Tag: #religion

 

Like it or not fascism is growing in America.  And just like we’ve seen it through history before, it turns otherwise good people into manipulated monsters.

 

Understanding Fascism.

Like it or not, Fascism is on the extreme right of the political spectrum.  For context Communism is on the extreme left side of the political spectrum.  Keep this in mind, because either extreme is bad, and they are a mirror image of the same monster.  In other words, in either of those political extremes, if you speak out of turn you and everything you loved will be mercilessly killed and destroyed by those governing your lives.

The most triggering difference is that in fascism, there will be a “divine deity” featured as a heart-and-minds exploitation in the center of the manipulation tactics.  Who gets manipulated?  The troves of obedient fools, many of which will think that their unsavory deeds are morally superior because they are anointed under a higher power.  Whatever deity this might be.

Benito Mussolini is the father of fascism.  This was a narcissistic, highly-misguidedly-opinionated, pedantic, racist, white supremacist, insecure-wrapped-in-bravado, authoritarian, manipulative, corrupt, and insecure little man.  Mussolini projected his insecurities through a façade of macho-like posturing.  It is quite pathetic to realize his sophomoric antics when you see it from a pragmatic point of view.

In spite of all this, Mussolini was actually “invited” to become Italy’s Prime Minister in the years that led to World War II (WW-II).  The country of Italy was already very divided, and as Communism was expanding through Europe the time was ripe for his manipulation of those who were “fearful from others.”  Another thing he wanted to do is “Make Italy Great Again,” to bring the same “prestige of the Roman Empire” (though he ignored a lot of the actual Roman Empire History). Among other things, he enacted this agenda by invading Ethiopia, a country that was unable to militarily defend against the Italian armed forces.

But this created the allure of an expanding “Italian Empire.”  His followers were ruthless, and perpetrated unspeakable crimes against humanity.  It is no surprise that Hitler himself found Mussolini so enticing to the point they were allies during the WW-II.  But fascism is a lot more complex than a simple hatred for others who are outside their “accepted circle.”  What they do have in common is that they are able to exploit other insecure people’s biases, and convince them they are morally superior.  Yes, this statement is worth repeating for a reason.

Fascism is growing in America.

Proud Fascists and even Nazis were very much overtly advocating for these divisive ideas in America before WW-II.  They haven’t gone away, they were less vocal for quite a while, but they are reigniting their passion for a divided and segregated society.  All things considered, we have to remember that back in those days, both Communism and Fascism were pretty novel.  Also, the truth about their agenda was not as well understood as it is now.  Afterall, we’ve had several conflicts and nefarious examples for each extreme since they first appeared on the world stage.

Fascists had sadly highjacked many devoted religious hearts and minds.  That’s their modem operandum (MO), so that is not surprising.  But it is a lot harder for some congregations to understand that they are being fed fascistic rhetoric and ideas from the pulpit – and they are now advocating for these misguided epitomes.  Not all congregations, but enough to start normalizing some hateful speech under the guise of “hate the sin, not the sinner” – but adding frustration against the so called “sinner” – until this person is slowly robbed from their humanity.  It is a gradual process.

In the USA it has been brewing up for several decades.  The “frustration and patience” these manipulated souls feel they are enduring is actually based on faulty information.  Again, it is part of the MO, make them feel they have been the “good and patient people for so long, until they had more than enough” – then the people they are been normalized as lesser human “get what they deserve” – regarding the misinformation they had been convinced in their minds.

In my book Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools, I speak in detail about how this procedure works.  Also, I am writing many short and long format articles about this topic because too many people are falling into that trap.  And yes, this trap is designed to be palatable, and easily assimilated.  That is why it is a trap, it bamboozles people into being convinced of a false narrative, while making them think they are the morally superior bunch – when they are indeed the aggressors.

I will be writing more about this topic in future articles, but for now my intent is for you to realize that if for some reason you are a victim of fascistic rhetoric, it is because they found a bias they can exploit from you.  The goal is turning rhetoric into subsequent violent action.  And if you’re not who was been fed this rhetoric, then guess what?  You’re the victims the fascists “frustrated with” and who they want to subsequently eliminate.

