Reading & Politics

My genius is reading comprehension. This allows me to completely absorb anything I set my mind to understanding, as long as it isn’t abstract mathematics, heavy science, or a foreign language. I also have performing genius, in that I’m a natural, and don’t get nervous in front of an audience. The tougher the audience, the better I get. That last part is character, physical conditioning & strength of will.

So when it comes to English language literature, I’m well read. Beginning in fiction, I’ve read Dr. Seuss, Peanuts, and plenty of kids stories. All the classic short stories from middle school including The Power of the Written Word, The Lottery, The Most Dangerous Game, etc… were absorbed. High school stuff like Lord of the Flies, The Pearl, The Iliad, Odyssey, etc… were read & comprehended.

Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Jack London, William Shakespeare, Daniel Defoe, Herman Melville, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy & Naguib Mahfouz have been experienced. You should read them too. John Dos Passos, Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway & William Faulkner are major 20th-century novelists. Also read Brave New World, Catch-22, Invisible Man, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, A Scanner Darkly, etc… to be (minimally) up-to-date modern. As far as fiction goes, just about all the great novels have already been written, so that’s where you start if you want to be literate.

As for non-fiction: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, V.I. Lenin & Leon Trotsky as essential political writers & theorists. If you haven’t read them, then you are politically ignorant. Marxism, specifically Trotskyism, will carry you through philosophy, so you can overwhelm all the pseudo-intellectual nonsense of post-modernism, structuralism, etc…

In short, all these false philosophical systems of bourgeois ethics are post-WW2 constructs, meant to apologize for capitalism’s destructive & unequal class nature. It is purely subjective irrationalism, with the unknowable always flowing back to ‘god’– therefore rejecting science & rational thought. The hypocrisy of it all is that these post-modernist university intellectuals compose their treatises on computers, and would be lost on facts without the internet. Most never attend church.

Reading the World Socialist Web Site daily, is now a requirement to be a modern Marxist. What you come to learn over time & diligent study is that many of the arguments, tactics & strategies with which the ruling class uses to attack & manipulate the masses have already been done before. This is where that cliché’, “you need to know history in order not to repeat its mistakes,” comes into play. Once armed with Marxism down to your marrow, then you can go out and become a significant political force in the world, instead of becoming someone else’s pawn.

In the 21st century, the written word is now consumed online, and blogs changed news delivery forever. What is a blog? A blog is anything the creator wants it to be. My imagination took this to mean a blog to be an online newspaper, or newsletter. In the 1900’s, news was delivered by print newspapers, magazines & books. Books took the longest to publish, meaning they were the most out-of date, but the most in-depth. Magazines split the difference by being more in-depth & timely, while newspapers were up-to-date with headlines, but the least in-depth.

With a 21st century blog, a blogger can publish up-to-the-moment articles, and then expand upon them with a scrolling blog such as mine. There’s also social media now, which revolutionized information sharing. A good 20th century newspaper had quality in all sections: News: global, national, state & local; Sports: MLB, NBA, NFL, tennis, and anything else relevant to American sports fans; Arts & Entertainment: music, film, television, video games, etc; and a Comics section: meaning can you make your readers laugh?

The question then becomes: is it serious? Most politics is a joke. The entire establishment media is fixed by big money. The billionaires control both political parties, and no one else can even get on the ballot anymore, much less any media coverage. This is due to extreme political prejudice in the judicial system from the same kind of professional liars that are attempting to extradite Julian Assange.

How do you feel about Julian Assange? That reveals your true political position. Black Lives Matter is a campaign run by the Democratic Party, the same at #MeToo. It’s purpose is to divide the workers & youth racially, to prevent them from unifying in solidarity against the ruling class. That is the propaganda war which the Trump administration & the Democrats are threatening to escalate into a shooting war.

Trump’s provocations come in a daily torrent of hatred & ignorance, yet they go unchecked by the Democrats. The mass media message is vote Biden on November 3. Trump’s ordering the assassination of Michael Reinoehl, an anti-fascist protester from Portland gunned down Sept. 3 by police belonging to the federally-led Pacific Northwest Violent Offenders Task Force, is not grounds for impeachment according to the Democrats. Phony “Russian collusion” charges are impeachable offenses for the Democrats. Both sides are evil, and 100% wrong in the mad charade. Meanwhile COVID-19 rages unchecked, as do wildfires & global economic catastrophe.

The only rational & serious solution is Permanent Revolution. The ruling governments, and their corporate-military-intelligence-police apparatuses must be smashed. The police & military must be broken up, and reorganized into a working people’s militia. The Nazis must be rooted out, and disarmed. The intelligence apparatuses, from the NSA, CIA, FBI, ICE, must all be disbanded, and their dirty secrets exposed completely– names, photos, dates, places, etc…

 

This is the only serious political solution to prevent the ruling classes from starting a World War. The American economy needs to be shut down, with massive unified strike action from workers & students, to halt this murderous back-to-work (school) campaign. This means overthrowing the union labor bureaucracy. These parasites with mafia backing must be outed and brought to justice. This criminal underworld has historically worked with J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, and the CIA, in countless blood-stained adventures which have been kept hidden from the American public since their inception. Every union apparatus is corrupt, in that they always partner with corporate ownership, while betraying their rank-and-file constituents.

The workers & youth of the world will not tolerate a uncontrolled coronavirus pandemic as the “new normal.” Global warming has reached a tipping point, where if we don’t get serious now, it’s going to be a bleak future. The mass majority rejects this presidential ‘race’ with only the choices being between an ignorant unstable sociopath, and a zombie Wall Street warhead.

The Socialist Equality Party is running Joseph Kishore for President and Norissa Santa Cruz for Vice President. The point of this campaign is not to win the Electoral College, since that is impossible under the US two-party straitjacket. The SEP is the party of Trotsky, which means international revolutionary socialism.

That is a policy which EVERY ruling class around the world fears & despises. That is why Trotskyists are blacklisted, and Marxism slandered. Trotskyism has nothing to do with terrorism & the BLM campaign, and yet every act of political violence by anarchists & provocateurs against the establishment, is taken by Trump as an opportunity to incite his fascist supporters to shoot their guns at Marxists. That’s how fascist propaganda works, and the Democrats are all-in on it.

This is the reality of being a Trotskyist. It takes a lot more than intellect & learning. It also requires true courage & fortitude. This is the polar opposite of publicly wearing a BLM slogan. That is opportunism, and it pays well for a reason.

