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Think Spot, Censorship and the Myth of Collective Power
>Our nation was built on the values of individual freedom, private
property and limited government...Learn about ThinkSpot!
The Myth of Collective Power
Many today are under the impression that the problems we face in
our world today will only be solved by collective action.
History, however, again and again, tells a different story.
While collective power is great at building things, moving things, and acting under a clearly-defined framework and hierarchy…
(And also forcing people to do what they don’t want to do… and killing them if they don’t comply)
It’s very poor at creative problem-solving, inventing, and discovering new things.
Statistics come from the impersonal institution, the “collective,” or the groups…
Great insights and strokes of brilliance come from individuals who, in wanting to solve a particular problem, with the ability of deliberate focus and reflection, come to a realization.
This, at its most basic, requires that individuals be untethered from the collective, allowing their thoughts to roam freely outside of “the box.”
(After all, if the answer was obvious, the collective would’ve already picked it up.)
Sometimes, the realization has little to do with the particular problem-at-hand. But what ties all great discoveries together is that it came from an active, open, and searching mind.
There’s been exactly zero cases of a spontaneous collective “Aha!” moment leading to a great invention, discovery, or insight.
It always took root in an individual mind first.
Brilliance, in other words, is a product of what makes us unique as individuals, not what makes us the same.
The seed always begins with the individual, then is tempered and shaped and elaborated on by others.
This is a liberating realization because individual brilliance doesn’t discriminate…
Every single individual with the capacity for insight has the ability to ruminate on a specific problem. And, flipside, the problem can be seen through a billion lenses that are all entirely unique.
We have billions of potentially brilliant solutions whirling around at this very moment, screaming to be let out.
Quietly. In a Bath. On a Solution.
Tragically, we seem to be mired in the idea that only groups are capable of affecting change.
Or, that the louder we are, the closer we must be to a solution.
Many, perhaps under the impression of democracy is a one-size-fits-all kinda’ thing, believe placards, movements, voting, and “power in numbers” is the way to solve all problems.
And yet -- after the cheers, jeers, highs, and hangovers are gone -- the results are always lacking, dubious, unspecified, and unclear.
In this mode, change is perpetually one protest, waiver, or signature away…
Why?
All the energy directed at “raising awareness,” shouting, demanding, and soapboxing about a problem, could’ve been spent… say...
Quietly. In a bath. On a solution.
Michelangelo once gave humanity the key to really changing the world, and he did so in only three words:
History, however, again and again, tells a different story.
While collective power is great at building things, moving things, and acting under a clearly-defined framework and hierarchy…
(And also forcing people to do what they don’t want to do… and killing them if they don’t comply)
It’s very poor at creative problem-solving, inventing, and discovering new things.
Statistics come from the impersonal institution, the “collective,” or the groups…
Great insights and strokes of brilliance come from individuals who, in wanting to solve a particular problem, with the ability of deliberate focus and reflection, come to a realization.
This, at its most basic, requires that individuals be untethered from the collective, allowing their thoughts to roam freely outside of “the box.”
(After all, if the answer was obvious, the collective would’ve already picked it up.)
Sometimes, the realization has little to do with the particular problem-at-hand. But what ties all great discoveries together is that it came from an active, open, and searching mind.
There’s been exactly zero cases of a spontaneous collective “Aha!” moment leading to a great invention, discovery, or insight.
It always took root in an individual mind first.
Brilliance, in other words, is a product of what makes us unique as individuals, not what makes us the same.
The seed always begins with the individual, then is tempered and shaped and elaborated on by others.
This is a liberating realization because individual brilliance doesn’t discriminate…
Every single individual with the capacity for insight has the ability to ruminate on a specific problem. And, flipside, the problem can be seen through a billion lenses that are all entirely unique.
We have billions of potentially brilliant solutions whirling around at this very moment, screaming to be let out.
Quietly. In a Bath. On a Solution.
Tragically, we seem to be mired in the idea that only groups are capable of affecting change.
Or, that the louder we are, the closer we must be to a solution.
Many, perhaps under the impression of democracy is a one-size-fits-all kinda’ thing, believe placards, movements, voting, and “power in numbers” is the way to solve all problems.
And yet -- after the cheers, jeers, highs, and hangovers are gone -- the results are always lacking, dubious, unspecified, and unclear.
In this mode, change is perpetually one protest, waiver, or signature away…
Why?
All the energy directed at “raising awareness,” shouting, demanding, and soapboxing about a problem, could’ve been spent… say...
Quietly. In a bath. On a solution.
Michelangelo once gave humanity the key to really changing the world, and he did so in only three words:
“Criticize by creating.”
Here’s one example:
Enter ThinkSpot.
Here’s one example:
Enter ThinkSpot.
Jordan Peterson recently
announced the launch of a project he’s been working on for a while behind the
scenes.
