Monthly Archives: January 2013

Lightning Round – 2013/01/30

Most people can’t handle the truth.
Related: The red pill will not make your life better.

The Age of Leisure is over; winter is coming.

Accept responsibility.

The manosphere is approaching a tipping point.
Related: The Captain is in the Washington Post.

Explaining MGTOW.

Biblical wifely submission laid out.
Related: Cane Caldo kicks the hell out of Christian marital egalitarianism.
Related: More on submission.

Frost: Take the he God hypothesis seriously.
Related: Might makes right.

A classic UMan post on Christian game reposted.

Shun the stale 7 questions; ask “why?” instead. This is excellent advice I’m gonna try to use.

This post and the comments are horribly amusing. Go Vox.
Related: I am enjoying Vox’s rabbit people talks immensely.

Be your own boss.
Related: Why you’re being friend-zoned.

Repost of the essential question.

The insanity of political correctness.

The disgusting self-annihilation of leftist ideology.

Sis hangs it up.

“The new litmus test of leadership in the military is if they will fire on US citizens or not”. – Anonymous senior military official, according to Jim Garrow. Frightening if true.
Related: More information.

America! Fuck yeah!
Related: I think Bill’s attributing to malice, what can be attributed to stupidity.
Related: The natural slaves act like this is a bad thing.
Related: Boycott Intuit and Groupon.

Wright on women in the military. He’s correct on all points, but I’m not sure I agree with his final position for Vox’s reasoning.
Related: The point is to destroy masculine pride.
Related: The point is to keep the gravy train rolling.
Related: Men shot in back by traditional Christian leader.
Related: EW on women in combat.

21 rules of the rich.
Related: Average gets you nowhere.

Be a pessimist. (I prefer the term realist).

Dissident of the month.
Wow… Beta of the decade is right.

Science: Fat kills marriage. (No kidding?)
Related: Shame obesity.

Advice for young women.
Related: Be honest about your past.
Related: Common-sense is lacking nowadays. An amusing comment.
Related: Being taken for granted can be a good thing.

It’s a disaster that some women would prefer to exercise control over their home than shuffle paper.

Thoughts on consumption.

Youth unemployment in Europe is exploding. Will Europe bleed?
Related: The triple-dip recession.
Related: Why employment is dead in the water.
Related: Half of Americans are overqualified for their job.

Simon Grey settles the who pays debate.

Spiritual harlotry leads to physical harlotry.

Testosterone Week Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5.

It’s the patriarchy’s fault.

Fascist libertarianism.

White privilege indoctrination won’t make kids liberal. The opposite I think; as I wrote before, people tend to identify with their in-group, however that in-group is established.

The new power of the clerisy.

Are we capable of love anymore?

Science: Facebook envy.

An interesting review of 50 Shades.

Weird: usually feminists are complaining about how children are delaying their careers.

Rules for surviving the workplace.

The dangers of porn.

Quebec gets it right on cohabitation.

11 Preposterously Manly Fantasy Series. I’ve read 3 of them.

Counterfactuals concerning sex can harm you.

Science: Women marry taller men.

Women ruin everything, including Title IX.

Hurry up and die.

Akin to beating up a disabled child.

Good economic idea from the WSJ.

Just when I though liberal economists couldn’t get any stupider, Yglesias does: “What’s the problem, exactly, that the budget balancing solves once we’ve stipulated that spending has been cut to an appropriate level?”

The Gospel of Slavery: A Primer of Freedom.

The science of high school.

A Russian family cut off from society for 40 years.

Government compensation.

I’m a couple weeks late on this, but if you haven’t seen it watch it. Alex Jones destroys Piers Morgan on gun freedom.

(H/T: Art of Man, Instapundit, GLP)

Friend Zone: Wherein I Agree with a Feminist

I came across this article by a feminist on the “friend zone” concept. My anti-feminism is readily apparent to any reading my blog, but this time I have to give her credit, she’s right.

The friend zone, for those of you older folks not hip to the jive, refers to:

a platonic relationship where one person wishes to enter into a romantic relationship, while the other does not. It is generally considered to be an undesirable situation by the lovelorn person.”

The vast majority of the time the man is the one being friendzoned. (Although, I did end up friend zoning a female friend once).

Anyway, she posits three reasons why the friendzone concept “sucks”:

1) It ignores the actual wishes of the woman
2) It displays an entitled attitude to a woman’s body
3) It posits that the worst thing ever is to be “just” friends with a woman
4) It’s a go to complaint of guys who are actually deeply misogynistic

I agree with her on all four.

Remember men: you are not entitled to sex.* A women’s body is her own, as your body is yours. You have not claim on hers, she has not claim on yours.

Being a “nice guy” no more entitles you to her vagina than it does to my labour or freedom.

