The theoretical founder of socialism was Karl Marx (1818-1883).
The most brilliant expression of 20th-century Marxism was Leon Trotsky (1879-1940).
True socialists have read & absorbed these books. Pseudo-socialists don’t read anything serious.
Socialists understand the USSR was Stalinism, which is collectivist property relations controlled by a fascist bureaucracy. Trotsky fought ceaselessly against Stalinism, and was historically vindicated in December 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed back into capitalist Russia.
If Russia hadn’t had a workers’ revolution led by Lenin & Trotsky in 1917, it would be completely dismembered (balkanized) today.
Instead, modern Russia retains much of it’s size, and possesses the second-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.
A third world war would end human civilization. Today’s thermonuclear devices are orders-of-magnitude greater than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.
Human society can only be preserved (meaning a world war can only be prevented), by a permanent socialist revolution led by the workers & youth of the U.S. The epicentre of global capitalism (culturally, economically & militarily) is the United States; a socialist revolution here leads the way for the rest of the world.
Marxist analysis in the 21st century is found at the World Socialist Web Site— wsws.org. The WSWS is published (6 days a week, since 1998) by the International Committee for the Fourth International (ICFI), the party founded by Trotsky in 1938.
The U.S. branch of the ICFI is the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). The SEP announced its candidates for U.S. president & vice-president on April 22– Earth day. Ric Size officially endorses the Socialist Equality Party’s presidential campaign. [1]
Niles Niemuth & Jerry White SEP: US president & VP candidates
To those interested in actual socialism, this is the only choice. If you would like to be a socialist, you must put in the work. Every other leftist political party, from the Democrats & Greens to the anarchists, are opportunist– meaning they are capitalist to the core. Marxists always spot them quickly, and easily dispatch them when engaged in polemics. That’s why Trotskyists are always blacklisted from ‘official’ discourse.
Those who are politically naive, but well-meaning, need to work through this as quickly as possible. Read the books shown, along with the WSWS on a daily basis to arm yourself politically.
…you learned that Kurt Cobain was dead– apparently of a suicide. Answer: I was in my last days of dental school at Marquette, waiting for a presentation in the lab (Room 305) on how we could refinance and save $$ on our student-loan payments. Someone said Kurt Cobain was dead, and I whipped around exclaiming “What?!” in disbelief as the news leaked out- shotgun blast to the head, heroin syringes, suicide note, etc… After that, I only remember a bit of our mathematics-savant classmate busting the speaker as a scam artist. I was numb at first, which then gave way to resentment over Cobain’s cowardice & betrayal. It’s always been hard to listen to Nirvana since his death. Listener’s interpret them differently with the suicide ending.
…you learned that Kurt Cobain was murdered! Answer: I Netflixed Soaked in Bleach (2015) in my living room last night. Others found out much earlier by reading Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain (2004) by Max Wallace & Ian Halperin. [1]
A brief review of the facts, background & suspects: Kurt Cobain was divorcing Courtney Love at the time of his death. Below is Cobain’s handwritten note found in his wallet at the death scene, which has finally been released to the public by the Seattle Police Department (SPD). In it, Kurt Cobain scorns Courtney Love as a “money siphoning whore.”
Tom Grant, a private investigator contacted & hired by Courtney Love on April 3, 1994 (less than a week before Cobain’s body was found), spoke to their attorney Rosemary Carroll at her office on April 13, 1994. Grant claims Carroll pressed him to investigate Cobain’s death, and that Cobain was not suicidal. Carroll also claims that Cobain had asked her to draw up a will excluding Love, because he was planning to file for divorce. Cobain & Love had a prenuptial agreement, which would have cut her out of the big money from Nirvana’s royalties.
Rosemary Carroll also provided Tom Grant (in a breach of client confidentially) with this handwriting practice note, which she found in Courtney Love’s backpack left at her home:
This is now widely interpreted as Love practicing the forgery of Cobain’s handwriting used in the final four lines of his ‘suicide note’:
Rosemary Carroll has not commented publicly on any of this.
