Written by Jason Montoya on 29 February 2024. Posted in Content Roundup.

January 2024 Roundup: Exploring the Stakes of Life & Society & How We Should Respond

Welcome to another content roundup! This is a different style than the last ones and an experiment using my image carousels.

Simply scroll down to the things that interest you, and scroll to the right or left to look through the carousels.

The idea is to make it super easy to explore these compelling ideas.

This content roundup is focused on resources I shared publicly in January 2024.

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Newly Discovered Content From Around the Web

These are the most worthwhile resources I've collected around the internet. See all content recommendations here.

Grow Our Selves: Personal Development & Belief

Love and Creation in the Theology of St. Augustine

Simeon Zahl, on the TalkingBird Podcast by Mockingbird surveys these ideas.

Explore highlights by scrolling through the images below.

In his message on the TalkingBird Podcast by Mockingbird, Simeon Zahl, shares how Christians are to see, face, and heal tragedy and evil. Scroll to see my key quotes. #christianity #meaning #rehabilitate #hospital

"Idolatry is treating a good thing in the world as if it were God. The nature of idolatry is taking a good thing and making it God... treating it as if our meaning and purpose come from them. The reason evil exists, is not that is has its own existence, it is because good went wrong in Eden. We think the way to deal with things that are bad is to destroy them, rather than to love and rehabilitate them." - Simeon Zahl, Love and Creation in the Theology of St. Augustine, Mockingbird, TalkingBird Podcast

"God wants to fix/rehabilitate/untwist/restore order to his world, rather than destroy and that is because the world is created by Him and it is good. It is also is why we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Our enemies are God's good creation. Everything that is wrong has something good at its deepest sub strait. And evil is removed, not by removing any nature, or part of a nature, which had been introduced by the evil, but by healing and correcting that which had been vitiated and depraved." - Simeon Zahl, Love and Creation in the Theology of St. Augustine, Mockingbird, TalkingBird Podcast

"This is the Christian vision of the world. The earth is not a battlefield. It's not even a training ground. At its deepest level, its a hospital." - Simeon Zahl, Love and Creation in the Theology of St. Augustine, Mockingbird, TalkingBird Podcast

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“There's only one way for you to feel safe and happy and that's if you listen to me!” - Superfly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

“No, not anymore [Believe in God]. I guess I believe in me now.”

- Daryl Dixon The Walking Dead, Season 11, Episode 4

"The reason Christians are disliked by the public today is because they are actively wicked. When the younger generation turns against religion, it's primarily because they believe organized religion is a racket, Christian leaders to be hypocries and charlatans, and totaly insincere about the messsage they are spreading. There's a whole body of social science to show that 30-40 years ago, unbelieving Americans still held a very, very high opinion of the church..." - Tim Alberta

My Commentary: This is one of the most disappointing dynamics I’ve experienced in the last few years. It’s a driving force in my book project. I wanted to hold a faith that integrated the problem of human depravity, that it is so bad that even Christians are part of it; and that includes myself.

Unfortunately, Christians tend to want to blame the culture wars for this shift in perception instead of looking in the mirror. Let’s accept responsibility and change that. Blue Like Jazz.

But, where there is a crisis, there is also an opportunity…

What happened in the last 3-4 decades that Christianity degraded so dramatically? That's a question worth wrestling with to figure out the opportunity.

Assuming Responsibility for Others

Explore quotes Hannah Arendt by scrolling through the images below.

We Reap What We Sow

Key insights about the consequences of twisting reality.

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We Reap What We Sow. Sometimes the consequences are not immediate. But they come. See how Jordan Peterson powerfully illuminates this idea.

“If I get too puffed up, something is going to come along and take me out at the knees and everyone knows that pride comes before a fall.” - Jordan Peterson,No one gets away with anything

“In all my years as a clinical psychologist, and this is something that really does terrify me, is I have never seen anyone ever get away with anything at all, even once.” - Jordan Peterson,No one gets away with anything

“What I see instead is that the thing happens. Someone twists the fabric of reality and they do it successfully because it doesn't snap back at them that moment. And then, like two years later, something unravels and they get walloped. And they think, "this is so unfair!" And then we track it. What happened before that [unfair moment]... and then what? Oh, that's where it went wrong.” - Jordan Peterson,No one gets away with anything

“You can't twist the fabric of reality without having it snapped back. It doesn't work that way. One of the things that tempts people is the idea that we can get away with it... you get away with nothing and that is the beginning of wisdom.” - Jordan Peterson,No one gets away with anything

Watch Video Clip

Katniss Everdeen: We all have one enemy, and that's Snow! He corrupts everyone and everything! He turns the best of us against each other. Stop killing for him!

Katniss Everdeen: We all have one enemy, and that's Snow! He corrupts everyone and everything! He turns the best of us against each other. Stop killing for him!

