It was inspired by the incredible 1930s essay by Albert J Nock, “Isaiah’s Job.”
In it, I covered the differentiation between two broad archetypes, (the Remnant and the masses) and made the case for why Bitcoiners are the former, while the general, the lemming-like population is the latter. I used it to present some ideas on selective adoption versus “mass adoption,” how zero-to-one moments happen, and how trends then perdure with the inertia-like force of the lagging masses.
I also took a moment to explore the Remnant within the “Great Stories,” particularly some of the best of our era, such as “The Matrix” and “Fight Club.”
The idea of the Remnant is generally thought of as a biblical one, but its essence is far older and permeates all of human existence. The story of the Remnant is the story of the survivor, the hero, the pioneer and the noble individual. It’s been with us from the beginning of time, and will be there until the end.
Ayn Rand, one of history’s most powerful thinkers, depicted them as the “Prime Movers,” or “Men Of The Mind,” particularly in “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.” She also juxtaposed them against those who she described as the “moochers” and the “looters.” It is here where I want to dig a little further.
My initial article lacked an exploration of each archetype’s psyche and did not accurately differentiate a third and very important archetype: the parasite.
This is perhaps why some people got triggered, calling me “elitist,” “Klaus Schwab’s spawn,” “megalomaniac,” etc. Of course, those comments came mainly from lemmings who have bought into the idea of being a homogenous part of the masses, or from natural parasites who are always threatened by that which is true. And that’s fine.
In this second part, I hope to trigger them further, while providing a little clarification for a few of the “Dormant Remnant” seeking it.
Rand’s work has been a great inspiration for me, not just because of the ideals and strength of her message, but for how eloquent and precise she was in designing characters that embodied attributes of each of the three archetypes. Her protagonists embodied the values and virtues of the ideal man or woman, the antagonists were flawed, fearful parasites, and they were presented against a backdrop of hopeless masses who, while often good at heart, were weaponized by the parasites (to their own detriment).
I will use this model to describe and explore each of the general archetypal psyches in the great game of life.
Do with it what you will. Glean from it what you can. Be offended if that’s your thing, or be inspired if you’re a Remnant.
The Remnant
Before we delve into who these parasites are, or why the masses do what they do, let’s review the archetype that matters: the Remnant.
While I was riffing on a Bitcoin Magazine Spaces about the prior article, an idea formed in my mind. The idea is that the number of Remnant out there is much larger than we know, and the ratio of those who are versus those who need to be unplugged is probably also an 80-to-20-type of distribution.
In other words, within the broader 20% of the distribution of humans who are “Remnants,” perhaps only 20% are “active,” and of those, 20% may be considered “radical.” It’s basically 80/20 all the way down.
Of course, we can take this to an extreme and continue segmenting until we discover the one true Remnant of the Remnant’s Remnant’s Remnant’s Remnant, but that would be ridiculous. So let’s focus on three broad classifications:
1. The Dormant Remnant
2. The Active Remnant
3. The Radical Remnant
The Dormant Remnant
If 20% of humans are archetypically “Remnant” material, then 80% of them are dormant.
They are either bogged down in jobs they don’t like, they’ve been subject to poor parenting, they’ve been indoctrinated at school or by the media, they live in broken societies or are in some way, shape or form hampered by their environment (nurture).
They are in “The Matrix,” yet to be unplugged, but have that itch, that splinter in their mind telling them that “something is off.”
They are the really gifted engineer or artist who you know, who’s just about there, and has all the ingredients to be great, but has not taken that leap of faith. Perhaps they’ve bought into some garbage ideology that they’re a slave to society and that their self interest does not matter.
In some cases, they’re partially red-pilled individuals, awake enough to know that we’re living in a clown world simulation, but are yet to take the orange pill, i.e., they are pre-Bitcoiners.
As with all things, it’s a numbers game. There are more Dormant Remnant than there are Active Remnant. They are “the silent majority,” but when push comes to shove, they will line up on the right side of history, intuitively and instinctually.
If the signal is strong, pure and direct enough, it will wake them from their slumber. These are the ones we must focus on unplugging. These are the people who will actually listen, and not just passively hear only to ignore.
The Active Remnant
These are the 20% of the 20%, those who have taken the orange pill. Those who are out of “The Matrix,” who have woken up, who have seen the endless fields of human batteries with their own eyes, and can now see beyond the lies and propaganda. They can not only identify that which is true, but can articulate it.
They are the intolerant minority. The 4% of the whole who make up the last bastion of hope and freedom. They make up Zion.
A member of the Active Remnant is most likely a Bitcoiner. No, that does not mean some lemming who bought a bitcoin IOU on PayPal for the USD gains. That means a Bitcoiner who knows why we’re here, may be running a node, is orange pilling their loved ones, respects private property, freedom, responsibility and independence, and refuses to bend over to the blind mandates of the parasitic class.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably in this group.
The Radical Remnant
This final category is the 20% of the 20% of the 20%.
These are the natural elites, the true 1%, the leaders, the renegades, the fearless warriors on the frontlines who not only refuse to back down, but who march forward, despite the insurmountable odds, reminding all Remnants that the truth is worth dying for.