Rosemary Carroll, attorney for Love & Cobain
Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain had a newborn at the time, Francis Bean Cobain; who was cared for by their heroin-supplying ‘nanny’ Michael ‘Cali’ Dewitt:
Dewitt remains the murkiest figure in this sordid affair. He’s likely the one who overdosed Cobain at Love’s behest, then staged the fake suicide. Michael Dewitt was never interviewed by the SPD, except for this statement taken over the phone:
Kurt Cobain’s best ‘friend’ at the time of his death was Dylan Carlson, a fellow heroin junkie and hanger-on:
Dylan Carlson it seems, was also used by Courtney Love to conceal the murder, particularly by keeping Tom Grant’s investigations away from the greenhouse room above the garage, where Cobain’s body laid for days before being discovered. Here is Dylan Carlson’s police interview:
Both Carlson’s & Dewitt’s interviews were done by Sgt. Don Cameron, who was at Cobain’s death scene and ran the SPD investigation:
Don Cameron’s corruption as a police officer is documented in this clip from Soaked in Bleach:
Courtney Love most-likely paid Sgt. Cameron to derail any attempts to classify Kurt Cobain’s death as suspicious. Also implicated is Nikolas Hartshore (long-time friend of Love), the medical examiner who did the initial exam of Cobain’s body. Autopsy findings were never publicly released, as they would likely prove that Cobain died of a heroin overdose, not of a shotgun blast to the head. [2]
Nikolas Hartshore died in 2002, in a base-jumping accident.
As mentioned earlier, Tom Grant is the PI whom Courtney Love retained to “find Kurt.”
He immediately became suspicious of Love during their first interview, and afterwards taped every conversation with her and her cohorts. They are damning evidence against Love, as the lead conspirator in the murder of Cobain. [3]
Equally helpful for those interested in justice, is Grant’s time-line summary of events, including all correspondence with Love, Dylan Carlson, Michael Dewitt, Rosemary Carroll, and the SPD. [4]
Courtney Love has destroyed most of the physical evidence in this case. The greenhouse crime-scene has been torn down, the shotgun melted, and Cobain’s body was cremated only 6 days after it was discovered on 4-8-94. Supposed ‘other suicide notes’ (always sensationally leaked to the press), have also claimed to have been burned by Courtney Love. [5]
One can only imagine the reaction from feminists if this situation was reversed. Does anyone believe Kurt Cobain would be allowed to get away with murdering his wife under the same circumstances? He would be in jail today, with little chance for parole. Not so for Love, who is rich with fuck-you money & clout. Being a woman & mother protects her in this sick society, even if she is a lying psychopath who murdered her husband (the biggest popular icon of his era), for a pile of money.
Knowing all this now makes me feel differently, but only somewhat. Kurt Cobain is still dead, and much of it was his fault. When you become a junkie, you render yourself helpless– becoming vulnerable to parasites & vipers who claim to be your friends:
When you are a rock-star who poses for photos like this, you allow yourself to be led in a bad direction:
Nirvana’s music sounds a bit more hopeful again, knowing the truth.
The evidence discussed here is just the tip of the iceberg. [6] Hopefully soon there will be justice– with this murderer (pictured below) facing a jury of her peers:
Warning: this piece contains obscenity, along with explicit sexual discussion.
The Urban Dictionary defines a baller bitch as a vixen, not to be messed with. Included in this definition are rapper girlfriends, athlete’s wives, and other forms of gold-diggers who insist that women should always use sex as a weapon. This ultra-modern form of something that has always existed in human society can be roughly correlated with the rise in salaries for movie, television, music & sports celebrities in the 1990’s. Everyone follows the money.
I’ve slightly edited for concision, clips from the Female Baller’s Handbook (2008), an online advice piece by Ronnell Coombs– a self-acclaimed expert in the field [pictured below]. Inserted in italics are my responses, as needed.
I consider his ‘guidebook’ to be a valuable first-hand account on the subject, much more raw and to-the-point than 99+% of the feminist drivel whose purpose is to deflect, apologize and mislead its readers– by never identifying the class roots of the problem. Women are encouraged to holdout on sex, in exchange for financial security. This is meant to favor powerful men who can afford it, but in fact, it degrades the value of ALL women & men.