Movie: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Story Break Down

My Commentary: This breaking down of our smaller stories is what makes us vulnerable to bigger toxic stories. Our small story breaks and we’re crushed by the larger reality. So we accept distorted narratives to relieve us.

Explore highlights by scrolling through the images below.

Listen to Full Podcast Episode

“Watch when God changes your circumstances to see whether you are going on with Jesus, or siding with the world, the flesh, and the devil.“ - Oswald Chambers

Gale Hawthorne: What's the difference, Katniss? Crushing the enemy in a mine or blowin' them outta of the sky with one of Beetee's arrows. It's the same thing. Katniss Everdeen: We were under attack in District 8. And that hovercraft wasn't filled with civilians. Gale Hawthorne: Doesn't matter. Even if those civilians are just moppin' floors, they're helping the enemy. And if they have to die, I can live with that. No one who supports the Capitol is innocent. Katniss Everdeen: With that kind of thinking, you can kill whoever you want. You can send kids off to the Hunger Games to keep the districts in line. Gale Hawthorne: It's war, Katniss. Sometimes killing isn't personal. Figured if anyone knew that, it was you. Katniss Everdeen: I, of all people, know that it's always personal.

Gale Hawthorne: What's the difference, Katniss? Crushing the enemy in a mine or blowin' them outta of the sky with one of Beetee's arrows. It's the same thing.

Katniss Everdeen: We were under attack in District 8. And that hovercraft wasn't filled with civilians.

Gale Hawthorne: Doesn't matter. Even if those civilians are just moppin' floors, they're helping the enemy. And if they have to die, I can live with that. No one who supports the Capitol is innocent.

Katniss Everdeen: With that kind of thinking, you can kill whoever you want. You can send kids off to the Hunger Games to keep the districts in line.

Gale Hawthorne: It's war, Katniss. Sometimes killing isn't personal. Figured if anyone knew that, it was you.

Katniss Everdeen: I, of all people, know that it's always personal.

Movie: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Story, Confronting Evil, & Responsibility, & The Bible

In His Best Interview Yet, Jordan Peterson Shares Powerful Psychological Insights on story, confronting evil, responsibility, & the Bible. From the Modern Wisdom Podcast

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In His Best Interview Yet, Jordan Peterson Shares Powerful Psychological Insights on story, confronting evil, responsibility, & the Bible. Scroll to see my collected quotes. From the Modern Wisdom Podcast

“A story is a description of a hierarchy of values.” - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"You don't see much of the world. You see it through narrow apertures. You see what you allow in." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"What does not using God's name in vain mean? Do not claim divine motivation for self-serving behavior. That's performative compassion." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

“The worst tragedy is the worst and most painful death inflicted on the least deserving person. That's the ultimate reach of tragedy. That's not enough. Christ has to confront that and he has to confront malevolence that's the harrowing of hell. So the idea is that to adapt fully to life, you have to allow yourself to be possessed by the spirit that will enable you to voluntarily face unjust suffering and death and evil." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"Part of the reason we're losing the scientific enterprise right now is because we've unmoored it from its metaphysical substrate and it can't survive. If you're going to be a scientist, you have to put the truth above all else. You have to believe in the truth to be a scientist." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"The [Biblical] narrative is an investigation, 1, into the nature of God. 2, into the nature of relationship with God. And 3, into the nature of the proper relationship with God and all of those things. God is the sum of all that's good. The Bible is an analysis of the human relationship with the good." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"You can draft your words to get what you want... They can craft words to gain an advantage that they really don't deserve. That's what you do when you manipulate. It's easy to be deluded in what you want and that's the sort of delusions that people chase if they chase power. If you decide instead that you're going to just say what you believe to be true, you have to let go of the consequences." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"What does the story of Moses mean? As you walk through life… things will call to you. And if you pursue them they will take you deep. What matters is that you pursue it and you you pursue it to the depths. As you pursue it to the depths you will become transformed and if you do that without reservation, that will turn you into that will turn you into the person who frees the slaves and opposes the tyrants." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

"No one can have two selves... part of the reason why you have to be very careful about what you say and do is that when you practice falsehood, you become false. It's not like those are beliefs that are just in your head. You rewire yourself so you start to literally see the world through the frame of your falsehoods. That's a very bad plan... It's even worse than believing lies, you become the lie. The [lies] are built into you as implicit axioms." - Jordan Peterson, How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs, Modern Wisdom Podcast

Wath Full Podcast Episode

“When nowhere feels like home you just retreat into yourself.” - Amy Lau, Beef

“When nowhere feels like home you just retreat into yourself.”

- Amy Lau, Beef

Judgment, Delusion, & the Uniqueness of Christianity

From The New Thinkers: A new conversation on God >> The surprising rebirth of belief in God

Explore highlights by scrolling through the images below.