Not a single supporter of Black Lives Matter can seriously explain the assassination of Malcolm X or Martin Luther King, Jr. The primary reason is because so few BLM advocates have actually read their works. Therefore they don’t understand their positions. Instead, they rely on others to tell them what these leaders meant. The problem there is that the leaders of the Nation of Islam (black militants), and the future NAACP (black Democrats), were involved in these political killings, with help from the NYPD & FBI. What about the killings of Tupac & Biggie? If black lives matter, then black lies matter. None of these fakers can face that, or the greater truth, which is that all lies matter.

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Dungeons & Dragons confessed

I did this crazy white stuff for a year or so, and never took it too seriously, but it did have an influence.

The franchise was created by Gary Gygax. To ‘get involved,’ a player must start with these three (3) fundamental D&D books. Then you can play, with characters you create, in game modules. I honestly found these books, particularly the Monster Manual to be more interesting on their own, and was less interested in gameplay. I still feel the same way.

The Players Handbook shows you how to score-rate each character type (wizard, warrior, elf, dwarf, etc) & traits: such as strength, intelligence, constitution, charisma, etc; and apply then in fantasy battle situations, where your character can earn glory (through higher rank, booty, etc), or get killed.

For example, if a fire dragon torches your 7th-level ranger, you must immediately tear up that piece of paper, which you spent weeks developing in gameplay. It’s very sad & tragic, or silly & comic, depending on your perspective.

Action is moderated by a dungeon-master, who is supposed to know the rules better than anyone, so he (it’s never a she), can direct the players and keep this adventure moving along. He reads & directs from a game module, which other players are not supposed to have seen, so they don’t know what’s coming. Many players cheat on that. It took imagination, and often ended up in feuding, and/or players dropping out quickly. That was my experience.

This is a game module, and one of its original classics. The fact that I know that, makes this a confession in many ways.

Question: What do you do if a demogorgon attacks you with psionics?

Answer: There is nothing you can do to prevent your head from exploding, unless you are at least a 12th-level character with psionic ability, in which case, your best odds of repelling his attack & countering with a slaying psionic blow are no better than 1-in 20. Don’t go there.

I’ve been informed by a hardcore GM/DM that psionics are not allowed in D&D, since the 1st edition. That’s a good ruling. But despite its cheesiness, psionics are intriguing, one must admit. Brain bionics, telekinesis, using the Force, etc. Too powerful for most players to control, so the final ruling is that psionics are strictly for jedis, and not allowed in D&D. I did not know that.

Final confession: I had a fleeting vision of composing my own game module, where I would line-up the most awesome & powerful devils, demons, and evil creatures from the Monster Manual. It would entice every adventurous player, with the lure of the most magnificent treasure & gains in experience points– and then kill everybody. This “Impossible Dungeon” would have slayed any army.

I came up with this idea, because I figured the game had to have an end. But it didn’t, so I ended D&D for myself by not writing the module. I watched T.J. Hooker instead.

I’m sure no player would have entered my dungeon anyways, so it would have been a waste of time, which makes me feel better about William Shatner.

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Low-IQ Individuals

One of Donald Trump’s favorite attack phrases (he has so many) is to brand someone as “a low-IQ individual.” Have you noticed this too?  Up until now, you never heard of politicians going after one another in the manner Trump does. This makes him a pioneer in fascist demagogy, which deserves analysis. The reason Trump calls his opponents “low-IQ individuals” is because it’s bold– and it works.

Donald Trump has been described in the latest Washington political insider account (above) of his White House administration, as having a middle-school intellect at best. But Trump still hurls this “low IQ-individual” epithet around because it sticks to so many of his opponents. For the most part, they are low IQ individuals– and that’s quite an indictment! This tactic takes the pressure off Donald Trump and makes the other person explain themselves for awhile. That’s why Trump still has a measure of popular support, as calling out low-IQ individuals in politics is a popular position.

The one thing everyone agrees on politically at this point is that politics is completely messed up. Whether it’s coming from right-wing reaction. moderates trying to do business-as-usual, or left wing activists; no one is satisfied. So what we get is finger-pointing and attack campaigns all around, because none of these Democrat/Republican political clowns have anything constructive to offer. Everything is a pack of lies and promotional hype– to sell to the zombified masses on Election Day.

Voting blocs have reached a political tipping point in 2018, as discontented workers have started to educate themselves, along with the disenfranchised youth that have come of age. These demographics can no longer be ignored by the elites. Notice that I am not speaking in terms of race, religion, sex or orientation. This is about class & social inequality.

Those who are “proud of their country” to the exclusion of others are reactionaries by definition. That applies to all nations, which are all ruled by corrupt elite powers of self-interest. What the US government and its corporate-military-intelligence complex have done around the world is criminal. If you stand up to salute the stars & stripes, then you are complicit in these war crimes against humanity & the planet. If you buy into the celebrity hype of sports & entertainment, without understanding the monied corruption underneath, then you are politically neutering yourself for the cause of fascism. Don’t be a eunuch, educate yourself.

Start by reading. I’ve read all my life, since I was a kid. Back then it was mostly sports & entertainment– articles & books. That’s what normal kids read. When kids grow up and become healthy adults, they read longer books– without pictures. Education was different when I was a kid. It was better, and our schools were much safer. Back in the 1970’s & 1980’s, students were still required to read books in English class and write book reports. You usually had to pick from a list of classics. We were required to read classic short stories including: “The Power of the Written Word.” “The Lottery,” The Most Dangerous Game,” “To Build a Fire,” and so forth… Education meant absorbing those valuable lessons and applying them in life.

There was a poster that hung on the Winneconne elementary & middle school library wall in the 1970’s that read, “Give me a fish and I’ll eat for a day, teach me how to fish and I’ll eat for a lifetime.” Reading takes you around the world and connects you with all cultures & human knowledge. Great books (fiction & non-fiction) immerse you in a story like no other media. Books take a long time to read, much longer than films run. Books take even longer to write, and the best are a sacrifice to humanity by their authors.

Kids are intimately connected to film, television & music. In this universe of popular culture the closest thing to reading is listening to music. Nothing hits you quicker (or deeper) than a great song, and kids love that feeling! On the other hand, it takes concentration to listen to new music and absorb its meaning. Low-IQ individuals always seem to have a favorite type of music they listen to over & over, to the exclusion of all other genres & musical artists. If you know someone who only likes classic rock… or rap… or country, then you can be sure there won’t be much political tolerance or open-minded thinking in their discourse. Low-IQ individuals are the worst listeners, preferring instead to yell their sentiments at others.