If you want sex, win it. Develop yourself as a person to the point where women want to give you sex.

By being friends with a women solely to get in her pants you are disrespecting her and manipulating her. You are using her as a means, not an end. You are not actually her friend, you are an ass. You are not a “nice guy”, you’re an entitled jerk.

I know all the women, movies, TV shows, and authority figures in your life have told you to just be yourself, make friends with her, and you’ll get the girl. That’s bollocks.

If you want a romantic relationship, develop romance first, friendship after (or grow both together). If you want a wife, same thing.

If you simply want to use a woman for sex, than be honest about it. Game the shit out of her, sex her, then dump her the morning after like a proper player. Use a woman who wants to be used. Don’t screw around pretending to be friends with a women and hoping to prey on a moment of weakness, you ass. It’s not only a jerk move and immoral, it’s also a waste of your time.

And yes, you’re damn right I’m shaming you.

Because, here’s the thing, the friend zone is not only disrespectful to the woman, it’s far more disrespectful to yourself.

You are showing how low you think your value is (very low), as you are willing to waste so much of yourself on nothing more but a very low probability chance of romance with a woman.

You are showing how worthless your friendship is, by offering it solely in the hopes of getting sex.

You are emasculating yourself by putting yourself under the power of a woman.

By being friendzoned, you show your time and effort are worthless, as you have so much of it to waste on faking a friendship you don’t actually want.

You are showing how desperate you are as your only hope of romantic success is to spend your life hoping to prey on a moment of weakness.

Remember, you will be treated exactly as you believe you deserve to be treated in life. By allowing yourself to be friend zoned you are showing you deserve to be disrespected and are not worthy of a real romantice relationship.

I’m shaming you. By allowing yourself to be friend zoned you are showing yourself to be worthy of shame.

The friend zone is for losers. Don’t be a loser.

Don’t be this guy.

If you are, you deserve the pain you get.

Have some some self-respect.

So, here is the remedy, here is what you need to get from this post:

If you are currently in the friend zone with a woman, stop spending time with that woman. Cut her off from your life and stop being “friends” with her. Stop thinking about her. Do not spend your time, effort, or resources on her. Do not respond to her requests for your time or effort.

Be like Mike.

If you ask a girl out, and she says no, cut off contact with her. Don’t go out with her as friends, don’t spend time with her, do not get into long phone calls or text exchanges with her, etc.

If you are in the friend zone or about to be put in the friend zone by any woman, cut her out of your life. Do not be “just friends” (how I hate that phrase).

If she asks why she’s being cut out of your life, tell her the truth. You want to be romantic partners with her and do not desire and will not accept anything else.

Man up and stop disrespecting yourself (and others).

****

Also, a sidenote:

While writing this I almost (did?) wrote or implied that a romantic relationship is more than a friendship and that being friends is settling for less.

It is not.

No relationship is higher than that of a virtuous friendship, the highest form of relationship you can have. A marriage is also the highest form of relationship you can have.

A marriage and a virtuous friendship are equal in value. They fill different needs in your life but both are equal, neither is better, neither is more.

A romantic relationship that is not a marriage (or becoming a marriage) should always be worth less than a friendship.

If it is not, your priorities are wrong. Fix them.

It is sad commentary on modern society that friendship has somehow become worth less than romance. The general acceptance of the phrase “just friends” is a tragedy.

Do not devalue the value of your friendships by being friendzoned.

****

None of this is to say you can’t have a friendship with a woman. Some (not many, but some) women are worth having as friends. Some women can be enjoyable, productive friends without drama, BS, emotional games, attention whoring, etc.

You just have to choose carefully and make sure you are not romantically interested in her.

But do not befriend a woman when you do not value the friendship in and of itself. Friendship is an end, it is not a means to a further end.

Despite my ‘romance first, then friends’ declaration above, you can have friends first, then romance, but only in very narrow circumstances. If the friendship is the end in itself and the romantic relationship evolves naturally with no attempt or desire from yourself to try to force it, then there’s no problem.

****

For those women (and men) who have “friends” that you know are in a friend zone relationship in regards to you, my advice is the same, stop spending time with them.

They are not your friend, they are using you. Even if they are your friend, being in the friend zone hurts, end their suffering.

As I said, I put a women in the friend zone (and knew she was there). At the time I didn’t realize it, but after it all came to a head and the friendship ended because of the friend zone thing, I realized I had been hurting her through the whole time we were friends, simply by being friends. I regret allowing it to get to the point, I should have cut it off earlier.

Learn from my example, do what’s best for both of you, and end that friendship.

If you have a friend-zoned “friend” and do not want to give it up because of the attention you receive, because you get free stuff, because you like the unrecipricated adulation, or some other selfish reason. You are an asshole. Stop it!