Judgment, Delusion, & The Uniqueness of Christianity Scroll images to explore key quotes from this podcast episode: The New Thinkers: A New Conversation on God Podcast

"If you don't have [original sin] then you feel all the more qualified to sit in judgement on those who you feel who have failed to emancipate themselves from sin." The New Thinkers: A New Conversation on God, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast by Justin Brierley

"We saw thousands of Americans resort to violence [on Jan 6] against their own country for something that has no basis in reality. The January 6th insurrection left much of the world stunned but it was part of a bigger picture, a growing willingness among much of the population to blindly swallow all manner of "alternative facts", conspiracy theories, and claims about stolen elections, often driven by social media." The New Thinkers: A New Conversation on God, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast by Justin Brierley

"Many progressives don't realize how deeply their Christian thinking is and don't realize how unique the set of ideas inherited by Christianity are in terms of the equality of men and women, rich and poor, vulnerable people should not be exploited but protected... these fundamental ideas, what we call human rights." Louise Perry, The New Thinkers: A New Conversation on God, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast by Justin Brierley

Listen to Full Podcast Episode

We humans love deception.

The lie soothes our conscience.

Can we overcome this? The Bible Project has a great insight into this, as it relates to the idea of sin.

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We love deception. The lie soothes our conscience. Can we overcome? The Bible Project has a great insight on this, as it relates to the idea of sin.

“Every human is an image of God, a sacred being who represents the creator and deserving of respect. Sin is a failure to love God and others and not treating them with the honor they deserve. Sin against people is a sin against God. And sin is more than doing bad things, it describes how we easily deceive ourselves and spin illusions to redefine our bad decisions as good ones.” -Sin Involves More Than You Might Think (We'll Explain)

In the book, Ordinary Men, there’s a story about how the Germans soothed their conscience murdering children. From the chapter titled, Reflections on a Massacre. The following is a testimony.

"I made the effort, and it was possible for me, to shoot only children. It so happened that the mothers led the children by the hand. My neighbor then shot the mother and I shot the child that belonged to her, because I reasoned with myself that after all without its mother the child could not live any longer. It was supposed to be, so to speak, soothing to my conscience to release the children unable to live without their mothers."

The author notes a few things worth emphasizing. What’s said can’t be fully appreciated “unless one knows that the German word for “release” also means redeem or save” in a religious sense. “The one who releases is the savior or redeemer!”

Knowing we’re inclined to tell ourselves stories that make us feel better, but are not true, learning to discover truth is key to a good life. But, it Starts by loving Truth, as the Apostle Paul tells us.

“They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved.” - Paul, the Apostle, 2 Thessalonians 2:10

Choose the love of truth. It can be hard. But, in the long run, it’s worth it.

Watch Bible Project Video

Superfly: “Look [rat]man, we are basically the same! We both hate humans, I am just not a punk about it like you!”

Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

What Happens When We Live Without Compassion For Others?

See how Jackson Greer from Anselm Society pulls out some key insights from the Lord of the Rings to answer the question.

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What Happens When We Live Without Compassion For Others? Scroll to see how Jackson Greer pulls out some key insights from the Lord of the Rings to answer the question.

“A life void of compassion slips into malice and utter ruin…” Jackson Greer, Compassion in the Lord of the Rings, Anselm Society

“In The Return of the King, the growth of Frodo’s compassion is revealed. When Saruman, the broken but still evil wizard, is discovered trying to take over the Shire. Frodo attempts to persuade the crowd of vengeful hobbits to not kill Saruman despite the great harm he has done. Frodo seeks healing and peace in the final conflict of the War of the Ring.” Jackson Greer, Compassion in the Lord of the Rings, Anselm Society

“Saruman was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against,” Frodo says. “He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.” Jackson Greer, Compassion in the Lord of the Rings, Anselm Society

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"But let’s remember what our tradition teaches: not what to believe, but how we get to beliefs worth holding. Questioning is sacred. Dissent is productive. If you start to debate, you may discover something that transcends the binary: You may discover a third opinion. And it will inevitably be wiser than either of the first two." - Rabbi Angela Buchdahl

Grow Your Business

"Stick with it—whatever “it” is. As long as you do not let your pace of learning diminish with time (age) you will have massive gains in a short period of time—after a long period of time." - Blair Enns

A strategic inflection point is a time in the life of business when its fundamentals are about to change. That change can mean an opportunity to rise to new heights. But it may just as likely signal the beginning of the end.” - Andrew Grove

Grow Others: Society & Politics

“This vulnerable center... makes life a long emergency that can be pacified by increasingly strenuous efforts to control experience. We are constantly modifying our experience to avoid discomfort." - Sam Harris

"with agape (love), christianity can say, to all of the non-persons of the roman empire: all the women, all the children, all the non-male, citizens, all the sick, all the poor, all the widowed, can take all of those non-persons and say we will turn you into persons, persons that belong to the kingdom of God." - John Vervaeke

"The French novelist Gustave Flaubert observed a little discussed pivot point of Western Civilization: “Just when the gods had ceased to be, and the Christ had not yet come, there was a unique moment in history, between Cicero and Marcus Aurelius, when man stood alone.” He is referring to the period between the fall of the gods and the rise of God."