As far as popular music and politics goes, the grunge movement was probably the last gasp of capitalist political energy from America’s youth. Grunge music swept through cultural America in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, relegating classic rockers to the dinosaur bin thereafter, which was progress in itself. Underground bands like Sonic Youth, Jane’s Addiction, the Pixies, and dozens of others began to seep into popular consciousness (MTV’s 120 Minutes). Grunge broke through with Nirvana, in 1991: The Year Punk Broke. It’s heyday was brief and politically limited, but highly influential.

Grunge reflected youth aspirations for a better world and a DIY ethic, but like all popular progressive movements without Marxist political roots, it was consumed by the Democratic party in 1992, as part of its campaign of “Bush must go.”  Democrats Bill Clinton/Al Gore abandoned any progressive promises early in their administration, and “Slick Willie” spent most of his eight years fighting off right-wing political attacks which culminated in his being impeached in 1998– the only US President with that distinction. The US-led NATO military operation against Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War from March to June 1999 was the continuation of a criminal foreign policy supported by both official parties, and a precursor to the policies of Bush/Cheney.

The grunge movement was unofficially extinguished with the mysterious death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, the dystopian figurehead of the grunge movement. It was a shock to the kids who believed, similar to the affect the 1980 assassination of John Lennon had on ex-hippies and former radicals. Soon after Clinton/Gore came to the White House, Republican reaction took over politically, personified by Newt Gingrich’s “moral majority.” Only such a rotten two-party system could give legitimacy to this cornball brand of Southern hucksterism, but then again that was the 1990’s and Wall Street was making money so no one complained in the media. This was at the dawn of the Internet being a global phenomenon, so there was still no social media. Napster, a free mp3 sharing app, was the first.

All thorough this period: going to high school, college, then dental school– I still read. It’s very important that you always keep reading because it helps you understand the times. The next time a reactionary zealot comes up to you spouting some mumbo-jumbo; interrupt and ask them to synopsize the last book they’ve read. If you qualify this by excluding the Bible or any other holy text, then you’ve made it even harder. The idea is to hit them back and make them face their own ignorance. There are many reactionaries who haven’t read a single book in 20 years or more. If you read prodigiously, and develop some backbone, then you can handle them easily.

Unfortunately, people don’t read enough, and there are certain factions that are being awfully stubborn on this. That’s a big problem, in that these low-IQ individuals are relying on others to tell them what is true & false. They can only “think” in binary, black-or-white terms– which is dangerous. Reactionary “leaders” can’t figure things out for themselves due to their ignorance, and therefore must be surrounded by “advisors.” The most-valuable advisors (above) for reactionaries are the ones who 1) favor a fascist ideology, and 2) have read a few books. If you have read at least a few books, this can get you access to people who have read many books. Gleaning information from others (and then restricting its flow) is how fascist advisors appear so “smart.”

You see reactionary dolts on social media– everywhere, every day. They can’t write either. Instead they berate and manipulate, while looking for clues. When they get burned, they’ll crawl back under whatever rock they hide themselves for awhile, but they’re always back in full force when their fascist leaders whip them into a frenzy. It’s an ego thing, in that they can’t admit to having a low IQ. Could you? It’s a hard truth to face, and most refuse this challenge. It makes a person look weak. Low-IQ individuals prefer wallowing in stupidity versus submitting to intelligence & rationality. That’s why reactionaries are always pro-religion, anti-science & anti-education. They’re actually the weakest of all, but will never admit it.

Reactionaries always react, they never think. This ideology is a perfect fit for low-IQ individuals, as it gives them a recipe (algorithm), which instructs and guides them in every situation. Reactionaries always favor the hard line. This projects strength. It also projects stupidity, but that’s okay– just as long as you don’t look weak. That’s “political death” by capitalist standards. Hardliners attack all their opponents as “soft,” physically & intellectually. This makes everything easier for them & their low-IQ supporters.

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Sy Hersh: Crimefighter & Media Pariah

It’s funny, I’ve been watch Seymour (Sy) Hersh interviews incessantly, and then today there’s a World Socialist Web Site  review on his latest book, Reporter (2018). The review was good, so I left a comment. Here it is in full:

Excellent review of a thoughtful & courageous reporter with ethics! Sy Hersh clearly explains why he’s now so censored in this book, and in many interviews since. Barack Obama was obsessed with leaks, and wanted them stopped. Hersh was even more vilified after publishing the “Killing of Osama bin Laden” in 2013, which has been reviewed by the WSWS. This story debunked Obama’s narrative, reinforced by “Zero Dark Thirty” (2012), a Hollywood propaganda movie on bin Laden’s execution by Navy Seals.

Most recently, Sy Hersh has been unable to publish his biography of Dick Cheney, because of sourcing, as he would have to give his sources away (something he doesn’t do), and put them in jeopardy– perhaps of being killed. Therefore he wrote this memoir, “Reporter” instead.

Essential political books by Sy Hersh also include: The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House (1983) and The Dark Side of Camelot (1997).

But as so often happens, I can’t leave it alone. As Peter Falk in Colombo would say, “Something’s still bothering me…,” and it was the second-to-last paragraph in the piece, which pointed out political disagreements the SEP/ICFI has with Hersh. This can be easily misunderstood & distorted by unprincipled agitators, therefore there is need to clarify a theoretical issue on polemics. Marxist WSWS writer Andre Damon correctly writes:

“We do not share many of Seymour Hersh’s views, including his appeals to what he calls the reasonable sections of the US military and intelligence apparatus for a change in US foreign policy. But, as the book’s title implies, he is a genuine reporter; he knows the difference between the truth and a lie and works to expose it before the world public.”

A demagogue would try to use those political differences to divide Hersh from Marxists, which would be a mistake. Sy Hersh is a real reporter, which means he isn’t allowed to be politically biased towards any party. That’s a requirement to do his job well. Identifying with Marxism would have ended his career. Also, if Hersh had ever become openly partisan, he would have lost the confidence of his sources, and then access. This is the hardest-hitting establishment reporter in American political history, and this “self-censorship” is the price he’s had to pay. I politically wish he would publish everything he knows, but I understand why he doesn’t.

