mercy) is a conservative and reserved form of trust, then Carl’s treatise correlates strongly with my earlier post, The Trust Factor (2019 April 18), which described the differences between Head Trust and Heart Trust.

Carl also comes at this from the man’s perspective, which provides both sides of the coin. This is a must read.

 “…you have to be able to not enter her frame or let her control the frame, but understand very clearly what her frame is based on cognitive empathy.”

“[…] This is based on being in the rather unique situation of being able to see the signal without all the associated noise. What I mean by signal and noise, is that most of us are capable of both emotional and cognitive empathy, the cognitive empathy is the signal, and our emotional empathy is the noise. Our ability to put ourselves in the situation of another allows us to understand their perspective, behavior and potentially future actions, however our ability to put ourselves in their frame with reasonable objectivity hinges on minimizing emotional contagion or empathy.”

8. We Are Ezer: My Clothes Shopping Rules (2019 May 23)

If you can get past the feminine fluffy Feelz at the beginning, this post contains a pretty solid list of guidelines for choosing clothing. If a man is ever “forced” to accompany his girl/wife on a shopping trip (to prevent her from blowing a wad of cash on overly trendy visages), some arguments based on this list might save his wallet from unwise and unnecessary purchases. If your wife is mature and responsible enough to be trustworthy in her purchasing, sharing this female-friendly list with her may be enough to reduce your credit card bills.

Whenever my wife is unsure about asserting a purchase decision, I always tell her to sleep on it, and if she remembers it later in the week and she still wants it, then we’ll come back and get it. Usually, she’ll forget about it. Sometimes she’ll be glad she didn’t get it. About once a year, we will actually go back to get something, usually at my urging.

9. Proverbs 24:26 (feat. Lily Mtongwiza): A Morning Routine for Night Owls (2019 May 24)

I am definitely a night owl. All my best work comes out after dark. I’ve been this way since childhood. But I do recognize the value of starting the day off with a Bang.

“…a good evening routine is key to a great morning routine. Because if you don’t get to bed at a decent hour, it’s impossible to get up early.

My morning routine starts with at least 7 hours of sleep. I’d like 8, I know that’s the recommended amount, but for me, it’s not happening. But 7 is non-negotiable.”

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned to enjoy good mornings. For me the trick is to make the time my own. By that I mean, I wake up when I’m rested, not by the dictates of an annoying alarm. I spend an hour or two on the patio communing with nature, listening to the tropical birds chirp, sing, and coo, sipping a latte, puffing on my pipe, reading a couple blogs, having a talk with God, jotting down some notes for a future post…

Truly, it’s the best part of my day!

10. Relevant: Infamous Pickup Artist Roosh V Says He’s a Christian Now (2019 May 23)

This trendy pop article pokes fun at the Godfather of the Manosphere for repenting of Bang Lady and returning to the Orthodox faith he was raised in.

That’s about as normal as it gets!

Why is illicit sex so enticing, and so prevalent?

Sex is a natural expression of human nature, but there are many additional factors that sweeten the draw.

Readership: All

Disclaimer: Illicit sex (e.g. sexual promiscuity, casual sex, premarital sex, fornication, adultery, etc.) is immoral and destructive to one’s overall satisfaction in marriage.  This article is not intended to endorse the practice of illicit sex, but only to examine why illicit sex is so enticing, satisfying, and so prevalent in society and the church.

Background

My Pastor was very amused by my earlier testimony given as a response to his question, How is illicit sex related to one’s spiritual state? (2019 May 22), and so he asked me another question related to the first.

He said he’s working on a project in which he’s trying to understand why illicit sex is such a huge problem in the church, and for people in general.  He pointed out that there are two varieties of illicit sex on a sliding scale.  On one end is the fleshly nature.  On the other end of the spectrum is the experience of falling in love.

He drew the following figure to help visualize the dichotomy.

He posed a question for me to contemplate: On the raw copulation end of the spectrum, it’s obvious that sex must be included in the relationship, because that’s the point of it all.  But over on the other side of the love experience, why must sex be included in the interaction?

I could easily extend this same question to myself; I kept my virginity for years while waiting to find a wife, but I never found a wife, and it was ℏǝll.  So why did I have to start engaging in fornication before my spiritual life came alive, making me feel blessed?

I answered this question from my own personal, spiritual standpoint in my previous post, but after contemplating this question further, I’ve identified a large multitude of very compelling reasons that would apply to everyone.

Note: Points in blue font are uniquely dependent on one’s sense of discernment, a trait arising from one’s spiritual health and vitality.  Thus, a lack of discernment, or a greenhorn’s clumsy use of discernment, stands out as a fundamental generator of sexual indiscretion.