It’s called Thinkspot.
Thinkspot is a hybrid social media platform that mixes what’s great about Patreon, Youtube, and Twitter…
Without what all three of these platforms have become known for: censorship.
As you may know, Jordan Peterson’s fame really took off when he stood up for the freedom of speech.
More precisely, some say he got famous for opposing mandated speech in Canada (See: Bill C-16)…
Others say he got famous for being a “transphobic” bigot who refuses to program pronouns into his phone… (and that the whole draconian “say this or get thrown in a cage” thing is beside the point).
Whatever the case, Peterson is worried about two things:
Censorship on the Internet and the preservation of free speech.
Rather than advocating for government intervention, Peterson is criticizing by creating…
Enter ThinkSpot, a radically free social media platform.
It’s called Thinkspot.
Thinkspot is a hybrid social media platform that mixes what’s great about Patreon, Youtube, and Twitter…
Without what all three of these platforms have become known for: censorship.
As you may know, Jordan Peterson’s fame really took off when he stood up for the freedom of speech.
More precisely, some say he got famous for opposing mandated speech in Canada (See: Bill C-16)…
Others say he got famous for being a “transphobic” bigot who refuses to program pronouns into his phone… (and that the whole draconian “say this or get thrown in a cage” thing is beside the point).
Whatever the case, Peterson is worried about two things:
Censorship on the Internet and the preservation of free speech.
Rather than advocating for government intervention, Peterson is criticizing by creating…
Enter ThinkSpot, a radically free social media platform.
Jordan
Peterson’s Thinkspot Is a Welcome Social Media Option. Will It Work?
Tyler Curtis
Last month, the controversial
psychologist and popular public speaker Jordan Peterson announced that he is creating a new
social media site. Billed as an “anti-censorship” platform, “Thinkspot” would
allow users to post virtually whatever they want. “Once you’re on our platform
we won’t take you down unless we’re ordered to by a US court of law,” Peterson
promised.
Free Speech Under Attack?
For those worried that large
social media companies are unfairly discriminating against conservatives, Thinkspot
is a welcome development. What were once seemingly bastions of free speech,
platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have shown increasing willingness
to silence and ban users who express opinions deemed offensive (though, often,
this merely means that it was inimical to the progressive orthodoxy).
Examples of “de-platforming” are
legion. Specifically, Peterson calls attention to users who have been suspended
from Twitter for “misgendering” a
trans person and mocking laid-off journalists by telling them to “learn to code.” But the issue came to a head
recently when right-wing comedian Steven Crowder found that his YouTube channel
had been demonetized—but not suspended—after mocking Vox journalist
Carlos Maza, who is gay, as a “lispy queer.”
Many conservatives and Republican
lawmakers saw the Crowder-Maza incident as a warning sign that large tech
companies would kowtow to progressive mobs and continue to silence conservative
voices. They noted that several other comedians have made similarly coarse
statements online (including a comment by Maza in which he
implicitly called for violence) but have not suffered any repercussions.
To combat “censorship” by
politically biased platforms, Senator Josh Hawley just introduced legislation to regulate social media companies by forcing them to
prove to the government that their content removal practices are “politically
neutral.”
But as Michael Rieger has pointed out here at FEE, free speech
did not begin with Facebook, and we would be no less free if Facebook ceased to
exist. Far from protecting free expression, government regulation would likely
politicize internet speech even further and only increase the powerof
established social media platforms.
Will Thinkspot Be a Neutral Platform?
Rather than advocating for
government intervention, Jordan Peterson has an entrepreneurial solution to the
problem of social media bias. Thinkspot, he says, will be radically pro-free
speech. The site will be subscription-based, and creators will be compensated
directly by other subscribers. Unlike Patreon or YouTube, members will not have
to worry about their content being taken down or demonetized simply because
they hold unpopular opinions or if a vocal group of people decides to make them
a target.
That doesn’t mean Thinkspot won’t
have rules, however. Similar to Twitter’s 140-character maximum, Thinkspot will
have a 50-word minimum. The purpose is to
encourage users to post thoughtful opinions. “Even if you’re being a troll,
you’ll be a quasi-witty troll,” Peterson said. The intention here is noble, but
unfortunately, the idea is woefully naive. A long comment on any social media
site is more likely to be verbose than insightful. And to put it nicely, trolls
are not known for their brevity.
More puzzling is Thinkspot’s
voting feature. Users will be able to “upvote” or “downvote” a comment, and if
your comment falls below a certain ratio (Peterson has suggested 50/50), then
it will be hidden. The comment won’t be deleted, but users will have to click
on the comment in order to see it, much like how one must click on a tweet from
an account that one has muted or that Twitter has designated as “offensive
content.”
