Latest Articles: All is Vanity
Koros to Hubris to Ate to Nemesis
Post Date: 2012-04-02 15:35:23 by Turtle
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"The fear of humiliation appears to be one of the most powerful motivators in individual and collective human behavior." -- Donald Klein There is nothing more pitiless and perceptive than mythology. It's not taught in schools or the churches or by parents. Too bad. The ancient Greeks outlined this sequence: Koros to Hubris to Ate to Nemesis. They argued about what exactly each word meant. Scholars still argue today. I've heard Koros described as a kind of greed. I've heard it described as what happens to a person of unsound mind when they gain great wealth and power (meaning, more than anything else, political power). Examples (which are another name for stories) ...
White Men as Modern Scapegoats
Post Date: 2012-03-30 13:26:29 by Turtle
16 Comments
I look at the Gospels not so much as religion but as good practical wisdom about people, their motivations, and their behavior. There are at least four archetypes in the Gospels that applied not only then but also today. They are the State, the Mob, the Leaders, and the Scapegoat/Human Sacrifice. The leaders incite the mob into a frenzy, and both then call for the scapegoat/human to be sacrificed through the power of the state. The Gospels tell us that the leaders of Jesus' time saw him as a threat, one whom they erroneously thought would bring the Romans to destroy their nation. They incited and united the mob against him by claiming he was a danger. He was then turned into a ...
Fake Christians as Worshippers of Dionysius
Post Date: 2012-03-28 15:07:55 by Turtle
2 Comments
Poor Nietzsche. Half genius, half insane — and after his untreated syphilis advanced far enough, totally insane. The trigger for his breakdown was when he saw a horse being beaten. He threw his arms around it, sobbing. He never recovered, and ended his days in an insane asylum. For all of his attempts to portray himself as a bad boy, Nietzsche (a pencil-necked mouse of a man whose one true love, Lou Salome, refused to sleep with him even once), was in real life anything but. For one thing, he was far too sensitive for his own good, even though he tried to pretend he wasn't sensitive at all. As hard as he tried to not to, he identified with victims, and that's why the horse ...
Turtle's $80 watch now worth $15.00
Post Date: 2012-03-28 13:52:04 by Turtle
8 Comments
Since high school I have always bought Timex watches. Then one day (I guess they've been made in China for a long time) I bought one and the stem pulled out that day. So I bought an $80 Seiko quartz watch, which lasted 23 years until the stem pulled out. I had it repaired. Yesterday it stopped running, so I had the battery replaced. It's got on of those screw-on backs that only a jeweler can take off. It cost $19. When I asked the jeweler how much the watch was worth these days, he said, "About $15." Still, the watch has lasted me 25 years, so I plan on keeping it. Gee, I thought the value of the watch would go up. I guess not.
A Neo-Nazi Named "Muhammed"
Post Date: 2012-03-22 13:01:06 by Turtle
10 Comments
The major story in Europe these last few days has been the manhunt for the killer of four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse and three French paratroopers. Since the paratroopers were all “of color,” the open speculation by European talking heads was that the gunman was a Neo-Nazi, thus someone on the “extreme right,” a possibility that energized the media. The Google post for the most recent Associated Press article (10 AM, French time), for instance, reads “French hunt school killer, suspect Neo-Nazi ties.” The lead on the Google page reads, “The focus fell Tuesday on three paratroopers who had been expelled from their regiment near Toulouse in 2008 ...
The Envious Feminists
Post Date: 2012-03-22 12:46:54 by Turtle
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People are emotional beings, often governed more by feelings than reason. And this is never truer than with leftist people. If you want to understand liberals, know that most of their ideology is simply a pseudo-intellectual justification for what feels right to them. As for these feelings, the one stereotypically associated with the left is compassion, which supposedly manifests itself in mercy, charity, forgiveness, and temperance. In reality, though, the feeling that far better characterizes the left is envy. I'm not the first to observe this. Winston Churchill called socialism "the gospel of envy," and this Daily Mail piece cites research showing that leftists are in ...
Chain of Rocks Bridge Murders
Post Date: 2012-03-21 14:48:34 by Turtle
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Poster Comment:I remember going over this bridge as a child, and in high school we'd party on it after it was deserted. I met these girl's mom once. I saw the girl's photo on her desk, did not realize how I knew the photos (from the newspapers) and when I asked her who they were, the mother told me the story. Of course I was completely mortified and wished I could go back in time. Three negroes and one 15-year-old white boy. One was executed (and claimed to his dying breath he was innocent), the ringleader got life (cuz he was "retarded"), one is still on death row, and the 15-year-old was released after 15 years, after he refused early parole and then wrote an ...
Humiliating People to Death
Post Date: 2012-03-21 13:01:28 by Turtle
3 Comments
Certain episodes stay in my mind. When I was 16 years old I was walking down the street one Friday night, heading toward a party, when I saw a girl I knew from high school walking toward me. I did not know her personally, but recognized her, as she recognized me. She was walking her dog. I had mixed feelings about that: surprise and pity. I was going to a party, and knew I was going to have a great time. She, on the other hand, was walking her dog on a Friday night. She was not an attractive girl. She was fairly tall and chunky and even plastic surgery wouldn’t improve her looks all that much. And even if she lost weight, she’d never have a nice body. As she got closer to me, ...
