The Cause of the Riots - Collectivism

To the 2020 Rioters,

Your skin color is one of the least important things about you. Red, brown, white or green, you have done very little to have that shade. It did not determine your character or your pride. It did not determine your intellect, whether you decided to educate yourself or whether you chose the easy way of blaming failure on a color.

Your skin doesn’t think or choose; your mind does. Your mind chooses your friends, your habits and your manner and these determine whether people respect or avoid you. Color didn’t make you. You did. This is because, at base, you are an individual. You choose, with your own mind, what you value. You are not connected to others and you can't give up your mind and expect that those others will take care of you. They won't. They will use you to advance their agenda of destroying capitalism which happens to be the greatest and fairest system ever invented by man. You have been duped by Marx and Engels and soon you will be a murderous automaton who destroys lives. That is what you are making of yourself.

The root cause of riots and looting is not the killing of one individual. The root cause is seeing everything as an issue of groups. This is called collectivism and it is the most virulent and evil idea in history. It has caused countless numbers of deaths. It is the philosophy of Antifa and Black Lives Matter and the sundry socialist and communist groups who gravitate around the idea of self-sacrifice, class warfare and group hatred. 

In fact, lots of people die unfairly of all colors and people don’t riot over their deaths. In fact, many people died in the riots and looting in which you have participated. I don't see you demanding justice for those people. 

The root cause of rioting and looting is the idea of group grievance; the very collectivism I mentioned above. People have been taught that one group has oppressed their group and they feel justified in lashing out against society. But groups are made up of individuals, some guilty and many innocent. Individuals often do wrong and our society is designed to punish injustice imposed by one individual over another. It seeks to find the individual who has done wrong, prove his crime and then punish him as an individual. All justice should be of, by, and for individuals. That’s the only way to find fairness in society. That’s the only way to avoid riots that punish the wrong individual.

Collectivism creates misunderstanding and death. Collectivism calls for special treatment for one group and persecution of other groups. It has always done this. Look at the collectivism of the Nazis and communists and the haters of groups in other societies. It is the haters of groups who do the damage we see in our streets. The culprit is collectivism. Collectivism killed 6 million Jews in Germany, 20 million people in the Soviet Union and some estimates say 200 million people in communist China. Is that what you want to bring back into the world?

Those of you who think constantly of groups and seek to divide people by groups; you are bringing evil to society. You may start by telling people you want to save them against capitalism, but make no mistake about it; you are bringing death and destruction. You know, deep down inside you that you must kill or silence anyone who disagrees with you. Make no mistake about it, you are evil and I know you sense it within you. 

I think you should take a step back and ask yourself what kind of person you are making of yourself. I think you should re-think your values and decide upon actions that bring values into society. Values such as reason, purpose and self-respect are a good start. Individualism is the answer to collectivism. Think again about what you do.

What are you afraid of?

Are you afraid of existence? Do you fear that existence is against you and no matter what you do there is this thing called reality that is always changing and intent upon defeating everything you do?

Did you know that existence is what it is. It has no mind of its own and it is totally oblivious to you. It can’t aim at you, try to harm you or do anything to you whatsoever. Of course, sometimes things don’t go your way but that’s not intended to hurt you; it’s just chance or bad planning. Try better planning.

Are you afraid of what people think? Do you fear that no matter what you do or say someone will be offended or critical of you?

Did you know that most people don’t think of you most of the time? Those who do may be too critical, but then that’s because they are too critical of most people they know. The minds of others don’t create reality just as your mind doesn’t create reality. Their minds are passive and most of them have bad judgment. They can’t think something about you and make it so; so why worry what others think? There is only reality and the mind is a passive participant. 

Are you afraid of dying? Do you fear that something terrible will happen when you die, something so sinister and evil that you will have no control over it? 

Did you know that fear of death could cause you to die? It will cause you to live your life always afraid of something bad coming around the corner. Waking up every day and thinking this is the day you will die will make every day but one a disappointment. Death has nothing to do with life. Why not focus on life and living and loving and trying to stay healthy.