They are the 300, William Wallace, Alexander the Great, Nikola Tesla, Isaac Newton, Galileo, Steve Jobs, Morpheus, Neo and Trinity.
The Spartans vs. the Arcadians. Source: MakeAGif.com.
Despite being the ultimate minority (less than 1%), they set the standard. They set the pace and they drive progress. Like the very tip of the spear, they pierce the veil, allowing the rest of the arrow to enter, followed by the inertia and weight of the staff (the masses).
It’s reminiscent of the ancient warrior fable (I cannot remember where I have heard it): In any group of 100;
Ten should not be there and will die immediately,
Eighty are just taking up space,
Ten will know how to fight,
And of those 10, one warrior will make all the difference.
This warrior is the Radical Remnant. And while he may not inherit the earth, for he is often a martyr, he shall be remembered forever. It may be tragic, but that is his role, and he accepts it, dons his armor and strides forth with the courage of a lion.
Where Does One Find The Remnant?
As God said to Isaiah, you can be sure of two things:
The Remnant exists
They will find you
The Remnant are out there. I meet them wherever I go. They come up to greet me and tell me the message rang true. Whether at a conference, at a dinner, in my DMs, on a Twitter Spaces or that one other guy at the airport who also refuses to wear his mask. You know who you are.
As the clown world simulation continues to erode the fabric of reality, we must remember that it is we who shall inherit the earth, for we are the “meek” in the ancient sense of the term which Jordan Peterson helped me re-define:
Post every catastrophe or grand cycle, it is those who remain by virtue of being prepared or through sheer will and strength of character who are defined as the Remnant. It is they who shall inherit the earth… alongside a few lucky sheeple who happened to trip over and fall into paradise.
So, find the Remnant. Build bonds with them, strengthen ties. If you’re not sure where they are, here are some hints:
Bitcoiners
Entrepreneurs
Healers
Tinkerers
Engineers
Artists
Fighters
Bodybuilders
Bitcoin Twitter
Of course, use discretion. The masses have flooded every layer of society, as have the parasites. A pareto-type distribution will likely apply here too, so seek authenticity.
The Parasite
This is the archetype that I did not describe in part one. Rand called them the “moochers.” Most people call them the “elites,” which is fundamentally incorrect, because to be elite implies one is exceptional at something.
Parasites are those who have failed to compete on merit and must concoct methods of extraction that benefit themselves at the expense of another. In other words, they are a net negative on the system.
I’ve been on a crusade to re-classify the best of us as elite, while applying the word “parasite” where it belongs. I even wrote an entire piece about it two years ago:
The way I see it, the masses are still 80% and the Remnant are 20%, but a subset of each seem to devolve into the type of human who subsists by extracting value from the system.
They are either:
A failed Remnant
A slightly more capable, but deeply envious member of the masses
If a Remnant, they were unable to compete in the free market of merit so they instead applied their skill and ingenuity toward stealing from others better than they. If a member of the masses, they bought into the victimhood mindset espoused by midwits like Marx and decided it would be better to band together and steal from their superiors, instead of learning from and working alongside them to become better humans.
They have proliferated in the modern, fiat-driven clown world because broken incentives enable the growth of parasites, much like a poor diet makes for an environment where they grow in your body, and unclean places allow them to proliferate in nature or especially man made regions.
Their most powerful innovation is proof of stake, and their crowning achievement is fiat money.
Proof Of Stake
Proof of work is the law by which the Remnant lives. In fact, so too do the masses in general, despite them being largely unconscious of it, and many being desirous of getting something for nothing.
Proof of stake was designed by parasites as a mechanism via which they can extract wealth from the system without having to work. In fact, over millennia of generations, they have become so allergic to work that the level of parasitic concoction has reached heights never before seen, the “Democratic state” being one of the primary examples:
You cannot steal from the homeless man because he has nothing to take
Stealing from the masses is cute, but there’s not much there to take
Stealing from the Remnant is the most profitable and thus optimized for by the parasites
Whatever the name, and however it may disguise itself, you can always recognize the parasite and their ploy when they refer to the “emancipation of the masses” and rally them around a cause to bring down more productive members of society who just want to be left the fuck alone.
“Tax the rich” comes to mind from parasites such as AOC, a failed model who too closely resembled Donkey from “Shrek,” and so became a waitress. Perhaps she got fired for doing something dumb, or was just envious of a boss who likely had worked an extra decade to build a business, thus earning more, so she then decided to go off and join the elaborate game of theft known as politics. The ultimate game of the parasite.
Bureaucrats, politicians, central planners and modern bankers, they are all the parasite class.
They’ll always use the message of “we’re all in this together” to fool the sheeple into believing a lie, and weaponizing their fear toward more theft and pressure on the Remnant.
The Psychopath
According to liberation psychologist and Bitcoiner Nozomi Hayase, the parasites of the world resemble a class of psychologically-variant human known as a psychopath.
This is someone who lacks that innate wiring for empathy and as a result does not see, feel or experience the world through the same lens.
I recently recorded a podcast with her which has challenged my views on the prevalence of nurture alone in the psyche of a parasite.
