I've published another novel, the second this year. It's short at 130 pages. The snoots might call it a novella, or worse, a novelette. It's just a short novel. It'll be on Amazon et al. in a couple months. Meanwhile: https://www.lulu.com/.../paperback/product-kvdz9wk.html...
The murder of Charlie Kirk was sad. It is also sad to see the misspent tributes cropping up like weeds, to a figure who advocated for an exclusionary vision of not just America, but of a wider world that would forbid and cast out human beings narrowly considered deviant, or simply unacceptable—to their particular community—which deems itself the arbiter of right and wrong, good and evil. A community that tries to impose on others, who are actually a majority, the stale and ancient dictums contained in a chaotic and contradictory collection of writings of desert pastoralists living in a tiny portion of the earth many, many centuries ago. Those in this community are able, without shame, to meld the greed of the Gilded Age to carefully selected passages from these murky ancient ramblings to justify further levels of exclusion and cruelty.
The murder of Charlie Kirk was sad, as is any other murder. It was neither sadder nor more heinous than any other murder, and it does not deserve any greater level of mourning than any other murder.
I’m not convinced that Charlie Kirk was truly committed to open and free discourse. Such a commitment would mean a person is open to changing or amending their position on being confronted with convincing arguments. I think he was more supremely self-confident and eager to bowl over opponents or challengers with the depth of his convictions and details he amassed in support of them (not without a strong dose of confirmation bias). His shtick was more performance than debate. Did he ever change a position? Admit he was wrong? Maybe he did. I’ve only skimmed a few of his podcasts and clips.
New novel. My 11th book. You can get it here: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/dadownie1
On Amazon (cheaper direct from Lulu, above link):
https://www.amazon.com/Diminuendo-Doug-Downie/dp/1300227397/ref=sr_1_1
This country is being run by a bunch of juvenile delinquents
a mass case of arrested development
a collective failure to grow up
a flood of fools forever blocked from reaching maturity
with any luck the dam will burst
and they’ll all rush downstream
like the swift action of a toilet flushing
The existence of prophets is evidence of the nonexistence of God
if the word of God always comes second hand, then God is a coward
and that does not compute
for all of the prophets to be liars is not a hard thing to add up, however
I must confess
I’ve pretty much had it with a lifetime of Jesus Christ
or even an evening
it does seem like he was a nice guy
an admirable guy
until he got all preachy
he and his buddies (the vanguard)
put on a pretty good show
and later the professionals really took it to the next levels
people really seem to go for that kind of shit
where things that are impossible are made to seem possible
and then there’s the trail of tears
As much as Fascists, what the so-called “far right” look like most of all are the Bolsheviks. Steve Bannon has compared himself to Lenin, which seems bizarre at first. These people share:
- rigid ideological positions
- justification of the ends over the means
- use of personalized attacks on opponents, demeaning name-calling
- a dehumanizing of their opponents
- a penchant for conspiracy theories
- a proclivity for projection; accusing their opponents of what they are doing or intend to do
- deliberate use of disinformation, trolling, gaslighting, and other forms of deception
- hyperbolic, even apocalyptic descriptions of the threats opponents pose
- attempts to impose minority views on the majority
- essentially undemocratic worldviews
- willingness to incite, tolerate, or use violence
- a cult of the personality
You may be able to add more. Pretty rotten stuff.
