I ended my 35-year relationship with American Express last week and signed up for the Coign credit card for conservatives. It is not perfect but it may be a start. I pay the balance in full every month. Should I use cash more often? Probably but I like the convenience of online transactions.
In the spirit of my post, I'll say: It's a start if we're making informed personal choices that are not the result of guilt/a desire to impress our perceived peer groups.
I try to live an intentional life by not participating and by fully participating. I am heading to a farmer's market in a bit to support and encourage. I also like the stuff better. I see some promise in the Target and AB boycotts. Buying local beer is easy. It takes more research and effort to find local items that Target carries. As a rule I am willing to pay 10% more for local products. More than that would be activist martyrdom.
Mickey Z., I am not quite sure about the point that you are trying to make here. You realized a loss by your maneuver. Are you sure that collectively, you did not have an effect --- albeit unseen? There is the point of making changes because of a moral choice of the better (not perfect) moral imperative, however lacking in "perfect information" that that may be. Yes, the Big Boys offer better features and savings, but those small advantages are passed on to you because of advantages achieved by means that are possibly/likely objectionable to moral law or, at the least, your principles. If these sacrifices on your part do not work, then why do they work (or perhaps they do not) for your opponents? If they are only made to appear that they work for your opponents, then you must reassess and perhaps an even deeper level of rigging that you had previously. Are you suggesting the admission of inevitable defeat and simply taking the balck pill and "going gently into the night?"
You've clearly not read much of my work if you can ask this: Are you suggesting the admission of inevitable defeat and simply taking the black pill and "going gently into the night?"
People change. I've have found what I have read worthwhile. I am trying to decipher what is going on in your thoughts with this thread. The most that I can get out of this piece is that you felt burdened by, am I getting it right, boycott absolutism --- and now you feel liberated by a more pragmatic, measured vectoring away from businesses without becoming entangled in impossibly complex decision trees? If so, that is good. That IS the best we can do when enormous networks of financial and political power actually do control, essentially, everything. But I am delighted to see that boycotts are getting a foothold. So, no reason for people (not necessarily referring to you) to throw in the towel. That would be so Republican. I understand the desire that everyone extensively know our previous works, but -- really -- it is good to just be grabbing new people even though that requires a permanent orientation effort. Katherine Watt/Bailiwick News has a "for new readers" section in her work given the extensive amount of material she's produced for this very reason. Again, I mean this politely, how do we know what change in trajectory might underlie or be intentionally signaled in an author's present piece? Maybe one sentence would have clarified things in this article. If it is my fault for missing it, I apologize.
Katherine Watt is a blessing. Mickey is a blessing of another level LOL. And there are others who bless us with even more funny stories, cartoons, etc. Everyone their specialty!
Well that comes back to where it all started. Someone sees your big wallet and might you help get rid of it. I only pay small amounts in cash, like the hair dresser. Walmart and stores get on the card.
You are lucky, my small bank does not even have a credit card offer, only debit cards. I have to have a credit card because I have to order quite a bit online that is not available anywhere near. I have to drive 50 miles to the next place where they have some items, and over 2 hours to get it all, and then I am in big city, which I hate. Both also have a serious crime rate, and I might not remember where I parked LOL. I also hate to drive where I am not familiar. Much easier to have the shop come to me! I do have a card with a large company, the one from the smaller company refused to pay for my one of my Substack subscriptions, so I deleted it. As you realize too, it is impossible to go completely without Big. Now and then I have to shop at Walmart because that is the only store selling the stuffl
The trap is a result of a learned tunnel vision or willful blindness, that whole iceberg phenomenon we've heard about. A quick peek under the rug and one finds a crumb and runs with IT. Ignoring all the other debris which lurks underneath. Like saying you solved the whole 1000 piece puzzle because you assembled the frame with all the flat sided pieces first.
Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. When you pick up a torch to carry, someone else already carried IT before you. So maybe you should find out what happens to torch carriers throughout history before running into the unknown. There are very powerful winds out there as well as a revealing and incendiary sun.
Reiner Fuellmich has found a sovereign tribe of people known as the Maori in and around New Zealand and throughout Polynesia (think Easter Island). They have never been conquered by another people. IT is there where he is launching his crimes against humanity trial with the force of God's Law. The Maori have inspired me, as a watchman, to create a large wind vane in their honor. To watch over the people and protect them from the violent storms to come. The Angels of the four winds have loosed their grip don't you know.
I think that is the "activist" trap Mickey Z, just the simple ignorance of a sophomoric state of mind.
Thanks for not mentioning banks or credit cards in your reply! I hear you, loud and clear, but I want to clarify that (in my eyes) "ignorance" is not a putdown. It's a step in a journey.
Those who sincerely wish to participate in the creation of a better world are easy targets for the parasites. My post was an illustration of how optimism must be tempered with discernment.
Very sorry to hear your good acts back-fired on you, Mickey but, as you well know, such is the game of Capitalism--i.e. we the people can't win. The game is rigged and we may lose bigger if we try to go against it. Just a reminder to everyone that Obama brutally crushed the Occupy Movement just as he waged a war on whistleblowers.
And thanks for the reminder of another psyop: One candidate will help the right and the other will help the left. I cringed as my Occupy comrades campaigned for Obama in 2012 and Bernie in 2016.
I've been on similar well-intentioned hamster wheels. It can be very hard to unlearn all the bullshit that quite sneakily inculcates a hamster wheel mindset.
At this stage, I believe, it's important to focus on the pre-political. We need extensive common ground and healthy folkways.
I ended my 35-year relationship with American Express last week and signed up for the Coign credit card for conservatives. It is not perfect but it may be a start. I pay the balance in full every month. Should I use cash more often? Probably but I like the convenience of online transactions.