This poses a problem for those
who want a “politically neutral” social media platform. After all, what’s to
stop a right-wing mob from downvoting every comment they see from a
progressive? Make no mistake: Thinkspot will almost certainly be predominantly
populated by conservatives. As Néstor de Buen persuasively argues, a website designed by Jordan
Peterson and backed by other members of the so-called “Intellectual Dark Web” will undoubtedly discourage liberals from joining, while the
downvote system “will all but ensure no left-wing ideas are ever discussed on
the site.”
Thinkspot may not become the
pluralistic hub of free thought and honest debate envisioned by Peterson, but
that doesn’t mean it won’t have value. As the major social media companies
crack down on unprogressive speech, Thinkspot may become a refuge for
dissenters.
What’s more, an innovative Patreon-YouTube-Twitter hybrid could apply competitive pressure to other platforms, incentivizing them to relax their censorship policies. Once again, the market is doing a better job at encouraging free speech than more regulation ever could.
This article originally appeared on FEE.org here.
What’s more, an innovative Patreon-YouTube-Twitter hybrid could apply competitive pressure to other platforms, incentivizing them to relax their censorship policies. Once again, the market is doing a better job at encouraging free speech than more regulation ever could.
This article originally appeared on FEE.org here.
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All of a
sudden, it seems like the mainstream media just can’t stop talking about “the
coming recession” - Democrats are
drooling over the prospect as they don’t give a damn about people, only
damaging Trump
Right
now, the main reason voters approve of Trump’s job performance is the
economy. A CNN poll from
late May found that 26%
of those who approve of Trump’s job performance said it was mainly because of
the economy. That was more than double the next most commonly given answer.
Additionally, 8% said jobs/unemployment was the main reason for why they
approved of Trump. Among those who disapproved, few said anything related to
the economy was the main reason why they disapproved of Trump. For example,
only 1% said the Trump tax cuts.
But
if the U.S. economy plunges into a painful recession, the game completely
changes.
For
those on the left that would like to see Trump voted out in 2020, the timing of
the next recession will be key. If the next recession doesn’t begin until
the second half of 2020, there may not be enough economic pain before November
to swing the election in the favor of the Democratic candidate. So what
the left really needs is for a recession to begin during the second half of
2019 or the first half of 2020 so that Americans are really suffering by the
time election day rolls around.
Truly a
sick way for the Left to think but it is not surprising!
NEWS NUGGETS
“Negative yields are
symptomatic for the search for safe assets. The reason they’re trading at
negative yields is because the demand for safe assets is bigger than the supply
for them,′ said Ghali. “Gold stands to benefit quite a bit from that.. the
trade we’ve been recommending we have it as a three moth time horizon. I would
argue we are likely on the cusp of a multi-year bull market for gold.”
“Government’s around the
world are becoming increasingly wary of the dollar’s hegemony in international trade,”
says Moore. “And they’re doing their best to distance themselves from it by
using their gold reserves to buy more gold instead.”
”I
just read that they abandon the hive during earthquakes, and return when it’s
over. The constant aftershocks could be keeping them from ‘homing, which is
probably not good”, one Twitter user wrote, while another associated the bee
deaths to fluctuations in the Earth’s magnetic field during quakes.
The
cover-story for all that is the completely insane doctrine called Modern
Monetary Theory (MMT) which states that a nation with the world’s reserve
currency can never go bankrupt as long as it can keep “printing” more money —
or punching computer keystrokes into the “systemically important” (Too Big to
Fail) bank accounts. When that train goes off the rails — as it must, because
it’s at-odds with reality — it will be the biggest wreck in history, and it
will bring all the operations of advanced societies to a stop, including raw
materials supply lines, manufacturing, global trade, and industrial-scale
Agri-Biz. The last of these will be especially punishing in a world where bad
weather is hammering this year’s grain production
What prudent steps should you consider taking now, to prepare
before crisis arrives?
USEFUL RESOURCES
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Booby traps are an effective first line of defense, so here are some of our favorite homemade traps guaranteed to
kick the enemy’s ass when SHTF! |
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It finally happened. You've been preparing for a
disaster like this for years, and now it's actually here. The shit is officially hitting
the fan. So what should you do?
When the SHTF, many people will
be glued to their TV's, smartphones, or radios (unless the disaster is an
EMP). While all those people are frozen in shock, you need to leap into
action. Time is of the essence. If you and your family are going to survive,
there are some things you need to do right away.
What things, you ask? That is the
topic of this video by City Prepping. He lists ten things you should do right
after the SHTF...
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A Final Note…
Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.
Useful
Resources from our storefront-See new items!
You Can’t
Buy Life Insurance After You’re Dead-Prepare NOW for Emergencies…
Finally,
grab an emergency power cell or solar/battery radio weather radio!
Having
a Solar Power Cell on-hand for emergencies keeps your essential electronics up
and running in case you need to call for help.
In stock again!
