THE SCROLL: A Criminal Presidency?
Notes On Democracy, Academia, Obi Wan Cannoli and Tira-Windu, Intuitive Public Radio, Fake Pandas, FAFO, Recursion, Ham Radio, Small Talk, Virtue's Last Reward, Digital Autonomy and the Arts and more.
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Academia Is A Predatory Business and Education Is A Religion
[In response to “Academia's refusal to recognize itself as a predatory business is all the proof you need to conclude education is a religion.” - James True, It Happened In College]
Spot on. I was listening to a podcast today on a subject I really wanted to know so much more about but I had to shut it off. There was so much echo chambered academic brain rot oozing from this recording that I could not, in good conscience, ever recommend that anyone else listen to it. Just utter failure to see anything they were saying also happens on the other side of the aisle. Complete gaping black hole of a blind spot. If that’s what is passing for being taught to think critically, they require a refund.
Wow. That’s exactly how this felt energetically, like part of overall experience is walled off from their ability to perceive it. Like an extremely rigid reality tunnel. So when I saw this quote above offset in James True’s article, likening it to a religion felt correct. It has that same kind of binary rigid energetic texture in which all questioning is negatively incentivized by reinforcing guilt and shame paradigms. This thought felt so much like my experience earlier in the day, as much as it feels like what you’re telling me right now.
From Nathalie Martinek PhD:
Yes - same energy as a cult. I mostly enjoyed my doctoral period because of the social atmosphere and the creativity in my lab, thanks to my supervisor. Others weren’t as lucky. The grad student who started exploring energy healing techniques was ridiculed. I saw then that you can only belief a subset of accepted things and are ostracised if you think differently and don’t have the acceptable forms of evidence to back them up.
That’s both disturbing and hilarious considering William Bengston went about proving that in 17+ different labs last I knew - and he had positive results in each. If they were actually looking into other studies, I’m sure they’d have found that.
And if you’ve never looked into the surgeries that Brian Dailey has done, they would absolutely blow your mind.
It’s a shame they are so closed off.
Nothing is written in stone here. That’s what makes it so cool. It should feel liberating. And I guess it does if you’re not afraid of it. The fear kind of boxes you in.
A Criminal Presidency?
[In response to “I wish a legitimate criminal would run for president and win. I mean a loud and out there kinda mofo “Ayo, as Prez imma make them China mf's run they pockets n’ we gonna make our own product here, I mean produce stuff, wuteva, you know what I meant. I'm gon' get our boys to run off those not English speakin’ cats too, they gots ta go, ya know? Also, whoever wanna be in my cabinet gotta show they down by beatin’ quarter’s outta whoeva day gon' replace. I ain't got time fo punks. If'n any y'all mf's gotta problem, you can see me in that Oval Office n’ we'll make it the Understanding Room. Fk yalls questions, I gots grindin' ta do. Peace” - Coleman]
Unpopular opinion: This is kind of how I felt when Trump first won. You don’t come up that far in Manhattan real estate without really strong NY mafia ties. Which means he has a code. I understood that, and I felt like I could kind of set a watch by it, unlike the others.
So, I was iffy at first. But I was tenuously ok with it when it happened, and that was why. And I felt like my assessment of that was pretty much correct. Ish. Not completely, but enough to not feel at all weird about it.
When he pushed the vaxx so hard and made that his thing, I wasn’t ok with it anymore. But I knew anyone in his shoes would have had to play ball with that or face consequences. I hated it, but I know it’s par for the course.
Now, I’m “voluntarist,” if I had to call it something, and I don’t vote anyway. I don’t consent to be governed, and certainly not by people who are actively trying to kill me.
But if I were me from back then, not feeling about it how I feel now, that’s how I would be thinking it through.
A dAnGeR tO oUr dEmOcRaCy
So, wait… you mean they’re destroying their own rag?!
Aren’t they like 8 years too late?!
Publisher and Executive Editor. (2016). To Our Readers, From the Publishers and Executive Editor. The New York Times.
The Left: “MOM!!!! The Left is eating itself again!!!!”
Let them.
I don’t care what “side” you’re on, people.
You already caught the paper lying 8 years ago, Dory the Memory Holed Fish.
Why do you still read it? 🙄🤣
(P.S. Anyone reading this - I don’t care Left vs. Right. I’m a “voluntarist.” Not my circus, not my monkeys. I do not consent to being governed period, let alone by people who are literally trying to kill us, no matter which flavor of Kool-Aid y’all think I should be drinking. Hard pass on ALL your moonie cult antics. No thanks.)
