sadly, porn

“Couldn't help noticing you weren't talking to me, what's that you're working on?”  It's a manifesto, you should buckle up.

I'm actually a little worried to broadcast that I read this book. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, because that'd require saying "hey, I found this kind of psychotic, vulgar, meandering attack on the readers self-image and I think it matches your vibe". It also struck a deep chord with me, because at it's core this manifesto is about taking responsibility. You'll have to hunt through footnotes that are entire chapters in and of themselves, multiple pornographic screenplays (complete with a musical score), enough Freudian reinterpretation to put me off dreamwork forever, and a questionable history of Athens1. but it's there.

Scott Alexander actually writes a good review of whole book, complete with long excerpts which will give you a taste of the writing style and some intelligent analysis. For something less sympathetic, I think Moldbug argues at length that the author, Teach, is an idiot, but I won't link to it here.

I, however, won't be covering the book in much depth. I finished it over a year ago and am sparse on details, basing all of this on a brief review of my Kindle highlights that reminded me how deeply parts of it resonate, then and now. I can't help but see parallels everywhere I look2

So why write it at all? in part because these ideas have been kicking around for a while and need an outlet, and also because the elections are running right now and the sort of misanthropic anger that Teach channels throughout his work feels appropriate. We're watching a masterclass in the consequences of abdicated responsibility and I'm kinda mad about it.

I won't go so far as to argue that there aren't *any* people worth following in the current of-leadership-age demographic of America, though I may accuse those who would have otherwise existed of running from their civic duties and leaving us with these clowns we call candidates. But then this would rhyme with every other op-ed we're bound to see after the votes are counted, regardless of the winner, and I'd feel obligated to lobotomize myself. They'll be right to call it a leadership problem, but the fingers are all pointing the wrong way. In a system of governance where power lies with the people, a failure of power is a failure of the people. The problem is with you and me.

“We lost the war because we had poor leadership!”  Poor leadership, what the hell are you talking about, you were supposed to be a democracy!  But you want no responsibility for the democracy, you want to be lead.  Look around you at the results."

you can kick and squirm, perhaps arguing about who really holds power in America, or whether we actually live under a democracy, but all your resistance is in pursuit of the same civic failure: relief from our duty to act to change those realities.

“That’s not fair, why us?”  Because if not you, who?

the calvary ain’t coming. The old guard haven't fallen asleep at the wheel so much as removed it entirely to avoid culpability in where they wind up, and the pace of technological advance is bound to obsolete even the few who still care. while it'd be ridiculous to blame you for the failings of our predecessors3, responsibility for bringing about change falls to the next in line. It's not a question of fairness, it's one of duty. We owe it to one another to be better in every moment moving forward; fair or not, we are still, and will always be, each other's only hope4.

and I promise I'm not just trying to wax poetic here - trite as it may sound, compassionate responsibility for those around us is the only way out. modern activism runs on envy and it's eating some of the most passionate thinkers of our generation alive. If we let ourselves continue to pursue vengeance rather than justice, we are lost. What is it to win? Ask yourself whether you'd be satisfied knowing the victims of some injustice were recompensed and cared for, and the perpetrator could commit no more crimes but was allowed to walk free. Upon finding the answer is no, ask again why you require someone to suffer for this to be ok. I am begging you to kill the person inside trying to convince you this is fine. The consequences of thinking this way are evident all around. Teach was right, it was never about vibes, essays, or papers - it's always been about hurting people. this cannot be the way

this is hardly to argue for pacifism either. there is real resistance to progress in the world, and it often has no qualms with violence; we shouldn't either. But I am desperate to make you see that there is a difference in violence born of wanting to hurt someone and wanting to save something. It matters why we are fighting, and far too many of you are burning bad fuel. Its corrosive to the soul, and if that sounds like a silly thing to worry about, ask what it is that our world so lacks right now. Is it a willingness to hurt? we need to recognize that some things can be both necessary and evil, and hold them with appropriate distaste.

and if this all sounds like a rather one-sided critique, you’re right. but that’s because changing anything at all demands being self-critical. internal standards should be infinitely higher than external ones, we cannot satisfy ourselves with being better than some imaginary opponent. regardless of the federal outcomes tomorrow (tonight?), remember that we are all individually responsible for our collective outcomes, present and future. change starts here