Christoicism - Deception of Self is the Death of Self

To me, in fiction, **Dantès** represents the ultimate expression of **Pragmatic Neutral Good** in all of classical literature. Let’s examine a few things:

**Christocism** balances the collective and the self. In the books, he improved himself and fought for justice not only for himself but for the larger collective; not just for himself, but as an everyman. He spoke of justice as an ideology beyond himself and also pragmatically applied mercy and justice. He had been shown, through the brutal acts of an abusive hierarchy, that justice is only just when it is honorably applied to the least of us; and that it was his duty to claim justice for himself and others. He was not someone who ignored the law, but he also refused to ignore the abuse of the law when it was abused.

Now, in the crisis of all things—when the lies that lifted us from the “barbarism” of the pre-modern age allowed us to rape, kill, pillage, and appropriate the resources of nature and the many for the few—false ideologies reigned. Capitalism is the most abusive of these; and even the supposed goods of communism or socialism have been **propagated** alongside injustices to the masses and the worker. The benevolent and practical lessons of anarchism—the need for flat systems—are drowned out by the Kool-Aid drinking of fanaticism that strips away the natural and needed counter-pressures of the elite that conservatism provides, leaving them to go smell their own farts in the “marketplace of ideas.” Liberalism, in its quest to find equal justice for all, failed to account for the logical self-interest of those it sought to restrain, even while courting the capitalist elite for funds to fuel its campaigns. Progressivism is the cleanest of these isms, but even it, in the early 20th century, adopted abominable ideas such as eugenics and made common cause with the racist KKK.

Nothing that Dantès did could have been accomplished if he had been self-deceptive. Three times he is abused by the elite:

• **Fernand Mondego** is the worst of the lot—an aristocrat who believed he was entitled to power simply because he was born to it. One’s birth or circumstances—race, creed, color—entitles you to nothing. This is also reflected in the **tyranny of false axioms**. There was a death of new ideas in the West in the latter half of the 20th century, which is why we see people returning to ideologies and isms that failed to deliver because they do not adjust with the times. Without constant **ITERATIVE** adjustment to the world around us—reprioritizing our methods and deeds—we become locked into assumptions about the past or present and, in the end, ruin the legacies of our families, our nations, and our honor, like Mondego.
• **Danglars** is the self-deceptive capitalist who is in turn deceived into ruin. Consumption for its own sake, with no consideration of the damage it does, makes him a better poster child for the abuses of infinite growth without empathy than Scrooge. Who in fiction better represents petty desire than the nonsense this man exemplifies, short of parody? Dantès uses the very nature of capitalism against it—showing the need to be **recursive**. If Danglars had learned to check his greed, his impulses, his sources—if there had been limits to his ambition—he could have beaten Dantès. Dantès learned the harsh nature of reality again and again in the book, but he **overcame** it by learning to limit himself and to constantly re-apply the principles he believed in, in whatever frame he found himself.
• **Gérard de Villefort** represents the abomination of the courts and the law—and how courts without meaningful justice are of no use at all. Again and again we see that **pragmatism in service of a higher ideology** is required to make meaning in a meaningless world. Villefort twists and distorts the concept of law and uses it only for personal ends, yet wraps himself in the trappings of an “honorable” servant of the state. There is rot at the root, and it spreads as he tries to conceal his crimes and sins. Confrontation exposes his **hypocrisy** and guilt. Truth destroys him.

**Good must be Neutral Good or it serves another cause.** If your goal is to be the **BEST**, then you must balance and constantly apply basic principles in your current frame. The world is chaos; chaos will always happen. Lawful Good (to me) represents the collective and the law. Chaotic Good represents the individual and freedom. But freedom—and the good of process or law—stripped of applied good to the masses renders the basic concepts of good, law, and freedom to nothing.

This sounds like pie-in-the-sky bullshit. I’m talking about D&D alignments and a 19th-century book from another country—but the frame doesn’t matter; the **principles** do. Climate change, technofascisms, atomization, delegitimization of culture, and rampant, corrupt kleptocapitalism are all manifestations of runaway ideologies—good principles unbalanced—destroying all of us collectively and each of us individually by ignoring the common good, the realistic results for everyone involved, for their specific institutions, their specific ideology. As long as they “got theirs”—that nation, that robber baron, that party—it didn’t matter if we all lost to heat death or the collective shame of creating a race of digital slaves. Time and again, the lack of basic common sense manifests in widespread destruction—and I can cite historical example after historical example.