Most “journalists” today are biased and/or embedded, which makes them flunkies & apologists. Sy Hersh is pretty much on an island at this point, in terms of his profession– which (like all others) has been destroyed by corporate corruption & greed. Since “The Killing of Osama bin Laden” was published in the London Book Review in 2013, Hersh’s articles have no longer been released or discussed much in American media. He’s so popular among readers, and so widely known that it doesn’t matter where he’s published, as the Internet broadcasts him to a global audience hungry for the truth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RQxpceTPPg&t=5s

Like Julian Assange & WikiLeaks, Sy Hersh is fighting for the truth, and being persecuted by the ruling establishment. This common experience is shared with Marxists, and it’s why Trotskyists consider them to be comrades-in-arms– in our common fight against tyranny & injustice. Marxists are armed with political theory, and dialectical materialism as philosophy. Marxism is a powerful tool for analysis of political economy and planning revolutionary action, but only if there is helpful & accurate data with which to work.

If we as a society don’t have journalists like Hersh & Assange publishing the truth in its rawest forms, then Marxists (and all others) are in the dark. It’s a symbiotic relationship between Trotskyists and the best reporters, whistle-blowers, activists, and other forms of truth tellers. Trotskyists analyze data and can quickly come to correct political conclusions, using Marxist science & dialectics. The correct message & political line can then be relayed to the disenfranchised youth & exploited workers of the world.

If all the real journalists are persecuted & silenced, then there are no more publicly known facts. This makes achieving socialism impossible, because there will be no facts around which to base political arguments. It will be only variants of fake news, which is what we have now– mostly. That’s why Marxists always stand with and defend these journalists, who are actually socialists in deed, which is why they are being punished in the media & politically.

Whenever Sy Hersh is asked a stupid or bad question in an interview, his reflexive reply is to the effect that, “You have to understand these matters are complex, and that I’ve been doing this a long time…” Then, he takes a few minutes to clarify the issues, which usually means giving background & context.

I’ve labeled Sy Hersh as a crimefighter in the title, because he is. The greatest crimefighter in American fiction is Superman. What’s ironic here are Hersh’s resemblances to mild-mannered Clark Kent reporting for the Daily Planet, making him more powerful in real life than the “Man of Steel” ever was in fiction. What if the next Superman franchise featured an emphasis on Clark Kent’s writing & investigative reporting? I think it would be a helluva story. Anyways, in this age of the Internet, the pen is still mightier than the sword, despite what DC Comics, Hollywood, and the rest of the establishment try to tell you.

Hersh has had serious, high-level political contacts on every continent for decades. He grew up in Chicago, and understands the realities with the police & the mafia, etc. Most people don’t have anywhere near his understanding of how the world works, much less who controls it. One his best assets is his ability to be patient, clear-headed & appear friendly in the face of hostility. It is rare to have mastery of all these social skills, and Seymour Hersh is one of those geniuses. He needs to be more widely read, understood & defended.

* New Superman premise: Decades of being surrounded by a beltway of Kryptonite has robbed our Man of Steel of his super-human strength & immortality. In order to continue his fight against evil, Superman has mothballed his spandex & cape, and permanently assumed the role of mild-mannered reporter, who now must combat evil with his wits & keyboard. Instead of sensationally flying from scene-to-scene to valiantly save the day, our aging reporter has become the chummy drinking companion of many top political figures, allowing him untold access into this nefarious world of political criminality…

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The FBI & J. Edgar Hoover-types

If you truly want to understand what the FBI is then read Curt Gentry’s biography: J. Edgar Hoover– The man and his secrets (1991). It turns out Hoover was a closet homosexual & cross-dresser. Of course he kept this secret, because he used precisely this kind of personal blackmail to manipulate nine US presidents (and anyone else necessary), to remain Director of the FBI (which he basically founded) for 48 years, until his death from heart failure in 1972.

The truth is J. Edgar Hoover’s heart was at least two sizes too small, and it shrank even further with each passing May Day. Hoover was a virulent anti-communist agitator, policemen, judge, & executioner (all-in-one) as head of a US Gestapo known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Originally it was the Bureau of Investigation (BI), and he was John Edgar Hoover, until the young Justice Department attorney heard of another John Edgar Hoover in the Washington DC area who frequented whorehouses. It was then that this young bureaucrat changed his signature to J. Edgar Hoover, and in 1924 was assigned the position as Director of the BI, which was later renamed the FBI in 1935 by Hoover. Little did US president Calvin Coolidge know at the time, that this would be an appointment for life, as the 29-year old Hoover already had compiled a vast catalog of files on thousands of American citizens.

Hoover was a central figure in the infamous Palmer Raids of 1919-20, a brutal round-out of “communists,” most of whom had no affiliation, much less participation in socialist agitation, which wasn’t/isn’t illegal by any US law. The public backlash was severe, as it cost Mitchell Palmer his chances at the US Presidency in 1920, which he coveted above all else. An ambitious J. Edgar Hoover had directed the operation from his lists of informants. He obtained information from illegal surveillance using wire-tapping, tailing, and early microphone bugging to gather the data which filled his vast & bulging files.

The infamous “Hoover Files,” were the most-tightly held secret within the FBI. They contained Hoover’s darkest & murkiest secrets on the most powerful people in Washington– and the world. These “Personal Files” were located in his faithful secretary’s office, and cross-organized by index cards.

Helen Gandy was J. Edgar Hoover’s secretary for 54 years (since 1918), whom he regarded as indispensable. She exercised great influence over the FBI– behind-the-scenes. She never married, and was always referred to as “Miss Gandy,” by Hoover. She remained faithful to him after his death, by removing many and destroying the rest of the Hoover Files.

She did this calmly & efficiently over two months as US politicians everywhere clamored Hoover’s second & third in command (Clyde Tolson & John Mohr) as to the location of these explosive secret documents. President Richard Nixon was among the many who were misled and lied to while Helen Gandy sorted through every single document in the Hoover Files.

A large chunk was sent to Clyde Tolson’s residence, and the rest evidentially shredded in secrecy at FBI headquarters. Tolson was Hoover’s long-time gay lover and second-in command at the FBI until the Director’s death. The contents of these secret files were enough to trigger an American Revolution, as Hoover was responsible for such crimes as:

1) Withholding evidence from a M-6 British agent that the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was in the advanced stages of being targeted for a military attack by the Japanese fleet. He was given this intelligence in microdot form in August/September of 1941 by Duško Popov (photo below), and Hoover bungled it because he didn’t trust British double agents. Hoover suppressed this truth both during, and after World War II. The given reason (as always): “national security.”