Anyone who manipulates a friend-zoned “friend” for selfish benefit is a horrible person.

****

* Excepting where you are biblically married and/or you and your wife got married on the agreement not to deny each other sex, in which case you are both obligated to provide sex to and entitled to sex from each other.

Lightning Round – 2013/01/23

Simon Grey has an excellent post on Christian marriage, wherein he excoriates whiny MRA’s.

“How anyone could think that something God forced upon Adam and his seed as just desserts for sharing that apple with Eve is fun or liberating is just daft.”
Related: EW asks women why any woman would do this to herself and family?

Would you play the ovarian lottery? Nope, so don’t complain so much.
Related: It’s always great to be a man.

Gary North on what it means to be rich. Going in the reading list.
Related: Maverick Traveller’s guide to making money online.

When analyzing yourself simply ask: So, how’s that working out for you?

Why you should start a blog. (So you can link to me, of course).

Danny gives some advice for young men.

Growth vs. comfort.

The Mind of the Manboob. I asked, Heartiste answered (although, probably not to me).

Be forever young: marry young.

Parental divorce is the strongest social indicator of early death.

Hehe… Dalrock with some well-used snark.
Related: The American exodus from marriage.

Modern and post-modern discourse.
Related: Vox on Rabbit people. Kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit.

Control the frame, win the debate.

What is government planning next that causes them to fear armed rebellion?

Why are anti-gun freedom activists so violent?
Related: Anyone who is not responsible enough to own a gun, is not responsible enough to vote and should be disenfranchised.
Related: “If someone is so dangerous that we don’t want them to have a gun, and we know his name, why the f*ck are we letting him roam the streets?”
Related: Guns are for fighting government.
Related: The real reason for gun bans.
Related: Local gun politics.

Executive orders for gun control.
Related: Obama’s executive orders explained.
Related: Bill thinks they’re more sinister.
Related: NRA more popular than Obama.

The liberal media is no longer hiding their hate.

Economic murder.

Credentialism creep.

Auto-pilot game.

Don’t raise a pussy.
Related: A great story of a guy manning-up (in a good way).

All girls like it rough.

Science: Women prefer taken men.

Is it fair? No, but life isn’t fair. Deal with what you have.

The evils of artificial birth control. I used to be very “Protestant” on this issue, but I think I’m becoming more “Catholic” over time.

I was just about to write this same post. I even got the same juicer for Christmas. (I’m still going to write it, but my thunder is gone).

The hidden slavery of the debt system.

The maggots will begin to feast on Bakken.

The end of the American empire is coming.
Related: America is a new totalitarian state.
Related: It will take 7 years for the US to repatriate German gold.
Related: Billionaires dumping American stocks; scary if true.

The definition of fascism.

The prison-industrial complex.

An example of off-the-wall psychoanalysis replacing logical thinking.

Only the rich can afford to work.

As the captain would say: capital flight is a feature, not a bug.

Hehe… This guy is lucky he got out.

A harsh lesson for young women.

The Frankfurt School. Fuckers.

The FBI responds to Freedom of Information Act request with 111 blank pages. Now that’s transparency.

(H/T: Save Capitalism, the Captain, Alpha Game, SDA, Smallest Minority, GCBH, Instapundit)

****

I also edited the Free Man’s Reading List once again after talking with friends who are into philosophy.

I added:
On War
Fear and Trembling (for some existentialism)
The Aenid

I replaced:
Whose Justice, Which Rationality with The Malaise of Modernity
Mere Christianity with After You Believe.

Free Man’s Reading List Project

Chevalier de Johnstone asks about what will happen with the Free Man’s Reading List in the community.

I decided today that I am going to begin a project to read all of these books, including rereading those I have not read in years. I want to understand what I believe and why. I need to build my life philosophy so I can build my life around it.  While doing this I will post any blog-related insights I might have here and I will also post a review whenever I finish a book. I estimate the project will take a few years (how many I’m unsure), and hope to finish one or two a month (we’ll see).

If anybody else is reading from this list and has any insights they would like to share, feel free to contact me. I am always up for publishing well-written and/or interesting guest posts on blog-related topics. (I’m also open to guest posts on any other blog-related topic, assuming I find it worthwhile to post).

I’ll be doing reading outside this but will be curtailing it. I’ve narrowed down a list of fiction authors to about a half dozen from whom I will continue to read, and outside of this (probably about a dozen books a year) I will start trying to eschew fiction to work on this list. I will still be reading non-fiction books for various purposes.

