The Path Of Least "Resistance"

What do you do when you really hate the president but have no desire to change the conditions that made his presidency possible? What do you do when you yourself are relatively comfortable—or at least too afraid of losing what you have to contemplate meaningful change—to signal your dislike of the clearly unlikeable Trump? How do you demonstrate your resistance to President Trump without any personal sacrifice or risk? How can you find a way to show you’re a critical thinker and a rebel while still clinging to the safety of the herd?

There is a way, and a lot of people are doing it. It’s called resisting by taking the path of least resistance. See, it’s just like actual resisting without any of the unpleasant short-term consequences. You don’t have to think because the answers will be provided for you by talking heads and think tanks. You won’t have to contribute to or volunteer to campaign for an honest candidate because all of the heavy lifting will be done by corporate PACs. The only expense you may incur is if you choose to purchase a pussy hat to show you’re part of the flock resistance. Just imagine floating gently downstream on an inner tube while virtue signaling on Twitter with your iPhone. 

Once one has decided on the path of least resistance, one feels pulled along by a power greater than oneself. Like flotsam carried by a might current. You will experience a force that carries you onward without any conscious choice on your part.

Now it could be tempting to question what the force is that propels us, whether there are powerful forces that are attempting to propel us in a direction of their own choosing, but such disquieting thoughts might lead us astray from the effortless path of resistance that feels so good and comforting (the water is the perfect temperature, though you may find it slowly getting warmer). Questioning will only roil the waters. Don’t rock the boat.

The path of passive resistance is one of faith. Indeed, many aspects of religious belief can be found in this sort of resistance. Not unlike an unseen god whose words are taken as law, those within the resistance take on faith the statements of unknown agents (angels) within the intelligence agencies. Where would Russiagate be without it? Also, like the priesthood of any organized religion, the clerics in the media not only interpret the words of the unknown and unseen gods, they help to direct us away from the false paths the heretics might steer you down. They interpret the signs for us and make their pronouncements which cannot be questioned but merely rabidly accepted. And like any good religion, those who do not believe are agents of the devil (Putin).

But while I am enough of a Christian to appreciate faith, just as I am enough of a Taoist to appreciate going with the flow, I cannot help but doubt that the spirit that moves within those who call themselves the “resistance” flows from any divine source, but rather from worldly power and filthy lucre. I see an amazing lack of spirituality within the resistance, and an unnerving lack of any uniting spirit other than a hatred for both our president and for huge segments of the population who may dissent from the required orthodoxy.

To those who find themselves more driven by hatred than love, I say to you: beware the cult that seeks to isolate you from non-believers, that separates you from family and friends. Exercise caution towards any belief system that develops derogatory terms for those who believe differently than you, that permits you to see others as less than fully human. One sure sign of a cult is when they get you to live your life according to some grand prophesy (Mueller Report will damn Trump), offer a doomsday scenario (Trump will be impeached, but the faithful shall be set free), and then reshape the narrative when their pronouncements have been proven false (it never was about collusion).

Like a cult, a strong current is hard to break free from once you are in its grasp. Once you’ve surrendered your self-determination to some power that has its own designs, it is hard to get it back. The flood of propaganda that has flowed from our media is powerful indeed, so much so that it is difficult to keep one’s head above water, difficult to find any steady rock on which we can catch hold and steady ourselves. But such unyielding, solid forms of resistance can still be found, journalists, politicians and artists whose messages have been unwavering and enduring (Chris Hedges, CaitlinJohnstone, Greg Palast, Black Agenda Report, and Jimmy Dore are good starting points). The past, too, offers us points of reference, timeless milestones that have for centuries guided humanity through turbulent times. If you feel yourself being buffeted by the currents of the present so that you no longer know which way is up, let that which has stood the test of time guide you.

There is a powerful current that hopes to sweep us all along. Its promise is that it will wipe clean the stain that is the Trump era, lead us to tranquil waters. But the smell of factory farm runoff from the water cannot be denied, and I trust not where this river leads. However easy it may seem to go with the flow, I see rocky times ahead whether or not Trump wins a second term. This won’t be easy. We will have to drop our oars in the water and row like hell. And we’ll have to do it in conjunction with those on the other side of the boat, the left and the right together. And rather than trusting to the current, we need to look downriver with discerning and watchful eyes, for it only us who can hope to navigate what lay ahead. Because this is no lazy river, we’re not at Disney World, and the falls are right around the next bend.

Think Twice Before Finding Something To Do

Hamlet Contemplates Doing Something

It has come to my attention that the less tasks I undertake the less busy I am and the more time I have for other things, such as relaxing. As a matter of fact, the only logical explanation for doing anything at all is to get it out of the way so that later you can relax. And the truth is, most things don’t need doing in the first place so you’re just putting one extra step in between you and relaxation time.

Always put off until tomorrow what can be done today, because by tomorrow conditions might change. If they do not, you will it least have an extra day to come up with a reason you shouldn’t have to do it tomorrow, either. If you follow in this advice long enough it is very likely that some busybody will tire of waiting for you and do it himself, or else people will adapt and forget a problem exists at all. People adjust rather quickly once realistic hope fades from the equation.