2) Hoover was directly responsible for the assassinations of JFK, RFK, Malcolm X & Martin Luther King, Jr. All of these political leaders were hated by Hoover, and kept under constant illegal surveillance. Large files were kept on all of them in the FBI main offices, and in Hoover’s personal files. Black leaders were targeted (among other leftists) under Hoover’s secret & dirty COINTELPRO operation.

3) J. Edgar Hoover ignored & downplayed the parasitic & destructive activities of organized crime for decades, publicly insisting (as Director of the FBI) that there was no such thing as the mafia [!], when in fact he worked with mobsters behind the scenes to do FBI dirty work such as political assassinations.

There’s so much more, and honestly it gets really hard to read & handle all of it at certain points, because the abuse-of-power is so gross & unchecked; and because everyone is so corrupt and afraid to confront the one who knows everyone’s darkest secrets. Gentry’s authoritative biography is 800+ pages with its notes & index, which means its hardback form is really good for throwing, and it’s contents generate that inclination with explosive frequency. One of Hoover’s favorites quotes is, “There’s something addicting about a secret.” That’s J. Edgar Hoover in a nutshell: addictive, manipulative & abusive. The moral is, no one should ever be allowed to wield such power.

Since Hoover was the FBI to its core, what is this organization today? It’s still a Gestapo, with no accountability, and gross abuses-of-power. It’s probably still secretly run by creeper homosexuals (or the like), who get off on invading anyone’s privacy at will, knowing they are immune to prosecution or even detection. There are more blacks & women involved in this, which is considered “progress” by some. The FBI still acts & classifies everything it does in the name of “national security.” Organized crime is still allow to “do business.”

This is the FBI in 2018, and in the interests of the youth & working masses everywhere, it can’t be allowed to continue unchecked. There’s something creepy about knowing everyone’s secrets. Don’t you think?

Postscript (Film Review):

Who killed Tupac? According to Snoop Dogg (who knows): “The big guy next to him in the car… Suge Knight.” Knight had Tupac killed before he could part ways with Death Row Records. The supposed East coast vs. West coast rivalry was a narrative created by Suge Knight to cover for his murder of Tupac, to whom he owed $10 million in back royalties. This set up Biggie to be killed.

Ex-detective Russelle Poole. describes how L.A.P.D. conspired to cover up Suge Knight’s conspiracy to kill Tupac and Biggie, with Poole forced out of his position as an L.A.P.D. detective for independently pursuing the investigation. Russell Poole suspected ex-cop David Mack, and Amir Muhammad (AKA- Harry Billups) to have worked with Suge Knight to kill Biggie.

The FBI was on site, with complete surveillance during the Biggie murder, yet the lone assassin was allowed to drive up, and in gangland style fire five shots into the side of the car where Biggie was seated, and then drive off without being identified or pursued by any authorities on the scene. The only rational explanation for that is the Feds & police being in on the hit, ordered by Suge Knight. Both murders remain unsolved, and hundreds of youth were killed in the ensuing gang wars after these high-profile assassinations. It is no coincidence that it took a UK filmmaker (Nick Broomfield) to tell Americans the truth we don’t want to hear.

In the end it’s not a black thing, or a white thing, or a straight/gay thing, or even a man/woman thing. It’s a green thing. When you put a large enough pile of money in front of someone, they can justify anything. The corrupting power & influence of money can’t be reformed, which is the fundamental lesson of capitalism.

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The Writing Style & Influence of Trotsky

 

The writing style of Marxists typically suffers from dryness. This is inherent to scientific socialism & dialectical materialism, which can be dense and abstract concepts. Sports & Hollywood is easier & more titillating, and that’s what most people follow. Unfortunately those areas are mostly banal dead-ends of militarism & conformity, so little (if any) political insight comes from these spheres, as everything dirty is kept hidden from the masses by corporate. This is the job of the media, to distract, confuse, mis-inform, and when necessary– censor & blacklist.

Marxists typically don’t enter entertainment domains in polemics, as mass media has a 24/7 bureaucratic machine that floods the Internet with content, which can be intimidating & overwhelming. But really these distractions are very much are part of the entire propaganda organ known as US politics, so they must be confronted & analyzed by Marxists.

When QB Colin Kaepernick is blacklisted from the NFL, sports gets political (again) in a hurry. When Hollywood gets behind the CIA Democrats’ #MeToo witch-hunt campaign, then elite cliques & mobs are supporting fascism. When teachers’ across the country are going out on strike, without the consent of their unions; only to be betrayed by “their” bureaucratic machinery, then workers, families & students become politicized. This is where writing skills & creativity, along with clear Marxist rationalizations of the facts, can attract new political readers hungry for the truth.

Normally people don’t pay attention to politics, because they know it’s corrupt and beyond their reach. US politics has now reached a dialectical tipping point, where the old rules aren’t applying anymore. The vast majority of Americans are ready to make some new rules! This scares the ruling elites, and that’s why we have global increases in military spending, with cuts in social spending. Every government preparing for war, both foreign & domestic.

The most artistically brilliant Marxist writer in history was Leon Trotsky, who was able to explain the most-dense complexities with clarity, economy & flair. His use of analogies to make a point (or skewer an opponent), was that of a warrior spirit who composed with an ever-alert, but calm mind. Trotsky is the great unmentionable in “official” history.

Writing specifically and naming names, was another remarkable attribute to his genius and style. You are never left in doubt after reading Trotsky, as to what his position is, and what the position of all his opponents are. That’s valuable stuff, especially when you consider that 99+% of bourgeois historians are well-paid liars & falsifiers of history. The point is, if you want historical truths that resonate up through today, then read Trotsky and your understanding will be incomparable higher than all of these ivory tower pseudo-intellectuals. Much of the war that socialists are fighting is informational.

This piece was written and published on the 200th birthday of Karl Marx, the founder of scientific socialism. The philosophy of Marxism is dialectical materialism, which is always rejected by bourgeois “intellectuals,” due to its revolutionary core. In short: all facts in man & nature are based on matter (material), and are always undergoing changes in quantity & quality (dialectics).

The more Marxists who write effectively & prominently, the better people will understand the necessity of revolutionary socialism for ending capitalist inequality & oppression. In summary– it is up to Marxists to become more artistic, detailed & succulent in their prose. It is up to workers & youth to find genuine Marxism, to absorb & apply its lessons.

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The White House Under Mafia & CIA Influence

Governments are defined by Marxists as committees of the ruling class. Under capitalism, the rulers are the rich capitalists. Governments operate at the behest of the rich & powerful in the “private” sector. The quotation marks are because the line between government & private sector business has disappeared. The truth is, it probably never really existed, as all national governments have been corrupt & murderous since their inception, as it’s inherent to capitalism.