Perhaps there are people born who are fundamentally and naturally predisposed to behave in a particular way, devoid of empathic values and, as such, function more like an incentive-driven machine. They may be more likely to not only thrive in a fiat society, but look to enhance that type of environment so that they can take full advantage of it.
And while this may suit their ends in the short term, or for whatever timeline they see fit, life developed empathy, love and a void that binds in humans as a way to exist on a longer time frame, and perhaps one that might even transcend the temporal.
I don’t know — but I will definitely be following Hayase’s work and dig deeper into this in part three of the Remnant series.
Where Does One Find The Parasites?
In the cracks and crevices where value is being created, progress is being made and innovation is occurring. Parasites require true progress and wealth creation to extract from, and the greater the progress or wealth, the easier they can camouflage themselves and their processes.
Furthermore, if the relationship between parasites and psychopaths is accurate, then their inherent nature means that they look for places to hide.
Bureaucracies, proof of stake and stale, hierarchical institutions are examples of where these cancerous cells can be found, and the following examples are variations of how the cancer manifests:
Government
Central banking
Regulators
Modern banking
Middle management
“Crypto”
Modern Wall Street
Modern hedge funds
Note the kinds of people that work in these “committees.”
Rand depicted them brilliantly, eloquently and accurately in “Atlas Shrugged,” e.g., Jim Taggart, Robert Stadler, Wesley Mouch and Lillian Rearden.
In real life, they are Janet Yellens, Christine Lagardes, Joe Bidens and the like. Raoul Pal is also a great real-world example of the Parasite, masquerading as a Remnant, and fooling only the masses.
In a free market, we must continue to call out the scammers.
There is a reason why the committee man or woman hates bitcoin. There is no committee, there is no room for them. They are unable to concoct elaborate plans in which they can slowly extract the wealth others have created.
Sure, bureaucracies will exist on a Bitcoin standard, and I’m sure there will be many parasites across every industry and dimension of human existence, but the difference is this:
On a Bitcoin standard, bureaucracies go bankrupt. They cannot grow into the abominations we see around us today, in which useless idiots work bullshit jobs just to pretend like they’re doing something, when in fact, they’re leeches.
On a Bitcoin standard, the organization with the most inefficient bureaucracy and the greatest infestation of parasites dies. It does not “live long and prosper.”
This is the inherent natural advantage of an economic standard rooted in reality, one which exists as proof of work, one which is time incarnate — energy money.
The parasite cannot survive, let alone thrive in such a place.
The Masses
Herein referred to as “sheep” or “lemmings,” they are simultaneously the most innocuous and most dangerous of all — innocuous in a functional society because they add their two sats of value and continue on living, sometimes excelling and rising up, but mostly remaining average; dangerous in a fiat society (e.g., democracy) for their stupidity, fear, envy and lack of character which is most easily weaponized.
There is not a lot to explore in the minds of the masses, for they are largely mindless. You find them working bullshit jobs, like as a TSA agent, bag packer at a grocery store or a “mask checker” at airport and shopping mall entrances.
They are the kinds of people who consume a consistent diet of CNN, Facebook, Netflix, Uber Eats, Real Vision and McDonalds, while idolizing the lowest kinds of bipedal creatures, whether they be Anthony Fauci, Pal, Lagarde or Biden.
They value conformity and certainty above all else. They believe compliance is a virtue, and will signal it with all their pathetic might. They will believe whatever they’re told by their overlords, and will be the first to “dob” or “snitch” on their neighbors for the “illegal act” of having family members over for Thanksgiving during a fake pandemic.
The image below depicts them in all of their glory:
Pablo, a good friend of mine, helped me analogize the masses really well during a conversation in El Salvador. They are the “people” who operate as if the orders are reality, and when confronted with an actual reality that does not conform or fit within the model they’ve been ordered to follow, they begin to malfunction and repeat themselves like mindless, broken automatons.
The image that comes to mind is of a Roomba repeatedly running into a wall.
The masses. Source: MakeAGif.com.
I don’t know what else to say about them here other than that the only Earth they shall inherit is either the one the Remnant or the parasite manifest. They will be oblivious as to how it came about and largely indifferent toward whether it’s right, wrong or neutral. For their sake, and for ours, and for the survival of humanity, one can only hope the Remnant prevails.
Otherwise, we have the following to look forward to:
The complexity and multi-dimensionality of humans means it is hard to generalize who might be a Remnant, a parasite or member of the masses.
The truth is that everybody can be exceptional at something. We’re all unique and the application of our intent and effort toward a particular end can lead us not only to mastery of our craft, but to renown for what we do and a deep sense of fulfilment.
Mastery = Internal driver of the Remnant archetype
Renown = External signal to other Remnants
Fulfilment = The reward
So one could argue that people are all remnants in their own field, and while I would agree, I’m not sure this is a mastery of a unique craft question, despite how enticing it is to hope that we are all “Remnants.”
Yes, we are all good at our own unique thing, but “Remnant” is a character. There is something innate about it. It’s an energy and an instinct. It’s a natural frame. It seems to represent the zeitgeist of the time, in whatever era it emerges.
So, in my mind, it goes beyond a “craft” or an “input” and is more a way of being.
