I feel the same way about Emily... Sad for her. And her article did do a good thing... It opened up the conversation to all that things haven't been right and a short jump from that is recognition of what was wrong and then apologies... Maybe I live in a logical yet fantasy world. Keep up the great work Tessa!
I wonder if, rather than expressing her cluelessness, the intention was not to have her take the temperature. To see how much push back she gets, and from where. Otherwise why would this insulting nonsense be published in "The Atlantic"?
I don't know Emily personally. But if she is anything like the psychologists and psychiatrists who fine-tuned the techniques to frame the narrative according to specific target audiences, she is actually not clueless and disconnected from reality, but paid to be part of the propaganda team. That, to me, is not simple spinelessness, but hardcore corruption of the spirit. Which I have come to conclude is my new, short definition of evil.
If we forgive Emily for what she wrote, then we ought to never ever mention the "evil Nazis" again! Because most of them were followers and bowed to authority too, just like Emily.
That being off my chest, I applaud you for your compassion and differentiated viewpoint, Tessa!
I am also on the fence as to whether Oster is just another useful idiot, or a part of the predatory class. Now reading Lobaczewski's 'Political Ponerology; The Science of Evil, Psychopathy, and the Origins of Totalitarianism' ... and wondering how much the predatory class has learned and weaponized since the thoughts in that book were first penned.
At times I wonder whether the Emily characters are not already controlled by AI... How can a professor (..!) cite science, and then contradict it with a sleigh of hand. Educated idiot? Clever manipulator? Cult member? In the quote below * , is she gaslighting the public only, or herself as well?
May that be as it is, as long as she doesn't recognize that she is/has been on the wrong side of history and doesn't take responsibility for her words and actions, she behaves like an ignorant, petulant child and not like a professional with the responsibilities that come with it! So what is her article doing in The Atlantic, or in any print media anyway (not only that, she also appears in TV interviews!!)!
But from there, she goes on to ask all those she and her ilk harmed directly and indirectly to be forgiven, no questions asked, without making any amends nor paying the price, in a court of justice (like you and I would have to!) - in fact, pretending there aren't any to be made, since "how could we know!" That's where the clueless brat becomes a treacherous agent of the cabal, in my opinion.
* "Quote (note the confidence):
A paper from a team in Sweden has again concluded that the use of cellphones and cordless phones increases the risk for tumors, most specifically glioma, a type of usually malignant brain tumor.
In this study, mobile phone users were 30 percent more likely to develop gliomas. Those who used phones for 25 years or more were 200 percent more likely.
This team has considered the same questions, and reached the same conclusion, before. And it’s not the only one. The International Agency for Research on Cancer cites mobile phones as a “possible” carcinogen.
In the end, it is simply extremely unlikely that there is any link between cellphones and brain tumors. We can, perhaps, put this debate to rest and focus on the actual danger of cellphones: using them while driving [emphasis mine]."
Yes, that's quite some cognitive dissonance: citing studies all pointing in the same direction, and the concluding the opposite! It's mind-fuckery, in my opinion, and what psychologist and other "professionals" have been subjecting us to during this whole scamdemic.
Here, I just saw some more actual mind-fuckery from the officials in charge. Unbelievable, but then again, nothing is unbelievable anymore:
I don't read the Atlantic generally but I hear that they were in the forefront of the covid propaganda machine so perhaps the whole publication is trying to figure how to get out of this looking good. Or at least ok...
Nov 13, 2022·edited Nov 13, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
Laurene Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, owns controlling stake in The Atlantic. She has fairly deep pockets and can afford to support this magazine for a while. Interestingly, almost all of the corporate media are suffering in the marketplace. Eventually the market will win and these propaganda organs will fail. That's of little consolation to all the individuals who have suffered from the actions supported by those propaganda organs. Emily Oster and her ilk, in a just world, would receive a fair trial and receive appropriate punishment for their actions and words. This would not amount to revenge, but rather a resetting of the parameters of acceptable behaviour in civilized society. Without such reckoning, that mode of operation will flourish as getting away such behaviour will reinforce such behaviour in the future. Regarding forgiveness, that can only happen when the individuals involved actually acknowledge their actions as wrong and apologize, promising never to do it again....just saying...
Nov 14, 2022·edited Nov 14, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
I wish the market would win. But in the global communist-fascist dictatorship (for lack of a better word for the absolute horror that awaits us if we don't manage to change course or timelines) that we are heading towards at breakneck speed, the market, or whatever is left of it, will be completely controlled by the governments/BlackRock-Vanguard/cabal. And we will be allowed to buy what they decide is "good" for us. Bye bye "free" market (it's not like the markets weren't controlled and manipulated before, but at least we had some choices).