Ronnell Combs: The baller-bitch priority system is simple. You need a good job and a side hustle, which must have potential; for real cash. You need cash for freedom of movement, allowing a greater pick of men, opportunities, work schedule, and recreation. [p.3]
Ric Size: This is the living definition of high-maintenance working girl.
RC: You must understand the superficial nature of people. Be extra careful to control what other people see when they look at you. [p.15]
RS: This is the definition of a viper; and of course, they are trained to be suspicious of anyone else maintaining aspects of their own privacy.
RC: You have to grind your way out of the hood. The formula is clear-cut. You either need a dead-end job, and a super side-hustle, or a career in which you can climb the corporate ladder. The last option, of course is to ‘get in the mix’ and seduce a rich man. The last option is the hardest. [p.23]
RS: …but the most worthwhile.
RC: You will have male fans at the corporation. If they are of equal rank, be nice to them; but avoid fucking them. They are of equal rank; thus they can’t take you to the next level. When you surpass him in rank, you can afford to shit on him, but not now. [p.26]
RS: It’s like that with everybody in corporate.
RC: When a man of higher rank wants to get with you, you are in a tricky situation. You’ll be some form of ‘office groupie’ if you play it wrong, and a high-powered vixen if you play it right. You need to play it right. Size the guy up. Peep to see if he has real power, or just a fancy title. Find out if he’s married. Peep his movement. Smart women will mislead you in order to get ahead. Women are rotten & cut-throat when it comes to powerful men. Never forget that. Disguise this conversation as business talk. [p.26]
RS: Successful straight men are always targets for a well-laid pussy trap. It’s a refined operation on all fronts.
RC: The guy’s primary interest is getting into your panties.
RS: What’s wrong with a fling, as long as it’s safe & between consenting adults?
RC: However you are going to make him psychologically think you are his dream wife. You are thinking business first, all along. He’ll usually invite you on a bullshit date. The stage is usually set for him at this point. You have to play this shit out with a smile on your face. Be charming, pick his brain, figure out his interests, and get into his routine. Figure out where his wife and baby mama went wrong. You should be a bag of excitement one day, but let him see you are knee-deep in a business project the next day.
RS: Which is why so many men don’t date anymore– they are tired of being jerked around with this shit.
RC: When you help him with his projects, make sure he gets ALL the credit. This is something 98% of bitches won’t do. Play the game! Little does this guy know that he is going to help you get that promotion! [p.27]
RS: Men need to be pandered to, because they are weak-minded. Women don’t need any credit at work, because their primary value is fucking. Every time RC writes: “he/him/his” or “guy/man”, he really means “wallet.” This pimp knows his business.
RC: When you do have sex with this guy, you have to turn him out. You have to lick the balls, lick his ass, kiss toes, take it up the ass, drink cum, and be a fucking acrobat. This guy has to be convinced that this is the best sex he’s had in his life. When you are a great businesswoman and a perfectionist in bed, you will cloud a guy’s judgment. Get business handled. A pussy-whipped guy will do anything to control you. You have to allow him to see that power impresses you. Don’t let love or romances cloud your judgment. [p.28]
RS: I must admit the sex sounds intriguing, but that attitude is about as cold-blooded as it gets. Boys, is it really worth it? You’re looking for a good time and perhaps romance if it vibes right, while she’s a professional– playing for keeps. Note: if you don’t have money, you’re not considered to be in her league, so forget it.
RC: Baller-bitches believes that men are dogs, but they are master dog trainers. [p.32]
RS: Men believe that baller bitches are glorified prostitutes, with a stable of rich johns wrapped around their pussies. It’s impossible to believe they are actually happy, fucking these really gross guys in exchange for gobs of money.