We can collectively stop this travesty, understand that the leader of a fascist movement is a pedantic, low self-esteem moron who has been able to project his or her insecurities onto you.  And little by little normalizing the darkest feelings that reside in every human heart to carry on their selfish agenda.  But guess what?  No matter how loyal YOU are to them, they won’t ever be loyal to you.  To them no matter how devoted you are to their cause you’re simply disposable.  That is why we must defuse fascism.  HLC

Today in America 03MAR2024 – Half Life Crisis www.halflifecrisis.com

 

There is so much occurring simultaneously in the national discourse that the truth tends to be muddied up.  Today I bring clarity to these many issues.

This article will be broken down into a few parts in order to segment some of the craziness.  It is going to be a bumpy ride, and although it will be a long article, this is the very top of the tip of the iceberg.  An open mind is advisable to read these passages, because it will shed some light on information that tends to be redacted in some news outlets and from the voices of many pundits & other influencers.

The good news is that I am truly independent, therefore I have no political motivation.  I am, however, very much against misinformation, because that affects us all – regardless of which side of the political spectrum we lean towards.  Enjoy the ride!

 

Trump is not “that” rich.

In case this is the first time you see it, Trump had to admit via his attorneys that he does not have the amount of cash he used brag to the entire world he had.  For many of us, realizing that Trump was nowhere as rich as he claimed to be it is not surprising.  It might however finally dissuade a lot of his loyal followers in the MAGA base to finally leave him.  The reason is because many MAGA followers just tolerated his antics because they thought he was a multi billionaire.

In case you were not aware, Trump recently lost two separate civil cases and was ordered to pay several million dollars in compensation.  Most of his supporters still think it is a “witch hunt” perpetrated by President Biden.  Of course that isn’t the case, and these problematic cases of sexual assault and fraud he was found liable in two separate courts, occurred well before the Biden Presidency or the Trump Presidency [for that matter] even started.  Here is a quick synopsis of these two cases.

Both of these cases were handled by his attorney Alina Habba, who has been touted by her peers [meaning other attorneys] as highly incompetent.  Whatever the case, she is to my knowledge the only attorney who has cost her client almost half a billion dollars.

 

Trump’s Civil Fraud Case.

Trump was fund liable from swindling many investors through the span of several years.  Trump was directed to pay $355 million in penalties plus interests.  But the total figure starts at $454 million because it also includes people in Trumps orbit, to include his two elder sons.  The interest for the payments Trump owes each passing day he does not pay is $87,502 – and by the way the verdict took place on February 16, 2024.  So, this figure just keeps climbing more and more.

This case of course found out that he was lying about his wealth and that he overinflated his assets to get loans, and undervalued them when it was time to pay taxes.  The fact is that if he is unable to have this interest rate from rapidly accruing, that on its own is enough to ascertain that he simply does not have the cash to pay, or even to appeal the case.  Trump said he was going to appeal, but he needs to post the money upfront to guarantee he will pay if he loses again.  Which will likely be the case.

The fact is that neither banks, nor attorneys are lining up to support Trump.  Trump also asked to pay only just north of $100 million [or a fraction of what it is required] to appeal.  That was denied to him as it would have been denied to anybody in a similar situation.  Trump went onto making some unusual fund-raising events, which included selling some hideous $400 golden shoes and a $100 cologne that by the way sold-out, but won’t be making it to their customers hands until the Summer.

Another thing that sprouted, even if by proxy, was at least one Go-fund me campaign, and people were contributing to pay the legal fees of this billionaire.  There seems also to be some course of action of utilizing GOP campaign funds for his legal troubles.  But my understanding is that would be highly illegal. Which by the way, there is another case under that premise – this time for paying hush money to a porn star.

Bottomline, Trump said via his attorneys that if he pays the entire amount [even as a bond], which is close to half a billion dollars penalty, he would have to start selling some of his real state.  So, let’s put that in perspective.  Trump was ordered to pay that amount because he was found that he defrauded a bunch of people.  You know, as in taking their money, and now he does not have the money.  In other words, it was spent – not properly invested to grow.  This realization might finally be what turns off some of his base who considered him a financial genius.