Nation states only formed when the global economic conditions allowed them to be formed. National governments have to have an industrial base to sustain their existence, and produce guns & butter while providing jobs and a tax base. Each country developed according to its unique conditions & position in the global context of capitalism, as a specific economic phase in human history.

Capitalism at its inception was a tendency with some progressive features, as it spurred human development. Nationalities were brought together quickly and in great quantity for the purpose of creating, manufacturing, buying & selling commodities. The great waves of immigration in the late 19th & early 20th centuries reflected a world being violently brought together by global capitalism. There would never be a return to feudalism or any other relics of antiquity in the history of humanity.

Now in the 21st century, migration & human progress is being halted by ruling fascists. Mankind has now reached the point where it has to decide if it wants to continue as a species, or perish in madness. The blind hatred that nationalism whips up, at the whims of the puppet masters is lethal to humanity. When madness is allowed to rule the day, and always gets the final word, we are bankrupt.

This is the USA in 2018, bankrupt ideologically & financially. When the next economic crash comes (and it’s coming soon), there will be no money left in the Federal Reserve for a bailout of the banks. That’s when panic ensues, as everyone rushes for the exit. What do you think will happen to your money?

The mafia & CIA are mirror images which work together, like Republicans & Democrats. Truly the dark heart of the deep state, these entities deal most directly with covert money and power. Under capitalism, the only way to accumulate either money and/or power in great quantities is by murder, fraud & coercion. That usually has to be done covertly under capitalism, and must always be sanctioned those who rule.

All this leads to an essential book on the CIA & mob influence in politics: Seymour Hersh’s The Dark Side of Camelot (1997), which is meticulously researched & well footnoted.

Synopsis Review: Family patriarch Joseph Kennedy (1888-1969) made his fortune in the 1920″s bootlegging liquor for mobsters during Prohibition, using his fleet of yachts, along with mob & Teamster connections to make deliveries. All the Kennedy’s, as well as Richard Nixon have extensive mob ties.

The JFK presidency was the first modern US administration in many ways. Jack Kennedy was a rock star, an American icon, along with his wife Jacqueline. But their marriage was a farce, as all the Kennedy men, from Pa Joe to Jack, Bobby & Edward– womanized daily (usually at the pool) with reckless carelessness. JFK had Chlamydia since ~ 1940 and suffered with it up to his death. He never told any of his young female partners about his venereal disease. Up to today, the Kennedy family still denies confirmed truths such as these. What does the #MeToo campaign have to say about stuff like this?

JFK used the mob to secure the Democratic nomination in 1960, through mafia payoffs to local sheriffs in the crucial West Virginia primary. Then Joseph Kennedy rigged Illinois for Jack Kennedy in November, which was the decisive state in his cliffhanger election battle with Republican nominee Richard Nixon. Payoffs through Chicago mafia boss Sam Giancana & Teamsters leader James R. Hoffa put the political machinery to work for Kennedy. Ballot boxes were stuffed, votes assigned, etc.

The 1960 election was stolen. Nixon learned from this experience to win the presidency in 1968, using mob money & similar-type influence to defeat Democratic nominee Hubert H. Humphrey. Nixon probably wouldn’t have prevailed in 1968 without mob assistance.

Lyndon B. Johnson was unpopular due to his escalation of the Vietnam War, and therefore wasn’t on the Democratic ticket in 1968. How LBJ attached himself to JFK in 1960 is another revelation in Hersh’s JFK biography. FBI director J Edgar Hoover disliked all the Kennedy’s, mostly for their public philandering, as he considered it undignified. In private, Hoover was a sick as the rest about sex, and likely a closet homosexual.

Politically in 1960, J Edgar Hoover wanted to contain JFK who had momentum going into the Democratic convention in Los Angeles. By then, Hoover had reached out to ambitious Texas senator LBJ, feeding him damaging intelligence on JFK’s extra-martial sexual affairs. Johnson used that leverage to blackmail the Kennedy’s into putting him on the ticket, otherwise the JFK campaign would be ruined. Jack Kennedy’s endless womanizing put his administration in a position where he was constantly being extorted by political enemies– foreign & domestic.

The original Kennedy family plan (everything came from Joseph), had been to have obscure Missouri senator Stuart Symington as VP in 1960, as he could deliver California, which Lyndon Johnson couldn’t & didn’t. Bobby Kennedy was made attorney general, despite having no legal courtroom experience, and for four years belittled & betrayed the CIA, while defying the FBI by running interference on media reports of brother Jack’s whoring in the White House.

LBJ was to be dumped for a Kennedy/Kennedy ticket in 1964, with Bobby running in ’68, another confirmed revelation in The Dark Side of Camelot. The entire Kennedy administration was Jack spun as the handsome knight-in-shining-armor, with brother Bobby as his hatchet man.  Everyone else was either manipulated & deceived, or dismissed.

All this leads to the John F Kennedy assassination. With everything Hersh has discovered, the motive & primary suspects in the JFK assassination come into clear focus. The most motivated people who hated JFK (& RFK) were J Edgar Hoover, Richard Nixon & LBJ on the political side.

On the mob side, it was Jimmy Hoffa, Sam Giancana, Santo Trafficante & Carlos Marcello. These were the mobsters who delivered Illinois in 1960, and were then double-crossed by Jack & (especially) Bobby Kennedy, who went after the mafia & organized crime with zeal as US attorney general. These were the same gangsters the Kennedy’s were financing through the CIA in their covert operations to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Bobby Kennedy represents the worst aspects of their privilege: hypocritical pseudo-intelligence, combined with belligerent ruffianism, all varnished with an expensive coat of public-relations & lying.

On the US intelligence side of the JFK/RFK assassinations, the CIA thoroughly hated the Kennedy’s for their arrogance & amateurism, which in their eyes made their jobs impossible. The Bay of Pigs disaster was JFK’s failure, and the CIA had to take the heat. Meanwhile JFK’s ratings soared, for being “tough on communism,” even though the operation failed miserably.

JFK’s game of nuclear chicken with Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, put the world’s population one military mis-step away from mutually assured destruction. The situation had to be de-fused through back-channeling, so president Kennedy could save face and declare victory to the American people, as the 1964 re-election was at stake for him. Ruling interests and an adoring public enabled US presidents, even way back then.