I am going to be starting with Adler’s How to Read a Book. I figure if I’m going to take on a project this big, I should learn how to properly read a book. I will then follow-up with Boston’s Gun Bible because I have recently purchased guns and want to learn more about firearms. I will then be reading The Trivium so that I have a clear understanding of logic, rhetoric, and grammar. During this same time period, I plan to read Vox’s new book, In Mala Fide’s book, and the Captain’s Enjoy the Decline, in addition to a book or two on evolutionary psychology and whatever fiction from the list of fiction authors the library happens to get in. Altogether, I estimate this should take roughly until the end of March.

As for the Bible,  because Johnstone asked, I am not going to read that in one end-to-end go through or have a review of it. I will be discussing the Bible as I normally do on here and will be reading it, but I’ve already read the entire book. I’ve read the NT through a half-dozen times and I’ve read the OT (excepting the prophets) through about 3 times, and I’ve read all the prophets at least once. That’s not including all the Bible studies, readings that were not end-to-end, a quarter century of regular church, and so on. While not a Biblical scholar, I believe I am sufficiently conversant on the scripture for the purposes of the project.

On the advice of Tim, I’ve added Musashi and Taiko to the fiction section (although, I know they’re somewhat biographical) as they seem to be good books on martial manhood and conquering one’s self. I’ve also added Whose Justice, Which Rationality, the sequel to MacIntyre’s After Virtue, and Outline of Sanity after talking to a friend.

I will not be adding “opposing viewpoints” such as Das Kapital for the reasons Johnstone outlined here.

Update to the Free Man’s Reading List

Based on recommendations I have added a section to the Free Man’s Reading List on moral philosophy. While creating the list, I ended up starting, then removing a section on moral philosophy a number of times. In the end I decided not to keep it. I was hesitant to add moral philosophy to the list, as the purpose was to help a free man build himself, not to dictate a man’s values or life philosophy to him. I was worried adding moral philosophy would conflate being a good man and being good at being a man,to paraphrase Jack Donovan.

Upon reconsideration, Chevalier de Johnstone convinced me. I realize that no free man can be complete without some moral purpose. So, here’s a list that hopefully will allow for free men a broad sampling of moral philosophies.

The Bible – Is already in the list, now it has a proper home.

Marcus Aurelius – Meditations is a classic of stoic philosophy.

Plato – The Republic is a classic book on justice and the cardinal virtues.

Aristotle – Nicomachean Ethics is the classic books on virtue ethics (my preferred type of ethics/morality; I will probably write more on virtue ethics at a later time). Read it with Acquinas’ commentary.

Thomas Acquinas – Summa Theologica is the classic on Christian theology and morality.

Adam Smith – Moral Sentiments creates a moral foundation for capitalist action.

GK Chesteron – Everlasting Man is a Christian apologetics books.

CS Lewis –  Mere Christianity is another Christian apologetics book. Along with Chesterton, is among the greatest Christian writers of the 20th century.

Friedrich Nietzsche – On the Genealogy of Morality and the Antichrist present an anti-Christian moral framework.

Alasdair MacIntyre – After Virtue is a modern book arguing for the revival of virtue ethics.

John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism is a defence of utilitarian ethics.

Immanuel Kant – Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals introduces the categorical imperative as opposed to deontology, virtue, or utilitarian ethics.

Lao Tzu – Tao Te Ching is fundamental to much of oriental philosophy and religion.

Confuscious – Analects is another fundamental book in oriental philsophy.

I also added some other works elsewhere:

Mortimor Adler – How to Read a Book

GK Chesteron – What’s Wrong with the World

Ron Paul – Liberty Defined

Nassim Talib’s 3 books are added.

Ronald Reagan – Time for Choosing (Speech)

Here are some other notes based on reader responses:

The list is heavily libertarian and firmly planted in the English liberal (classical liberal, not the modern welfare state liberalism) tradition. The list is designed to help men make themselves free in the English tradition of freedom. This is not a reading list for re-establishing traditional culture, for building a reactionary society, or any other such end. It is a list to help a man learn what makes him free, how to think like a free man, and how to be a free man within the English liberal tradition. (I might further discuss freedom within the English liberal tradition and other concepts of liberty at a later time). The inclusion of other reactionary or conservative material would be outside the scope of the list.

Outside of violence and social skills, I tried to avoid adding books on learning specific skills out of the list. Again, the purpose is to let a free man to develop himself so he can be free, not to dictate what a free man should do and learn with his freedom. Outside a few very general, all-purpose skills (such as rational thought, leadership, and ability to react in a crisis), a free man should be able to figure out what specific skills (such as hunting or plumbing) he needs for his life. I will continue to leave what skills to develop out of the list at this time, but reserve the right to add one or two books outlining the general skills “every man should know” in the future should I come across them.