 

Trump sexual abuse case.

On May 9, 2003 Trump was found liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in 1996.  Trump was directed to pay $5 million.  But this case is a lot more nuisance than Trump simply being found liable for sexual assault, which under the New York statutes it is just different language that in fact found Trump liable of raping Carroll.  Yes, they found and were able to provide proof that Trump is a rapist.

What some people might not realize about this case is that the statute of limitations has already expired, and although Carroll was unable to go against Trump back in the 90’s – remember, these were very different times.  We have come a long way to being able to speak truth to power.  For some of us who were alive in the 90’s I can assure you that the world has moved forward by leaps and bounds, yet there are many who want to return back to the most short-sighted blunders in those years.

However, as the story re-surfaced, Trump started bad mouthing Carroll and made some very defamatory remarks against her.  The case went to court, Trump kept making some very low brow and insulting remarks in true Trump fashion style against Carroll – many of these remarks from very prominent platforms.  You know, double down and triple down.  So, the case ended up going to court for defamation.  This of course backfired on Trump, because not only he was stuck with a $5 million award payable to Carrol, but he also got all his sexual abuse past come to light.  It did not end there.

As expected, Trump was not happy at all with this, therefore he double down, and disparaged Carroll again.  And this once again backfired.  Remember, the case was already settled that Trump raped Carroll.  Adding to the miscalculation, Trumps attorney, Alina Habba managed to make things a lot worse for Trump, turning this $5 million original award into a whopping $83.3 million award, as Carroll won her case for defamation again.  It is very likely that Trump was the master mind directing Habba to say whatever is it that she said in the trial.  Of course, that was not a good strategy.

One thing is clear, Trump has not paid a dime yet for either one of these millionaire awards against him.  Which makes you think, if he really was a billionaire, paying off and then appealing could be a lot easier than accruing all this additional debt in interests, not to mention all the negative media attention that it puts on his supposed fortune.  For now, only some of his most fervent MAGA supporters are still onboard and will pay their hard-earned money to help a billionaire pay his legal obligations.  Food for thought.

Credit the link below to the Associated Press (AP) who is tracking Trump’s many criminal and civil cases.  They have a huge team of journalists who can do that in real time; it is only me writing for the Half Life Crisis site at this time.

Tracking the criminal and civil cases against Donald Trump (apnews.com)

Hunter Biden handed GOP House Representatives their own butts.

In a different part of our bizarre political discourse, the GOP have been hell-bent in an unsuccessful effort to impeach President Biden.  Bottomline, they have zero evidence.  If the evidence to impeach Biden existed it would have been plastered all over the planet, and there would be non-stop coverage of it.  That has not happened, nor will it, because what the GOP members are alluding towards simply does not exist.

In an effort to find some compromising links to Joe Biden, the GOP has been very adamant on pursuing dead-end leads related to the President’s son, Hunter Biden.  For context, Hunter Biden is a recovering addict, and in the past, he had done some shenanigans, and has gotten in some trouble before.  However, he has always made a conscientious effort to keep his father out of the spotlight, because he understands how important this is to his father’s public service.

For context Hunter Biden was still a young boy when Biden was elected to his first term in Congress.  Fast forward, there have been a lot of allegations trying to tie Hunter Biden to his father.  One of those sources was a former FBI informant who also was recently arrested because he was working with Russian intelligence in a concerted effort to interfere in US politics.  And yes, that was the GOP’s star witness.

For some time, the GOP have been trying to corner Hunter Biden in many insidious ways.  Even having sexually explicit images of him shown in the House Floor by Georgia Representative Majorie Taylor Greene.  Yes, that happened!  She showed what could be best described as revenge porn showing nude photos of Hunter Biden engaging in sexual intercourse during an official hearing.

And to add insult to injury, the GOP controlled House of representatives wanted to have Hunter Biden testify in a closed-door session – even though they had made this matter public to the entire country as the story of the century.  Well, this was originally rejected, and Biden even showed up to Congress when they were deliberating about holding him in contempt of Congress – yet the GOP rejected the option of Hunger to testify in front of the whole country right there and there.  You know, calling their bluff.