RC: There are times when you have to smile in the faces of people you don’t like… stroke an over-inflated ego… and pressure people into helping you. Stay focused on the future. Baller-bitches made it to the top because they made business sacrifices that hood-chicks weren’t willing to make. They live in penthouses, have fleets of luxury cars, and travel the world because they are sleeping with richer, smarter, more useful men. [p.34-5]
RS: After years of living among the jet-setters, how many of these girls become burnt-out junkies? How can this be considered a good model for young women to follow?
RC: I must admit since I wrote this book, I’m not surprised with myself every time someone who read it expresses to me the impact that it had on her life. I wrote this guide to help Black/Latina women improve their wealth status. The ones who have read it are doing exactly that. I’m grateful that I was able to help all these women be better equip to navigate [sic] through the waters of life. [author note on goodreads]
RS: Helping anyone in need is noble, but if the ‘helping’ spirit is misanthropic, it becomes destructive to everyone. What RC has outlined is nothing new, except for the modernized ghetto vernacular and fresh pseudo-science, all to justify this pimping. In the end, it adds up to no love (or even orgasms) for women, who must whore themselves– always. For men, it means a lifetime of vacillating being tricked as johns, and being lonely.
RC: Female ballers have a clear understanding of the money game, and are guilty of acting as if they are better than the average woman, BECAUSE THEY ARE! A female baller is good-looking, financially secure, cunning, energetic, passionate, ruthless, well-read, well-versed, extremely manipulative, consistent, well-organized, ambitious, and will fuck a man’s head off. They are the ultimate vixens, who have mastered the art of “bitchiness.” [p.2]
RS: They are actually the ghetto feminist version of a whore. Their ’empowerment’ is that they get to be their own pimp. Ronnell Coombs, and the rest of his ilk need to be pushed into the light with his colleagues & supporters, so the rest of us can get a better look at their inhumanity, which is debasing society.
There are those of us (men & women) who refuse to play this game anymore, but we are still in the minority. The rest are caught up in this social pathology, with no avenue towards real happiness. Today in the U.S., most marriages have failed, or are failing. The dating industry/scene (match.com, etc…) is a multi-billion dollar wasteland of phoniness & hustling.
Men resist commitment because they fear being trapped. This fear is real. I speak for myself (and other real men), who firmly reject these efforts to dehumanize us. Real men are in control and recognize this hustle before it gets through the door. We are assertive & charming in business & social settings, perfectly content to take care of our own business, until the time a real womanappropriately presents herself.
The issues here are not about men/women, black/white, or gay/straight; but of social class. It is social inequality that is encouraging women from desperate upbringings into this form of prostitution. The elite class of men who can pay for these women end up feeling just as miserable, lonely and rejected as those who could never afford these luxury items.
Despite what the ‘experts’ may say, we owe it to ourselves as human beings to treat each other better than this, but that will only happen after social inequality under capitalism is abolished by a worker’s revolution. A free & equal society, that no longer tolerates misery & prostitution, can only exist under socialism.
The Villages, FL is an age-restricted retirement community controlled by several quasi-governmental Community Development Districts (CDD). These CDDs are controlled by the H. Gary Morse family, which created The Villages in the 1992.
Note: It’s considered bad form not to capitalize the ‘T’ in The Villages. Villagers take that very seriously.
Thirty years ago this whole area was swamps, forests, and cow pastures; today it is the largest age-restricted retirement community in the world. No one under age 55 is allowed to own a home or live within The Villages, unless an exemption is granted. Children really aren’t welcome, as kids under 18 are only allowed to stay a maximum of 30 days/year, and this is strictly enforced within the community. Many of the strange & elitist facets of this adult playland are highlighted in Andrew Blechman’s Leisureville (2008).
An anecdote from Leisureville: Two brothers (Carl & Ben) in their twenties from Iowa, are visiting their mother who recently moved to The Villages. Carl, who is pounding tequila shots at the bar, notices the author’s notebook and asks if he’s writing a book, to which he answers with a nod. Carl replies (with his brother in agreement) “It’s a good thing, because this place is fucked up!”
The Villages isn’t a town or municipality, and everything in it, from it’s 50,000+ homes to all the businesses are controlled by the Morse family. Gary Morse, who died in 2014, made “unbelievable efforts” to ensure “these assets did not go to the community.” [1]
Morse financed much of the construction using something called a community development district (CDD), where the district levies fees on the homeowners to pay for roads and other improvements, and under state law can borrow money using tax-free bonds.