Turtle is Officially Sobbing
Post Date: 2012-03-20 14:58:05 by Turtle
38 Comments
My mechanic called and told me the bad news about my van. Fuel pump. $850. I'm going to buy a car from the '60s I can fix myself... Maybe a Pontiac Tempest with the sland-4. I had one when I was 19 but blew the engine up.
I'm Okay; You're Not so Hot
Post Date: 2012-03-20 13:55:43 by Turtle
0 Comments
The title of this piece refers to the the attitude of every person, country, ethnic group and tribe that has ever been toward Outsiders. This belief -- which is really, "We're human, but you're not quite -- or not even close," has been one of the pre-eminent causes of war and genocide throughout history. Technically, it's called narcissism. One of the few decent contributions that Freud made to psychology was his study of narcissism. Wacky he certainly was, but he made up for it by being a superb diagnostician. He was the first that I know of who wrote about "infantile grandiosity." Adult grandiosity has been noticed for thousands of years. The Greeks called ...
Bingo! Which, of course, is my title
Post Date: 2012-03-20 13:07:08 by Turtle
1 Comments
In which Charles Murray's cowardly refusal to take on female hypergamy is correctly criticized: Women’s improved employment numbers, education and earning power (some of it contributed by government largesse) has had the effect of SHRINKING their acceptable dating pool. Material resources and occupational status are one way women judge men’s mate worthiness (not the only way, but the one way that viscerally matters to most beta males), and the innate female sexual disposition to be attracted — ANIMALISTICALLY ATTRACTED — to men with higher status and more resources than themselves necessarily means that financially independent women and government-assisted women are ...
The Shame and Cowardice of the Chickenhawk
Post Date: 2012-03-20 12:55:59 by Turtle
2 Comments
The usual definition of a chickenhawk is someone who supports war but actively avoids fighting. Whenever I think of one, what comes to my mind are Young Republicans, but also leftists, who are just as bad if not worse. A writer, whose name unfortunately completely escapes me, said the aforementioned definition is not totally accurate. A better one is that a chickenhawk is someone who believes supporting war is a sign of his personal bravery and patriotism, and is convinced that those who oppose war, for whatever principled and thoughtful reasons, are always cowards and traitors. Still, chickenhawks are cowards. Why, then, can they not see what they are? There is only one reason: They ...
I'm 17, then I'm 18
Post Date: 2012-03-19 12:29:28 by Turtle
1 Comments
Why Nice Guys Ignore the Girls They Like
Post Date: 2012-03-16 16:21:55 by Turtle
5 Comments
I found this bit of humor at Buzzfeed, but I suspect know that many guys would call it 100% accurate. We call them jerks and douchebags, but we go for them anyway, don’t we? If we didn’t they’d be forced to stop acting so nasty to get laid. Do we force nice guys into last place? I hear from a fair number of young men who are just as frustrated as many of you are in the search to find meaningful relationships. One reader here commented that when he got to college and acted like the nice guy he really is, he got nowhere. Not until he assumed the identity of Selfish Prick did he start scoring with the ladies. So this post is dedicated to Douche Baguettes everywhere. You’re ...
The Weirdest Film Turtle Ever Saw
Post Date: 2012-03-15 15:20:26 by Turtle
2 Comments
Poster Comment:Liquid Sky.
Which Comes First - Promiscuous or Crazy?
Post Date: 2012-03-15 15:00:48 by Turtle
7 Comments
New Gawker personality Anonymous Therapist is male, a father, and a therapist of many years who primarily treats teens and couples. He responds to questions about his practice, sharing the insights he’s gleaned and also some pretty outrageous stories. I was especially intrigued by his views on sexual promiscuity. (H/T: Stuart Schneiderman) Gawker: Do you find that females who “experiment” are prone to self-destruction? Anonymous Therapist: A resounding yes. Forget about the spoon-fed knowledge that promiscuity and experimentation lead to a higher risk of sexual assault, STDs, and unplanned children. Women that experiment—both heterosexually and homosexually—have, ...
Why You're Not Married
Post Date: 2012-03-12 14:54:33 by Turtle
32 Comments
You want to get married. It's taken a while to admit it. Saying it out loud -- even in your mind -- feels kind of desperate, kind of unfeminist, kind of definitely not you, or at least not any you that you recognize. Because you're hardly like those girls on TLC saying yes to the dress and you would never compete for a man like those poor actress-wannabes on The Bachelor. You've never dreamt of an aqua-blue ring box. Then, something happened. Another birthday, maybe. A breakup. Your brother's wedding. His wife-elect asked you to be a bridesmaid, and suddenly there you were, wondering how in hell you came to be 36-years-old, walking down the aisle wearing something halfway ...