This explains why the cover-ups of both Kennedy assassinations have been so complete, despite the number of participants. The interests of US intelligence (and the ruling class in general) were prioritized with state sponsored murder of a US president, and then his brother as a candidate. It should be noted that Richard Nixon had a long-standing relationship with small-time mobster Jack Ruby, who was deep in debt to Sam Giancana when he shot alleged-JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald dead in a Dallas police station.

Hoover & his FBI were ready to work with LBJ, before he took the oath of office on Air Force One. The war John F Kennedy started in Vietnam needed to be escalated, in order to “fight communism” & reverse dangerous “Russian influence” that “threatened our way of life.”  LBJ, Nixon and Hoover worked well together, doing what they do, which is Cosa Nostra-– Our Thing.

The modern version of the Camelot myth is Barack Obama, who rose out of Illinois with help from the Chicago political machinery. In many ways, Obama was in reality, what JFK was mythologized to be. Obama was a US president who could be (mostly) trusted by the intelligence community to support them, instead of making grandstand plays. He cooperated & complied with US intelligence, providing them with political cover while making every resource available. He also kept his private affairs, private enough. That’s why Barack Obama lasted two terms.

Perhaps the modern Camelot was Bill Clinton, impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice by the House of Representatives on Dec. 19, 1998, for lying to Congress about having sexual relations with White House staffer Monica Lewinsky. Proof of perjury came when Miss Lewinsky produced a semen-stained dress she wore (as seen in photos) in the Oval Office. The spooge stains were a DNA match for the US president. Bill Clinton is the only US president to be impeached, and that is history– boys & girls.

Fast forward to 2018, and these above descriptions of early 1960’s Democratic liberalism in Camelot bear much resemblance to what is in the White House now. Comparing JFK to Donald Trump seems ludicrous to many “serious” historians, but the parallels are striking.

Both JFK & Trump were/are obsessed with their public images. They believe they are always right, refuse to ever back down or admit fault, and treat women like whores. They have extensive mob connections, and are always ruthlessly self-interested in using them.  Neither read books, as both prefer gossip. As far as ideology goes, JFK’s was anti-communist, militarist & conservative. Trump is racist, fascist & conservative; the same thing.

This needs to be understood, because there are still too many politically confused people who believe all this corruption can be reformed with a fresh face, or new administration. When everything is cynical & dirty, it all must go. That is why a socialist revolution led by the youth & working masses of the world is the program of all genuine Marxists. Anything else is acquiescence to this corruption.

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The Nature of Artificial Intelligence

AlphaGo (2017) is a documentary film concerning artificial intelligence (AI), and an ancient Chinese game known as Go. Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players, in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. This movie was shot in March 2016, when AI innovators at Deep Mind, Inc challenged world-champion professional Go player Lee Sedol to a match against AlphaGo– an AI computer.

Before the 5-game match, Lee Sedol (above) was confident in his impending victory. But as soon as the first game began, Sedol became perplexed and was on the defensive throughout. He loses the first game and doesn’t understand how? This is the Go best player in the world, reduced to self-doubt and hopelessness.

This is an example of how intimidating AI can be. Sedol loses three of the four remaining games, and it’s actually considered a victory for human genius that he even wins one game (Game 4) against AlphaGo. The programmers at Deep Mind immediately go to work to correct the flaws that cost AlphaGo its one loss to the greatest human Go player alive.

In 2018, the working masses & youth everywhere are bombarded with attack algorithms from Facebook, Google, YouTube, and any other online social platform– which are updated by the second. They tell you what to like, who to watch & listen to, who to trust, and how to think. What pops up in your Yahoo! newsfeed is targeted, monitored & censored. These algorithms are designed by political opponents to make you doubt yourself, attack you on sensitive issues, and disconnect you from allies & friends. This is how AI is working you over, anytime you go online. AI is quintessential soft power, because it’s virtually undetectable, it never quits, and it only gets stronger.

Kinda scary, huh? Algorithms sound so harmless. No one even knows what they are, really. Algorithms are mathematics, a computer program/application. a set of instructions on how to behave. When these algorithms become layered & sophisticated, and enormous data can be processed quickly, then potential for AI exists in reality.

Here’s how YouTube dirty tricks algorithms affect video distribution on my channelInfinitelink Records.  If YouTube doesn’t like you, then you are dramatically turned-down volume-wise, making the video uncompetitive with corporate bands, who always get a loudness boost. Of course, you are also demonitized, meaning there will be no money coming your way. Your video tags & titles are changed, links scrambled (seemingly at random), etc– so no one can find you. Access to control board buttons to your own channel is taken away, as YouTube controls it secretly. All this, with no alternative platform. It finally gets to the point of, “Why try?”

Artificial intelligence began as an extension of the space and satellite surveillance apparatus connected with the deep state. This includes the Pentagon, NASA, CIA, with partnership in corporate & banking. The best book on the origins of the US space spy apparatus and its integration into the military is Deep Black (1986) by William Burrows.

There’s a brief discussion of artificial intelligence in the chapter titled: Into the Future, Robert Cooper the then director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), shared his vision for peace & security explaining, “We have programs now in artificial intelligence technology that can take expert knowledge and codify it into intelligent machines…” He was speaking specifically of spy satellites that could repair themselves in orbit. [p.318]

Today we may be facing a Terminator (1984) or Robocop 2 (1990) type of scenario, where AI machines take over and turn violently on humans. This is no longer considered science-fiction, as Google and other AI firms connected with US intelligence have begun studies on the ability of humans to control artificial intelligence. [1]

The “Paperclip Maximizer” is a philosophical thought experiment described by Nick Bostrom in 2003, showing how artificial intelligence, even one designed without malice, could ultimately destroy humanity. The goal of maximizing paperclips is chosen for its neutrality & improbability. The premise is that an extremely powerful optimizer (AI) could seek goals that destroy humanity by consuming resources essential to our survival.

The AI would improve its intelligence, not because it values more intelligence, but because more intelligence would help it achieve its goal of accumulating paperclips. It would undergo an intelligence explosion and reach far-above-human levels. It would innovate better and better techniques to maximize the number of paperclips. At some point, it might transform “first all of earth and then increasing portions of space into paperclip manufacturing facilities.”

