Purity is for my inner-most sanctum. I do not wish to soil my personal sanctuary by invitation. I dislike many forms of social media. I dislike their algorithms that drive content that defiles my personal peace. I do enjoy a good discussion where there is common vernacular sufficient to provide for mutual understanding. SubStack has plenty of trash, but it also has gems, some raw and uncut and others superbly polished. I am thankful I have found a place to engage and dialogue; I learn from this. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X)… not the roads of Caesar’s Rome, but the bloodied colosseums of rigged entertainment along the paradigm of Fox News.
Your stance and foundation is inspiring. The evidence for hijacking the opponent's tools and using them to successfully overcome it is undeniable. A "recent" example is China reverse engineering technologies in order to learn, copy, improve, and build its own path forward.
Overall beautiful essays: philosophy, artworks, use of language, and critical thinking. Continue please to fight and bring hope. ❤️
I'm not a US citizen, but I will get a paid subscription for as long as I can. All nations are connected.
This lands because you’re naming a real failure mode most “resistance” spaces never examine: purity as disappearance.
The Roman road point matters because infrastructure is never neutral, but it’s also never fully owned once it exists. Empires build pathways to move control efficiently — and then discover those same pathways move meaning just as fast, and with far less permission. History is full of examples where belief outran power on roads meant for legions.
The key distinction you make — terrain vs. trap — is crucial. Withdrawal doesn’t starve the machine; it simply vacates the ground where perception is actively being shaped. That’s not integrity, it’s forfeiture.
I also appreciate the Bunker vs. Triage Tent framing. Messy rooms aren’t proof of failure — they’re proof of contact. You don’t measure a hospital by how healthy the waiting room is. If the already-deprogrammed are the only ones allowed in, nothing actually changes.
Your stance on paywalls and class is another important signal. Keeping core work public while letting paid space function as a workshop avoids the priesthood model that’s hollowed out so many movements. “Subscription vanguardism” is a real rot, and it’s refreshing to see it named plainly.
One thing I respect is that you don’t romanticize the algorithm — you acknowledge it as hostile terrain that still has to be crossed. That honesty matters. Using the roads doesn’t mean pretending the empire isn’t taxing the journey; it means accepting the cost without surrendering the destination.
This isn’t collaboration.
It’s traversal under fire.
That’s how ideas actually spread — and why purity movements tend to evaporate while insurgent ones leave residue behind.
Dialogue is crucial. I try to advance the use of a winner doesnt take all primary that would foster intaparty dialogue and a reduction yet retention of the power assymetry between centrists and activists within a major party.
I see you, David. The forge is busy today! I agree that structural mechanisms (like how we handle primaries) are part of the 'Rust' we eventually need to scrape off. But right now, the focus is on the terrain—using the platforms we have to even start that conversation. We can't reform the party if we've already ceded the battlefield by logging off."
PMC? Please clarify what the acronyms are. I run into this issue frequently when reading. Same thing last night while reading. Just bypassed a few things and tried to assume what meaning was. Don’t assume ppl know wtf you’re writing about w/o initial full words and meaning
Anna, thank you for this check. You are 100% right. In my haste to cut the financial velvet rope, I left a linguistic one up. That is my failure, and I appreciate you calling it out.
PMC = Professional Managerial Class.
They are the 'credentialed' class—the middle managers, journalists, and administrators who act as the buffer between the elites (The Rust) and the workers (The Phalanx). They are the ones usually allowed to see 'The Map,' while the rest of us are told to just listen to slogans.
I will make sure to define this clearly in the next edit. We build this map together.
You know better. Back in the very beginning a couple of times I wondered, are they right? They seem so sure of themselves and anyone can twist anything into a bit of a reasonable point of view. But don’t fall for it, they know they’re wrong.. they just don’t want to be exposed and they’re using everything and anything. We know now, they only mean to confuse, and they are not right. Don’t give into their bully strategies. They know one thing, that good & decent people will admit they’re wrong or believe you when you tell them they’re wrong, at least long enough to find out more information and by then they have moved on and are doing more damage.
Use The Platform Just check your Consciousness Not Easy But the Real Game Inside The Self Awareness! Anger sadness etc they the game win!!! Rise above it What we focus on We Create!!! LLL
Warning to users here: comments are now starting to be covered by data mining message, "...violated your country's Safety Act..." and wants verification of your age. The speech bubble at the bottom of the screen also says this now. When I clicked to verify my age, Substack also wanted photos of my face! This is the start of narrative control here. Time for another platform.
I wanted the messy ones too, I broke the mould in one article and became partisan with a Robin Hood rewrite for the online right, I promptly lost even good real world friends who were of opposite opinions to me but starting to question, and reading my stuff. I enjoyed writing it though. Ultimately I decided I am not a gun for hire and times are challenging, sometimes it is time to pick a side. I love the triage tent idea, not lock the wanderers or wounded out. Are the war though, I thought it was a well known principle to use the enemies rope to hang them
We the people created the internet. When your enemy is trying to grab your gun do you give it to him or shoot him with it?
Bread and circus but who’s the baker and who are the clowns when we all show up for the same show?
Purity is for my inner-most sanctum. I do not wish to soil my personal sanctuary by invitation. I dislike many forms of social media. I dislike their algorithms that drive content that defiles my personal peace. I do enjoy a good discussion where there is common vernacular sufficient to provide for mutual understanding. SubStack has plenty of trash, but it also has gems, some raw and uncut and others superbly polished. I am thankful I have found a place to engage and dialogue; I learn from this. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X)… not the roads of Caesar’s Rome, but the bloodied colosseums of rigged entertainment along the paradigm of Fox News.