While I have been reading on the Dark Enlightenment, as people have taken to calling it, I did not include information on the DE for two reasons:
1) They did not fit the purpose of the list; while learning uncomfortable truths about forgotten and newly (re-)discovered realities is important, they are not necessary to being a free man.
2) The DE is primarily an internet phenomenon at this time, there is no standard canon for it, and few books, so making a reading guide is not quite so simple. You could point to some books on genetics, evolutionary psychology, the bell curve, etc. and then point people towards Moldbug, Sailer, La Griffe du Lion, et al., but that would require compiling a lot of blog posts.
I think it would be good to make such a reading list, but if I do, it will be in the future.

I considered adding some game resources, in particular Day Bang, but mostly decided against it, Athol’s book being the exception. This was again for two reasons:
1) The narrowness of game. Game literature, particularly the books, are generally aimed at a PUA life-style. While free men may choose to follow this lifestyle, the PUA lifestyle is one of narrow appeal, while this list was meant for all men wanting to be free. Athol’s book was included because it was as much a men’s self-improvement book as it was a game book, and the usefulness of it was much broader. Between MMSL and Greene’s Art of Seduction, I believe the topic of romantic success is covered.
2) Is much the same as #2 for the DE. Most of the “canon” is on the internet and it would require some work compiling the must-read blog posts.
3) Game, outside of the generalizable skills outlined in MMSL and Seduction, is a specific skill set (faking socio-sexual desirability) created for a specific goal (attracting women). I think it would fall into the category of specific skills I was trying to avoid loading the list with.
Same as with the DE, I think a game reading list would be good, but if I make one, it will be in the future.

A reading list has to be manageable. Even before adding the moral philosophy section it was already over 60 books. That’s over a whole year’s worth of reading if you read a book a week (and a lot of these books are heavy material). I want to avoid overloading the list as much as possible to make it possible to actually accomplish. That means a lot of good books will not be on the list. For example, however much I liked O’Rourke’s Eat the Rich (or any of his books/articles, he’s a great author/humourist/commentator), it is not an essential read. In addition, books that will more or less argue what is already contained in other books will not be added further.

The Free Man’s Reading List

Cogitans asks the question:

What should a person, if he wishes to think of himself as a free man of the republic, absolutely must read?

I’m a free man of the dominion and a monarchist myself, but even so, it is still important for a free man to know the basics of freedom. I think building a reading list for free men is an excellent idea, I will create one and try to compile and update it over time as a reference. The permanent list to be updated can be found here. For right now, here’s the books I’ve put on the original list and an explanation. Please feel free to add your input.

Note: I have not read all, or even most of these yet; I’ve maybe read a quarter of them. Those I have read are personally recommended, those I have not are either classics in their field or have been recommended by others and I plan to read in the future.
Another Note: I do not necessarily either endorse or oppose anything expressed in these books. Just because something should be read does not mean it should be followed.

Being a free man is made of two parts: being a man and being free. This reading list will address both parts. Being only a man makes you someone else’s developed slave, being only free leaves you a weak hedonist. The goal is to be both.

The first three writers on the list establish the philosophical basis of freedom, a concept that I think is unique to the English. The fourth, Machiavelli, gives a view of liberty, a more universal concept.

John Locke – His Second Treatise of Government is the philosophical basis of English liberalism. It is a must-read for any free man.

Edmund Burke – Burke is the originator of modern conservatism (also called liberal-conservatism). His Reflection on the Revolution in France is a must-read and his A Vindication of Natural Society would also be important.

Thomas Paine – As a republican counterpoint to Burke’s monarchist liberalism, read Paine’s The Rights of Man and Common Sense. Together Burke and Paine will display the difference between monarchic freedom and republican freedom.

Nicollo Machiavelli –  The Prince is important to understand the nature of power in government, the Discourses are an important work on republicanism and freedom.

Having established the philosophical basis of freedom, we can turn to more modern pro-freedom works:

Barry Goldwater – The Conscience of a Conservative is the classic manifesto of modern American conservatism.

Robert Nozick – Anarchy, State, and Utopia is a strong moral defence for freedom which also fights the anarcho-capitalism of Rothbard.

FA Hayek – The Road to Serfdom in which Hayek argues that socialism leads to tyranny.

Isabel Paterson – The God of the Machine surveys history through a pro-freedom lens.

Having knowledge of societal freedom, we now turn to personal freedom. You might not be able to free society, but you can free yourself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson – Self-Reliance is an essay on your own self-worth and against conforming to the world.

Freidrech Nietszche – Thus Spake Zarathustra focuses on the concept of the Ubermensch, a self-mastered individual, while On the Geneology of Morality outlines the concept of the slave morality.

Harry Browne – How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World is a book on steps towards finding personal freedom.

