On the other hand I don’t have anything else going on so far this morning and need to blog something.
So for the record, according to this five-dimentional policial* compass I have learned the following vital fact about myself:
—
*No, I’m not convinced “policial” is a word. But I’m too lazy to look it up.
They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
Little Bear 2009-2018
Laddie the Amazing Torso Boy 2011-2020
"Freedom Outlaw. It’s not what you do; it’s how you do it. It’s an attitude — from which actions always follow. It’s a do-it-yourself occupation. And a lifetime vocation."
- Claire Wolfe, Backwoods Home Companion, 6-07-10
I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.
- G. K. Chesterton
"If every Jewish and anti-Nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic."
- Aaron Zelman
"Authority should derive from the consent of the governed, not from the threat of force."
- Barbie
"Never underestimate the ability of shit to find a fan."
- F. Paul Wilson
"You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." The sophistry of villains - Bah!
- Robert A. Heinlein, Double Star
“Truth is, I’m not specifically interested in an armed society. What I want is a free society.”
- George Potter
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.
- D. H. Lawrence
Aristippus passed Diogenes as he was washing lentils.
He said, “If you could but learn to flatter the king, you would not have to live on lentils.”
Diogenes said, “And if you could learn to live on lentils, you would not have to flatter the king.”
Sandy Hook was a Gun Free Zone. So was the Westroads Mall. And the Aurora Theater. And Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Should I go on? They were all Gun Free Zones. Why do the gungrabbers never mention this?
- Reality
“Political tags — such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth — are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.”
- Robert A. Heinlein
"Civilization is the process of setting man free from men."
- Ayn Rand
If ever a man should ask you
For your business or your name
Tell him to go and fuck himself
Tell his friends to do the same.
For a man who'd trade his liberty
For a safe and dreamless sleep
Doesn't deserve the both of them
And neither shall he keep.
- Frank Turner
Don't be afraid to try something big, just because you're an amateur. The Ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals.
- Anon
"Nothing scares a police officer more than the threat of being treated the way that they treat people every day."
- Anon
"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet."
- Gen. James Mattis
"Lust for power is the most flagrant of all the passions."
- Tacitus
"The man who knows what freedom means will find a way to be free."
- F.A. "Baldy" Harper
"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
- William James
We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.
- Viktor Frankl
The free man will ask neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for his country.
- Milton Friedman
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”
- William Faulkner
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.
- Ernest Hemingway
"Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
John Moses Browning - The most badass Mormon who ever lived.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
- Ronald Reagan
The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.
- James A. Baldwin
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than to be a gardener in a war."
- Anon
“I tried to live in such a way that, when dying, I would rather feel happy than scared.”
– Witold Pilecki
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
- Sallust
"Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark."
- Lazarus Long
Read, every day, something no one else is reading.
Think, every day, something no one else is thinking.
Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do.
It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.
– Christopher Morley
“I have found that, to make a contented slave, it is necessary to make a thoughtless one. It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason. He must be able to detect no inconsistencies in slavery; he must be made to feel that slavery is right; and he can be brought to that only when he ceases to be a man.”
-Frederick Douglass
ESSE QUAM VIDERI –
To be, rather than to seem
– Marcus Tullius Cicero
“A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.”
– Ida B. Wells
Do what thy manhood bid thee do; from none but self expect applause.
He noblest lives and noblest dies, who makes and keeps his self made laws
– Sir Richard Burton
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
– Winston Churchill
“Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Dance as though no one is watching you. Love as though you have never been hurt before. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”
― Father Alfred d’Souza
That was interesting. Of course, some things were lumped together that required different answers, so “maybe” was the only choice. As with so many of these survey’s the only real answer to most of the questions is: that depends…
You are a: Objectivist Anarchist Total-Isolationist Cosmopolitan Moderate
Collectivism score: -83%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -83%
Tribalism score: -33%
Liberalism score: 0%
But I have to laugh that they consider me 100% “authoritarian.” I don’t think any of those questions or the answers mean what they think they mean. How can someone be considered a collectivist, authoritarian and an Objectivist Anarchist at the same time?
Their definition of “liberal” is probably pretty goofy as well. sigh
I never knew you and I were so different, Joel. Or (ulp) that I was such a “liberal.” I’ll gladly accept “cosmopolitan libertine” over “liberal,” thank you. But I’d really, really like to know what a “conservative anarchist” is.
And MamaLiberty, on your rankings, that’s MINUS 100% authoritarian. As far from authoritarian as you can get. Cheers.
—–
ME:
You are a Conservative Anarchist Total-Isolationist Cosmopolitan Libertine
Collectivism score: -50%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -100%
Tribalism score: -33%
Liberalism score: 83%
@Mamaliberty: That’s a *negative* 100% – as anti authoritarian as you can get. But you’re right, many of the questions are crap.