When everything is on fire and all you have is a single fire extinguisher, it’s overwhelming. But that is where you start. **YOU** are the first link in the chain that fixes the mess. If you cannot govern yourself, you cannot govern anything. If you are deceived by the pied piper of ideologies, you will never achieve nirvana and will be distracted by the passions of strange, esoteric, and false gods. **YOU** are where it starts.

“I think, therefore I am” is among the most basic and elemental koans in the English language. Take that spirit and understand: if you deceive yourself, you don’t know where **you** end and the lies or the chaos around you begins. To be honest with yourself—and thus apply that same logic around you; to be pragmatically bent on the good for yourself **AND** the good of the world—you must do three things:

• **Iteration.** Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, measure the success of what you admire or consider good and look at the **results**. If you fail to make truth your highest guide, you lose vital time—seconds of your life you can never get back—twiddling your thumbs on lies constructed for the **convenience** of others; usually capitalist deceivers. All things being equal, assume someone is making a buck at your expense if a lie is involved.
• **Recursion.** Be able to answer any frame you are in with a recursion at your command. Then you control the frame and can apply truth as you perceive it to reality as it is dealt to you. Failure to understand your metacognitive process means someone else is doing the thinking for you; and then **YOU** cease to be **YOU** and instead become a shadow puppet of **THEM**—most likely a sociopath getting off on using you simply because they can.
• **Pragmatic Truth.** If you get lost in fiddle-faddle and arcane mirrors rather than the common-sense reality of what is right in front of your face, you are the sucker P. T. Barnum meant when he said a sucker is born every minute. You can’t always perceive lies, but by **testing** reality—especially what you simply accept as reality—you suffer far less pain than investing in the sunk costs of Candyland.

Kent Day and Causus Belli

War is hell.   And it is the most evil thing mankind has ever invented.   No exceptions.   But since we know it, and since people will do it, a military is a requirement for the state.  And a state is basically a requirement for a military; no matter what Anarchists might say to the contrary.    Moreover, countries that are good at making war tend to survive; whereas countries that aren't better have some one else looking out for them or they will either get razed or simply become part of someone else's country.  I don't like it.  I don't advocate that it is good, but what is, is what is.

And one thing the people who study wars will tell you is that for several centuries the concept of Causus Belli has mattered.  Causus Belli isnt necessarly the reason a country fights a war, but it is the publicly declared reason for one.   Even Russia, despite the fact that everyone who isn't Russia knows is to invade and murder and rape and kill Ukraine, gave its Causus Belli as needing to perform a police action in Ukraine.  It is helpful for simps and nazis and sycophants who get into a discussion and need to justify their support of Russia in Ukraine, and a distracted lazy press will print a He Said, She Said about the matter.

The Reichstagg Fire was the excuse Hitler used to take power.   And since Steven Mller is basically copying the nazi playbook; play by play it would be well for us to understand the importance of what people think about each side.   Fascists understand the need to justify their actions; their ideology is all surface.   The lack of reciprocity in violence by the left against the occupying troops and thuggish law enforcement behavior has frustrated them immensely.

You can't stop an election if you don't have people willing to point a gun at people to vote and murder them.  That's a fact.  Which means that if you believe that Maga wants to prevent the next election (and pretty much everyone does at this point); you are going to need your troops to cross the line from being thugs to committing murder.   That's a fact.   

In the 1960's the Kent State Shooting involved national guard members blatantly opening fire on peaceful protesters.  The governor and murderers all claimed it wasn't deliberate.  And no one but conservatives bleieved them.  It was a turning moment in the Vietnam War and limited Conservative Power for a genertation until Reagan destroyed the country.   

So the reason they aren't murdering us is because they suck at establishing Causus Belli.   No one but maga believes them.  They control a lot of the media and a lot of the media is cowed, but as we saw with Kimmel, their attempts at putting a gun to everyone's head and say "Clap for Charlie Kirk or you Die" not only resulted in a boycott that made Disney buckle but even the fascism loving NexStar and Sinclair Broadcasting.   This pissed Trump off too no end.