Of course, character is a blend of nature and nurture. So, through conditioning, perhaps Remnant values can be learned and acquired. Nobody knows what the mix of nature and nurture is when it comes to “character,” but this is of course where incentives matter because they set the framework for the development of either a morality or immorality.
So, this is a tough one. A large part of me would argue there will always be a class of exceptional humans in a sea of average ones. But perhaps this is just a function of our path to becoming whole humans (individually and collectively speaking).
Becoming Human
Hayase made another very critical point in the latest podcast I recorded with her.
She argued that we as a species are still “becoming” human and the price we must pay on this journey is the struggle and victory over a fiat Matrix existence being foisted upon us by the psychopathic‘“elite,” who I’ve suggested are the parasites.
I agree with this sentiment insofar as the role the parasite plays is like the snake in the Garden of Eden. They exist to keep the Remnant sharp, to awaken them and to inadvertently force them to evolve. Like the sand which transforms the oyster’s grit into a pearl or the pressure that turns the coal into a diamond.
Natural selection does not necessarily happen because of us, but happens through us, and the emergence of a parasitic environment filled with a blend of dumb, blind automatons on one side and psychopathic energy vampires on the other is part of the process of enlightenment.
In fact, I echoed this in a recent podcast with Max Keiser where I said that:
“If this mass psychosis is the price we need to pay for humanity to get onto a Bitcoin standard and transcend the fiat shackles, then so be it.”
Arguably, the grand role of evil is to keep “good” honest. To make good more conscious, more whole and more antifragile.
Without the external stimulus of the snake in the garden, then good is merely innocent, and innocence is the first to perish. In that light, I have one final way to define who the Remnants are:
They are the earthly beings striving to become “whole,” integrated humans. On the journey to become the best version of themselves, they must combine the most functional attributes of the empathetic, soulful human and the rational, empirical, incentive-driven, primal animal, who in many ways is manifested in the psychopath.
They are like the paradox that is Bitcoin: a network of sovereign individuals working in their own interest, that is simultaneously a prospering of the commons — a harmonic manifestation of altruistic selfishness.
The Remnant has the capacity for malevolence, has even cultivated it for use as and when needed. They have integrated the shadow. They are the conscious, aware monster that keeps their aggression and ferocity in check. They are the meek who have swords and know how to use them, but choose to keep them sheathed… until the time comes.
The Remnant endures because they are the greatest, most advanced version of life and are that which remains after each necessary cleanse on this evolutionary path.
It’s a beautiful thing.
The Remnant series will continue with part three in December, in which we will explore the game theory and relational dynamics between each of the core archetypes.
This is a guest post by Aleks Svetski of www.amber.app. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
Bernard Stiegler was, until his premature death, probably the most important philosopher of technology of the present. His work on technology has shown us that, far from being exclusively a danger to human existence, it is a pharmakon – a poison as well as a cure – and that, as long as we approach technology as a means to ‘critical intensification,’ it could assist us in promoting the causes of enlightenment and freedom.
It is no exaggeration to say that making believable information and credible analysis available to citizens at present is probably indispensable for resisting the behemoth of lies and betrayal confronting us. This has never been more necessary than it is today, given that we face what is probably the greatest crisis in the history of humanity, with nothing less than our freedom, let alone our lives, at stake.
To be able to secure this freedom against the inhuman forces threatening to shackle it today, one could do no better than to take heed of what Stiegler argues in States of Shock: Stupidity and Knowledge in the 21st Century (2015). Considering what he writes here it is hard to believe that it was not written today (p. 15):
The impression that humanity has fallen under the domination of unreason or madness [déraison] overwhelms our spirit, confronted as we are with systemic collapses, major technological accidents, medical or pharmaceutical scandals, shocking revelations, the unleashing of the drives, and acts of madness of every kind and in every social milieu – not to mention the extreme misery and poverty that now afflict citizens and neighbours both near and far.
While these words are certainly as applicable to our current situation as it was almost 10 years ago, Stiegler was in fact engaged in an interpretive analysis of the role of banks and other institutions – aided and abetted by certain academics – in the establishment of what he terms a ‘literally suicidal financial system’ (p. 1). (Anyone who doubts this can merely view the award-winning documentary film of 2010, Inside Job, by Charles Ferguson, which Stiegler also mentions on p.1.) He explains further as follows (p. 2):
Western universities are in the grip of a deep malaise, and a number of them have found themselves, through some of their faculty, giving consent to – and sometimes considerably compromised by – the implementation of a financial system that, with the establishment of hyper-consumerist, drive-based and ‘addictogenic’ society, leads to economic and political ruin on a global scale. If this has occurred, it is because their goals, their organizations and their means have been put entirely at the service of the destruction of sovereignty. That is, they have been placed in the service of the destruction of sovereignty as conceived by the philosophers of what we call the Enlightenment…
In short, Stiegler was writing about the way in which the world was being prepared, across the board – including the highest levels of education – for what has become far more conspicuous since the advent of the so-called ‘pandemic’ in 2020, namely an all-out attempt to cause the collapse of civilisation as we knew it, at all levels, with the thinly disguised goal in mind of installing a neo-fascist, technocratic, global regime which would exercise power through AI-controlled regimes of obedience. The latter would centre on ubiquitous facial recognition technology, digital identification, and CBDCs (which would replace money in the usual sense).