I ended up with :
You are a: Conservative Libertarian Total-Isolationist Bleeding-Heart Progressive
Collectivism score: -67%
Authoritarianism score: -67%
Internationalism score: -100%
Tribalism score: -83%
Liberalism score: 50%
A conservative Libertarian bleeding-heart progressive? That’s like being made of equal parts matter and antimatter – spontaneous self-annihilation is inevitable!
Interesting!
You are a: Right-Leaning Libertarian Total-Isolationist Cosmopolitan Traditionalist
Collectivism score: -17%
Authoritarianism score: -50%
Internationalism score: -83%
Tribalism score: -17%
Liberalism score: -33%
Not entirely sure what that says about me. How can you be a Total-Isolationist and Cosmopolitan at the same time?
You are a: Conservative Anti-Government Total-Isolationist Nativist Reactionary
Collectivism score: -50%
Authoritarianism score: -33%
Internationalism score: -100%
Tribalism score: 67%
Liberalism score: -50%
Not exactly sure what to make of that, but I’ll admit to “reactionary”.
😉
Glad you cleared up the “minus” effect Claire… I thought this pole was a typical lie. 🙂
You are a: Right-Leaning Anarchist Total-Isolationist Humanist Traditionalist
Collectivism score: -33%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -100%
Tribalism score: -67%
Liberalism score: -33%
Thanks, greg. I thought the minus percentages was pretty stupid, too. But then, maybe that’s how they do things in “policitias” or whatever country goes with their strange title.
—–
“You are a: Conservative Anti-Government Total-Isolationist Nativist Reactionary”
Holy cats, kentucky! You sound like somebody the SPLC wouldn’t like to meet on a dark night!
I actually have no idea what mine means.
You are a: Centrist Libertarian Total-Isolationist Nationalist Liberal
Collectivism score: 0%
Authoritarianism score: -50%
Internationalism score: -83%
Tribalism score: 33%
Liberalism score: 17%
You are a: Objectivist Anarchist Isolationist Humanist Moderate
Collectivism score: -100%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -67%
Tribalism score: -67%
Liberalism score: 0%
I guess I have to get to work on my anti-Tribalism. In the meantime, I denounce myself.
Claire, I’d be their worst nightmare.
Bwaaaaahahahahahahaha!!
😉
You are a: Objectivist Anarchist Total-Isolationist Humanist Liberal
Collectivism score: -100%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -100%
Tribalism score: -50%
Liberalism score: 33%
Too many false choices. Just as one example: “Racial profiling is never a legitimate law enforcement tactic”. I don’t want any enforcers “racial profiling” because I don’t want cops or “laws” for them to enforce. And just because I don’t want a State doing something doesn’t mean I don’t want it being done. Too many choices saying something about “the nation” or “society”, when those things don’t “do” anything.
And what do they mean by “moral decay”? I think worshiping cops and military are clear signs of moral decay, but I doubt that’s what the author was referring to.
Several I had to answer”maybe” to, just because of sentence structure: “yes” would actually mean the sentence is true, but the sentence said “should never”, so grammatically, I shaould answer “no, I agree that they should never.” Any how, I’m
You are a: Objectivist Anarchist Isolationist Nativist Moderate
Collectivism score: -83%
Authoritarianism score: -83%
Internationalism score: -67%
Tribalism score: 50%
Liberalism score: 0%
Whatever.
So far, we’ve all had a different answer. Ain’t diversity grand? (no sarcasm intended)
Yeah, because as you say the questions are so poorly put. I’d get a completely different result if I answered the questions as I believe they’re meant, as opposed to honestly answering the way they’re phrased.
If you start to worry about the grammar, you never get anywhere with these surveys. The grammar is always bad… and I suppose that’s even intentional.
OK, here I am:
You are a: Conservative Anarchist Total-Isolationist Nationalist Moderate
Collectivism score: -50%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -83%
Tribalism score: 33%
Liberalism score: 0%
It warms my heart heart to see that – with the exception of a few slackers – people have scored so well in the ‘Authoritarianism’ category. Not a great surprise here – but probably exceptional in terms of averages.
Too many of the questions were based – as others have mentioned – on premises I don’t share. Too, I would probably have to enable my javascript to get a tally on the test – not that important to me.
You are a: Conservative Anarchist Total-Isolationist Nationalist Liberal
Collectivism score: -67%
Authoritarianism score: -100%
Internationalism score: -100%
Tribalism score: 33%
Liberalism score: 17%
Whatever that means.
I’m just kinda into the whole policy of leavemealoneandilldothesameforyouism.
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