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Healing the Divide
Beginning in January 2018, within a few months of becoming an acolyte of Master Persuader, Scott Adams, I created two hashtag campaigns on social media:
#HealTheDivide || #ItsOkToBeHuman
These campaigns signify my on-going commitment to remain neutral in the culture war that plagues humanity - to be the Switzerland of identity politics, as it were. Using the tools that I have acquired over my lifetime, such as the Persuasion Filter, I seek to transcend petty tribalism and bridge the gap between political polar extremes. I have made a willingness to talk to anyone from any point along the political spectrum a part of my brand. Indeed, as a free speech absolutist, I firmly maintain that the only way to prevent violence in this world is to be ever open to talking to each other, no matter how despicable we might believe the other person to be.
Some fear this means giving a platform to garbage humans and to garbage ideas, but the only way to rid the world of bad ideas is to confront them. To shine light on them and drag them out of the darkness into the sun. Most are unwilling to descend into the darkest depths and slay the eldrich shadows living there that plague humankind, for fear of being turned themselves. But I am neither unwilling nor unable.
Indeed, one of the benefits of adopting the Persuasion Filter is that it makes it more likely that I will shift people to a reasonable center than the other way around.
Below are several articles I've written outlining my thoughts as they relate to this endeavor and chronicling my victories both in the real world and online. I've consolidated them here for simplicity and I will add more as time goes by. Click the link to go to each article.
1. Healing the Divide
Link - Taking a step back and casting off my identity, I try to view humanity from the higher vantage point of an alien observer visiting Earth. I begin to lay the foundation for individualism and how the postmodernist idea of kyriarchy, taken to its logical conclusion, ultimately leads back to it, thereby making it a superior form of socio-political organization. I also call for an end to division and petty fighting.
2. The Origins of Morality
Link - The Persuasion Filter is a subcomponent of the larger Moist Robot Filter, a form of determinism that rejects the notion of free will and instead views human consciousness as being rather analogous to a complex A.I. Though I myself believe in a limited form of free will, I attempt to show how morality could still be achieved in a world solely operating on strict Natural Law and the Will to Power.
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3. Thinking with Portals
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Link - I apply the Persuasion Filter to the GamerGate controversy and show how both sides got it wrong while offering a third, more nuanced perspective for those who might not be able to imagine the motivations of the other side as being anything but nefarious.
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4. Make Feminism Great Again
Link - One of the main reasons why the culture war exists is because the two sides are each speaking their own language, using different definitions for the same words and then wondering why their messages aren't being well-received by the other party. In this article, I attempt to translate between the two sides, showing feminists where they went wrong and how to make their ideas more palatable to non-feminists, while also helping anti-feminists better understand what they're trying to say.
5. In Defense of Anita Sarkeesian
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Link - Following the events of VidCon 2017 and the resulting feud between Sargon of Akkad and Anita Sarkeesian, Sargon made a video soliciting the public to explain to him how it all went wrong. Thanks to the Persuasion Filter, I was able to see past Anita's remarks to the woman behind the words, to discover a person much maligned and misunderstood. As such, I have come to find she is not nearly as bad as her critics claim. This article is my attempt at explaining all that, and to cut through the character assassinations levied against her, to help others see her as I do.
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6. A Transhumanist View of Black Panther
Link - Marvel's Black Panther created a cultural revolution and it's been difficult for many people to understand why. Modernists and postmodernists alike see it as nothing more than an action film infused with identity politics. I provide my own interpretation to show how this movie actually serves as a model for transcending such notions, and how it will go a long way towards healing race relations throughout the world by inspiring future generations. As a bonus, I also help people on either side of the debate better understand certain aspects of colonialism and the Black Lives Matter movement.
7. Ending the Culture War
Link - Using the Persuasion Filter, I craft a visual metaphor for helping people better understand the division and tribalism in our world, why some people fail in their attempts to end it, and hinting at how we might finally be able to get past the culture war by taking a different approach that has since only been tried by a few.
8. Rebutting Feminist Frequency's "Culture of Violence"
Link - I respond to more criticisms levied against Anita Sarkeesian following the publishing of my Defense article, further dismantling character assassination attempts made by her detractors. I then use the Persuasion Filter to show a better way of engaging with the hosts of Feminist Frequency, pushing back against their hypothesis that certain media leads to an increase of violence and sexism in society, and how overprotecting ourselves from exposure to the same might actually be a bad thing for humanity in the long ru
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9. Overcoming Negativity
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Link - Though I've made it my mission to bridge the divide and better understand those I staunchly disagree with, I am still human and sometimes give in to my darker emotions. To anger, frustration, and the like. This can make it hard to see and think clearly, falling back into defensiveness and tribalism instead. In this article, I share my general technique for getting out of that mindset and back to a place of peace.
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10. Crossing the Abyss
Link - After many months of trying to start a conversation with the hosts of Feminist Frequency, I finally get to meet them in person at their live event in Brooklyn. In this article, I chronicle the encounter, achieving something that many still seem to think is impossible. I help them imagine differently by doing that very thing, and the circumstances around that event fall so perfectly in line, they'll leave you wondering whether or not we're in fact living inside a simulation.
11. The Hero We Need
Link - I analyze Missouri Senate candidate Austin Petersen's mastery of the Persuasion Filter and how this, combined with a strong libertarian centrist philosophy tempered by a strategy of political pragmatism, has produced arguably one of the all-around best politicians and statesmen we've seen in a long time. I highly encourage anyone looking to run for office to follow this man and take notes. I believe he will be a powerful uniting force for our country in the years to come.
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12. My Weekend with Sargon
Link - I finally come in contact with Carl Benjamin, better known as Sargon of Akkad, at his live event in Manhattan. I share with him all the things I've been wanting to say for so long about Anita Sarkeesian and the results are unbelievable. I managed to make real progress, not just with Sargon himself, but many of his supporters and close friends as well. The future looks bright and I am incredibly hopeful that many more good things will indeed come as a result of this.
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13. A Lesson in Rejection
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Link - Anita finally responds publicly to my offer of mediation. It doesn't go the way I'd hoped, and many of her other critics dogpile on to levy their criticisms as I continue to be the voice of reason - now no longer sole. More evidence has come to my attention to help vindicate my initial defense of Anita's character and my early remote predictions about her motivations at VidCon.
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14. Seizing the High Ground
Link - In light of recent attacks on and censorship of several prominent public figures, I explain how we are already gripped in a full-on civil war. In order to prevent it from devolving into an uncivil war, however, we must meet our enemies and come together to talk about our differences with one another in a spirit of honesty and peace - even and especially with those whom we might consider irredeemable deplorables. The only alternative to a war of words is a war of fists and weapons.
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