Given the fact that all of this is happening around us, albeit in a disguised fashion, it is astonishing that relatively few people are conscious of the unfolding catastrophe, let alone being critically engaged in disclosing it to others who still inhabit the land where ignorance is bliss. Not that this is easy. Some of my relatives are still resistant to the idea that the ‘democratic carpet’ is about to be pulled from under their feet. Is this merely a matter of ‘stupidity?’ Stiegler writes about stupidity (p.33):
…knowledge cannot be separated from stupidity. But in my view: (1) this is a pharmacological situation; (2) stupidity is the law of the pharmakon; and (3) the pharmakon is the law of knowledge, and hence a pharmacology for our age must think the pharmakon that I am also calling, today, the shadow.
In my previous post I wrote about the media as pharmaka (plural of pharmakon), showing how, on the one hand, there are (mainstream) media which function as ‘poison,’ while on the other there are (alternative) media that play the role of ‘cure.’ Here, by linking the pharmakon with stupidity, Stiegler alerts one to the (metaphorically speaking) ‘pharmacological’ situation, that knowledge is inseparable from stupidity: where there is knowledge, the possibility of stupidity always asserts itself, and vice versa. Or in terms of what he calls ‘the shadow,’ knowledge always casts a shadow, that of stupidity.
Anyone who doubts this may only cast their glance at those ‘stupid’ people who still believe that the Covid ‘vaccines’ are ‘safe and effective,’ or that wearing a mask would protect them against infection by ‘the virus.’ Or, more currently, think of those – the vast majority in America – who routinely fall for the Biden administration’s (lack of an) explanation of its reasons for allowing thousands of people to cross the southern – and more recently also the northern – border. Several alternative sources of news and analysis have lifted the veil on this, revealing that the influx is not only a way of destabilising the fabric of society, but possibly a preparation for civil war in the United States.
There is a different way of explaining this widespread ‘stupidity,’ of course – one that I have used before to explain why most philosophers have failed humanity miserably, by failing to notice the unfolding attempt at a global coup d’etat, or at least, assuming that they did notice it, to speak up against it. These ‘philosophers’ include all the other members of the philosophy department where I work, with the honourable exception of the departmental assistant, who is, to her credit, wide awake to what has been occurring in the world. They also include someone who used to be among my philosophical heroes, to wit, Slavoj Žižek, who fell for the hoax hook, line, and sinker.
In brief, this explanation of philosophers’ stupidity – and by extension that of other people – is twofold. First there is ‘repression’ in the psychoanalytic sense of the term (explained at length in both the papers linked in the previous paragraph), and secondly there is something I did not elaborate on in those papers, namely what is known as ‘cognitive dissonance.’ The latter phenomenon manifests itself in the unease that people exhibit when they are confronted by information and arguments that are not commensurate, or conflict, with what they believe, or which explicitly challenge those beliefs. The usual response is to find standard, or mainstream-approved responses to this disruptive information, brush it under the carpet, and life goes on as usual.
‘Cognitive dissonance’ is actually related to something more fundamental, which is not mentioned in the usual psychological accounts of this unsettling experience. Not many psychologists deign to adduce repression in their explanation of disruptive psychological conditions or problems encountered by their clients these days, and yet it is as relevant as when Freud first employed the concept to account for phenomena such as hysteria or neurosis, recognising, however, that it plays a role in normal psychology too. What is repression?
Strictly speaking, an operation whereby the subject attempts to repel, or to confine to the unconscious, representations (thoughts, images, memories) which are bound to an instinct. Repression occurs when to satisfy an instinct – though likely to be pleasurable in itself – would incur the risk of provoking unpleasure because of other requirements.
…It may be looked upon as a universal mental process to so far as it lies at the root of the constitution of the unconscious as a domain separate from the rest of the psyche.
In the case of the majority of philosophers, referred to earlier, who have studiously avoided engaging critically with others on the subject of the (non-)‘pandemic’ and related matters, it is more than likely that repression occurred to satisfy the instinct of self-preservation, regarded by Freud as being equally fundamental as the sexual instinct. Here, the representations (linked to self-preservation) that are confined to the unconscious through repression are those of death and suffering associated with the coronavirus that supposedly causes Covid-19, which are repressed because of being intolerable. The repression of (the satisfaction of) an instinct, mentioned in the second sentence of the first quoted paragraph, above, obviously applies to the sexual instinct, which is subject to certain societal prohibitions. Cognitive dissonance is therefore symptomatic of repression, which is primary.
Returning to Stiegler’s thesis concerning stupidity, it is noteworthy that the manifestations of such inanity are not merely noticeable among the upper echelons of society; worse – there seems to be, by and large, a correlation between those in the upper classes, with college degrees, and stupidity.
In other words, it is not related to intelligence per se. This is apparent, not only in light of the initially surprising phenomenon pertaining to philosophers’ failure to speak up in the face of the evidence, that humanity is under attack, discussed above in terms of repression.