Biological and Phenomenological Incentives

1. Up to 30 different parts of the brain are activated during sexual stimulation, including those responsible for emotion, touch, joy, satisfaction, and memory, as well as the reward center associated with Classical Conditioning.
2. In addition to (1), there is a plethora of biological chemicals that are released during sexual stimulation. These include dopamine, endorphine, epinephrine, oxytocin… These chemicals produce an addictive high, such that once a person becomes sexually active, it is exceedingly difficult to return to a life of celibacy.  For some people, it is impossible.
3. It’s good to be natural! You don’t have to torture yourself by refusing gratification, and then regret it later on.
4. People tend to justify their decisions, and so they seldom experience regret for having sex with anyone they willingly chose to have sex with.

Spiritual Incentives

Some of the spiritual phenomena related to illicit sex were discussed in the previous post.

1. Feeling alone and unloved often drives one to the comforting idolatry of illicit sex.
2. The effects of the Law on the sinful nature (for the new Christian, or one who is weak in faith). When you’re expressly forbidden to do something, the fallen nature becomes obsessed with doing that thing.
3. There are emotional and relational rewards inherent to the act of coitus, whether it be the fulfillment of the feral desire for sex on one end of the spectrum, or on the other, the transcendental experience of being in love. These significantly satiating rewards give one the experience of Grace.  That is, they do something that is morally corrupt, but they get something better than what their actions deserve.  (At least for the time being.)
4. Experiencing this grace (or disgrace, for those who need their liaisons exposed before the satisfaction kicks in) may give a person the subjective impression of feeling loved by God. Note: This is not actually a result of illicit sex, but appears as a cofactor of being humbled and having a trusting, open heart.
5. Experiencing God’s unconditional love and grace gives a person a sense of liberation. They feel free to be authentic, including sexual exploration and experimentation.  They get the impression that they can pursue personal authenticity in the form of illicit sex and not have to face any dire consequences.
6. When a person gets closer to God, their sense of spiritual discernment will usually grow. For some people (like myself), a heightened sense of discernment subjects them to more intense temptation by making them aware of opportunities.
7. Humility is a characteristic of people who are close to God. For some people (like myself), humility makes them more emotionally expressive of their needs to others, and this can make them feel more vulnerable to temptation, and succumbing to it as well.
8. Generational curses (or in general, the curse of the Fall) may cause one to be blind to, or in denial of the spiritual consequences of illicit sex.
9. In general, people are lacking a healthy sense of Innocence and Guilt that would allow them to discern how illicit sex detracts from their spiritual vitality. Instead, people get supercharged by being proud and selfish, and they do not feel blessed through being obedient to God.

Incentives from Society

Social trends in Western societies over the last 40+ years have decreased marriage rates, and promoted hook-up culture. [3]  These trends are detailed here.

1. Modern women are sexually liberated by feminism, and the church is not that much different. Theoretically, this means that 80% of the women are chasing and bedding the top 20% of men.  As a result, the top 20% of men don’t want to limit their opportunities by getting married, and the bottom 80% of men have no chance to marry. [1]
2. More women have an advanced education and economic independence. Improvements in the relative wage have facilitated women’s independence by reducing the monetary incentive for marriage, and can account for 20% of the decline in marriage between 1980 and 2010. [2]
3. Rigged feminist-inspired laws have caused a disincentivizing of marriage for men and an incentivizing of divorce for women. [2,3]
4. Easy peasy no-fault divorce laws indoctrinate people to take their marital commitment lightly. [2]
5. The widespread sexualization of the mass media normalizes a casual view of sex.
6. Widely available hardcore porn reduces both men’s and women’s motivation to marry. [2]

In general, as traditional norms surrounding sexual morality have collapsed, the institution of marriage has come under intense attack, and has fallen by the wayside.  This has a snowball effect of increasing the proliferation of illicit sex.

Incentives arising from the Socio-Sexual-Marriage Market Place

1. In general, people are desperate for love, and sex is the next best thing.
2. Peer pressure, especially during adolescence, can be a powerful motivation to “go all the way”.
3. Refusing to have sex puts one at a disadvantage in the Sexual Market Place.
4. Women are the so-called “Gatekeepers of sex”, not men. (A Gatekeeper is the person who possesses and controls the resources that the other person desires.  Alternately, men are the “Gatekeepers of Commitment”.) All this means that sex doesn’t happen until the woman says so, and when the woman decides to have sex, the man she chooses must always comply.  If a woman gives a man an invitation to bed, and he turns her down, she will never talk to that man again.  In sum, most men would rather have sex than reject sex and be rejected by her in turn.
5. In modern society, there are a sufficient number of women described in (3) that now, “satisfying sex” has become a defacto prerequisite for a long-term relationship.
6. Sex is the lowest common denominator between any two people. Despite the ease and ubiquity of internet communications, it’s too difficult to find someone who shares your values and life purposes.  Instead, most people are just looking for a suitable sex partner, and then they deal with the other things as they come.  (No pun intended.) The internet is well suited for this purpose.