Fake Panda Roll: Let The Silly Games Begin!
FAFO
“And this one…” - Kaya Marie
Frankenstein May Incite Profuse Bawling: Watch At Your Own Risk
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
No, I’m not joking.
To be fair, I had just had my wisdom teeth out, I was coming down off of anesthesia, and apparently, I was bawling at how terribly everyone was treating the monster….
The next day, I remembered nothing, and I expressed interest in seeing the movie… as if I had never seen it before.
Because, in my mind, I hadn’t…. 😳🤣
Intuitive Public TV
From Jacqueline Rendell:
This is what a real warrior looks like. 🔥
Megan Elizabeth, aka IPR with Mack Morris is a survivor of severe violence and trauma.
Instead of merely existing as a broken being she is busy creating an Intuitive Network so that others like her can connect with each other and learn to really LIVE again, as the warriors they all are.
“…if I didn’t sing and share with others I couldn’t get the functions of my brain and body back online…”
I was honoured to be her guest and speak with her about the power of music, kindness, and social media to nurture us all back to wholeness. ❤️
Intuitive Public Radio II
I’m restacking these things through tears, so bear with me.
IPR with Mack Morris and I are going live on 7/15 at 1pm Eastern.
Please join us there - all of the info is in the image below - we’re going to break down everything Max is discussing here inside the link and more.
But at the crux of this, please understand that this has been the establishment of a space in which people can talk openly about their experiences - whatever those experiences might be, where we have made it possible to have meaningful discussions through text and audio, in which connections are established and prioritized, and civility is always maintained.
You are welcome to join us there at any time: Starfire Codes Chat on Telegram.
And join us on the live. We’ll unpack all of this there:
Thank you, IPR with Mack Morris, for all of your hard work in building the community and providing everyone with the resources, hope, and connections to make it through transitioning out of the dark and back into feeling safe enough to communicate out in the world again. 🔥🔥🔥
Thank you for the beautiful tribute. I’m beyond honored. I’m in tears. 🙏🏻💜💫
I’m happy for all that has been accomplished for far, and looking to the future. And I’m stoked that you’re going to be doing these live streams on the regular now. It’s such a huge step. And I love it!! ⚡💥🔥
In Which Coleman Eats Recursion….
Man Caught Smuggling 100 Snakes In His Trousers
“No no no those are my TIME TRAVEL TROUSERS… no… those are my FIGHTING TROUSERS…. Ah! Yes! MY SNAKE SMUGGLING TROUSERS!! GEOFFREY!! GET OFF THE DRUMS!!!” 🤣
McArthur, Tom. (2024). Man Caught Smuggling 100 Snakes In His Trousers. BBC.
MIKE ECHO OSCAR WHISKEY
[In response to “Myself personally, I am finally investing time in learning HAM radio, because the people involved with that ‘hobby?’ They tend to be hyper-awake.” - Stone Bryson, Has France Fallen?]
I was encouraged by the group I discuss in my unintentional online meritocracy experiment post to get licensed just in case of an emergency, and so I did.
I created a couple of repositories for what I was thinking/reading/watching to prepare for my test after the fact so that my friends in that group and in SFC who were signed up to take the test had resources available.
During lockdown, a lot of infrastructure was created to offer testing online, so you should still be able to do it that way.
If you’re going to take the test, these should help a lot! GL, fren! :)
Navigating A Difference In Reality Tunnels
From Matthew Haviland in response to MEME DROP #155: Remember, You Can Disappear Into The Forest Whenever You Want. You’re An Adult:
People are still believing this stuff. I had this guy start a thread talking about how he was sad no one believed in the experts, anymore, and I went in and had a conversation with him. Multiple times, he said he trusted science, but looked to politicians as the liars. By the end, he was calling a woman who said her son was taken to the hospital with a racing heart mistaken and saying there was no evidence, not a shred, not One!, about autism and vaccines. I basically told him to go fuck himself, but in a nicer way. I should have not been as nice. What a fucking douche.
You can't change everyone's mind. He's in a different reality tunnel, different frequency. He's stuck in fear. He can't even hear or process what you're saying. I know - easier said than done - but often it's best not to waste your energy. It'll only frustrate you and lower your own frequency.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m only either (A) seeking his approval, or (B) seeking his salvation. And I really don’t want to see people like that in Heaven, if I am. Whatever. etc.” - Matthew Haviland
He'll see whatever he expects to see. Here, and in the afterlife.