As to forgiveness, I completely agree. Without atonement, forgiveness is an empty and meaningless shell. The perpetrators haven't learned anything and the ones who have been victimized have to pretend to be forgiving and compassionate (because we want to be "good", and we don't want to feel like we have been treated unjustly, so let's pretend to ourselves that we forgave and forgot instead). I don't buy into hollow New-Agey ideas (anymore), nor into self-deception. Every culture has some form of a justice system for a reason. If justice isn't served, society falls apart. The rules and laws that apply to you and me should also apply to the Emilies of this world. We all know that the cabal is above them - I wish that could be changed, but am not hopeful of it happening - but at least their faithful servants should have to face the consequences of their choices and actions. Instead, what is planned is for the Emilies getting brownie points in their social credit score, for their services to the "Ministry of Truth", while you and I fall into the red zone and are forbidden to take the train for a month (forget plane travel for us plebs).
Ah, do I wish more people woke the f... up! Instead, most of the (educated) people I know are completely clueless and prefer to keep their eyes wide shut to having to face pure evil and its emanations.
Nov 12, 2022·edited Nov 12, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
Hi Tessa,
This is the most well-thought out response to Oster I have yet to read, and if it is a hint regarding the nuances of your conversation with Charles, I am really looking forward to listening in.
I particularly liked your 'To my senses ...' paragraph deconstructing Oster's stage of development. It reminded me of your poem-song of the boy-who-would-be-King.
But the paragraph I still struggle with is in the first one of Final Thoughts. Oster may be just as you described her, ephiphenomenon of generations of broken people, and a useful idiot of the machine. ''they were not in any way special'' may apply to her and her ilk. But she is not the spear-head. I am still struggling through the stilted prose of Lobaczewski's 'Political Ponerology'' — but triangulating from my experience of social dynamics in Japan, there does seem to a small percentage of 'special' people, genetically pretedermined to be high in Cluster B personality traits ... those dark triads — the small, but persistent 'cruel 10%' (Susan Sontag) who can be found everywhere in the world.
I've read percentages of anywhere between 3 and 30%, and there is no way to account for all of the confounding variables of epigenetics and social constructs. But among that qualitatively different category, I would include the likes of Zuckerberg, Bezos, Kissinger, Schwab, Biden-Trump, Stalin, Gates, Attila the Hun, Caligula, and so on. Just as some of us are born with a high predisposition for empathy, there are some who are temperamentally incapable of feeling shame or remorse. Like a typical national politician here in Japan, or CEO anywhere ... they are clever at making a show of remorse with a precisely calculated bow. But just a show.
I have no idea of how to deal with them. Compliance to forgiveness, and anything in between, historically appears to be irrelevant. More than the average person, or the above average altruist, they are quicker to take advantage and pervert any positive emergent innovations of culture and technology. And if our species sees its last sunset, I suspect more than a mere correlation with the behavior of this 'special' few. They will be 'the' cause. Proximal. Distal. Terminal.
Oh by the way, thanks to you, I showed 'Numb' to a few teachers and staff at one of the Japanese Jr. Highs I work at ... some think it is not too harsh for the students to see and react to because they are not bringing the same experience to it to react in the same way as myself and substack buddy Heidi Heil. By chance, all 9th graders are giving 3 minute Power Point presentations in English, and I suspect this is part of the nation-wide English curriculum. I will be forwarding a link of Numb to the principles of the 3 Jr. Highs I work at, and several elementary schools, and suggesting they forward this to the central Ministry of Education (I used to work for MEXT as a cultural advisor and textbook editor) to consider as supplementary material to their suggested curriculum — nation wide.
But damn, even after several viewings ... I still can't last the whole 3 minutes without wiping the tears from my eyes. And not just tears of sorrow. More than a little rage is in the mix.
Thank you, Steve! That "Numb" video is really both beautiful and so, so awful (not the video, the reason for making it). So stupid what the adults have done, tricked and coerced by other adults with bad intentions!!!!
Thanks (and honored) for the quick reply Tessa. Still doing a bit of car-camping near Mt. Fuji, but will plan on reading the link when I get back, or perhaps as early as tonight. Just seeing you use the word 'predators' is enough to tell me we are on the same page.
Employer mandates, which mean forced medical procedures, are Nuremberg crimes, regardless of any data.
That never did take a scientist or a "city intellectual" to figure out.
The data being especially bad should only make the trials shorter, so scientists could help there a little bit. I have some other ideas about what "city intellectuals" can do.
"She is like an overly medicated domestic pet who, if let out into the wild, would freeze in terror and confusion, having no idea what to do with all this chaotic freedom." Hmmm. Now tell us what you REALLY feel, Tessa! Such an accurate observation. Thank you.
And your comment about the people who participated in the atrocities of the past being broken: yes.