Fast forward to last week, and Hunter Biden did show up to a closed-door session, and handed the House GOP butts to them.  The transcript is pretty long, but it is worth reading.  The GOP Representatives tried to spin it as though it was a win, but for anybody with a 4th grade reading comprehension, you would be able to identify what the reality of the situation is all about.  And the fact that it was political theater came full circle.

All this waste of taxpayer money and congressional man hours was nothing but a gigantic waste of time many of us realized years ago.  There is no actual evidence to impeach Biden.

I recommend reading the entire transcript on the link below.  It’s pretty long, but it is worth it.  It might make you mad, or laugh in a tragically hilarious manner.

Hunter Biden Full Transcript House of Representatives closed door session. www.halflifecrisis.com

 

Reproductive rights are being threatened in the country.

You’ve probably been familiar with the overturn of Roe vs Wade by the Supreme Court that occurred in 2022.  This is of course one of Trump’s supposedly proudest moments.  And yes, this was possible because the three Supreme Court Justices confirmed under Trump were very much in favor of overturning Roe vs Wade – even though they denied during their confirmation hearings to be inclined to do exactly that.

Just like many of us realized that they were going after Roe vs Wade making abortions illegal and a lot more restrictive depending on each state – the situation was not likely going to end there.  How do we know?  Because the indicators of moving a certain “theocratical” political agenda has been plastered on the wall all along.

There is a certain group of “Christian Nationalists” – which is not the same as Christians from all stripes.  In other words, not every Christian is a Christian Nationalist.  Many Christians actually disavow Christian Nationalists as extremists who happen to use Christianity as a platform to push a political agenda.  And Christian Nationalists are not shy about expressing that they want THEIR version of Christianity to be the rule of the land.  In other words, a theocracy based on their particular interpretation.  And yes, many of them are elected leaders.

For better or worse, this is actually a very unpopular stance – and in each and every one of the last several local, state, and national elections, the so called “pro-life” candidates have been defeated or severely underperformed at the ballot.  Why is that?  Because “Pro-Choice” does not equal “Pro-abortion.”  In other words, the majority of Americans understand the difference, and how each case is unique.  Further, they understand that the life and safety of the mother could be at severe risk with certain pregnancy complications.

And of course, most people are not onboard with forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to full term, if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest.  Especially considering that some young women get raped while they are still children themselves.  For example, should a 13-year-old be forced to carry to term the child of her rapist?  When Roe vs Wade was overturned, it now makes it illegal for this 13-year-old not be forced to carry a rapist child to term.  Think about that for a second – what if that 13-year-old young lady was YOUR child?

The fact is that what we are observing is authoritarian rhetoric disguised as morality under theocratic rules.  This situation is running rampant in America, and it has been largely normalized.  Why?  Because there are Christians all over the place, even though many fail to realize that their denomination is one of a few thousands in the world.  Yes, there are several Christian denominations, and they don’t agree in a lot of their doctrines – hence they have their own denomination.

Although many Christian denominations agree on certain points, there is a lot more than they disagree with.  Want an example?  Sure, how similar are the doctrines between the Jehovah Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints?  How similar or different are the rituals between Catholics and Pentecostals?  How about the guys who handle dangerous snakes during service, or those who worship in the nude?

Yes, those are all just a few examples of devoted Christians.  Would you go to the nude service or the venomous snake-handling service?  So, under that logic, then you might not be ok if “a particular” denomination of Christianity becomes the theocratic rule of the land.  That is why there is separation of church and state I the USA.  Also, why churches get a tax exemption as long as they stay off the political discourse.  Although we all know that many churches are not only violating that law, but they are also very cavalier about pushing politics from the pulpit.

Some states have a higher concentration of politically charged religious following.  One of these places is Alabama, where recently, In-Vitro Fertilization or IVF is under attack, because they’re considering the cells in a petri dish being already a person.  Yes, this IVF has JUST become an issue – just a few days ago.  And it is taking traction on other states – mostly red states.  And if you think this is not expanding think again.

And by the way, there are many Christians who used IVF in order to become parents.  Now, this IVF procedure is in jeopardy because some people interpret their scriptures differently, and want to force everybody to interpret them in the same manner.  And yes, it is affecting also law-abiding Christians and non-Christians.