Thinking about doing something is okay, but it's a step in the wrong direction. If you do it properly, it is a nice form of relaxation to contemplate actually accomplishing something. But sometimes such flights of fancy lead to inspiration, which is quite dangerous, in that it leads to actually start something, and that is the kiss of death. Starting something is like signing a piece of paper an Army recruiter puts in front of you: you’ve committed to a long stretch of time in which you will suddenly find yourself wed to work you have no interest in performing.

There has never been a time when I started a project that my inspiration has outlasted the task. 15 minutes into even the simplest job will reveal complications I never imagined possible. But there’s no stopping at that point: even stopping will require work just to get back to where you were before you started. If you quit and walk away then you’ll be left with a mess of tools lying around that were neatly packed away before motivation got the better of you. Not only will you have yet another messy area in your house, you will have that sense of failure hanging over you as you settle into your place on the couch and try to watch television. There will be a sense of guilt you cannot shake, and guilt is a very dangerous thing, because it will lead in the future to you trying to redeem yourself by starting some other unnecessary project and seeing it through to completion.

And say you do carry a project to completion, what then? Say you’ve found the intestinal fortitude to build a garage or a swimming pool: it’s only going to lead to more work. That pool will have to be cleaned frequently, that garage will need painting and repairs. Whereas if you had simply sat on your couch for the amount of time it took you to accomplish something, you would now have far more time to sit around now. Not only that, you’ve established a very bad precedent, one which others will then try to hold you to.

Now you may ask me if it was worth all the energy it took me to write this. I would say that if it stopped a single person from doing some unnecessary task, then yes it was. And writing about work is really no different from talking about work, and as we know talk is cheap. I would go so far as to say that thinking about work is the finest ways to react to work. One has never dirtied one’s hands thinking about work, never had to make multiple trips to the hardware store, never cracked one’s knuckles or made a mess by thinking. As a matter of fact, the more you think about doing something, the less likely you will find the time to actually start on it. Just ask Hamlet. It was thinking too much that prevented him from killing his uncle. More than that, he thought himself out of killing himself with a dagger. And that would have made a mess which someone would have had to clean up.

Russia Is Using Our Divisions To Divide Us

Russia is using our divisions to divide us. It’s true and it’s undeniable. Don’t argue the point, that’s what Russia wants. They want to divide us and we must unite in order to defend democracy from an attack every bit as great as Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Remember when Japan surprise-attacked our Pacific fleet and more or less wiped it out? It’s no different than that.

It is understandable that you might be confused as to how Facebook posts are comparable to the bombing of a naval fleet. If you are feeling doubt creep into your mind, it is most likely the result of something you have seen on Facebook. The fact that you are even questioning the equivalency is proof of how nefarious the Russian attack was/is. If you are not feeling better within a few days, you are advised to contact the Atlantic Council in order to make sure you are following the proper talking points, untainted by outside influences. In the meantime, here are a few things to get straight:

Russia is playing upon the outrage of African Americans who see unarmed blacks being shot to death by the police who get away with it. And they’re using Pokémon Go to do it!

They’re playing upon our distrust of a media that lies us into wars in the interest of the Military Industrial Complex. Don’t fall for the Russian fomentation.

They’ve made us appear less of a moral authority in the eyes of the world. Once the world looked to us for leadership, now Russia is making people the world over question whether open-air slave markets in Libya are not snapshots of democracy in action.

Especially devious is the way Russia is attempting to distract from their interference by making you doubt establishment media. They are trying, through devious and undetectable means, to get us to believe that it was not their $46,000 worth of Facebook ads but the $5,000,000,000 worth of free air time given him by the U.S. media that got Donald Trump elected.

Now it might seem odd that a leader (Vladimir Putin) who seems moderately intelligent would risk the wrath of a nation that’s been looking to push its agenda and its military alliance closer and closer toward his own. It might seem that angering a nation that outspends you on military 10 to 1 with weak and silly provocations is illogical. But that’s just the sort of twisted and evil thought processes that work inside the minds of foreign despots. It can be seen in Syria, where President dictator Bashar al-Assad inexplicably used chemical weapons just when President Trump signaled his intent to leave him alone, and again when he was on the cusp of defeating the terrorists rebels. It was on display when Saddam Hussein refused to admit to having weapons of mass destruction despite the overwhelming evidence supplied by the mainstream media and our intelligence agencies who control share the information they receive.

Worst of all, Russians are trying to get you to doubt the sacredness and purity of our electoral system. I cannot stress how insane and dangerous this is. To even suggest that our democracy is anything less than the perfect representation of the will of the people is stopping the will of the people from being enacted through our perfect democracy which always gives us the best of all possible results.

On an unrelated note, the Russians are trying to undermine your support of our perfect democracy by suggesting you should expect a candidate that is in alignment with your core beliefs. Don’t be a purist, vote for whatever candidate is chosen for you garners the most super delegates votes.