Thank you Ethan. Good stuff!
Your stance and foundation is inspiring. The evidence for hijacking the opponent's tools and using them to successfully overcome it is undeniable. A "recent" example is China reverse engineering technologies in order to learn, copy, improve, and build its own path forward.
Overall beautiful essays: philosophy, artworks, use of language, and critical thinking. Continue please to fight and bring hope. ❤️
I'm not a US citizen, but I will get a paid subscription for as long as I can. All nations are connected.
✨♾️❤️♾️✨
This lands because you’re naming a real failure mode most “resistance” spaces never examine: purity as disappearance.
The Roman road point matters because infrastructure is never neutral, but it’s also never fully owned once it exists. Empires build pathways to move control efficiently — and then discover those same pathways move meaning just as fast, and with far less permission. History is full of examples where belief outran power on roads meant for legions.
The key distinction you make — terrain vs. trap — is crucial. Withdrawal doesn’t starve the machine; it simply vacates the ground where perception is actively being shaped. That’s not integrity, it’s forfeiture.
I also appreciate the Bunker vs. Triage Tent framing. Messy rooms aren’t proof of failure — they’re proof of contact. You don’t measure a hospital by how healthy the waiting room is. If the already-deprogrammed are the only ones allowed in, nothing actually changes.
Your stance on paywalls and class is another important signal. Keeping core work public while letting paid space function as a workshop avoids the priesthood model that’s hollowed out so many movements. “Subscription vanguardism” is a real rot, and it’s refreshing to see it named plainly.
One thing I respect is that you don’t romanticize the algorithm — you acknowledge it as hostile terrain that still has to be crossed. That honesty matters. Using the roads doesn’t mean pretending the empire isn’t taxing the journey; it means accepting the cost without surrendering the destination.
This isn’t collaboration.
It’s traversal under fire.
That’s how ideas actually spread — and why purity movements tend to evaporate while insurgent ones leave residue behind.
— RIB
Remind Patrick about PARADOX. Perhaps his mind could contain two contradicting thoughts and get the message!
Dialogue is crucial. I try to advance the use of a winner doesnt take all primary that would foster intaparty dialogue and a reduction yet retention of the power assymetry between centrists and activists within a major party.
What no feedback? Check out Are there really no silver bullets?
I see you, David. The forge is busy today! I agree that structural mechanisms (like how we handle primaries) are part of the 'Rust' we eventually need to scrape off. But right now, the focus is on the terrain—using the platforms we have to even start that conversation. We can't reform the party if we've already ceded the battlefield by logging off."
PMC? Please clarify what the acronyms are. I run into this issue frequently when reading. Same thing last night while reading. Just bypassed a few things and tried to assume what meaning was. Don’t assume ppl know wtf you’re writing about w/o initial full words and meaning
Anna, thank you for this check. You are 100% right. In my haste to cut the financial velvet rope, I left a linguistic one up. That is my failure, and I appreciate you calling it out.
PMC = Professional Managerial Class.
They are the 'credentialed' class—the middle managers, journalists, and administrators who act as the buffer between the elites (The Rust) and the workers (The Phalanx). They are the ones usually allowed to see 'The Map,' while the rest of us are told to just listen to slogans.
I will make sure to define this clearly in the next edit. We build this map together.
I didn’t necessarily need a whole explanation thx tho. but at least if your using acronyms cite the actual words somewhere in the post.
I forgot what PMC was myself so I used the AI to explain hah
Hahahaha
It's for anyone else wondering lol
The Purity crap has always made me grit my teeth.
You know better. Back in the very beginning a couple of times I wondered, are they right? They seem so sure of themselves and anyone can twist anything into a bit of a reasonable point of view. But don’t fall for it, they know they’re wrong.. they just don’t want to be exposed and they’re using everything and anything. We know now, they only mean to confuse, and they are not right. Don’t give into their bully strategies. They know one thing, that good & decent people will admit they’re wrong or believe you when you tell them they’re wrong, at least long enough to find out more information and by then they have moved on and are doing more damage.
Use The Platform Just check your Consciousness Not Easy But the Real Game Inside The Self Awareness! Anger sadness etc they the game win!!! Rise above it What we focus on We Create!!! LLL
I wish we all (including me) understood and remembered that last sentence more
Warning to users here: comments are now starting to be covered by data mining message, "...violated your country's Safety Act..." and wants verification of your age. The speech bubble at the bottom of the screen also says this now. When I clicked to verify my age, Substack also wanted photos of my face! This is the start of narrative control here. Time for another platform.
I wanted the messy ones too, I broke the mould in one article and became partisan with a Robin Hood rewrite for the online right, I promptly lost even good real world friends who were of opposite opinions to me but starting to question, and reading my stuff. I enjoyed writing it though. Ultimately I decided I am not a gun for hire and times are challenging, sometimes it is time to pick a side. I love the triage tent idea, not lock the wanderers or wounded out. Are the war though, I thought it was a well known principle to use the enemies rope to hang them
Brilliant! Thanks
I like it x
So confused- how is Patrick even commenting if he’s deleted all his Social Media? Pot meet kettle, kettle this is pot.