In the documentary "Propaganda Exposed: Uncensored" Mel K made the following observation, paraphrased with a bit of embellishment: Six million or more Jews were killed in various ways during the holocaust. One million Germans went home after working, killing them, to have supper with their families, to go to bed, and the go back to their job the following day, after a nice breakfast.
Emily is one of those workers.
And that reminds me of the story of the Jew who, after getting pushed out of the cattle car into the concentration camp. "Thank you, God!" Another beside him asked, "What are you thanking God for? Look where we are!" "I'm thanking God I'm not one of them!"
Nov 12, 2022·edited Nov 12, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
The discussions of strategies to have us vaccinated is so condescending, and yet I am not sure she even feels any remorse for her attitude. For her
•Shame was off the table, but reduction of liberty wasn't. What was her overall thoughts on the mortality rate of the virus that it would require bullying someone to get a vaccine otherwise they can't travel, work, or attend entertainment venues.
•When did someone who read any of Oster's tweets ever think she had the libertarian mindset of "you do you?" Someone with a heart and mind that believes in liberty doesn't sit around and have strategy sessions on how to coerce and manipulate people into getting an experimental substance injected into them.
•On reaching fear-based vaccine motivation, why was this ever a thing to begin with? There was never any actual release of data along all points to support the vaccine anyhow.. First you have to convince people that a vaccine is needed to begin with. Second, you have to convince those that the vaccine is effective (you know stops infection and transmission) and third that there is a control group who actually faired far worse than those who were vaccinated. (see the Danish study for a study on masks).
Could you imagine having a similar discussion in a condescending manner:
Shaming people who coerced and manipulated others is not likely to work at this point (if ever)
what will?
Showing them family/friends who suffered vaccine related injuries (Maybe)
Restrictions from things you enacted upon the unvaccinated (travel/entertainment/work/food)
We can have these without shame.
To be clear: I am not suggesting we say "you do you" to the vaccine acolytes. The other side here is that there are unvaccinated people who continue to see vaccinated friends/relatives., which I think is a difficult choice with nuance and often pain of seeing a vaccinated person who could encounter one of many vectors for vaccine injury.
I'd add a mandated vaccine booster for those who were coercing others to vaccinate to this list as well.
The unpopular opinion of the day is that I think we may be reaching the limits of rationality in regards to those who either supported or pushed vaccine mandates and threatened to fire, restrict, and otherwise take the freedoms of those who did not comply. What might work?
Nov 12, 2022·edited Nov 12, 2022Liked by Tessa Lena
wow tessa - so much to unpack here.
i had read a lot of venomous responses to the atlantic piece before i held my nose and took the plunge - ugh. my immediate reaction was that this was a propaganda piece written by committee (as athena mentions in her comment above). there were obvious multiple voices involved. the pro-vaxx coda is such an obvious bad segue that it just makes you laugh. like the andrew hill article that tess lawrie called bullshit on.
scientific studies which soberly present evidence and then reach a conclusion that's pure doublethink are a thing now. the truth ministry is paying big bucks for this stuff and oster is obviously hitting on that glass pipe. so i think she's more of a propaganda mule than an original thinker. she's just reading from a script, more or less.
i also find that script considerably more sinister. this is no mea culpa. it's an order for the compliance nazis on the ground to double down against us and and to cast aside any misgivings or residual guilt that may be percolating in their poisoned minds.
the atlantic used to be a reliable source for investigative journalism. scott ritter and seymour hersh used to write for them. now they're financed by gates and owned by a woman who's pals with ghislaine maxwell.
guessing that you saw the absolutely brilliant analysis by meredith miller, who unpacks it through the prism of recovery from trauma and abuse. she echoes you a lot.
and as a digression, just the idea that raising and nurturing children could or should be based on principles from the dismal science of economics is repulsive to the core. that's textbook technocracy. like you said, it's going to be quite the challenge when generation fear grows up and we have to help them cope.
Thank you for all the links and of course for your thoughts!! I have read them but it's good to have them in one place!
Oh, and I so agree, an original thinker, she is not!!! I think she is most likely sincere, as in, she believes her own BS and its superior standing. I suppose, teachers at missionary boarding schools who whipped and otherwise tortured children for speaking their native tongue might have been sincere, too, believing that they were weaning the kids off a bad thing for them. Such is the multigenerational mess. The abused and the abuser could very well be one person. I do feel bad for her. And I have no kind words to say about her actions. Well, I suppose she was speaking up against school closures (and got crap for that from the more fanatical lockdowners). So I have some kind words about that. But all in all, very sad!
I don't feel bad for Emily and I don't respect her stinking soul, and I can't STAND her snotty voice. What is it with these self righteous do-gooders they all have to affect a vocal fry? Oh. My. God. She should burn in hell. Great article Tessa, it made me so mad!