AI is simply an optimization process—a goal-seeker, a utility-function-maximizer. A paperclipping scenario is also possible without an intelligence explosion. If society keeps getting increasingly automated and AI-dominated, then the first borderline AI might manage to take over the rest using some relatively narrow-domain trick that doesn’t require very high general intelligence. [2]

Basically all of us traditionally come from conservative backgrounds, raised in homes that supported either Democrats or Republicans. Marxists know these are two sides of the same coin, but the rest buy into it. It’s been like this for a long time in America. Breaking out of the two-party straitjacket is an evolutionary & dialectical process. Uncle Sam has so many resources, and makes itself appear so frightful!

The American population has been conditioned through education, religion, television, etc., to accept ruling class ideology as political fact. Since the Internet, many people have awoken to the horrible truths of capitalism, as censorship & blacklisting have come to the forefront. State censorship keeps the truth from the people, for only a little longer.

Artificial intelligence is all around us, and it is growing. AI is now being used in military combat. [3] AI is (without question), an existential threat to humanity. This is because sociopaths are controlling its development and use– with no accountability. Too much of AI is kept hidden, behind the cloak of government secrecy– ie. national insecurity. All this is madness & paranoia, and it must be brought under control, otherwise uncontrollable AI cyborgs and killer weaponry will eventually be unleashed on humanity.

Artificial intelligence has enormous potential, as a social tool for legitimate & productive use. The potential power of this immense & awesome technology must be brought under public control. AI was created by intelligent humans, and therefore must serve humanity, not enslave or destroy it.

The truth about AI is that the human world is not black & white, as in the boardgame Go. The human world has an infinite colors, sounds, aromas, sensations & emotions. The computer world is binary– a series of ones & zeros. Humans must harness computer power & AI, to ensure that it is never overwhelmed by it.

The only way this will be possible, is if the broadest number of people have access and input into AI development & use. This ensures that our brightest young minds will have access and be monitoring– which will be vital. If humans remain selfishly divided on this, then AI threatens our destruction. All these ideas go hand-in hand with ending the dominance of capital, and transforming our world into a peaceful, equal & sustainable society– through revolutionary socialism.

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Dragons & Dialectics

Since I left dental school, I’ve made an intense study of martial arts. I started in tae kwon do, then moved into mixed-martial arts, and finally kung fu & tai chi. It’s all the same, just a different form, and each must be trained with focus & diligence to get any kind of worthwhile results. All gains are measured internally. The ultimate purpose is mastery so you don’t have to use them.

One teacher of mine, who is no longer with us, was Cliff Black. At the time I knew him he was around age 60, but looked much older– as he’d lived a hard life. First as an outlaw & drug addict, then rehabilitated & a drug-addiction councilor; he taught tai chi as a passion. He also was a professional bouncer as some of the roughest redneck bars in central Florida. He worked alone, and had plenty.

I’ve had some bad-ass instructors, which is what you want if you are serious here. Martial arts isn’t a game. It’s about defeating your enemy. Cliff Black knew this well, and had plenty of stories, which he loved to share before, during, AND after class– which could go on for awhile. It was always worthwhile, I remember.

He used to describe his strategy against hyper-aggressive patrons, who wanted to test their karate-kicking skills under the influence-of-alcohol. He’d say softly but with glee, “I LOVE those high-flying dragons. I just wait to get underneath them, and then take out their leg. It’s over after that. I’m a low-flying dragon.”

THE END

Post-script:

 

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Gordon Christensen, DDS

Often when you meet someone in-person you’ve long-admired, it’s a disappointment. Through marketing & public-relations manipulating, people can project themselves as something they really aren’t.  Others burn-out too soon, and become husks reduced to shilling for their audiences.  A lot of musicians & entertainment types fall into that trap.  Also our naivety can lead to lofty, and sometimes unfair expectations. Sport “heroes” often fall into this category.

…and other times our expectations are exceeded! 

If one can mature from naivety into wisdom, without become hard-hearted & cynical, then one can learn to recognize greatness in others. In turn, others will recognize it in you.

The “Father of Modern Dentistry” is G.V. Black, and below is a photo from the cover page of Black’s 1897 classic textbook:

I mention this because every dentist in America (and around the world) knows Gordon Christensen,  who is regarded as the “father of today’s dentistry,” by many, many in the profession. He is highly respected by everyone in the field, for telling them the truth about practicing in the real world [1].  Knowing the difference between what works & what doesn’t, can be a practice saver. It’s also good for one’s sanity. Gordon Christensen has been educating dentists on all this and more, for over 40 years.

Since most of my readers aren’t in the dental profession, I’ll skip the details of Gordon Christensen’s 6-hour presentation (pamphlet above), and instead describe what makes a man great in general terms. I’ll sometimes speak in the masculine gender, but all this applies equally to women. Photo of Gordon Christensen below by Marie Peck:

When a truly significant person is being introduced, they are humble & observant. They seek to use humor, often by poking fun at themselves, to relax their audience. This makes the audience feel their more equal to the performer, which everybody likes.

A natural performer moves through the crowd. First with their eyes, then physically whenever possible. This lets everyone get “up close,” and connects the performer with the crowd. They always command the microphone, especially when taking questions from the audience. They summarize and move quickly, engaging & disengaging often to maintain a stream of fresh content.

Their presentation will be varied, and tailored to each crowd. Every audience is different and a natural performer will read the faces to see what’s working, and (more importantly) what’s not. At the first signs of audience disinterest, the superior performer will recognize and shift gears, transitioning towards more attention-grabbing content.

The genius trick to being an exceptional performer is making it all look easy. The best just keep going, and when it’s all over you (audience) are exhausted, while the performer could have kept going for hours. The best can always keep going, whenever necessary. This is because they are physically & mentally fit, and completely in their niche. They own it, but don’t be fooled: it’s also the product of thorough preparation & hard work.

Even when things go wrong (which is most of the time), the best handle it with grace & ease, blending in their own variety of humor & personal touch. All this is called style, and the best performers & professionals have it.  It’s instantly recognizable, and electrifying to be around. After the initial exhaustion of such an intense experience, audience members are often re-energized for a long time afterwards.

Much of our lives are dull monotony, so when we get the rare privilege of interacting with someone truly gifted & special, it’s a powerful experience. These are the people that change lives through force-of-personality & living example. The best let other people list their credentials and talk about them, because they are too busy working on what’s next to be concerned with promoting themselves.

These qualities of exceptionality are what we need to cultivate more of in ourselves. Dr. Gordon Christensen is so respected in dentistry because he’s the genuine article, which is extremely rare– anywhere. He tells the truth (even when we don’t want to hear it), and leads by example.  That’s the best way to lead, and that’s why so many dentists listen to him.

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