Dr. Volumnia Gaul: What happened in there? That's humanity undressed. Filled with the terror of becoming prey. See how quickly we become predator? See how quickly civilization disappears? Coriolanus Snow: Those tributes don't have a choice. Dr. Volumnia Gaul: I was talking about you. Oh your fine manners, education, background, stripped away in the blink of an eye. Leaving a boy with a club who beats another boy to death to stay alive. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

Dr. Volumnia Gaul: What happened in there? That's humanity undressed. Filled with the terror of becoming prey. See how quickly we become predator? See how quickly civilization disappears?

Coriolanus Snow: Those tributes don't have a choice.

Dr. Volumnia Gaul: I was talking about you. Oh your fine manners, education, background, stripped away in the blink of an eye. Leaving a boy with a club who beats another boy to death to stay alive.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

When Hitler and the Nazis Came To Power, Many Christians Followed. Why?

Keep in mind, that this was before the war started. 1935. Two years after Hitler took power. This was something I stumbled upon in my book research, where I wanted to contend with the evil of Christians across history. I wanted a faith that would integrate that difficult-to-accept truth.

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When Hitler and the Nazis Came To Power, Many Christians Followed. Why? Scroll to see key quotes from Karl Barth, a Christian who spoke out during this time, to read his explanation for why Christians became evil.

“For what we have experienced in Germany during these latter days – this remarkable apostasy of the Church to nationalism, and I am sure that every one of you is horrified and says in his heart: I thank thee God that I am not a German Christian! I assure you that it will be the end of your road, too. It has its beginning with “Christian life” and ends in paganism.” Karl Barth, 1935

“For, if you once admit, “Not only God but I also,” and if your heart is with the latter – and friends, that’s where you have it! –there is no stopping it. Let me assure you that there are many sincere and very lovely people among the German Christians. But it did not save them falling a prey to this error.” Karl Barth, 1935

“You spoke of Christ. Let me emphasize only one fact. Christ believed He could not bring real and genuine help to man except by dying for him.” What does it mean? What shall we infer concerning man? Concerning ourselves? Karl Barth, 1935

In the face of this fact, in the face of the cross and resurrection of Christ, what shall we assert of man except that man, as man and without Christ, is lost. And to be lost does not mean to have gone astray a little, it means to be wholly lost… are human beings, even very nice people. But Christ was not able to help us in any other way than by dying for us. There is no other help for us than this.“ Karl Barth, 1935

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"Your attitude towards a specific event in the past reveals your specific intent towards the future… When you deny a specific crime that people with whom you identify carried out in the past, you're affirming that crime." - Timothy Snyder

Why Do We Love The Lie?

And, how should we respond?

Explore quotes by scrolling through the images below.

“Bacon says there is something more mysterious: “a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself.” Why do some people simply love lies? Because, Bacon suggests, “a mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure.” It makes life more interesting, more fun.” Alan Jacobs, Staying for the Truth: A brief interrogation into the nature of truth

“If you have been able to discover something that is true, then you should have compassion for those who are laboring under the spell of falsehood. And if instead of pitying them, you mock and belittle them, then you will become swollen with pride—and then, when the lies that comfort you come around, you will be unable to resist them.” Alan Jacobs, Staying for the Truth: A brief interrogation into the nature of truth

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“We cannot live without meaning, an ultimate meaning. We can’t live without seeing ourselves as part of a larger narrative in which we are somehow indispensable players.” - Rebekah Valerius

Leia Organa: I held out hope for so long, but I know my son is gone. Luke Skywalker: No one's ever really gone. /// Star Wars: The Last Jedi \\\

Leia Organa: I held out hope for so long, but I know my son is gone.

Luke Skywalker: No one's ever really gone.

///
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
\\\

Read The Last Jedi Betterment Essay Series

Valuing Human Life as a Core Western Belief

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"Familiarity with the biblical narrative of the crucifixion has dulled our sense of just how completely novel a deity Christ was ... [Christianity] is the principal reason why, by and large, most of us who live in post-Christian societies still take for granted that it is nobler to suffer than to inflict suffering. It is why we generally assume that every human life is of equal value. In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian." - Tom Holland, Dominion (book)

What is Holocaust Denial?

What Is Holocaust Denial, How Does It Work, & Why Do People Do It?

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“Holocaust Denial, also known as Holocaust Revisionism, is the attempt to deny or trivialize the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany against Jews and others during World War II.”

“Why Do People Deny the Holocaust? Most Holocaust deniers want to wash away the stain of Nazism in an attempt to make Nazism an acceptable political alternative today. Many have present and past ties with hate groups and are trying to shed that image by masquerading themselves as seekers of historical truth, rather than merchants of bigotry.”