Economics is the study of the free interaction of free men, it is the study of the workings of freedom, and having a a base knowledge of economics is essential for a free man. Most of the basics economics books are somewhat interchangeable, but the recommended pro-freedom books to learn the basics of economics are:

Henry Hazlitt – Economics in One Lesson will teach you basic economics.

Thomas Sowell – Basic Economics is a more expansive book on basic economics.

Milton Friedman – Capitalism and Freedom is a classic book asserting the good of the free-market from the leader of the Chicago school.

Knowing basic economics, we can then turn to Austrian economics, which pushes even more strongly for economic freedom and rejects mainstream economists’ attempts to control the market.

Frederic Bastiat – That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen. This was the original work that Austrians built upon.

Gene Callahan – Economics for Real People. In itself not important, but it’s said to be a good, simple introduction to Austrian economics. Any other introduction will do, or you can skip it and go straight to the next two books.

Murray Rothbard – Man, Economy, and State is his major work. The most important work of the originator of anarcho-capitalism and a major contributor to Austrian theory.

Ludwig von Mises – Human Action. The magnum opus of the man who really grew modern Austrian economics.

Now that we know what freedom is and how it works, we now must have the ability to be a free man. The first ability is a capacity for violence. Freedom comes from power and strength, as does masculinity, and power and strength come from a capacity for violence, so a knowledge of violence is essential. In addition to all these, you should probably pick up the defining book(s) (if there is one) of whatever martial art you choose to participate in (and every free man should be learning a martial art).

Boston T. Party – Boston’s Gun Bible is the book on firearm use and firearms freedom. Firearms are the modern tool of violence and this will introduce them to you thoroughly.

Improvised Munitions Handbook – The US Army’s guide to improvising weapons; a man should have the ability to get weapons when necessary.

Sun Tzu – The Art of War is the basic guidebook to war and to violence in general. It’s fairly simple and a lot of it is common sense, but it’s common sense for a reason. Read it.

Miyamoto Musashi – The Book of Five Rings is a classic Japanese text on martial arts, strategy, and philosophy.

Dave Grossman – On Killing, On Combat, and the Warrior Mindset are a trilogy on the psychology of violence. Knowing how to commit violence is an entirely different kettle of fish from being able to actually engaging in violence. These books will teach you how to keep your head when the SHTF.

Rory Miller – Meditations on Violence and Facing Violence help you prepare for violence in the real world. Lawrence Kane’s Little Black Book of Violence does much the same. All three will help you be prepared when the SHTF.

A man should have a mission and should have virtues he holds dear. He should be competent enough to be successful and have a diverse array of skills to promote independence. These will help you accomplish your mission (choosing your mission is up to you):

Jack Donovan – The Way of Men is a relatively short book outlining the virtues that make a man a man.

Roy Baumeister – Willpower is a guide to harnessing your willpower based upon modern science so you can better meet your goals.

Robert Greene – Mastery is a book about how to gain mastery (really?) and take control of your life.

Jim Rohn – 5 Major Pieces of the Life Puzzle
Napolean Hill – Think and Grow Rich and the Law of Success
Stephen Covey – The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

These last three are a few of the classics in the motivational self-help books. Danger & Play has outlined here why you should read them. Essentially, they outline the virtues you need to accomplish your mission.

A free man should be healthy and strong of body. These books aren’t must reads and aren’t irreplaceable, dozens of other books would likely work just as well, but information on nutrition and health is a must. If you don’t read these specific books, read others that fulfill a similar function.

Mark Sisson – The Primal Blueprint and the Primal Connection. These two books are guides to getting healthy in our modern world through lessons from our primal ancestors. The former is about physical health (ie. the primal/paleo diet), the latter is about mental health.

Mark Rippetoe – Starting Strength and Practical Programming are highly recommended guides to physical training and weight-lifting.

A man should be able to lead others (even if he chooses not to) and interact with others. Here’s some books on leadership and interpersonal communication:

U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual – This book is mandatory for all officers in training in the US Army. That should tell you something.

Robert Greene – The 48 Laws of Power, the 33 Strategies of War, and the Art of Seduction are brutally honest and straight-forward guides to obtaining what you desire in the social arena.

Dale Carnegie – How to Make Friends and Influence People and The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Public Speaking. The classic guides to interacting with others; a must read.

Allan Pease – The Definitive Book of Body Language is a good guide to body language. Reading this particular book is not necessary, but read a book on body language, as it makes up a large portion of human communication.

Athol Kay – Married Man sex Life Primer 2011 is essential if you have or plan to have a wife or long-term relationship. It will teach you how keep her and not have her dominate you. It will also introduce you to game.

Robert Glover – No More Mr. Nice Guy is about manning up (in the good way) and get what you want in life and relationships.

Isaac Asimov – Treasury of Humour goes goes through the various types of humour, analyzes them, providing examples, and explains how to tell jokes. Humour is an important part of socializing,a man should know how it works.