Dr Reiner Fuellmich, one of the first individuals to realise that this was the case, and subsequently brought together a large group of international lawyers and scientists to testify in the ‘court of public opinion’ (see 29 min. 30 sec. into the video) on various aspects of the currently perpetrated ‘crime against humanity,’ has drawn attention to the difference between the taxi drivers he talks to about the globalists’ brazen attempt to enslave humanity, and his learned legal colleagues as far as awareness of this ongoing attempt is concerned. In contrast with the former, who are wide awake in this respect, the latter – ostensibly more intellectually qualified and ‘informed’ – individuals are blissfully unaware that their freedom is slipping away by the day, probably because of cognitive dissonance, and behind that, repression of this scarcely digestible truth.
This is stupidity, or the ‘shadow’ of knowledge, which is recognisable in the sustained effort by those afflicted with it, when confronted with the shocking truth of what is occurring worldwide, to ‘rationalise’ their denial by repeating spurious assurances issued by agencies such as the CDC, that the Covid ‘vaccines’ are ‘safe and effective,’ and that this is backed up by ‘the science.’
Here a lesson from discourse theory is called for. Whether one refers to natural science or to social science in the context of some particular scientific claim – for example, Einstein’s familiar theory of special relativity (e=mc2) under the umbrella of the former, or David Riesman’s sociological theory of ‘inner-’ as opposed to ‘other-directedness’ in social science – one never talks about ‘the science,’ and for good reason. Science is science. The moment one appeals to ‘the science,’ a discourse theorist would smell the proverbial rat.
Why? Because the definite article, ‘the,’ singles out a specific, probably dubious, version of science compared to science as such, which does not need being elevated to special status. In fact, when this is done through the use of ‘the,’ you can bet your bottom dollar it is no longer science in the humble, hard-working, ‘belonging-to-every-person’ sense. If one’s sceptical antennae do not immediately start buzzing when one of the commissars of the CDC starts pontificating about ‘the science,’ one is probably similarly smitten by the stupidity that’s in the air.
Earlier I mentioned the sociologist David Riesman and his distinction between ‘inner-directed’ and ‘other-directed’ people. It takes no genius to realise that, to navigate one’s course through life relatively unscathed by peddlers of corruption, it is preferable to take one’s bearings from ‘inner direction’ by a set of values which promotes honesty and eschews mendacity, than from the ‘direction by others.’ Under present circumstances such other-directedness applies to the maze of lies and misinformation emanating from various government agencies as well as from certain peer groups, which today mostly comprise the vociferously self-righteous purveyors of the mainstream version of events. Inner-directness in the above sense, when constantly renewed, could be an effective guardian against stupidity.
Recall that Stiegler warned against the ‘deep malaise’ at contemporary universities in the context of what he called an ‘addictogenic’ society – that is, a society that engenders addictions of various kinds. Judging by the popularity of the video platform TikTok at schools and colleges, its use had already reached addiction levels by 2019, which raises the question, whether it should be appropriated by teachers as a ‘teaching tool,’ or whether it should, as some people think, be outlawed completely in the classroom.
Recall that, as an instance of video technology, TikTok is an exemplary embodiment of the pharmakon, and that, as Stiegler has emphasised, stupidity is the law of the pharmakon, which is, in turn, the law of knowledge. This is a somewhat confusing way of saying that knowledge and stupidity cannot be separated; where knowledge is encountered, its other, stupidity, lurks in the shadows.
Reflecting on the last sentence, above, it is not difficult to realise that, parallel to Freud’s insight concerning Eros and Thanatos, it is humanly impossible for knowledge to overcome stupidity once and for all. At certain times the one will appear to be dominant, while on different occasions the reverse will apply. Judging by the fight between knowledge and stupidity today, the latter ostensibly still has the upper hand, but as more people are awakening to the titanic struggle between the two, knowledge is in the ascendant. It is up to us to tip the scales in its favour – as long as we realise that it is a never-ending battle.
"I Can't Even Save": Americans Are Getting Absolutely Crushed Under Enormous Debt Load
While Joe Biden insists that Americans are doing great - suggesting in his State of the Union Address last week that "our economy is the envy of the world," Americans are being absolutely crushed by inflation (which the Biden admin blames on 'shrinkflation' and 'corporate greed'), andof course - crippling debt.
The signs are obvious. Last week we noted that banks' charge-offs are accelerating, and are now above pre-pandemic levels.
...and leading this increase are credit card loans - with delinquencies that haven't been this high since Q3 2011.
On top of that, while credit cards and nonfarm, nonresidential commercial real estate loans drove the quarterly increase in the noncurrent rate, residential mortgages drove the quarterly increase in the share of loans 30-89 days past due.
And while Biden and crew can spin all they want, an average of polls from RealClear Politics shows that just 40% of people approve of Biden's handling of the economy.
Crushed
On Friday, Bloomberg dug deeper into the effects of Biden's "envious" economy on Americans - specifically, how massive debt loads (credit cards and auto loans especially) are absolutely crushing people.
Two years after the Federal Reserve began hiking interest rates to tame prices, delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans are the highest in more than a decade. For the first time on record, interest payments on those and other non-mortgage debts are as big a financial burden for US households as mortgage interest payments.