Meeting with girlfriend’s family, by Tiago Hoisel.

Incentives arising from Family Expectations

1. In general, a dysfunctional family environment creates many types of contexts which provide various incentives for illicit sex. This is deserving of a separate study.
2. Most parents in east Asia (i.e. China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) expressly forbid their children from having a boyfriend or girlfriend until they’re in their mid-to-late twenties. In Western nations, parents don’t need to do this, because it’s already the cultural norm.  They are also urged (in Taiwan), or encouraged by various means (in the West), to postpone marriage until they’ve finished their academic preparation, established a career, and saved some money, which usually pushes marriage into their 30’s.  This social ontology cuts against the normal human sexual development.  Nature dictates that young people should be marrying, having sex, and having children much earlier than this.
3. As a consequence of (1), many young people are motivated to abstain (i.e. Japan), have secret relationships (i.e. Taiwan), or ride the carnavel carousel (i.e. the West). For the Asian, the power, intrigue, and draw of a secret partnership is deeply satisfying.  For the Westerner, the free spirited, fast and loose lifestyle proves to be extremely gratuitous, if not addictive.  Hence, the longitudinal effects on one’s soul cannot be understated.
4. The experiences described in (2) teach young people how to manage clandestine love relationships (Asian), or handle monkey branch swinging with ape-like dexterity (Western). These habits tend to become engrained, and continue on, even after marriage.
5. If Asian lovers are found out, parents or spouses usually react by joking about it, or looking the other way. In the West, people are expected not to be judgmental.  So there is a lack of positive punishment for sexual indiscretions.
6. Many women in sexually liberated societies, (e.g. U.S.A., Taiwan) have had at least 3-4 partners, and an abortion or two, before they even think about settling down.

In total, the above factors undermine one’s satisfaction in marriage, which is often to a different person than one’s first lover.  If the dissatisfaction is sufficiently profound, then an affair is likely to happen.

Problems with Opportunity, Responsible Agency, Accountability, and Impunity

There are a number of things in modern society that allow one to bypass most of the natural consequences of illicit sex.  These include the following.

1. One of the main problems with exercising personal responsibility concerning sexual behavior is that people hardly ever feel guilty about any sort of sexual transgression. So this seldom leads a person to do any sort of introspection, much less come to repentance.
2. Cheap, effective and widely available contraceptives (the pill, condoms, IUD’s, etc.) eliminate the chance of pregnancy. [2]
3. Abortions are cheap, safe, discretely private, and easily obtainable, and are commonly used in ~95% of the cases as a de facto form of birth control.
4. Penicillin and other antibiotics have reduced the risk and cost of contracting STD’s.
5. The widespread social acceptance of sexual liberation. Slit shaming is condemned as misogynistic, so there’s literally no opportunity to be held accountable for it.  Even within the church, the flaccid “love and forgive” social atom-osphere broadcasts the message that illicit sex is no big deal.
6. Social media and dating websites provide women a constant stream of countless opportunities with men.
7. The proliferation of SMS and internet communications which are easy to hide and delete.

It is well known that the surety of being punished is a larger motivator for good behavior than the severity of the punishment.  In total, all the above factors have eliminated both the surety and severity of any consequences related to illicit sex.

Conclusions

In light of the above factoids, we can be thankful for the small miracle that 4% of women are virgins on their wedding night!

The Boomers’ wishes came true!  The Sexual Revolution is HERE!

Unfortunately, women are less happy, men are foundering in porn, purposelessness, and increased suicide rates, and people are having less sex overall. That’s not quite what they expected. But that’s how it goes whenever you make a deal with the Devil!

References

1. Quillette: Attraction, Inequality, and the Dating Economy (2019 March 12)
2. Chateau Heartiste: The Four Sirens Of The Sexual Apocalypse (2016 March 17)
3. Dalrock: More grim news for carousellers hoping to jump at the last minute. (2012November 24)

Related

• Σ Frame: On the discernment and wisdom of true morality (2019February 2)
• Christianity and Masculinity: The Demise of Marriage: Cause and Effect (2019 May 17)