“This ‘big-lie” is especially painful for Holocaust survivors and all those who lost loved ones to Nazi mass murder who are confronted by people who deny their suffering and loss.”

“They maintain that the U.S. and Great Britain concocted wild atrocity stories about the Nazis to cover up their own war crimes. Jews, they claim, joined the conspiracy in order to prey upon the sympathies of the world and extort money from post-war Germany in order to establish the State of Israel. (Arab leaders have sometimes resorted to Holocaust denial in an attempt to delegitimize the existence of the State of Israel).”

“To one degree or another, Holocaust revisionists claim the Holocaust is an exaggeration, if not an outright hoax. Many argue that Hitler's intentions were peaceful, and that the real villains of the war were actually U.S. President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill and the Jews.”

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“I got the shotgun you got the briefcase. S’all part of the game, right?” - Omar, The Wire, Season 2

“I got the shotgun you got the briefcase. S’all part of the game, right?”

Omar, The Wire, Season 2

This Straussian moment By Peter Thiel

The World Has Changed Dramatically Since 9/11. Peter Thiel explains how.

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Click to Read Peter Thiel's Essay: This Straussian Moment

Watch Essay Reading and Explanation

Anxiety & Pathology

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“Unmanaged anxiety leads to pathology. The more isolated, insignificant and ineffective one feels the greater the felt need for power. People often seek power in an attempt to overcome deficiencies, but power only aggravates the nature of sin and does not palliate it. In other words, whatever sin tendencies or weakness we have, a position of power will make it worse, not better, as we seem to suppose.” - Diane Langberg

Dealing With Bad Dudes

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“But unlike Scrooge, Raucci had no moral awakening. Instead, his behavior got progressively worse. He sexually harassed subordinates. Anyone who challenged him faced threats. When his secretary casually remarked during watercooler banter that Raucci wasn't "her type," he transferred her to a worse office…

The person wrote an anonymous letter, detailing Raucci's abuses as president of the maintenance unit. He wasn't fit for union leadership, the letter claimed. Raucci went ballistic. Someone had double-crossed him.” - Brian Klaas, Corruptible (Book)

The Terror or Totalitarianism

Farnam Street has an excellent article on the Terror of Totalitarianism. While we have hope in the face of this, we should also let our fear of it shape our choices and actions so that we can prevent it.

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Farnam Street Has An Excellent Article on The Terror of Totalitarianism Explained I’ve Collected Highlights Scroll to the next image if you’d like to read them. Scroll away if you don’t.

“One of the most disturbing things about Nazism in Germany is how quickly the country changed. They went from democracy to concentration camps in fewer than ten years. As Arendt demonstrates, both Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia capitalized on tensions already present in society. There was essentially a massive rejection of the existing political system as ineffectual and self-serving.“ - Farnam Street, The Terror of Totalitarianism Explained

“Arendt argues that there is a “possibility that gigantic lies and monstrous falsehoods can eventually be established as unquestioned facts, that man may be free to change his own past at will, and that the difference between truth and falsehood may cease to be objective and become a mere matter of power and cleverness, of pressure and infinite repetition.’” - Farnam Street, The Terror of Totalitarianism Explained

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"They never hit you when it's going their way, you know? It's when they're weak and just pretending to be strong. When they need something small to climb on to feel big." - Dot, Fargo, Season 5, Episode 5: The Tiger

"They never hit you when it's going their way, you know? It's when they're weak and just pretending to be strong. When they need something small to climb on to feel big."

- Dot, Fargo, Season 5, Episode 5: The Tiger

We Can Feel Confident, When We’re Right, Even When We’re Wrong.

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"We [Westboro Baptist Church] actually saw ourselves as living out meaningful values, like courage. These attacks [against us] only furthered our feelings that we were being persecuted for telling a hard truth to the world... How was it that I could be so certain that I was right but be wrong for so long?" Megan Phelps-Roper, Chapter 6: Natalie and Noah, The Witch Trials of JK Rowling

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Are the Strong Destined to Rule the Weak?

"Even the most zealous secularist now defends human equality, social justice, and special concern for the marginalized and suffering-ideas that would have seemed foolish, if not incomprehensible, to our pagan ancestors... Liberalism is a secular expression of the Christian teaching that the individual is sacred and deserving of protection. Socialism is a secular expression of Christian concern for the poor and downtrodden. Globalism is a secular expression of the Christian hope that history is leading to a kingdom of universal peace and justice..."

In the present, it spreads through secular creeds that preach equality and freedom... Christianity denied what antiquity had serenely assumed: that the strong are destined to rule the weak, that we have no obligations to strangers, and that our identities are constituted by our social status."

Listen to the This Podcast Episode

Superfly: There's only one way for you to feel safe and happy and that's if you listen to me!

Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Lucy Gray Baird: Nothing you can take from me was ever worth keeping.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

"We have a responsibility to speak out when we see something wrong in our own tribe. Our sin nature causes humans to stray from God and to seek their own power and influence to try and control events and that breeds idolatry; national idolatry, political idolatry, displacing the kingdom of God with the kingdom of America. The core question is, do you view faith through the context of your politics or your politics through the context of your faith?" - Tim Alberta

"... church leaders had consistently used this event to generate the very Jew hatred that was at the heart of what was being adjudicated at [the Eichmann] trial. Without the legacy of contempt nurtured by the church, the Final Solution (Nazi Holocaust) would never have been realized." - Deborah E. Lipstadt, The Eichmann Trial (Book)

“the 'narrative wars' of the past, when liberal systems were tested against illiberal ones, Western outlets gained trust when they encouraged candid and self-critical news reporting, just as their illiberal counterparts lost trust because they stuck rigidly to a party line.”

"You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat" - Chief Brody Jaws

"You're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat"

- Chief Brody Jaws

2016 Was America’s Fork In The Road.

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"2016 felt like a fork in the road for how we treated each other, how we talked about each other, how hopeful we were able to feel about our common life, and how we could live together when we're so different." Elizabeth Oldfield, Ayaan Hirsi Ali: A New Atheist embraces Christianity, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God Podcast

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“'you're electing a president not a pastor'… has justified sweeping under the rug enormous amounts of corruption." - David French

Welcome to Our New Bespoke Realities

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“People don’t just have strange or quirky ideas on confined subjects. They have entire worldviews rooted in a comprehensive network of misunderstandings and false beliefs.” - David French, Welcome to Our New ‘Bespoke Realities’

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Secret Documents?

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D'Angelo Barksdale : He's saying that the past is always with us, and where we come from, what we go through, how we go through it, all this shit matters. I mean, that's what I thought he meant. Book Group Leader : Go ahead. D'Angelo Barksdale : Like at the end of the book, you know, boats and tides and all. It's like you can change up, right, you can say you somebody new, you can give yourself a whole new story. But, what came first is who you really are and what happened before is what really happened. And it don't matter that some fool say he different cuz the only thing that make you different is what you really do, what you really go through. Like, ya know, like all them books in his library. He frontin with all them books, but if you pull one down off the shelf, ain't none of the pages ever been opened. He got all them books, and he ain't read near one of 'em. Gatsby, he was who he was, and he did what he did. And cuz he wasn't ready to get real with the story, that shit caught up to him. I think, anyway. The Wire, Season 2

D'Angelo Barksdale : He's saying that the past is always with us, and where we come from, what we go through, how we go through it, all this shit matters. I mean, that's what I thought he meant.

Book Group Leader : Go ahead.

D'Angelo Barksdale : Like at the end of the book, you know, boats and tides and all. It's like you can change up, right, you can say you somebody new, you can give yourself a whole new story. But, what came first is who you really are and what happened before is what really happened. And it don't matter that some fool say he different cuz the only thing that make you different is what you really do, what you really go through. Like, ya know, like all them books in his library. He frontin with all them books, but if you pull one down off the shelf, ain't none of the pages ever been opened. He got all them books, and he ain't read near one of 'em. Gatsby, he was who he was, and he did what he did. And cuz he wasn't ready to get real with the story, that shit caught up to him. I think, anyway.

The Wire, Season 2

Coming Back From The Abyss

Confessions from Cassidy Hutchinson on coming back from being enthralled by the spell of Trump, her role in the White House, and insights into Republican corruption, of which she was a part, from the inside.

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"There are moments that you are not proud of where you feel like you've made a mistake. Not only can you come back from that, but there is always a second chance to be found..." - Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

“[on Jan 6] People went into the oval dining room… trying for hours to convince [Trump] to do something as we're watching these graphic images appear on television of people bloodging their way into the capital and ransacking...” - Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

"There was a sense of disillusionment when I was working with the Chief of Staff (Mark Meadows). I grew into this role feeling completely loyal to the principals that I served (instead of principles). I was subconsciously aware of this at the time, and I would sometimes think about it and that thought would infiltrate my mind and I would quickly shove it away because I wasn't really ready to come to terms with the fact that I had betrayed the person that I had wanted to become thus betraying the role that I had assumed when I took on both jobs in the white house." - Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

"Being on the inside and having that state of denial is very common throughout the Trump administration and just the overall mentality of the Republican party today. Being able to deny realities, that's something I fell into for a very long time." - Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

"Things changed the night of December 18th when Mr. Trump had several people in his office (Flynn, Byrne, Powell...) spouting conspiracy theories and lies about the election. The president was talking about invoking either martial law or the insurrection act and this meeting got completely out of control." - Cassidy Hutchinson, Enough, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

"There will come a point in their lives where they have to make a decision that requires tremendous risk and courage to move forward. And they will draw on all of their lived experiences and all the character that they have spent years cultivating. And they may not even realize that all of their experiences have been cultivating character so that when the moment arrives, you will be able to draw on the character that you have spent years building to be the person that rises to the occasion." - Sharon McMahon, Enough with Cassidy Hutchinson, Here’s Where It Gets Interesting

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From the Glass King to QAnon

Brian Klaas Has An Excellent Article From the Glass King to QAnon about why people are embracing delusions.