“Haha, I hope not. In that case, it seems like it’ll just be a bunch of the worst people getting the same success they always had. Unless they on a deeper level see that they don’t deserve a good outcome. I wouldn’t put that past the way it is.” - Matthew Haviland
Whatever you do, expect something good. Don't screw yourself over with a bad attitude about it. There's a reason the heart is supposed to be lighter than a feather, so to speak. If it is, you'll expect good things. If you expect good things, you will get them.
“Yeah, I always thought that kind of thing made Utilitarianism a viable strategy. At the end of the day, you want what’s right, but it’s buried under bullshit.” - Matthew Haviland
The more you let go, forgive, process, release, the lighter the heart.
Obi Wan Cannoli from Melody Arayi
Podcast: Digital Autonomy and the Arts with The Starfire Codes
From Margaret Anna Alice:
One of my favorite things to do is connect fellow members of our karass, so it is a special delight to see Gabriel and The Starfire Codes coming together to spark off one another’s creativity and ingenuity. Looking forward to this conversation between two authentic, kindhearted souls of great talent and passion.
Thank you so much!!
I think it’s a major part of life that most people have allowed to fall by the wayside post-lockdown in an often contentious or hostile environment - or with the perception that the environment MAY be contentious or hostile and becoming avoidant of social interactions as a result, as an attempt to find a solution for that, even if the solution itself is broken and unsustainable.
We’re going to need to reconnect and overcome our differences - and a large part of that means talking in person, listening to each other, finding common ground, and reestablishing some normalcy that reflects what we now know based upon what we have learned, albeit in regrettable ways, in the past 5 years.
It’s time.
Thanks for watching!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! 🙏🏻💜💫
Small Talk
[In response to “I was just thinking that most of the time other people initiate a conversation with me, it is negative. And it rattles me to the core to have this feeling that I can only talk to others when there's is a pure utilitarian aspect to it. Part of networking is vibe and the art of small talk. And to feel this shame for saying, you look nice today, is rough; likewise, It's nice the rain stopped. The traffic was really smooth. That tv show I watched last night was interesting. Is considered a waste of time. In this fast paced work culture, we treat people who don't communicate perfectly with disdain and distrust, but without this network, so many doors close.” - Ryan Williams]
I see your point. Some people love small talk, are really great at it, and see it as a functional skill - and it IS - around other people who dig small talk.
As someone who is allergic to small talk, I would take it a step deeper so that communicating what you are observing doesn’t feel like small talk.
If you notice that reaction from people, that might be why. I don’t speak for everyone, but I know that would be my reaction… a dislike for anything surface, which is not a reaction to you personally, and is also not necessarily a need for anything to be only utilitarian, but a very strong urge to only spend time on conversation that either runs deep or somehow transmutes energy.
I see laughter as a necessary frequency transmutation, comedy as something that creates space to broach deeper topics that we couldn’t otherwise discuss without an ice breaker.
There is a reason comedy is being attacked, why comedians’ voices are shut down for not being PC-enough. Political correctness kills open communication. If we can’t share ideas, we can’t reach common ground.
This functions as a piece of the divide and conquer agenda. If we can’t even talk to each other, how do we reach consensus? It’s a way to cripple us by decimating our ability to garner strength in numbers.
We need to be able to have deep conversations about things that really matter without the fear of offending each other. We need to learn to stop taking everyone else’s ideas so personally. We need to stop shutting people out for disagreeing with us, and we also need to stop initiating conversations in defensive or offensive modes, launching or expecting an attack.
Once we get back to a place where we can speak our minds without people getting so offended, or conversely, having the damn argument and reaching some kind of resolution from having done so that doesn’t deteriorate the entire relationship, then we’ll be on a lot more solid ground.
Back to small talk, in today’s climate, people might be wary of it. They’re so used to getting attacked for saying anything, so on edge, so quick to get their hackles raised, expecting that every conversation is going to trigger their nervous system, that they might not even register small talk as small talk - they might be waiting for you to hit them with a verbal brick.
From Ryan Williams:
I follow a couple TikTok accounts that dismantle how different subsections of our populations gatekeep with the use of language and “niceties.” One of those TikTokers is a talking moose and the other had a video on the topic I was attempting to communicate but failed to elucidate clearly.
Their example was that they overheard a school administrator talking about a program to help students and in turn he entered the conversation and introduced himself as out of state teacher who was visiting and that he had the utmost respect for teachers.
He was very conscious of the possibility that the reaction by this person could be negative but he gave the information in such a way that lines for communication were fully opened. By this small amount of speech, he set his boundaries.