One part of being a free man is learning how you’ve been lied to you’re whole life. Now most of the above books will expose the lies you’ve been told, but these will teach you how to think and how they lie to you:

Darrell Huff – How to Lie with Statistics is a short simple guide to how people manipulate numbers to lie to you.

Miriam Joseph – The Trivium outlines the use of classical logic, grammar, and rhetoric.

This hasn’t fit in any of the other categories but I think it is essential:

The Bible –  Regardless of your religious beliefs, one can not deny that the Bible is the fundament upon which Western culture has been built. Western philosophy and civilization, upon which English freedom is built, can not be understood apart from the Bible. I don’t think any man can interact meaningfully with Western culture without having read the Bible.

The prior books have all been non-fiction, but here’s some fiction that should be read:

Robert Heinlein – Starship Troopers. Other books by Heinlein, such as the Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Glory Road, and Farnham’s Freehold, are strongly pro-freedom and make excellent reads , but Starship Troopers is an essential book on freedom, responsibility, and republicanism, plus it has tons of violence. What’s not to love?

Jack London – His two classic books Call of the Wild and White Fang form a companion set exploring individualism, primitivism vs. civilization, freedom, and violence.

George Orwell – 1984 and Animal Farm are his two classic works on totalitarianism and must be read. You’ve probably already read them, if not, do so.

Aldous Huxley – Brave New World is based on a totalitarianism more familiar to us; one of pleasure, hedonism, and distraction.

Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 is a classic about the dangers of an entertainment society.

Kurt Vonnegut – Harrison Bergeron is a classic short story about the failures of equality.

Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead are two pro-freedom fiction books that have had massive influence on the freedom movement.

While created this list I realized I have a lot yet to read, and I’m already almost two dozen books behind in my reading list even before this list. It’s something to work towards though.

Here’s a couple of other reading lists I came across while writing this post if you want more to read:

Ron Paul’s freedom reading list.
Francis’ reading list.
Art of Manliness’ The Man’s Essential Library.
Art of Manliness’ 34 Books About Being a Man.
Learn Economics.

Lightning Round – 2013/01/16

The Last Psychologist stacks so much good stuff in that I can’t summarize.

Knowing the red pill is not enough; act.
Related: Truth is universal.

It’s your fault.
Related: You’re miserable by choice.

Young people are screwed: here’s how to survive.

Drop being nice; don’t invest in women.
Related: The crime of being nice.
Related: It doesn’t matter; reality wins in the end.
Related: Schwyzer was right. Nice guys are manipulative. More.
Related: No one is entitled to commitment.

Vox tears down lies about false rape accusations.
Related: Roosh also destroys the lies.

Do not accept infidelity in your social relationships.
Science: Being committed to marriage makes marriage happier.

For women: How to pick a husband if you want to have kids.
Counterpoint: Run little hamster, run. A women arguing why depriving children of their fathers is a good thing.
Related: More rationalization.

The best explication of sin in the marriage bed I’ve read.

America! Fuck yeah!
Related: NRA approach to school violence supported by majority.
Related: We need to regulate cars the same way we regulate guns.
Related: Contacting your congressman made simple by Ruger. Molon Labe.
Related: Gun control I can get behind.
Related: Props to this kid.
Related: School shooting stopped by armed resource officer. Odd that this is not on the news?
Related: A black man asks to return to his chains.
Related: Liberal self-annihilation.
Related: I joined both the NRA and the CFA, the Canadian version, this week. Some of the few non-profit advocacy organizations I don’t detest.

The shaming of going Galt.

Our vampiric culture.
Related: I’m a monster.

We’re all criminals now.

I should probably watch They Live at some point.

The first shots?
Counterpoint: Doomsday isn’t coming.
Related: It can’t happen here.
Related: Frightening if true.
Related: “Sorry to sound tinny, but I’m pretty convinced that this sudden, intense push for gun control is directly related to the fiscal issues facing this Nation. They don’t want an armed citizenry when the SHTF. This may be government recognition that we have passed the event horizon.”

Registering precious metals a prelude to confiscation.

SSM is disturbed at the world of male sex toys.
Related: Ian on sexbots.

Hmmm… The possibility ofthe criminalization of skipping birth control.

CT West hangs it up.

Samson’s Jawbone breaking from the manosphere.
A response.

It boggles the mind; people upset because a professionally beautiful woman was called beautiful. The moral inversion of the political correctists.

Shrug.

Habits of likable people.

Science: Men are attracted to attractive women. (Shocking!)
Science: Hotter women leads to better sex.

Boys discriminated against in school.
Related: Why girls get better grades.

A map of high school sexuality.
Related: A lesson for young women.