According to the report, this presents a difficult reality for millions of consumers who drive the US economy - "The era of high borrowing costs — however necessary to slow price increases — has a sting of its own that many families may feel for years to come, especially the ones that haven’t locked in cheap home loans."
The Fed, meanwhile, doesn't appear poised to cut rates until later this year.
According to a February paper from IMF and Harvard, the recent high cost of borrowing - something which isn't reflected in inflation figures, is at the heart of lackluster consumer sentiment despite inflation having moderated and a job market which has recovered (thanks to job gains almost entirely enjoyed by immigrants).
In short, the debt burden has made life under President Biden a constant struggle throughout America.
"I’m making the most money I've ever made, and I’m still living paycheck to paycheck," 40-year-old Denver resident Nikki Cimino told Bloomberg. Cimino is carrying a monthly mortgage of $1,650, and has $4,000 in credit card debt following a 2020 divorce.
"There's this wild disconnect between what people are experiencing and what economists are experiencing."
CBS: Do you attribute the inflation crisis to the pandemic or Biden?
WISCONSIN VOTER: "It's been YEARS now since the pandemic — I'm not buying that anymore. At first I did; I'm not buying that anymore because yogurt is STILL going up in price!" pic.twitter.com/apahb65scB
What's more, according to Wells Fargo, families have taken on debt at a comparatively fast rate - no doubt to sustain the same lifestyle as low rates and pandemic-era stimmies provided. In fact, it only took four years for households to set a record new debt level after paying down borrowings in 2021 when interest rates were near zero.
Meanwhile, that increased debt load is exacerbated by credit card interest rates that have climbed to a record 22%, according to the Fed.
[P]art of the reason some Americans were able to take on a substantial load of non-mortgage debt is because they’d locked in home loans at ultra-low rates, leaving room on their balance sheets for other types of borrowing. The effective rate of interest on US mortgage debt was just 3.8% at the end of last year.
Yet the loans and interest payments can be a significant strain that shapes families’ spending choices. -Bloomberg
And of course, the highest-interest debt (credit cards) is hurting lower-income households the most, as tends to be the case.
The lowest earners also understandably had the biggest increase in credit card delinquencies.
"Many consumers are levered to the hilt — maxed out on debt and barely keeping their heads above water," Allan Schweitzer, a portfolio manager at credit-focused investment firm Beach Point Capital Management told Bloomberg. "They can dog paddle, if you will, but any uptick in unemployment or worsening of the economy could drive a pretty significant spike in defaults."
"We had more money when Trump was president," said Denise Nierzwicki, 69. She and her 72-year-old husband Paul have around $20,000 in debt spread across multiple cards - all of which have interest rates above 20%.
During the pandemic, Denise lost her job and a business deal for a bar they owned in their hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. While they applied for Social Security to ease the pain, Denise is now working 50 hours a week at a restaurant. Despite this, they're barely scraping enough money together to service their debt.
The couple blames Biden for what they see as a gloomy economy and plans to vote for the Republican candidate in November. Denise routinely voted for Democrats up until about 2010, when she grew dissatisfied with Barack Obama’s economic stances, she said. Now, she supports Donald Trump because he lowered taxes and because of his policies on immigration. -Bloomberg
Meanwhile there's student loans - which are not able to be discharged in bankruptcy.
"I can't even save, I don't have a savings account," said 29-year-old in Columbus, Ohio resident Brittany Walling - who has around $80,000 in federal student loans, $20,000 in private debt from her undergraduate and graduate degrees, and $6,000 in credit card debt she accumulated over a six-month stretch in 2022 while she was unemployed.
"I just know that a lot of people are struggling, and things need to change," she told the outlet.
The only silver lining of note, according to Bloomberg, is that broad wage gains resulting in large paychecks has made it easier for people to throw money at credit card bills.
Yet, according to Wells Fargo economist Shannon Grein, "As rates rose in 2023, we avoided a slowdown due to spending that was very much tied to easy access to credit ... Now, credit has become harder to come by and more expensive."
According to Grein, the change has posed "a significant headwind to consumption."
Then there's the election
"Maybe the Fed is done hiking, but as long as rates stay on hold, you still have a passive tightening effect flowing down to the consumer and being exerted on the economy," she continued. "Those household dynamics are going to be a factor in the election this year."
Meanwhile, swing-state voters in a February Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll said they trust Trump more than Biden on interest rates and personal debt.
Reverberations
These 'headwinds' have M3 Partners' Moshin Meghji concerned.
"Any tightening there immediately hits the top line of companies," he said, noting that for heavily indebted companies that took on debt during years of easy borrowing, "there's no easy fix."