I’m sure I missed some of the nuance that was involved in the video and I will return to that topic in the future. I completely respect peoples aversion to “small talk” I don’t push back when I see signs of “no.” But for me, small talk a tool to gauge whether I can pursue deeper communication or if I’m viewed as a “waste of time.” Back to the original topic of compliments and communicating with positive intent so that we don’t give the impression to others that the only time we will engage them in conversation will be negative. People can sense the bearers of bad news. and have an aversion to this. I just want to live in less fear od saying the dirty word, “hello.”
You might be completely misreading that last part. It’s not YOU who they are seeing as a waste of time. They just don’t want to talk about the weather. :)
From Ryan Williams:
Everyone is free to be their own unique selves with their likes and dislikes. For those with high social IQs, to which am I lacking, they can keep mental dossiers about people they have met in the past. Others have learned useful rhetorical algorhythms they can run For me, the problem is navigating a world that isn’t always friendly to neurodivergents. Some words unlock doors. Other words close them. I just want to find a way to unlock more doors than I close, whatever strategy that may be. I want to bring joy to others. I want to engage in comedy and observe the beauty and absurdities of this world. I want the world to be a more compassionate and meaningful place for everyone. I want to be a chameleon who can pass between cloistered groups and facilitate commutation and understanding and break down the walls that build echo chambers and individual solipsism and narcissism.
TAKE THE FREAKING CUP, DUDE!!!
[In response to “The Four of Cups is an interesting card in the tarot because, while it depicts disappointment and dissatisfaction, it is also the card that charges us to take a deeper look at the old rejection and betrayal stories that have established patterns and programming that have been harming our ability to have emotional fulfillment. It is the energy that charges us to create new emotional foundations and patterning that support our joy and truth.” - Solarah, SUNRISE SALUTATION #63: The Sins Of The Father....Finding The Way Back Home To The True Foundations That Support Emotional Fulfillment]
This is one of my all-time favorite memes, and I thought you would appreciate it the most, Solarah. 🤣🤣🤣
The literal disembodied HAND OF GOD is protruding from a freaking CLOUD trying to hand you a blessing… and you don’t WANT the blessing because it’s not coming in in exactly the way you expected it to?! And you’re gonna sit there with your arms crossed, throwing the cup shade?!?!
GOD IS HANDING YOU A CUP!!!
JUST TAKE THE FREAKING CUP!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Use The Force
Virtue's Last Reward (A Sneak Peek At A New Article From Apollo's Lyre)
From Apollo's Lyre:
Well, my friend, funny you should ask! The Cube analogy is apt, and I quite enjoyed that film, but—at the risk of sounding a bit pretentious here (I know, me!? haha)—VLR takes some similar components, but constructs a vastly richer, deeper, more complex narrative and overall experience. It is an exceedingly difficult game to discuss without spoiling anything haha. In fact, allow me to answer your question with a sneak peak at part of my upcoming article:
“I reference Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward in the conversation. Created by gaming legend Kotaro Uchikoshi, VLR (as it’s acronymically known) is a true masterpiece, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. It is a brilliant meta-narrative built around a complex sci-fi story that involves a group of apparently unrelated individuals who awaken to find themselves trapped in a high-tech facility, forced to solve puzzles as they vote to either trust or betray their teammates along the way… with dire consequences. Some people may brusquely dismiss the game because of its visual novel-style and deceptively hackneyed ‘escape room’ setup, but the characters and story develop in astonishing ways—examining the nature of consciousness, relationships, memory, and intelligence—and the game wields the unique interactivity of the medium to both challenge “the player” and to elicit deeply impactful, otherwise unattainable reactions…”
So now, this is sounding more like a combination of Cube, LOST, Myst, and Among Us… with potentially a bit of Battle Royale thrown in?
That’s an interesting mix, and I can see where it would be mentally and psychologically engaging.
It’s funny because I don’t know which questions to even ask to not get you to say something that gives it away because I feel like anything I want to ask now absolutely might. So, I feel like you’re probably feeling the reverse of that in attempting to explain it to me…? 🤣
You’re probably right to do that. Personal quirk… if I can pick up on the psychological theories behind how certain plots are developed, I can guess the entire unfolding from there because I know the writers will tend to adhere to that as a backbone for the infrastructure of the world they crafted.
But it doesn’t make it any less fun for me.
It shows they paid attention to what they were doing, and I appreciate that level of nuance.