The CDD’s in the Villages paid Morse millions of dollars to buy his golf courses, guardhouses, and other amenities from him at inflated prices (reaping a nifty 500-1000% profit in many instances). The IRS has ruled since 2009 that the Villages’ CDD bonds did not deserve to be tax-exempt, because everyone who sits on the district board—like everything else in The Villages—is controlled by Morse. The Village Center CDD was organized and operated in a manner intended to perpetuate private control, and to indefinitely avoid responsibility to a public electorate. [2]
So far, the Morse family has successfully bribed Florida politicians from both parties to hold off the IRS– and the tax bill they face on $364 million worth of municipal bonds. Attorney’s for the Morse family are currently looking for a way to get the dispute out of the domain of the IRS and into tax court, where it can get a friendly judge to rule in their favor. [3]
Land-secured debt is the riskiest part of the $3.7 trillion municipal-bond market, accounting for almost half of non-payment default filings, according to industry experts. Village Center revenue bonds maturing November 2032 are now rated just above non-investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, with an average yield of about 5 percent, or about 2 percentage points above an index of benchmark municipal bonds with similar maturities.
Needless to say, Wall Street & bond traders are paying close attention to this case. [4]
The financial house of cards that built The Villages isn’t the only thing about to collapse, as the ground underneath this massive development is literally caving in. Sinkholes are now popping up with alarming regularity, as the water table and underground aquifers become depleted due to wasteful overconsumption. [5] The Villages (within its 33 square miles) now has over 30 golf courses.
As the cost for repairing & maintaining all these amenities increases, the homeowners (who are locked into paying for all of this), increasingly won’t be able to afford it. The Villages resembles nothing so much as the boomtowns of the old West; in fact, their latest project is called Brownwood– a western-themed development.
Golf carts are ubiquitous in The Villages:
This is what a typical one costs:
$10K+
From 2005-09, physicians working in The Villages reported cases of syphilis and chlamydia increasing 71% among those 55 and older. [6]
Factors driving the rise of STD’s in this demographic include their not heeding safe-sex messages that younger generations follow; along with new medications, such as Viagra, making more sex possible for geriatrics. Villagers as a group, strongly object to any form of social or personal responsibility– ranging from paying taxes to using condoms.
Everything in The Villages is about entertaining the old folks. The level of kitsch is over-the-top, with fake façades & other pabulum passed off as real entertainment. Most Villagers don’t seem to notice the difference, or if they do– don’t care.
Est. May 2015
Fake Lake with Fake Boats
Fake Lighthouse & Historical Plaque
The media in The Villages is also controlled & operated by the Morse family, including its newspaper:
The Daily Sun’s content is exclusively banal, vague and right-wing. The scan below is an example of their “reporting.” Go to their online archive, and it comes up as a blank page. [7]
The Daily Sun’s intentionally vague reporting
WVLG 640 AM (a FOX news affiliate licensed in 2004) is the local radio station, endlessly playing moldy oldies between its conservative talk.
If all this sounds like paradise to you, then join the zombies in The Villages; where there’s no concern for the world outside– as everything is safe, self-contained & soothing. Think of it as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where everybody takes a soma holiday; or better yet– don’t think at all.
We objectify what rejects us.
Therefore men see women as sex objects, and women see men as wallets.
It is easier to be rejected by this, than by a thoughtful and caring person.
Reflexive male-protector role
Men as a group take the most dangerous jobs, work the longest hours at their career, and die 7 years younger.
For men: obligation, sacrifice, and powerlessness is called “power.”
This is the myth of male power.
Power is actually the ability to control one’s life.
Both sexes have roles, which is not power.
To achieve true power, one must move past survival into self-fulfilment.
Stage 1: Survival Stage 2: Self-fulfilment
What is functional for Stage 1 survival, is often dysfunctional for Stage 2 self-fulfilment.