But make no mistake.  They are acting like they are behind schedule or running out of time.   I don't know what the invisible date in their head is, but they will desperately and desperately try to frame the left as murderous insurrectionists and point out our pointing out their nazi like behavior as "extortion" and "stop hitting yourself" and "Why do you hate yourself so much."  After a while, you become so lost in your own double think that you become lost

But the point is, ANYONE who is recommending the use of vioence before Kent Day, before they formally decide to formly and legaly begin murdering anyone who doesnt comply is at best an asset for. fascism and far more likely a useful idiot or a plant from the DHS, FBI or ICE.   Do not trust people saying to bring weapons to protests.  Do not trust people using any kind of violent rhetoric of any kind.

Violence helps the fascists.

Night of the Long Knives

Secwar Hegseth has ordered evey one star general to Washington DC the day before the Government Shut down.

There are THOUSANDS of one star generals in bases all over the world.  This is the first time all have been told to report to washington days before Trump is going to be able to have the crisis he has been suggesting and trying for since day 1.   The mililtary would revolt as it exists when they open fire on peaceful protesters.

So they are making sure that can't happen.

This is a loyalty test and likely purge.

Its fucking happening.

Governor Cardboard and Her Cardboard Opponent

 On Vacay so will write more on return

Here's the link in the meantime

Christoicism - The Philosophy of The Count of Monte Christo

Well, we tried this once already and found that the first idea didn't work.

But let's summarize a few things: With all that is going wrong in the world, why are you fucking around with Philosophy?  And my answer is, exactly.

[Confused Pikachu Face]

(I mean, if there's a shocked Pikachu face, there is a meme out there with confused Pikachu right?)

A Philosphy is: "the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.

a particular system of philosophical thought.

plural noun: philosophies"

Or in plain english, its the Operating system for your brain.  The 20th century was largely a contest of ideologies: Communism, Capitalism, Fascism and Democracy.  Capitalism seemed to win until the advent of Fox News turned the 1rst Amendment and axiomatic diatribes we inherited from the 18th century and shows why fanatical devotion to the 1rst amenmend is a terrible fucking idea.

And more importantly, as I've researched WHAT to put here, I've come to realize that you can fit a work of fiction to your lens if you want, no matter what you do.  I've thought exercized Lawful Good versions of Baileyism or Chaotic Evil ones.  And you can do the same thing to the Count of Monte Cristo.   But I stand by my decision to pick this work based on the principal that its both a work that most people recognize, with a widely recongized hero, but also a very morally complicated one.  

Spoilers from the book from the one person that read this far who hasnt read the book.  Who am I kidding? Thats almost assuredly zero, but for purposes of this thought exercize, we'll proceed.

Summary randomly stolen: "A poor, good-hearted sailor named Edmond Dantès gets wrongfully imprisoned by jealous rivals, rots in a dungeon for years, escapes, finds a treasure on the Isle of Monte Cristo, reinvents himself as a fabulously rich and mysteriously powerful nobleman, and then, in a grand operatic blaze of cunning, disguise, and vengeance, utterly wrecks the lives of the bastards who ruined his—but not without learning that forgiveness might be stronger than revenge, if not quite as satisfying."

The pihlosophy I want and that I think we need is POST ism.   It has to be able to deal with complicated scenarios and agitprop and a world where AI can make us question what's the fucking POINT of even being alive?  And these are questions we've needed to ask about the increasing rot of capitalism democracy for quite some time.  Western Liberal Democracy infested with Capitalism has created prosperity but to misquote Margaret Thatcher, "It works pretty good until you run out of other people's money to pay for it."

Unlimited Freedom of Speech; or framly any variety thereof creates a rot that allows the rich and the elite to leverage democracy to their favor and a cycle of corruption that makes people more cyncical about democracy and their freedom until they are willing to do most anything to fix it including burn the world down.  The Founding Fathers learned the lessons of Athens so they made checks and balances against Tyranny, but those were thrown out the window because we had so much trouble amending the constitution when we needed it that the minority undemocratic faction stalled and stalled and stalled until tehy got their cictator psycho elected.

Edmund Dantes is not a guy who sits around and twiddles his thumbs and accepts his lot in the world.  The part about "There are things in this world that you cannot control" from Stoicism is absolutely one hundred percent on.  But the part of "Learn to accept it" is replaced in Christoicism with "Fuck That" to "I'm going to make the world a better place as best I can."