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“Humans are, to borrow the phrase from Jonathan Gottschall, storytelling animals—and a compelling story will seduce us in moments of uncertainty. Those stories can become mass delusions.” - Brian Klaas, From the Glass King to QAnon

Widely held modern delusions—like QAnon, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, Trump’s false claims that the 2020 US election was stolen, or that January 6th was a “false flag” organized by government—all provide a mirror for modern American society, a culture in which power feels opaque and distrust of government is at all-time highs.” - Brian Klaas, From the Glass King to QAnon

“The beliefs of QAnon are not random. Rather, they tap into an era of intense social dislocation, uncertainty, upheaval, and rapid change. Most of the adherents of QAnon may not be mentally ill in a medical sense, but they are prone to delusions as they’re searching for explanations that make sense of a feeling of being untethered from a familiar reality. - Brian Klaas, From the Glass King to QAnon

“QAnon provides explanations that tap into modern cultural fears. Power, for example, has gravitated away from the local to the national and international, making many citizens feel not just powerless, but that power itself has become far away and unaccountable.” - Brian Klaas, From the Glass King to QAnon

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Duncan Idaho: Dreams make good stories, but everything important happens when we're awake.

Duncan Idaho: Dreams make good stories, but everything important happens when we're awake.

Dune (2021)

“They tend toward totalism… So when you take something flawed from the outset, meaning the person is making up or imagining their contact with an ascended master and then getting other people to be convinced that this is real. Well, then you have a problem right there, because you can’t test it. You’re not allowed to test it. Anyone that tests it or doubts is considered an enemy or dark Force.” - Joe Szimhart

What's an Insurrection?

Plus Other Insights From Colorado’s Decision To Remove Trump From The Ballot.

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What Is An Insurrection? And Other Insights From Colorado’s Decision To Remove Trump From The Ballot. Scroll to see key quotes I discovered from reading the ruling.

The state's rights argument comes back around in an unexpected way. “Accordingly, states exercise their plenary appointment power not only to regulate the electors themselves, but also to regulate candidate access to presidential ballots. Absent a separate constitutional constraint, then, states may exercise their plenary appointment power to limit presidential ballot access to those candidates who are constitutionally qualified to hold the office of President. And nothing in the U.S. Constitution expressly precludes states from limiting access to the presidential ballot to such candidates.”

"Insurrection (Noah Webster’s dictionary (1860): A rising against civil or political authority; the open and active opposition of a number of persons to the execution of law in a city or state. It is equivalent to SEDITION, except that sedition expresses a less extensive rising of citizens.”

“In light of these and other proffered definitions, the district court concluded that “an insurrection as used in Section Three is (1) a public use of force or threat of force (2) by a group of people (3) to hinder or prevent execution of the Constitution of the United States.”

“Insurrection is distinguished from rout, riot, and offenses connected with mob violence by the fact that, in insurrection, there is an organized and armed uprising against authority or operations of government, while crimes growing out of mob violence, however serious they may be and however numerous the participants, are simply unlawful acts in disturbance of the peace which do not threaten the stability of the government or the existence of political society.”

"In short, the record amply established that the events of January 6 constituted a concerted and public use of force or threat of force by a group of people to hinder or prevent the U.S. government from taking the actions necessary to accomplish the peaceful transfer of power in this country. Under any viable definition, this constituted an insurrection…”

"Substantial evidence in the record showed that before the November 2020 general election, President Trump was laying the groundwork that the election was rigged. Moreover, when asked at a September 23, 2020 press briefing whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the election, President Trump refused to do so.”

“President Trump then lost the election, and despite the facts that his advisors repeatedly advised him that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud and that no evidence showed that he himself believed the election was wrought with fraud, President Trump ramped up his claims that the election was stolen from him and undertook efforts to prevent the certification of the election results." President Trump sought to overturn the election results by directly exerting pressure on Republican officeholders in various states."

"Notably, from the approximately 28,000 attendees who passed through these security checkpoints, the Secret Service confiscated hundreds of weapons and other prohibited items, including knives or blades, pepper spray, brass knuckles, tasers, body armor, gas masks, and batons or blunt instruments. Approximately 25,000 additional attendees remained outside the Secret Service perimeter, thus avoiding the magnetometers."

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“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.” - Soviet Nuclear Physicist, Valery Legasov, Chernobyl TV Series

“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.”