That’s why 97% of us come from dysfunctional families, as our parents came from the survival stage.
Our parents worked and freed us to be able to ask & explore a whole set of questions, which they never had a chance to address.
For that, they deserve our gratitude & understanding.
Many middle-class women have moved beyond survival into self-fulfilment, because they have been given the opportunity for self-examination, by men who sacrificed for them.
Men largely still struggle to survive, as they don’t understand their feelings or what the problem is.
This is because they completely sacrificed themselves to their career, and don’t know how to love at home.
Women head-of-households have 141% greater net-worth, as compared to male head-of-households, as of 1994.
Most of the improvement between the sexes is that women now have more options.
Men are still largely programmed into a 1950’s male-protector role.
The change towards true gender equality & transformation can start in any place: with the man or the woman; high and low.
Women expect economic responsibility to be taken care of by men.
Men fear taking on the extra economic responsibility.
ALL heterosexual men are addicted to young, beautiful women.
ALL women covet the economic security & freedom provided by the rich, successful male.
Work is defined as: sacrificing oneself to the workplace, so one can have a better life outside of it.
Work is fulfilling, but can’t be just self-fulfilment; otherwise we would pay to go to work, instead of the other way around.
The pressure on ALL men, is the pressure to succeed.
Men must ignore intimacy to succeed.
Men don’t talk intimately with other men, because it exposes vulnerabilities, which hurts his chances of career success.
Therefore men put all their emotional eggs into the basket of women.
Blacks came from slavery, making their white owners wealthy– that is their unique heritage.
Native American males were destroyed.
Embracing diversity means empathizing, listening and feeling.
Women can’t hear what men don’t say.
Women must provide a safe atmosphere for sharing, otherwise men won’t share.
Men as wallets, women as sex objects, minorities as servants, etc… is a failed paradigm.
The adversarial relationship paradigm, between male patriarchy & female matriarchy, is unhealthy & destructive.
We need gender-transition equality, which embraces diversity and seeks to understand.
When the man has to pay for a gorgeous date, he’s paying for the difference between what he’s worth and what she’s worth.
Men pay for dates 95-97% of the time, at the best restaurants, (minus anniversaries and birthdays) according to maîtres d’hôtel & servers.
Men generally take the expectation of asking out, paying, and the sexual initiative.
The selection of men as protectors by women, with nuclear technology, has to potential to kill us all.
The most successful man at work, learns skills which are inversely proportional to loving at home.
The selection of the beautiful young doll by men, reinforces women as objects who don’t: carry their own, communicate effectively, or value inner beauty.
Our genetic heritage is in conflict with our genetic future.
Our challenge as a species is to adapt to Stage 2– self-fulfilment.
Species that don’t adapt, go extinct.
Socially codified prostitution isn’t working for either sex. Feminism has freed 3-5% of women, who have learned to carry their own & understand men, by listening. 95-97% of females, still expect men to meet their economic needs. In other words, they still expect men to pay for sex & love; the difference being now– this woman is her own pimp. That’s her ’empowerment.’
A real woman, carries her own responsibilities; happily sharing in the work & love. Men need to have realistic expectations & limits, in regards to the age and level of beauty of their prospective mate. Men over-rate their attractiveness, as a survival reflex to protect their ego and obtain the most sex, with the most-beautiful women. All of us need to get past survival thinking, which means men must stop lying about themselves; and women need to stop lying to protect others, in exchange for economic security.
Men: Seek a comparably attractive woman, with who you are compatible. Ideal ‘types’ will be your age & level of attractiveness, who listen and seek to understand you. Improve your own health & beauty (as well as hers!), through the healing power of love. It’s all quite scientific. [link]
Women: This world we live in, has been built by men. Men do the dangerous & dirty work (except for prostitution), and work longer hours– that’s why they are better paid. All of this is to provide protection & comfort– to women & their children. Virtually all the great art was made by men, inspired by and made for, women. The same is true with literature, science, technology, and most of the physical marvels that have benefited human existence. Women owe men their love & gratitude for ALL their sacrifices through the ages, and know they can depend on men to get it done in the future.