Everybody Envies Turtle
Post Date: 2012-03-12 13:21:52 by Turtle
6 Comments
Actually they don't, but I am so low-envy that for many years I was essentially clueless about it. Then after thinking about it for many years, and reading about it, I realized it is the worst and most destructive feeling in the world. When I was about 21 I had a very attractive girlfriend. I was mystified at the things she told me -- guys telling her (but not to my face) that she could do better than me. And telling me they were going to steal her from me (I laughed at them about that one). Then there was the problem with short guys with the Little Man Complex. There are two main defenses against envy. The first is to devalue the person, which was what has happened to me once than ...
Blond Guys are Evil
Post Date: 2012-03-12 12:39:55 by Turtle
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"Blond guys aren't dumb. They're evil. Like in The Karate Kid and World War II." —Bart Simpson, The Simpsons Fair-haired guys in media frequently end up evil. This is especially noticeable if he is compared to a nice, dark-haired hero or if he is on the opposite end of a Love Triangle. And if his blond hair is long, you'd better hope he's an elf, because if not, that's pretty much evil incarnate. In many ways, this trope can be seen as the less extreme version of the Evil Albino. If they're not evil, they're still jerks, although they may or may not be nice underneath, and they usually lose. Where a Betty and Veronica usually has a blond Betty ...
Physical and Moral Courage
Post Date: 2012-03-09 13:53:50 by Turtle
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Physical courage is in many ways a cheap, tawdry thing. It is as common as pennies. It can shine brightly in even the most primitive and brutal of savages. And millions of people have died meaninglessly because of it. Cicero wrote of this kind of courage: "That kind of courage, which is conspicuous in danger and enterprise, if devoid of justice, is absolutely undeserving of the name of valor. It should rather be considered as a brutal fierceness outraging every principle of humanity." The worst meat grinder of a battle with which I am familiar is Stalingrad during World War II. I don’t think it’s possible to imagine the carnage in which an estimated one million to two ...
A Tale of Two Tales (Fred Reed Gets It)
Post Date: 2012-03-09 13:29:08 by Turtle
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As I listen to American fury against uncoöperative Afghans, to Congress furiously denouncing Pakistan for anemic aid in conducting the current wars, I sometimes wonder whether the US is playing with a full deck. The anger arises I suspect becaause the US and the rest of the world work from very different premises. They believe in, as we say, distinct narratives. The American narrative holds that the United States is a light to the world, the freest, richest, most productive country the world has ever seen, the greatest military power, the most prolific producer of technlogy and of Nobel laureates. America is a force for freedom and democacry, a champion of human rights, a land of ...
What I've Learned Pretending to be a Man
Post Date: 2012-03-07 13:21:28 by Turtle
10 Comments
So, I’ve been posing as a guy online for nearly twenty-four hours with positive results. I am competing against a pool of polyamorous-vegan-feminist-omegas, but it’s still a minor feat nonetheless. A few things I’ve learned: - Men constantly have to be on. Not only were my initial messages to girls necessarily concise and witty with a healthy dose of denigration, but every succeeding message has to be interesting even if – as in most cases – the girl gives you a minimal level of conversational material to work with. It also has to be sensitive to her mood and the changing tone and course of the interaction. As my friend put it, the messaging process goes something ...
Meaningless High School
Post Date: 2012-03-06 13:28:03 by Turtle
11 Comments
When I was in high school my life consisted mainly of four things: high school, family, partying, and science-fiction. The first two were close to meaningless, and the last two meant a lot. In fact, they were pretty much the focus of my high school life. It took me years to figure out what the answer was to that puzzle of why the first two meant so little and the last two so much. I didn't have a bad family life. It was just that, like a lot of kids then and now, family just didn't mean that much (I'm sure I would have realized just how much it meant if I didn't have it). Finally, I realized the answer was pretty simple: it had to do with meaning. The first two had little ...
Fixing the Female Brain
Post Date: 2012-03-06 12:46:10 by Turtle
11 Comments
The Founding Fathers didn't deny women the vote as an oversight. They realized about 80% of women were natural socialists (Pareto was right with his 80/20 law) and since they realized socialism only destroys and never creates, they denied them the vote. Incidentally, they denied most men the vote, too. They only wanted intelligent, responsible, employed landowners to vote, since they were trying to found a country they hoped would last. Unfortunately, not only does socialism destroys countries, it can also destroy lives. I know a woman who had been a socialist until she was in her early 40s. She had been a particularly unfortunate kind -- an anti-gun, pro-universal-health-care ...
I'm So Pissed! [Full Thread]
Post Date: 2012-03-06 00:03:18 by abraxas
51 Comments
An asshole burglar broke into my home while I was at work today. He was going through my things in my office and in my bedroom. Rummaging through my closets and clothes and personal items. He wasn't here long before I rolled home. His footprints were left sprinting across the back yard and the back door was wide open when I went around the back of the house to get in. The Burglar had tripped the top interior lock to buy some extra time to run if somebody came home. I think the burglar cased my home, for how long I do not know. Prick could live in some of the apartments down the street. This neighborhood has gone to shit! The burglar picked my front locks while a two man road crew was ...
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