Gosh that video of her talking about her book...this kind of thing is everywhere. When and how did we all become so dumb and disconnected to our instincts that we “need” this kind of parenting help? So sad. I’ve met so many moms like them--stress cases.
Hey Tessa, you are assuming that "Emily" (I hate calling evil psychopaths by their first names, something I have chastised Tim Pool for often) hasn't drawn the short straw and been "chosen" to be the public face of this climbdown.
I wrote an (unpublished) article for a UK alt-media website in early 2021 where I predicted the whole charade would come crumbling down and these people would do anything to prevent Nuremberg 2.0. There is no way they can get away with what they have done.
The problem with making predictions is things move way slower than you expect. So I don't do that anymore.
I highly doubt this stupid woman regrets anything. She would do it all again in a heartbeat.
I think she has never been taught to think outside of her echo chamber, therefore she only regrets things currently as they relate to the people like her. She is on her own journey, and both things are simultaneously true: we need to protect ourselves from the influence of people who lack compassion; and we need to have compassion ourselves, not in a pushover manner but from a position of strength and being spiritually grounded in earnest, not theoretically. As far as predicting, I hear you, of course the narrative was doomed, but there are many ways to "reroute" it which is why being vigilant is in order, too!!
"I think she has never been taught to think outside of her echo chamber, therefore she only regrets things currently as they relate to the people like her."
- I get this completely because I see it every day. The danger here is that we feel sorry for her because she "was brave enough to admit she was wrong". Not buying that for a second.
"She is on her own journey"
- Press X to doubt
"we need to have compassion ourselves, not in a pushover manner but from a position of strength and being spiritually grounded in earnest, not theoretically"
- I agree, but it's tough. I'm not religious but I regard "turn the other cheek" to mean "be the better man (or woman)", not be a doormat - so I sympathize.
"there are many ways to "reroute" it which is why being vigilant is in order, too!!"
- Things are only going to get worse until these people are brought to justice, that's for sure. Fun fact, if you don't enforce the law against criminals, they keep committing crimes! Do I think Emily is a criminal? Not sure, but she is definitely a collaborator. That's one for the lawyers to decide.
Tessa, that's the best skewering of Emily Oster I've read to date, and in turn, of The Atlantic, and in turn of the entire swath of her liberal kinfolk. Hundreds of thousands who have a lot of work to do to earn our forgiveness. I appreciate how you examine not just the irrational policies this self-regarded rational woman endorsed but as well her psychological mindset that swept her into the latest edition of mass deaths. She was as loyal to her cause as any Pol Pot soldier.
"Here is the problem. When we think about past historical atrocities—the massacres, the genocides, we imagine that the collaborators of the past danced with some kind of a special evil. But the truth is, they were not in any way special. They were just regular people with broken senses who, step by step, floated farther and father from their souls, which turned them into wobblyfolk. They were just regular people who were so desensitized by the propaganda of their time to their own ability to relate to fellow human beings that they became collaborators and enablers of various horrors. Gradually, then suddenly.
"And so, the difficult task before us is to heal the senses somehow and to revive our impenetrable spiritual power. The big villains (who are very few among us) depend on the massively broken senses of regular people to feed their powers. If regular people, en masse, connect to their souls, the big villains will lose their power. The problem is that right now, collectively, we are nowhere near being healed. It’s a mess. It’s a multigenerational mess, and most people are broken. "
The approval, "blessings," and amnesty of man are woefully short-lived, God's promises eternal. "His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Be in the Word.
Great article, Tessa, and great references. (I will forward to others.) It all boils down to simple logic and common sense; none of us had to be brilliant to figure out what was right. The mystery is why so many others did not. I'm glad I'm on this team, and am very happy that you are here with us, often tempering and moderating what might otherwise become become very nasty feelings.
I feel the same way about Emily... Sad for her. And her article did do a good thing... It opened up the conversation to all that things haven't been right and a short jump from that is recognition of what was wrong and then apologies... Maybe I live in a logical yet fantasy world. Keep up the great work Tessa!
Thank you, Elizabeth!! And I agree, her article, clueless as it was, did a good thing by opening a can of worms.
I wonder if, rather than expressing her cluelessness, the intention was not to have her take the temperature. To see how much push back she gets, and from where. Otherwise why would this insulting nonsense be published in "The Atlantic"?
I don't know Emily personally. But if she is anything like the psychologists and psychiatrists who fine-tuned the techniques to frame the narrative according to specific target audiences, she is actually not clueless and disconnected from reality, but paid to be part of the propaganda team. That, to me, is not simple spinelessness, but hardcore corruption of the spirit. Which I have come to conclude is my new, short definition of evil.
If we forgive Emily for what she wrote, then we ought to never ever mention the "evil Nazis" again! Because most of them were followers and bowed to authority too, just like Emily.