Women are correct when they object to being treated as prized-property. Men object to be treated as disposable property. When both men & women learn to listen, respect, and assist each other; that becomes mutual conditional love, which is what homo sapiens must adapt to, in order to survive.
The reason we lie is because a it bridges the gap between who we want to be, and who we actually are.
Lie-spotting is not about, “Gotcha!”
Lie-spotters are armed with scientific methods to spot deception.
They use it to get to the truth, and ultimately build trust.
Truth #1: Lying is a cooperative act.
A lie’s power is not in its utterance, but in when someone else agrees to believe it.
We are most likely to be deceived over what we desire most.
If you don’t want to be deceived, you need to know what you’re hungry for.
On a given day, the average person is lied to 10-200 times.
Many of those are white lies, used to maintain the dignity of others & social norms, and can be seen as relatively harmless.
However, strangers lie to each other (on average) 3 times within the first 10 minutes of meeting.
Men lie more about themselves.
Women lie to protect others.
Married couples lie to each other in 1 out of 10 interactions.
Non-married couples lie to each other in 1 out of 3 interactions.
Truth #2: We are against lying… but are covertly for it.
It’s part of our history & genetic heritage– ex. Shakespeare, the Bible, the Nightly News, etc…
The larger the neocortex, the more likely it is to be deceptive.
Lying is a survival instinct.
We live in a post-truth society.
Trained lie-spotters get to the truth 90% of the time; the rest, only 54% of the time.
Some people are better at lying than others.
There are no original liars, we all use the same methods and make the same mistakes.
Pattern #1: Verbal Dodging
Non-contracted denial– people who are determined to lie will resort to formal, instead of informal language (Bill Clinton, “I DID NOT have sex with that woman”, etc).
Distancing language– liars will unconsciously distance themselves from the subject, using language as their tool (Bill Clinton again, “…that woman“).
Qualifying language– (“in all honesty”, “to tell you the truth”, etc…) further discredits the subject towards deception.
Repeating the question in its entirety– ditto above.
Testimony with too much detail– ditto ditto.
Pattern #2: Body Language Tells
We all chatter with our fingertips.
Liars are known to freeze their upper bodies while being deceptive.
Liars will look you in the eye, a little too much, overcompensating for the myth that they won’t look at you.
A true smile is in the eyes.
You can consciously contract the muscles around your mouth, but not your eyes.
Look for the ‘hot spots’ to find the discrepancies between words and actions.
Attitude is the biggest tell of all; are they being cooperative?
An honest person will be on your side, enthusiastically helping to solve the problem.
An honest person will be infuriated, during the entire interview (not just in flashes), if they are accused of deception.
An honest person is more likely to recommend strict, not lenient punishment.
Conversely, a deceptive person will pause, look down, and lower their voice during an interview.
They will add extraneous details and tell their story in strict chronological order.
Professional lie-spotters will ask them to repeat their story backwards, then observe the red flags for deception in their gestures.
Red flag indicators include:
1) Saying “Yes,” while shaking our heads “No.”
2) Telling a convincing story, then shrugging our shoulders.
3) Duping delight.
Anger can be healthy; but when it turns to contempt, you’ve been dismissed.
It’s associated with moral superiority, and is very hard to recover from.
Contempt is marked by one lip corner pulled up & in, and is the only asymmetrical facial expression.
In the presence of contempt, say “No,” and leave the room ASAP.
Contempt looks like this:
These behaviors by themselves don’t always indicate deception, but if red flags appear in clusters, then suspicion of lying must be aroused.
These cues must be followed up, with further questioning & lie-spotting to determine the truth.
Look, listen, probe; ask hard questions.
Leave that comfortable mode of ‘knowing’ and walk into curiosity.
Have dignity and establish rapport.
Don’t interrogate aggressively–it doesn’t work.
Character is who you are in the dark.
We live in a much noisier world than our parents; with blogs, social media, texting, etc…
Over-sharing is not honesty.
The subtleties of human decency, character & honesty, are what truly matter.
In this noisier world, it makes sense to be more explicit about our moral code.