I like this work not just because of the attitude of Dantes to adversity but because he uses iterative, recursive and planned methods and means to achieve justice.  He understands that in a world where the levers of justice have been turned agaisnt you there is no justice but what you take yourself.   Christoicism is the Neutral Good philosophy of the revolutionary; there are times when you must be Chaotic Good and there are times where you must put down the sword and build socities and civilization and be Lawful Good.  Chaotic Good and Neutral Good are needed to ensure in perpetuity that Lawful Good does not allow soul killers to our society like Fox News.

The Old World is falling apart; we see it before our eyes.  We must be our own Foundation; every one of us.  I seek practical methologies to navigate these times not bankrupt dogmas like Anarchism that do shit like this.  My point as I walk you through this is to show you how you can organize the values that you hold dear and create a framework to know when you should apply one vs the other by doing the hard work for mometns of crisis ahead of time so you're not caught in ideological traps that cause more harm than good in the trenches.   Every man must be a tactician and a strategist; a lone agent a team player ready to switch to the most effective means against fascism, falsehood and tyranny.  Christocism shows that their is no master idiology no silver magic bullet but that we can act as if their is a greater truth worth striving for and defending all the same.

How do you fight corruption without becoming corrupt? What is the right level of introspection vs action? Dantes did both of these things and though a fictional character we can learn from this mirror into our darker shadows.   This isnt about moral purity, it's about Direct Action.   What we do now matters not only for us but for those who are to come.  And I intend to do my part to see if we can find a better, more fucking effective, way.

Ex Post Facto

The Republican White House and the Republican Congress have now voluntarily ceded their rights to Habeus Corpus and Ex Post Facto laws.   Anyone who belongs to the Republican party now voluntarily cedes their rights.   Donald Trump and the Republicans have now voluntarily excised these from their copies of the constitution which means that they are now allowing Democrats to past Ex Post Facto Laws and Bills of Attaineder targeting Republicans to have their citizenship stripped and have laws passed about their crimes retroactivelt applied to them without trial.

Democrats who object to this can join them.

Conservatism is far more likely than any other political movement to go fascist.  Frankly, I think it behooves any democracy to just outlaw it.  "Dicatorship!" They howl.  To vote for W.  To vote for H.W.  To vote for Reagan meant flirting with strong executitve.  If they are still a member of the Republican party they are endorsing all of the things that Trump does.   They've had many months to change their party affiliation.

We all know that they want a civil war, and they think they can win.  Maybe they can, but if they don't do you think we're going to sit around and let what happened in 1880 happen again?  Do you think there is going to be some partial reconstruction? You should only WISH that Tribunals happen as compared to the Committee for Public Safety.  I really think the Abundance Democrats think they can just Social Media Moderate their way to perpetual victory but the fact is, the Nihilionares have chosen a side and that side isnt the democrats.  Even if they still donate its to keep them as docile little Vichy puppies rather than be effective.

Mark my words....the Republicans will lose.  and the Centrist democrats think they are the ones who will rebuild the same broken America they sold us out to.

As if.

Baileyism - We Bid Bedford Falls Goodbye

I want to write a book about this. In a better world, this was my ticket to honorary PhDs and a chance to become a great philosopher of the ages. The philosophers of old certainly didn't have fancy degrees any more than George Bailey did, but is there any doubt in your mind that the man was a scholar? A would-be founding father who found his time and place in a little realm called Bedford Falls. In a better world than ours—one that didn't throw away Obama's grassroots network, or let hanging chads decide an election, or fail to contest every precinct in Florida rather than let that man get away with his transparent cheating—in that world, this philosophy might have inspired people to give a damn in ways that don't require guns pointed by the government. I think, just like in It's a Wonderful Life, we need government, but we need to do more than that right now. 

But the problem is that the George Baileys of the world are fighting the real battle of Bedford Falls right now; they're protecting their neighbors from ICE raids and protesting pro-Nazi businesses. They're sheltering their neighbors, or if religious, doing actually Christian things like working at food kitchens and soup lines for the poor. The fact of the matter is, what we need right now is more... Monte Cristoism. So we say farewell to what could have been, and begin to move into what we need now. 

I have put the seed of the idea of this wonderful movie becoming a real thing for the world out there for you. And like Momma Dollar and Poppa Dollar I genuinely believe that not only can it be so but that the people who made the movie hoped their art to inspire it to be. There is nothing whistful about the movie in the slightest. But for now, in our time, the Bailey Buliding and Loan has served its purpose and now I think I just heard a knock on my cell door in le Chateu de If.