Are you afraid that you will fail? Do you think you don’t have the mental efficacy to do the correct thing or that you will be defeated by a mindless dragon?

Did you know that failure is an opportunity to learn, to evaluate what you might have done wrong and it can give you valuable lessons for eventually succeeding.

Are you afraid of success? Do you fear that once you are successful you will do something so wrong that you will throw away your success and descend into a life of failure?

Did you know that success is a sign that you are doing things right and it provides a platform for more success and security. If you have achieved success, you are rare. Enjoy it.

Are you afraid of yourself? Do you fear that you must be doing something objectionable no matter what you do? Do you have some voice in your head telling you to stop, be careful, don’t go forward because someone once called you selfish and greedy and self-important?

Did you know that when you are constantly watching yourself, you are not watching the world and learning the things you need to know to be a better person? Never let negative thoughts stop you from achieving your values and desire for the good. Get out of your chair and do something for yourself and you’ll learn to enjoy your self.

So, what are you afraid of?

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Aphorisms

I’ve been accused of being too aphoristic. So here are some of my best. Let me know what you think.

A right is like a muscle. It is either healthy and strong from active use or weak because of laziness.

Appeasement is like a house of cards. A slight change in the wind knocks it down.

To argue against offensive speech leaves you without the right to express your deeper convictions.

To say that one should not use offensive speech is like saying one should censor oneself - self-censorship is still censorship.

When you refuse to be free, you agree to be a slave. Use your freedoms or lose them.

Freedom of speech is not only about your right to say what you believe. It is more about your right to say what you know. Anyone can say what he believes. It is the rare individual who says what he knows.

The person whose ideology is based on lies is capable of anything.

Doing evil requires a conscious choice to hurt people. This especially applies to politicians and intellectuals.

It has been said that some people muddy their waters to appear deep.  I would add that they also expect full payment and repeat business.

Honesty comes with a discount. It can become habitual.

Economic principle: Never throw good money after bad.  Moral principle: Never waste your time on liars.

You’re wasting your time if you think you can love humanity.  You can only love individual humans.

Sacrifice for mankind and you’ll be tired by noon.

Fighting for freedom is not a sacrifice. Paying taxes is a sacrifice. 

Your parents took care of you because they loved you, not because they had a little extra money.

Capitalist: a person who saves his money and lends it to others who produce goods and services.

Government: a group of people that takes your money before you are able to loan it.

Government job: employment of a person who doesn’t care, is incompetent, produces nothing and can’t be fired.  It is that same person who considers you a bother because he’s going to be paid with your money regardless of what he does.

Marxists believe that any surplus money you earn was stolen from the person who hates his job, hates his boss, believes he is underpaid and hates to work.

Honor your parents. They fed you while you were being a thoughtless, unappreciative brat.

A boss is like a parent, long-suffering, hard working and constantly spending money hoping you’ll be productive. The only difference is that a boss can get rid of you when you test his patience.

Progressives want the glory for helping the poor with your money.

The easiest way to become a thief is to be a politician.  It is safer, he can steal all the money he wants; and instead of going to jail, he will have monuments built for him, books written about him, streets named for him and buildings named after him. Yet he spent your money for all that glory.

Remember: If you choose a Bohemian lifestyle in order to avoid self-responsibility, all your friends have too.

Some people are more comfortable with rabble rousers and itinerants.  Others wisely look for the door.

Freedom is an idea that people have died to preserve. Slavery is a condition that kills people. Soldiers die for freedom...people vote for slavery.

Age has the ability to look back...youth has the misfortune of inexperience.

Some things can be taken apart and put back together. I hope this is true of freedom.

Never trust a person who says he's doing something for your own good unless he's your parent.

Shine the light of truth into the dungeons of the past...and you will liberate the mind to explore the heights of knowledge.

Courage, happiness and peace of mind are the rewards of truth. Cowardice, decline, decay and misery are the penalties of self-deceit. Make your choice.