The science of lie-spotting, combined with the art of looking & listening, exempts us from collaborating in a lie.
This leads to a shift towards recognizing truth and marginalizing falsehood, which strengthens our world around us.
That’s the truth.
Philip K. Dick (1928-82) remains one of the most baffling & intimidating authors of the 20th century.
His genre was science fiction, but his large body of writings & ideas extend far beyond; reaching into the worlds of film, music, art, and philosophy. Like many great artists, PKD had his share of failures; was largely unknown when he wrote; financially insecure most of his life; and died relatively young. Today he has a rabid cult following [2], and is deserving of a wider reading audience.
Sci-fi Classics by PKD
Reading is the keyword, as you’ve likely already seen many of his adapted films [3]. Disney is still attempting to animate one of his early short stories: The King of the Elves (1953) [1], which would presumably amuse Dick, if he were still alive.
Philip Dick’s masterpiece is A Scanner Darkly (1977), which also happens to be the best film adaptation of any of his works; faithfully screen-played, & intelligently directed by Richard Linklater in 2006. The decision to animate was a must, due to the ‘scramble suit’ concept; and it’s arguably Keanu Reeves’ best film performance, in an all-star cast.
A Scanner Darkly the book, is terrifying– best described in a Village Voice review on the back flap as, “an industrial-grade stress test of identity… maybe the most unnerving drug novel ever written.”
PKD at his best warped a readers mind, blurring the lines between reality & paranoia; while describing real emotions & illustrating profound insight into human interactions. He imagined and wrote about our modern world of NSA & Intelligence Agencies spying on everybody, fifty years ago. Philip Dick had vision.
Phil Dick also lived much of his life, as and among the world of drug addicts, which is surely the reason for his inconsistency in writing. His fractured genius is largely ignored and/or misunderstood. Below is a clip from The Gospel According to Philip K. Dick (2001), the best film attempt at a posthumous documentary from those who (mostly) knew the subject personally:
PKD’s other best-known novel is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968); which was adapted into Blade Runner (1982), just before his death from a series of strokes.
Unfortunately, film director Ridley Scott’s vision, betrays any serious understanding of PKD’s writings and worldview. Dick imagined a totalitarian future– along the lines of George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and Ray Bradbury. What Scott creates in this sci-fi “film classic,” is sanitized & caricatured Hollywood, with neither edge nor subtlety. In other words, it’s no longer PKD; which explains why the film dates so poorly (compared to the novel), and has been re-cut so many times.
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Instead of settling for film mediocrity; dial 481 on your mood organ (awareness of the manifold possibilities in the future open to you), and read the book instead–only 216 pages. [4]
Map below: the USA vs. Japan, Pacific WW2 theater– 1941-45
Map below: less than six months to the atom bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Note the end caption: Japs Reduced to Home Islands
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In Europe, the Allies (United States, Great Britain & France) defeated Axis powers Germany & Italy, on the western front & Africa; while the USSR engaged 80% of all German troops (and suffered the brunt of Nazi atrocities) on the eastern front
Map above: the Allies & the USSR link up by the spring of 1945, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany, and the beginning of the US cold war with the Soviet Union (1945-1991)
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Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the increasingly fascist US ruling elite has seized the military initiative towards world domination (at the insane risk of a nuclear WW3)– in order to offset its economic losses
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Map scans are from Pictorial History of the Second World War (published in 1946) by Wm. H. Wise; with searing photos from the many sides of war, back when this type of historical accounting was encouraged and made publicly available
Message to Washington, the Pentagon, & Wall Street: it has always been impossible to militarily conquer the world
2. Precise characterizations & magnificent portraits of significant historical figures
3. Masterful Marxist understanding of the materialism & dialectics
4. 1300+ pages
5. An authentic non-fiction historical masterpiece, written by one of the event’s central participants; which makes it unique
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If the current stand-off between the US & Russia in the Ukraine proves anything, it is this; people everywhere must understand the historical significance of the Soviet Union, or else we all will be annihilated. Mankind can not survive a Third World War, and we are far too close to that reality.