Soviet Nuclear Physicist, Valery Legasov, Chernobyl TV Series

Authoritarian Tendencies

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"[Mussolini] engineered and ordered the murder of the top socialist who was very beloved, Giacomo Matioti. [Mussolini] was implicated and was going to go down as people were pressing him to resign. So he took this leap and decided to declare dictatorship so he could fire the special prosecutors and then send everybody into exile or jail to save his skin." - Ruth Ben-Ghiat

"Authoritarian leaders despise the people who follow them. The more those people put their trust in them, the more they see them as assets to exploit." - Ruth Ben-Ghiat

"Fascism started [in Italy] as a decentralized militia movement... Mussolini united them and staged a march on Rome." - Ruth Ben-Ghiat

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America's Election Officials Fight Disinformation and Death Threats Ahead of 2024

My Commentary: We’ve got a dicey election season ahead of us. Here’s some news on the front lines working those polls with the challenges and risks unfolding.

Every day is a Day Trump could end this nightmare. The sin of one man and his enablers negatively affects so many Americans.

One positive effect of this scrutiny is that this process is helping to educate how incredible the people and systems we do have in place to make elections run well.

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Insights from an authoritarian expert.

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Scary Truth

Sometimes the truth is scary. Sometimes we don’t want to know it. We want something other than the truth. I’ve done this. We’re now doing this.

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Sometimes, the Truth is scary. We don’t want to know it. I can think of many times in my life, I didn’t want to look or find the answer. On the political campaign trail, Chris Christie shares an example of this.

“When your former chief of staff (Mark Meadows) signs an immunity agreement that means two things.” - Chris Christie

“1. [Trump] committed crimes and he’s admitting he committed crimes. You don’t need immunity if you haven’t committed crimes. 2. He’s gonna testify that Donald Trump directed him to commit crimes and he committed crimes himself.” - Chris Christie

“I’ve been astonished by some people who just don’t want to hear it. I had one woman who covered her ears when I started to talk to her because they know it’s the truth but they just don’t want to deal with it.” - Chris Christie

When we don’t deal with the problem and if we avoid the truth, we choose a more severe consequence later. Do you want to pay your debt now or wait until it accrues large amounts of interest?

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Lorraine Lyon: You want freedom with no responsiblity? Son, there is only one person on earth who gets that deal.

Roy Tillman: The president?

Lorraine Lyon: A baby. You're fighting for your right to be a baby.

Fargo, Season 5, Episode 5: The Tiger

Constitution or Political Survival?

"Every member of Congress, if you asked them, if you have to choose between the Constitution and your own political survival, every one of them will say well of course we will choose the Constitution. But as it turned out when it came down to it... too many [Republicans] didn't.

Some of it was fear of violence. People really need to stop and think about what does it mean in America that members of Congress are not voting the way that they believe they should because they fear violence instigated by the sitting president of the United States." - Liz Cheney

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“Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar.” - Liz Cheney

"Mike Johnson was operating in a way that was was dangerous because what Mike was doing was taking steps that he knew to be wrong, doing things that he knew to have no basis in fact or law or the Constitution. Mike was willing time and again to ignore the rulings of the Courts to ignore what state and federal courts had done and said about the elections in these states in order to attempt to do Donald Trump's bidding. " - Liz Cheney

“Once you have started to poison your own soul, by buying into someone who is abusing others, you can’t turn away from that without admitting that you are the one who is the problem.” - Heather Cox Richardson

A Few Other Extras

The Mockingcast, Episode 250: The Gang Goes Goth

Sarah Condon

"The real thing we are battling within ourselves is... we just want to push those [corrupt] people far to the outer darkness because we're so afraid of being them. And we're so afraid of making the mistakes they've made."

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“Lumber rebel: Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you. Katniss Everdeen: I can't. I guess that's the problem, isn't it? We blew up your mine. You burned my district to the ground. We each have every reason to want to kill each other. So if you wanna kill me, do it. Make Snow happy. I'm tired of killing his slaves for him. Lumber rebel: I'm not his slave. Katniss Everdeen: I am. That's why I killed Cato. And he killed Thresh. And Thresh killed Clove. It just goes around and around. And who wins? Always Snow. I am done being a piece in his game. District 12, District 2. We have no fight. Except the one the Capitol gave us. Why are you fighting the rebels? You're neighbors. You're family.”

“Lumber rebel: Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you.

Katniss Everdeen: I can't. I guess that's the problem, isn't it? We blew up your mine. You burned my district to the ground. We each have every reason to want to kill each other. So if you wanna kill me, do it. Make Snow happy. I'm tired of killing his slaves for him.

Lumber rebel: I'm not his slave.

Katniss Everdeen: I am. That's why I killed Cato. And he killed Thresh. And Thresh killed Clove. It just goes around and around. And who wins? Always Snow. I am done being a piece in his game. District 12, District 2. We have no fight. Except the one the Capitol gave us. Why are you fighting the rebels? You're neighbors. You're family.”

Movie: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2

Stranger Things Fan?

Running Up That Hill

This is an evocative scene that conveys the power of love, relationship, and community. Without this, all of us would succumb to the darkness and despair we face.

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What else? Did I miss some great worthwhile content? Shoot me a message here.