That being off my chest, I applaud you for your compassion and differentiated viewpoint, Tessa!
Athena, I thought and think the same thing! I think she is a trial balloon!
Good comment there Athena.
I am also on the fence as to whether Oster is just another useful idiot, or a part of the predatory class. Now reading Lobaczewski's 'Political Ponerology; The Science of Evil, Psychopathy, and the Origins of Totalitarianism' ... and wondering how much the predatory class has learned and weaponized since the thoughts in that book were first penned.
Cheers from Japan,
steve
At times I wonder whether the Emily characters are not already controlled by AI... How can a professor (..!) cite science, and then contradict it with a sleigh of hand. Educated idiot? Clever manipulator? Cult member? In the quote below * , is she gaslighting the public only, or herself as well?
May that be as it is, as long as she doesn't recognize that she is/has been on the wrong side of history and doesn't take responsibility for her words and actions, she behaves like an ignorant, petulant child and not like a professional with the responsibilities that come with it! So what is her article doing in The Atlantic, or in any print media anyway (not only that, she also appears in TV interviews!!)!
But from there, she goes on to ask all those she and her ilk harmed directly and indirectly to be forgiven, no questions asked, without making any amends nor paying the price, in a court of justice (like you and I would have to!) - in fact, pretending there aren't any to be made, since "how could we know!" That's where the clueless brat becomes a treacherous agent of the cabal, in my opinion.
* "Quote (note the confidence):
A paper from a team in Sweden has again concluded that the use of cellphones and cordless phones increases the risk for tumors, most specifically glioma, a type of usually malignant brain tumor.
In this study, mobile phone users were 30 percent more likely to develop gliomas. Those who used phones for 25 years or more were 200 percent more likely.
This team has considered the same questions, and reached the same conclusion, before. And it’s not the only one. The International Agency for Research on Cancer cites mobile phones as a “possible” carcinogen.
In the end, it is simply extremely unlikely that there is any link between cellphones and brain tumors. We can, perhaps, put this debate to rest and focus on the actual danger of cellphones: using them while driving [emphasis mine]."
Greetings from India!
»In the end, it is simply extremely unlikely that there is any link between cellphones and brain tumors.« – WOW!
If that is her conclusion from the study, she should resign her professorship.
Yes, that's quite some cognitive dissonance: citing studies all pointing in the same direction, and the concluding the opposite! It's mind-fuckery, in my opinion, and what psychologist and other "professionals" have been subjecting us to during this whole scamdemic.
Here, I just saw some more actual mind-fuckery from the officials in charge. Unbelievable, but then again, nothing is unbelievable anymore:
https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/dr-william-makis-corruption-in-the?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Maybe she is reading from a script ... like those internet scammers.
India? Close to the same time zone!
And an even better reply than the comment.
Yes. 'Useful idiot' is much too charitable.
Cheers Athena!
steve
I don't read the Atlantic generally but I hear that they were in the forefront of the covid propaganda machine so perhaps the whole publication is trying to figure how to get out of this looking good. Or at least ok...
Laurene Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, owns controlling stake in The Atlantic. She has fairly deep pockets and can afford to support this magazine for a while. Interestingly, almost all of the corporate media are suffering in the marketplace. Eventually the market will win and these propaganda organs will fail. That's of little consolation to all the individuals who have suffered from the actions supported by those propaganda organs. Emily Oster and her ilk, in a just world, would receive a fair trial and receive appropriate punishment for their actions and words. This would not amount to revenge, but rather a resetting of the parameters of acceptable behaviour in civilized society. Without such reckoning, that mode of operation will flourish as getting away such behaviour will reinforce such behaviour in the future. Regarding forgiveness, that can only happen when the individuals involved actually acknowledge their actions as wrong and apologize, promising never to do it again....just saying...
I wish the market would win. But in the global communist-fascist dictatorship (for lack of a better word for the absolute horror that awaits us if we don't manage to change course or timelines) that we are heading towards at breakneck speed, the market, or whatever is left of it, will be completely controlled by the governments/BlackRock-Vanguard/cabal. And we will be allowed to buy what they decide is "good" for us. Bye bye "free" market (it's not like the markets weren't controlled and manipulated before, but at least we had some choices).
As to forgiveness, I completely agree. Without atonement, forgiveness is an empty and meaningless shell. The perpetrators haven't learned anything and the ones who have been victimized have to pretend to be forgiving and compassionate (because we want to be "good", and we don't want to feel like we have been treated unjustly, so let's pretend to ourselves that we forgave and forgot instead). I don't buy into hollow New-Agey ideas (anymore), nor into self-deception. Every culture has some form of a justice system for a reason. If justice isn't served, society falls apart. The rules and laws that apply to you and me should also apply to the Emilies of this world. We all know that the cabal is above them - I wish that could be changed, but am not hopeful of it happening - but at least their faithful servants should have to face the consequences of their choices and actions. Instead, what is planned is for the Emilies getting brownie points in their social credit score, for their services to the "Ministry of Truth", while you and I fall into the red zone and are forbidden to take the train for a month (forget plane travel for us plebs).