Now, granted, you are not supposed to have read this deep into the article. It works best when you are inundated with headline after headline that screams interference without ever critically delving into the evidence or lack thereof. But to you who have persevered, this all might seem a little irrational, lacking in substance, and—well—silly. This only goes to show the depth of subterfuge involved. If nothing makes sense to you, if the Democratic Party seems to have no clear strategy to take on Trump, if two years of Democratic resistance has not led to any substantive victories, if Trump has done everything short of lob nuclear missiles in his attempt to prove he has no loyalty to Putin, if Adam Schiff seems to you like a mad dog who’s likely to bite the next passerby, there is an explanation for this: Russia.

It is quite possible that Facebook memes have caused you to question the oracles of the media who deliver the sacred words from the gods of the intelligence agencies and other unseen authorities. The devil will cause you to doubt, but it is precisely at such moments you must cling to your faith in those who always lead you to war truth. But if you have sinned in thought, do not fear. You can still get right with the priests of the media and the unknowable but all-knowing intelligence agencies. When doubt strikes, simply say ten Hail Muellers and crank up the MSNBC. Because faith is required to lead us to Armageddon the promised land.

Praise For Caitlin Johnstone

Most every writer has had the experience of being in contact with the muse of writing. I’d go so far as to say that every writer worth reading—indeed, every artist worth mentioning—can describe their peak creative moments in a similar fashion. Hard work cannot be dismissed from the equation, but neither can inspiration and being in touch with something transcendent or, as professional athletes would describe it, being in the zone.

There are some writers who set a word count and hammer out x amount of words every day. Most are hacks who never write anything really worth reading. Some I admire, such as Jack London, who once said “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.” But as someone who has drunk deeply of the muse served through the pen of Jack London, I would guess that he too knew the feeling of words and thoughts flowing through him as though he were a mere conduit for forces beyond his comprehension. As one who’s dabbled in capturing thoughts in words myself, I regard those thoughts most precious that come from seemingly nowhere, and what I consider my best writing is done when I can capture such thoughts in words before I fully comprehend them.

Which leads me to Caitlin Johnstone. As one who has made a point of reading the great thinkers and writers in all eras, it seems out of character for me to include a modern-day writer among the great writers of history. After all, such accolades are meant to be bestowed upon writers after generations of critics have evaluated their work and given weighted critiques as to the value they have added to culture.

Bosh. Or bullshit. I don’t mean to swear, but I don’t want to sound trapped in the past by using stuffy language, either. The point is, I don’t need generations of commentary to tell me that a piece of writing is connecting with me on some very vital level. Or connecting with me on many different levels simultaneously. I very much appreciate those who were willing to guide me to the works of William Shakespeare: the language barrier was real and it did take a while for me to bridge the gap. But that gap being bridged, I quickly forgot about those who led me to that point and directly experienced the joy of communing with William freaking Shakespeare. The connection I have to Caitlin’s writing is no less profound, and I need no intercessor to sanctify the communion.

I have drunk deeply of the great writers of the world and of history. No doubt I have missed a few, there are only so many hours in the life of a man. But I am deeply thankful I have had the opportunity to drink from the work of Caitlin Johnstone. I will come right out and say it: there are very few writers in recorded history who have tapped into a vein of inspiration so deeply and for such a sustained period. I was fortunate to have grown up in Chicago while Mike Royko was writing a daily column. I always regarded him as the best. Caitlin has surpassed him. Granted he wrote for a much longer period of time than her, but he had the weekends off and, good as he was, he was merely excellent and not transcendent.

I was an English major and so was exposed to the greatest poets of the ages. And while I was never much into poetry, there were those—Shelley, Byron, Tennyson, Blake, and others—who genuinely moved me. But never the way I was moved when I read Caitlin’s Woke. From the first time I read the introduction, tears of joy, sadness and ecstasy poured from me, as they still do when I re-read from it for the umpteenth time.

I was reading a tweet by Katrina vanden Heuvel the other day, a woman who I’ve always admired, respected, and felt attuned to. She asked which pundit of the past we would most wish was among us to give reflection upon the times. H.L. Menken was mentioned, Jonathon Swift, Mark Twain, and others that I’ve read and deeply valued. But my only thought was “We have Cailtin Johnstone, and she easily sits among that group. She is the voice of our time, and I doubt any of those perceptive and fearless thinkers could do a better job than she is doing right now.” It is not that we lack great minds in this present generation, it is that we live in a time where great minds and noble thoughts are not appreciated. But such times cannot last for long. The need for deep thoughts, deep emotions, and those who think and feel will once again become apparent, and on that day Caitlin will be given her proper place.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t worship Caitlin or blindly follow her, I merely leave myself open to brilliance and recognize it when I see it. There are aspects of her perspective that I feel could use some correcting. She sees truth unhindered by the prejudices of the past, but too often she dismisses the glimpses seen by those who came before as a result. Her education is incomplete, as all of ours are, her perspective limited, as all of ours are. She is but one star in the firmament, but she burns the brightest at the moment. She is a guiding star for any hoping to navigate the uncertain seas of our time.