Sylvester researchers, collaborators call for greater investment in bereavement care
MIAMI, FLORIDA (March 15, 2024) – The public health toll from bereavement is well-documented in the medical literature, with bereaved persons at greater…
MIAMI, FLORIDA (March 15, 2024) – The public health toll from bereavement is well-documented in the medical literature, with bereaved persons at greater risk for many adverse outcomes, including mental health challenges, decreased quality of life, health care neglect, cancer, heart disease, suicide, and death. Now, in a paper published in The Lancet Public Health, researchers sound a clarion call for greater investment, at both the community and institutional level, in establishing support for grief-related suffering.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Memorial Sloan Kettering Comprehensive Cancer Center
MIAMI, FLORIDA (March 15, 2024) – The public health toll from bereavement is well-documented in the medical literature, with bereaved persons at greater risk for many adverse outcomes, including mental health challenges, decreased quality of life, health care neglect, cancer, heart disease, suicide, and death. Now, in a paper published in The Lancet Public Health, researchers sound a clarion call for greater investment, at both the community and institutional level, in establishing support for grief-related suffering.
The authors emphasized that increased mortality worldwide caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, suicide, drug overdose, homicide, armed conflict, and terrorism have accelerated the urgency for national- and global-level frameworks to strengthen the provision of sustainable and accessible bereavement care. Unfortunately, current national and global investment in bereavement support services is woefully inadequate to address this growing public health crisis, said researchers with Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and collaborating organizations.
They proposed a model for transitional care that involves firmly establishing bereavement support services within healthcare organizations to ensure continuity of family-centered care while bolstering community-based support through development of “compassionate communities” and a grief-informed workforce. The model highlights the responsibility of the health system to build bridges to the community that can help grievers feel held as they transition.
The Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care at Sylvester is advocating for precisely this model of transitional care. Wendy G. Lichtenthal, PhD, FT, FAPOS, who is Founding Director of the new Center and associate professor of public health sciences at the Miller School, noted, “We need a paradigm shift in how healthcare professionals, institutions, and systems view bereavement care. Sylvester is leading the way by investing in the establishment of this Center, which is the first to focus on bringing the transitional bereavement care model to life.”
What further distinguishes the Center is its roots in bereavement science, advancing care approaches that are both grounded in research and community-engaged.
The authors focused on palliative care, which strives to provide a holistic approach to minimize suffering for seriously ill patients and their families, as one area where improvements are critically needed. They referenced groundbreaking reports of the Lancet Commissions on the value of global access to palliative care and pain relief that highlighted the “undeniable need for improved bereavement care delivery infrastructure.” One of those reports acknowledged that bereavement has been overlooked and called for reprioritizing social determinants of death, dying, and grief.
“Palliative care should culminate with bereavement care, both in theory and in practice,” explained Lichtenthal, who is the article’s corresponding author. “Yet, bereavement care often is under-resourced and beset with access inequities.”
Transitional bereavement care model
So, how do health systems and communities prioritize bereavement services to ensure that no bereaved individual goes without needed support? The transitional bereavement care model offers a roadmap.
“We must reposition bereavement care from an afterthought to a public health priority. Transitional bereavement care is necessary to bridge the gap in offerings between healthcare organizations and community-based bereavement services,” Lichtenthal said. “Our model calls for health systems to shore up the quality and availability of their offerings, but also recognizes that resources for bereavement care within a given healthcare institution are finite, emphasizing the need to help build communities’ capacity to support grievers.”
Key to the model, she added, is the bolstering of community-based support through development of “compassionate communities” and “upskilling” of professional services to assist those with more substantial bereavement-support needs.
The model contains these pillars:
Preventive bereavement care –healthcare teams engage in bereavement-conscious practices, and compassionate communities are mindful of the emotional and practical needs of dying patients’ families.
Ownership of bereavement care – institutions provide bereavement education for staff, risk screenings for families, outreach and counseling or grief support. Communities establish bereavement centers and “champions” to provide bereavement care at workplaces, schools, places of worship or care facilities.
Resource allocation for bereavement care – dedicated personnel offer universal outreach, and bereaved stakeholders provide input to identify community barriers and needed resources.
Upskilling of support providers – Bereavement education is integrated into training programs for health professionals, and institutions offer dedicated grief specialists. Communities have trained, accessible bereavement specialists who provide support and are educated in how to best support bereaved individuals, increasing their grief literacy.
Evidence-based care – bereavement care is evidence-based and features effective grief assessments, interventions, and training programs. Compassionate communities remain mindful of bereavement care needs.
Lichtenthal said the new Center will strive to materialize these pillars and aims to serve as a global model for other health organizations. She hopes the paper’s recommendations “will cultivate a bereavement-conscious and grief-informed workforce as well as grief-literate, compassionate communities and health systems that prioritize bereavement as a vital part of ethical healthcare.”
“This paper is calling for healthcare institutions to respond to their duty to care for the family beyond patients’ deaths. By investing in the creation of the Center for the Advancement of Bereavement Care, Sylvester is answering this call,” Lichtenthal said.
Follow @SylvesterCancer on X for the latest news on Sylvester’s research and care.
# # #
Article Title: Investing in bereavement care as a public health priority
DOI: 10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00030-6
Authors: The complete list of authors is included in the paper.
Funding: The authors received funding from the National Cancer Institute (P30 CA240139 Nimer) and P30 CA008748 Vickers).
Disclosures: The authors declared no competing interests.
# # #
Journal
The Lancet Public Health
DOI
10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00030-6
Article Title
Investing in bereavement care as a public health priority
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