Ah, do I wish more people woke the f... up! Instead, most of the (educated) people I know are completely clueless and prefer to keep their eyes wide shut to having to face pure evil and its emanations.
Or not having their asses dragged in front of a court, where they belong, pardon my French.
Hi Tessa,
This is the most well-thought out response to Oster I have yet to read, and if it is a hint regarding the nuances of your conversation with Charles, I am really looking forward to listening in.
I particularly liked your 'To my senses ...' paragraph deconstructing Oster's stage of development. It reminded me of your poem-song of the boy-who-would-be-King.
But the paragraph I still struggle with is in the first one of Final Thoughts. Oster may be just as you described her, ephiphenomenon of generations of broken people, and a useful idiot of the machine. ''they were not in any way special'' may apply to her and her ilk. But she is not the spear-head. I am still struggling through the stilted prose of Lobaczewski's 'Political Ponerology'' — but triangulating from my experience of social dynamics in Japan, there does seem to a small percentage of 'special' people, genetically pretedermined to be high in Cluster B personality traits ... those dark triads — the small, but persistent 'cruel 10%' (Susan Sontag) who can be found everywhere in the world.
I've read percentages of anywhere between 3 and 30%, and there is no way to account for all of the confounding variables of epigenetics and social constructs. But among that qualitatively different category, I would include the likes of Zuckerberg, Bezos, Kissinger, Schwab, Biden-Trump, Stalin, Gates, Attila the Hun, Caligula, and so on. Just as some of us are born with a high predisposition for empathy, there are some who are temperamentally incapable of feeling shame or remorse. Like a typical national politician here in Japan, or CEO anywhere ... they are clever at making a show of remorse with a precisely calculated bow. But just a show.
I have no idea of how to deal with them. Compliance to forgiveness, and anything in between, historically appears to be irrelevant. More than the average person, or the above average altruist, they are quicker to take advantage and pervert any positive emergent innovations of culture and technology. And if our species sees its last sunset, I suspect more than a mere correlation with the behavior of this 'special' few. They will be 'the' cause. Proximal. Distal. Terminal.
Oh by the way, thanks to you, I showed 'Numb' to a few teachers and staff at one of the Japanese Jr. Highs I work at ... some think it is not too harsh for the students to see and react to because they are not bringing the same experience to it to react in the same way as myself and substack buddy Heidi Heil. By chance, all 9th graders are giving 3 minute Power Point presentations in English, and I suspect this is part of the nation-wide English curriculum. I will be forwarding a link of Numb to the principles of the 3 Jr. Highs I work at, and several elementary schools, and suggesting they forward this to the central Ministry of Education (I used to work for MEXT as a cultural advisor and textbook editor) to consider as supplementary material to their suggested curriculum — nation wide.
But damn, even after several viewings ... I still can't last the whole 3 minutes without wiping the tears from my eyes. And not just tears of sorrow. More than a little rage is in the mix.
Cheers Tessa,
Keep up the good fight.
steve
Thank you, Steve! That "Numb" video is really both beautiful and so, so awful (not the video, the reason for making it). So stupid what the adults have done, tricked and coerced by other adults with bad intentions!!!!
And as far as predators, I wrote about it here in more detail. I liked to in this story so as not to make it even longer. :) https://tessa.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-forgiveness
Thanks (and honored) for the quick reply Tessa. Still doing a bit of car-camping near Mt. Fuji, but will plan on reading the link when I get back, or perhaps as early as tonight. Just seeing you use the word 'predators' is enough to tell me we are on the same page.
Cheers Tessa!
Employer mandates, which mean forced medical procedures, are Nuremberg crimes, regardless of any data.
That never did take a scientist or a "city intellectual" to figure out.
The data being especially bad should only make the trials shorter, so scientists could help there a little bit. I have some other ideas about what "city intellectuals" can do.
I think the whole idea is predictable and boring and will never catch on. In fact, here's an anagram of Emily Oster:
TIRESOMELY
That is funny, Paul!! I didn't think of that!!
"She is like an overly medicated domestic pet who, if let out into the wild, would freeze in terror and confusion, having no idea what to do with all this chaotic freedom." Hmmm. Now tell us what you REALLY feel, Tessa! Such an accurate observation. Thank you.
And your comment about the people who participated in the atrocities of the past being broken: yes.