In the spirit of my post, I'll say: It's a start if we're making informed personal choices that are not the result of guilt/a desire to impress our perceived peer groups.
I try to live an intentional life by not participating and by fully participating. I am heading to a farmer's market in a bit to support and encourage. I also like the stuff better. I see some promise in the Target and AB boycotts. Buying local beer is easy. It takes more research and effort to find local items that Target carries. As a rule I am willing to pay 10% more for local products. More than that would be activist martyrdom.
not to think of the risk of carrying large amounts of money. That is why we all have cards to begin with right?
Mickey Z., I am not quite sure about the point that you are trying to make here. You realized a loss by your maneuver. Are you sure that collectively, you did not have an effect --- albeit unseen? There is the point of making changes because of a moral choice of the better (not perfect) moral imperative, however lacking in "perfect information" that that may be. Yes, the Big Boys offer better features and savings, but those small advantages are passed on to you because of advantages achieved by means that are possibly/likely objectionable to moral law or, at the least, your principles. If these sacrifices on your part do not work, then why do they work (or perhaps they do not) for your opponents? If they are only made to appear that they work for your opponents, then you must reassess and perhaps an even deeper level of rigging that you had previously. Are you suggesting the admission of inevitable defeat and simply taking the balck pill and "going gently into the night?"
You've clearly not read much of my work if you can ask this: Are you suggesting the admission of inevitable defeat and simply taking the black pill and "going gently into the night?"
People change. I've have found what I have read worthwhile. I am trying to decipher what is going on in your thoughts with this thread. The most that I can get out of this piece is that you felt burdened by, am I getting it right, boycott absolutism --- and now you feel liberated by a more pragmatic, measured vectoring away from businesses without becoming entangled in impossibly complex decision trees? If so, that is good. That IS the best we can do when enormous networks of financial and political power actually do control, essentially, everything. But I am delighted to see that boycotts are getting a foothold. So, no reason for people (not necessarily referring to you) to throw in the towel. That would be so Republican. I understand the desire that everyone extensively know our previous works, but -- really -- it is good to just be grabbing new people even though that requires a permanent orientation effort. Katherine Watt/Bailiwick News has a "for new readers" section in her work given the extensive amount of material she's produced for this very reason. Again, I mean this politely, how do we know what change in trajectory might underlie or be intentionally signaled in an author's present piece? Maybe one sentence would have clarified things in this article. If it is my fault for missing it, I apologize.
Katherine Watt is a blessing. Mickey is a blessing of another level LOL. And there are others who bless us with even more funny stories, cartoons, etc. Everyone their specialty!
Always pay with cash when possible
I concur but the point of the post is related to the trap of what we call "activism."
Well that comes back to where it all started. Someone sees your big wallet and might you help get rid of it. I only pay small amounts in cash, like the hair dresser. Walmart and stores get on the card.
You are lucky, my small bank does not even have a credit card offer, only debit cards. I have to have a credit card because I have to order quite a bit online that is not available anywhere near. I have to drive 50 miles to the next place where they have some items, and over 2 hours to get it all, and then I am in big city, which I hate. Both also have a serious crime rate, and I might not remember where I parked LOL. I also hate to drive where I am not familiar. Much easier to have the shop come to me! I do have a card with a large company, the one from the smaller company refused to pay for my one of my Substack subscriptions, so I deleted it. As you realize too, it is impossible to go completely without Big. Now and then I have to shop at Walmart because that is the only store selling the stuffl
The trap is a result of a learned tunnel vision or willful blindness, that whole iceberg phenomenon we've heard about. A quick peek under the rug and one finds a crumb and runs with IT. Ignoring all the other debris which lurks underneath. Like saying you solved the whole 1000 piece puzzle because you assembled the frame with all the flat sided pieces first.
Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. When you pick up a torch to carry, someone else already carried IT before you. So maybe you should find out what happens to torch carriers throughout history before running into the unknown. There are very powerful winds out there as well as a revealing and incendiary sun.
Reiner Fuellmich has found a sovereign tribe of people known as the Maori in and around New Zealand and throughout Polynesia (think Easter Island). They have never been conquered by another people. IT is there where he is launching his crimes against humanity trial with the force of God's Law. The Maori have inspired me, as a watchman, to create a large wind vane in their honor. To watch over the people and protect them from the violent storms to come. The Angels of the four winds have loosed their grip don't you know.
I think that is the "activist" trap Mickey Z, just the simple ignorance of a sophomoric state of mind.
Thanks for not mentioning banks or credit cards in your reply! I hear you, loud and clear, but I want to clarify that (in my eyes) "ignorance" is not a putdown. It's a step in a journey.
Those who sincerely wish to participate in the creation of a better world are easy targets for the parasites. My post was an illustration of how optimism must be tempered with discernment.
The PTB want us all to be activists, instead of actual powerful members of society and part of the financial system.
🎯
Very sorry to hear your good acts back-fired on you, Mickey but, as you well know, such is the game of Capitalism--i.e. we the people can't win. The game is rigged and we may lose bigger if we try to go against it. Just a reminder to everyone that Obama brutally crushed the Occupy Movement just as he waged a war on whistleblowers.
Thank you, Alice!
And thanks for the reminder of another psyop: One candidate will help the right and the other will help the left. I cringed as my Occupy comrades campaigned for Obama in 2012 and Bernie in 2016.
I've been on similar well-intentioned hamster wheels. It can be very hard to unlearn all the bullshit that quite sneakily inculcates a hamster wheel mindset.
At this stage, I believe, it's important to focus on the pre-political. We need extensive common ground and healthy folkways.
Bingo: well-intentioned hamster wheels.