I can think of two instances where it made watching something even more enriching… the way both Sucker Punch and Legion adhere to Jungian theory had me knowing what was going to happen next at every turn, but it would still happen in such an interesting way that I was no less enthralled, and perhaps even more awestruck at the ways in which these stories were carried out than I would have been otherwise.
I think, if you didn’t know what you were seeing in that regard, it would be otherwise difficult to see the deep genius of both of those pieces.
And I think this happened in the critical reviews of Sucker Punch in particular, if I’m not mistaken. If the critic doesn’t have the depth to see what is really happening in that film - which I won’t spoil in case you haven’t seen it - the critic would easily mistake the whole piece for “eye candy” and write it off. Which, to me, says more about the critic than the film.
Once you do see how intricately crafted they both are, appreciation for each skyrockets.
From Apollo's Lyre:
“Cube, LOST, Myst, and Among Us…”
Yes to all of those haha
And like the last two, it takes advantage of being an interactive medium. In fact, I would argue that it is one of the best uses of that medium because it “plays” with “the player” in ways that other mediums, e.g., novels or films, are fundamentally incapable of. I truly love games that do that, e.g., VLR, Bioshock, Persona, Eternal Darkness, Undertale…
And I really like your analysis of… analyzing texts. It is interesting how even though you sacrifice some level of “surprise,” you can gain an even greater level of enjoyment, at times, through that increased level of connection and understanding. And I agree re: Sucker Punch! Still haven’t seen Legion.
Most of the video games that I played by the time I gave up video games were not super sophisticated in terms of initiating new reality tunnels based on choice nodes or providing different sequencing in terms of your feedback.
The ones I’ve watched others play since then have had that. I loved when my friends played Bioshock around me - that game is creepy as hell!!
But when I gave it up because of that dire need to know what the ending is, for instance, Harvester only had two endings: Yes or No.
I think I would lose it if I suddenly felt the need to play so long that I would want to access all 24 endings. I don’t like that feeling. 🤣
But I suppose now we have the advantage of people recording game play, editing, and posting it online so no one really gets stuck doing that.
Back when I gave it up for that reason, YouTube didn’t exist yet.
The games I designed in school were never digital. They were live play, hypersocial, took a ridiculous amount of time, tied into reality, and were sort of like weird party or office games.🤣 I just did it for fun anyhow. I was interested in how that works.
I remember, at that time, also falling in love with that Deathball puzzle game, but I could justify playing that game easily enough because it was teaching me so much software just to be able to play it. 🤣
In that post where I went into my father’s movies vs. my movies, I only got into how that would transpire if he and I were not watching the movies together.
Often, we were, and we made a game out of it long before I ever knew what an “inciting incident” is. If he and I were the only ones watching, we would tell each other only a few minutes into it how we thought it was going to end. If anyone else was in the room too, we wouldn’t spoil it for them. We would just call out, “Got it!” and keep watching, and we would tell each other how on or off we each had been at the end when it wasn’t going to bother anyone else.
I tend to have to watch movies with extremely strange plot structures to be “surprised” at all, so that might be why my tastes run so abstract and why I’ve found other ways to derive enjoyment from the experience. It’s much more difficult to guess what will happen if the structure is already off the rails.
I think you would love season one of Legion, especially if you dug Sucker Punch!! :)
Special thanks to Aaron Waddell, Andrew | Dad Explains, Andrew Sims, An K., ant, Anthony Brooks-Sands, Apollo's Lyre, BDerrick, Boflys, Brett Dill, Brian Coniguliaro, Charlotte Pendragon, Chris Mann, Coleman, Corey Smith, Cori Bren, Dale, Eric Coppala, EZTejas123, FOOL, Gabriel, Goddess Renell, Ian Simbotin, IPR with Mack Morris, Jace, Jacqueline Rendell, James True, Jim Davidson, J.S. Kasimir, judy, Kaya Marie, leithian, LIVE WITHOUT LIMITS with Klaus, MaKenna Grace, Margaret Anna Alice, Melody Arayi, Michael Hermens, Nathalie Martinek PhD, OGRE, polistra, Ray Downs, Ryan Williams, Scott, Solarah, Stone Bryson, Tara, Terry Freeman, The Bone Writer, Trudi Nicola, Wendy Elizabeth Williams, and What IS a name, really? for inspiring these responses and the subsequent posts and conversations.
And thank you to everyone else who contributed to these conversations over the past few days!
Happy Saturday, Darlings! My stomach hurts from the hard laughs with this one. The Universe is too comical and the loop of infinite synchronicity is nothing less than just Amazeballz 💥
You have fun times here, Demi.
It shows.