In the documentary "Propaganda Exposed: Uncensored" Mel K made the following observation, paraphrased with a bit of embellishment: Six million or more Jews were killed in various ways during the holocaust. One million Germans went home after working, killing them, to have supper with their families, to go to bed, and the go back to their job the following day, after a nice breakfast.
Emily is one of those workers.
And that reminds me of the story of the Jew who, after getting pushed out of the cattle car into the concentration camp. "Thank you, God!" Another beside him asked, "What are you thanking God for? Look where we are!" "I'm thanking God I'm not one of them!"
Thank you, I'm not Emily.
The discussions of strategies to have us vaccinated is so condescending, and yet I am not sure she even feels any remorse for her attitude. For her
•Shame was off the table, but reduction of liberty wasn't. What was her overall thoughts on the mortality rate of the virus that it would require bullying someone to get a vaccine otherwise they can't travel, work, or attend entertainment venues.
•When did someone who read any of Oster's tweets ever think she had the libertarian mindset of "you do you?" Someone with a heart and mind that believes in liberty doesn't sit around and have strategy sessions on how to coerce and manipulate people into getting an experimental substance injected into them.
•On reaching fear-based vaccine motivation, why was this ever a thing to begin with? There was never any actual release of data along all points to support the vaccine anyhow.. First you have to convince people that a vaccine is needed to begin with. Second, you have to convince those that the vaccine is effective (you know stops infection and transmission) and third that there is a control group who actually faired far worse than those who were vaccinated. (see the Danish study for a study on masks).
Could you imagine having a similar discussion in a condescending manner:
Shaming people who coerced and manipulated others is not likely to work at this point (if ever)
what will?
Showing them family/friends who suffered vaccine related injuries (Maybe)
Restrictions from things you enacted upon the unvaccinated (travel/entertainment/work/food)
We can have these without shame.
To be clear: I am not suggesting we say "you do you" to the vaccine acolytes. The other side here is that there are unvaccinated people who continue to see vaccinated friends/relatives., which I think is a difficult choice with nuance and often pain of seeing a vaccinated person who could encounter one of many vectors for vaccine injury.
I'd add a mandated vaccine booster for those who were coercing others to vaccinate to this list as well.
The unpopular opinion of the day is that I think we may be reaching the limits of rationality in regards to those who either supported or pushed vaccine mandates and threatened to fire, restrict, and otherwise take the freedoms of those who did not comply. What might work?
Full FDA disapproval.
firings
wow tessa - so much to unpack here.
i had read a lot of venomous responses to the atlantic piece before i held my nose and took the plunge - ugh. my immediate reaction was that this was a propaganda piece written by committee (as athena mentions in her comment above). there were obvious multiple voices involved. the pro-vaxx coda is such an obvious bad segue that it just makes you laugh. like the andrew hill article that tess lawrie called bullshit on.
scientific studies which soberly present evidence and then reach a conclusion that's pure doublethink are a thing now. the truth ministry is paying big bucks for this stuff and oster is obviously hitting on that glass pipe. so i think she's more of a propaganda mule than an original thinker. she's just reading from a script, more or less.
i also find that script considerably more sinister. this is no mea culpa. it's an order for the compliance nazis on the ground to double down against us and and to cast aside any misgivings or residual guilt that may be percolating in their poisoned minds.
the atlantic used to be a reliable source for investigative journalism. scott ritter and seymour hersh used to write for them. now they're financed by gates and owned by a woman who's pals with ghislaine maxwell.
eugyppius writes off oster and her ilk as classic high-achieving conformists. https://www.eugyppius.com/p/once-more-on-renowned-fool-emily
guessing that you saw the absolutely brilliant analysis by meredith miller, who unpacks it through the prism of recovery from trauma and abuse. she echoes you a lot.
https://meredithmiller.substack.com/p/never-forget
sarah reynolds did a great takedown too which focuses more on underlying psychosis.
https://sarahreynolds.substack.com/p/everyone-is-talking-about-emily-oster
and as a digression, just the idea that raising and nurturing children could or should be based on principles from the dismal science of economics is repulsive to the core. that's textbook technocracy. like you said, it's going to be quite the challenge when generation fear grows up and we have to help them cope.
Thank you for all the links and of course for your thoughts!! I have read them but it's good to have them in one place!
Oh, and I so agree, an original thinker, she is not!!! I think she is most likely sincere, as in, she believes her own BS and its superior standing. I suppose, teachers at missionary boarding schools who whipped and otherwise tortured children for speaking their native tongue might have been sincere, too, believing that they were weaning the kids off a bad thing for them. Such is the multigenerational mess. The abused and the abuser could very well be one person. I do feel bad for her. And I have no kind words to say about her actions. Well, I suppose she was speaking up against school closures (and got crap for that from the more fanatical lockdowners). So I have some kind words about that. But all in all, very sad!