Good for Tarantino; if only more people in the spotlight would do this kind of thing.

Study on porn rethought after researchers unable to find men who didn’t view porn.

Self-hatred in Canada.

Travelling the road to serfdom.
Related: Balancing the US budget requires reducing SS, medicaid, and medicare.

More Krugman hate, because there can never be enough.
Related: Krugman is an idiot.

Statism in action.

When teacher’s aren’t smarter than fifth-graders.

A new trend: selling yourself to pay for college.

“Basically, the reason that there are not more female libertarians is because females, as a general rule, do not like liberty.”
Related: What were they thinking?

Sometimes the old ways are best.

The spiritual but not religious are more likely to have a mental disorder.

British National Weather Service: Global warming hasn’t stopped, just “stalled”.
Related: Global warming is dead.

(H/T: SSM, MF, SDA, GLP, IPGCBH)

Establishment Conservatives and their Wives

I was reading this piece on the NRA (h/t: Instapundit). It charts the evolution of the NRA from a sportsmen lobby to the tyrant-fighting machine it is today. Anyway, while reading I noticed this line describing the old guard establishment NRA before they were ousted by the grassroots (emphasis mine):

The moderates felt rejected by both the NRA hard-liners and the Washington elite.

Because of the political direction the NRA was taking, they weren’t being invited to parties and their wives were not happy,” says Jeff Knox, Neal’s son and director of the Firearms Coalition, which fights for the Second Amendment and against laws restricting guns or ammunition. “Dad was on the phone constantly with various people around the country. He had his copy of the NRA bylaws and Robert’s Rules, highlighted and marked. My father and a lot of local club leaders and state association guys organized their troops.”

Everybody knows about the phenomenon of conservatives going the capital (or New York), rejecting their roots and become properly behaved house conservatives, representing some version of liberalism-lite as conservatism. The establishment conservatives are the bane of the conservative movement.How much of this trend is due to social pressue?

Once in the big city it must be difficult for conservatives to move in the social circles of the chattering classes filled with bigoted leftists, freedom-haters, and socialists.

How much of the spinelessness of establishment conservatives is because their wives don’t get invited to parties?

If you, your wife, and your family were being socially excluded and all that was necessary to get in the “in” crowd was to be more “reasonable”, how long would most remain “unreasonable”? How long could you put up with your wife’s complaints about your low social status and not being able to attend all the events “everybody is going to”?

I have no data, but it’s interesting to think about.

Could conservatives and conservative organizations create a conservative social circle in the political and cultural capitals that rivals the network of the chattering classes? If conservatives had their own events “everybody was going to” and wives regularly got invited to parties hosted by conservatives would we have less trouble with spineless establishment conservatives becoming one with the Cathedral?

Just a thought. Remember, it’s often the little things we don’t notice that matter lot.

Shame back

I’ve previously linked to the personal information on the Sentinel editors and reporters who published the names and addresses of gun owners in their areas. Here’s the link again.

Now, the wannabe tyrants and their lapdog enablers (lapsheep?) will use any methods possible to bully, abuse, and shame those who enjoy being free.

Thanks to the web, information is now more public than ever, so us regular free folk without newspapers and comfy editing jobs can now shame back. So, please distribute this information as wide as possible.

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Gawker has published the names of gun owners in New York. This is public information, so they see no problem with this.

So now, in the interests of journalism, here’s some more public information.

John Cook, 39, is a senior editor of Gawker and the writer of the article publishing gun owner’s information.

His work e-mail address is: john@gawker.com
His Twitter is: http://twitter.com/johnjcook

His work address is: 210 Elizabeth Street, Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10012

His home phone #: (718) 369-8243

His home address is: 528 16th St,Brooklyn, NY 11215-5912

Map

His wife is Allison Benedikt, 35, who is an editor for Slate. They got married in 2003 and have two lovely kids.

http://urbangrounds.com/wp-content/uploads/John_Cook_gawker.png

Here’s a lovely public account of John and his wife’s personal struggles.

“In the fall of 2018, all of our kids will finally be in public school, and we will have the $5,000 we pay in child care every month back in our bank account.”

Speaking of children, did you know that John was a bully back when he was in school? I guess some things never change.

Did you know New York Public School 154 is only a block from 528 16th St?

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Did you know Gawker got death threats? I definitely disapprove of threatening violence or enacting violence on private individuals. Do not commit random violence; it hurts the cause. Information is a better weapon.

Do not threaten violence: fight fire with fire. They invade our privacy, but the internet can invade theirs better.

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Fox has aired the Gawker’s founder’s phone number and e-mail. (H/T: Instapundit) Pass it on:

Nick Denton

Phone number: 646-470-4295
E-mail: nick@gawker.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicknotned
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nicknotned