I don't feel bad for Emily and I don't respect her stinking soul, and I can't STAND her snotty voice. What is it with these self righteous do-gooders they all have to affect a vocal fry? Oh. My. God. She should burn in hell. Great article Tessa, it made me so mad!
You have written many great essays Tessa, but this one is one of your best.
I’m not saying anything to diss Nuremberg 2.0, but it is useful to try and comprehend the source of “our” (whoever that encompasses) mental issues.
Thank you Ernie!! By the way, I posted a comment in response, and it seems to be gone. Not sure what happened there!
Thanks. I’d love to hear it.
Gosh that video of her talking about her book...this kind of thing is everywhere. When and how did we all become so dumb and disconnected to our instincts that we “need” this kind of parenting help? So sad. I’ve met so many moms like them--stress cases.
Hey Tessa, you are assuming that "Emily" (I hate calling evil psychopaths by their first names, something I have chastised Tim Pool for often) hasn't drawn the short straw and been "chosen" to be the public face of this climbdown.
I wrote an (unpublished) article for a UK alt-media website in early 2021 where I predicted the whole charade would come crumbling down and these people would do anything to prevent Nuremberg 2.0. There is no way they can get away with what they have done.
The problem with making predictions is things move way slower than you expect. So I don't do that anymore.
I highly doubt this stupid woman regrets anything. She would do it all again in a heartbeat.
I think she has never been taught to think outside of her echo chamber, therefore she only regrets things currently as they relate to the people like her. She is on her own journey, and both things are simultaneously true: we need to protect ourselves from the influence of people who lack compassion; and we need to have compassion ourselves, not in a pushover manner but from a position of strength and being spiritually grounded in earnest, not theoretically. As far as predicting, I hear you, of course the narrative was doomed, but there are many ways to "reroute" it which is why being vigilant is in order, too!!
Hey Tessa, thank you for the reply. 🍻
"I think she has never been taught to think outside of her echo chamber, therefore she only regrets things currently as they relate to the people like her."
- I get this completely because I see it every day. The danger here is that we feel sorry for her because she "was brave enough to admit she was wrong". Not buying that for a second.
"She is on her own journey"
- Press X to doubt
"we need to have compassion ourselves, not in a pushover manner but from a position of strength and being spiritually grounded in earnest, not theoretically"
- I agree, but it's tough. I'm not religious but I regard "turn the other cheek" to mean "be the better man (or woman)", not be a doormat - so I sympathize.
"there are many ways to "reroute" it which is why being vigilant is in order, too!!"
- Things are only going to get worse until these people are brought to justice, that's for sure. Fun fact, if you don't enforce the law against criminals, they keep committing crimes! Do I think Emily is a criminal? Not sure, but she is definitely a collaborator. That's one for the lawyers to decide.
Tessa, that's the best skewering of Emily Oster I've read to date, and in turn, of The Atlantic, and in turn of the entire swath of her liberal kinfolk. Hundreds of thousands who have a lot of work to do to earn our forgiveness. I appreciate how you examine not just the irrational policies this self-regarded rational woman endorsed but as well her psychological mindset that swept her into the latest edition of mass deaths. She was as loyal to her cause as any Pol Pot soldier.
Lovely description of the problem:
"Final thoughts"
"Here is the problem. When we think about past historical atrocities—the massacres, the genocides, we imagine that the collaborators of the past danced with some kind of a special evil. But the truth is, they were not in any way special. They were just regular people with broken senses who, step by step, floated farther and father from their souls, which turned them into wobblyfolk. They were just regular people who were so desensitized by the propaganda of their time to their own ability to relate to fellow human beings that they became collaborators and enablers of various horrors. Gradually, then suddenly.
"And so, the difficult task before us is to heal the senses somehow and to revive our impenetrable spiritual power. The big villains (who are very few among us) depend on the massively broken senses of regular people to feed their powers. If regular people, en masse, connect to their souls, the big villains will lose their power. The problem is that right now, collectively, we are nowhere near being healed. It’s a mess. It’s a multigenerational mess, and most people are broken. "
Thank you Susan!!
The approval, "blessings," and amnesty of man are woefully short-lived, God's promises eternal. "His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Be in the Word.
I agree with you, and we all have our unique ways to pray and talk to the Creator, which is a very beautiful thing!!
Great article, Tessa, and great references. (I will forward to others.) It all boils down to simple logic and common sense; none of us had to be brilliant to figure out what was right. The mystery is why so many others did not. I'm glad I'm on this team, and am very happy that you are here with us, often tempering and moderating what might otherwise become become very nasty feelings.
Thank you!
Thank you, Don!!
Your writing is brilliant, as always....thank you...... 😘
Thank you StellaMaris!!! xoxo