If you are a Christian – especially, if you’re a Christian, you might want to realize that there is a particular denomination which wants to take over the way YOU worship.  Yes, I am serious.  This is happening.  If you want to call them false prophets, or swindlers or opportunists, that’s YOUR choice.  And keep in mind that there is a segment of people who use religion as a way to prevent you from having ANY choice in the near turn.

For example, did you know that there is a bill being proposed in Virginia right now that is endorsed mostly by state-GOP legislators who want to make it a lot harder to get contraception over the counter?  So, think about this for a moment, there are people hell bent in not only limiting your options should a person get an unwanted pregnancy, but they are also making it harder to not get pregnant in the first place!

In other words, they are somehow working towards legislating about sexual intercourse between consenting adults.  I wish I was being hyperbolic, but just like Roe vs Wade and other indicators of theocracy working to replace our democratic system, this very much seems to be in the horizon.  Of course, that most people might not want to see it as such, because when we talk about religion it tends to hit a nerve on a great segment of the population… because they think it is singling THEM out.

Well, that is not the case, the reality is that a few are trying to impose their version of religion onto all of us while using the very same religious protections to hide their agenda, which is to ultimately negate religious freedom to the rest of the country.

There is a lot more to explore on this topic, and I plan on writing a full article and perhaps other additional content on this, because it will become a lot more significant sooner than later.  And if you think there are not people in high positions pushing for this to become the norm, think again.

 

The Supreme Court is perceived as MAGA-biased.

Lately the United States Supreme Court has been perceived as biased by a very large segment of Americans.  The reality is that there is an evident power dynamic difference.  If you have been paying attention, you’ll know that the great majority of the justices are very conservative.  And as I mentioned, three of them were recently confirmed during Trump’s term.

This is a good time to bring current Minority Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell who was the de-facto catalyst to pack the court with highly conservative, and MAGA friendly justices.  And McConnel is also the person responsible for denying President Obama from adding his nominated Justice to the Supreme Court, because that was during Obama’s last year in office.  Yet, McConnel pushed a conservative judge in the last year of Trump’s office.

For any of us paying attention, we realized this tactic from the start.  He was going to pack the courts, not just the supreme court but a lot of other courts in the country – to get a higher level of political advantage with like-minded people.  Some might say that is an unfair assertion, yet the proof to this assessment has come through via many cases that have gravitated towards conservative goals.  IVF is one such case.  There are plenty more, but not many of those cases make it to the national headlines.

But the scrutiny of the conservative Justices has also gathered more momentum after their decision to hear the case for Trump’s eligibility to be in the Colorado ballot.  This of course will put a delay on a resolution for other cases that are related to why the State of Colorado supreme court found that Trump’s election interference and role for the January 6 insurrection makes him ineligible to run for office.

And if you think for a few seconds about this concern to have Trump back in office, it makes perfect sense.  Trump has 91 criminal charges spanning several court cases, has been very vocal about some very divisive rhetoric, he was found to be a fraud and a rapist – and that is just a fraction of the many red flags anybody who is paying attention sees about Trump.  Hence, most Americans voted against him in 2020.  The difference is that he has alienated a lot of his base from that time.  And a lot of his supporters have not been afforded the full story either… so they might jump ship once the truth also reaches their eyes and ears.

Well, unsurprisingly the Justices who were appointed by Trump and other conservative justices are very much onboard with seeing Trump to run for another term, despite the myriad of criminal and civil cases against him.  And this is not me – as the author of this article – trying to put the integrity of the US Supreme Court in question – as far as how objective they are when it comes to political discourse.  This is the common consensus from many people reporting on this topic.

But what I will say is that the rulings and the precedent for each case do raise a lot of questions.  And one of the fears most people have is that there is a clear bias towards one segment of the population and a disenfranchisement of another – an even larger segment of the same population.  The proof is that the most “conservative” doctrines have not been popular at the ballot.  It is especially noteworthy that the MAGA segment of the Republican party is dwindling.  Even though, many remaining MAGAs are still very vocal.

I linked this article to tell you more about the particular case regarding Trump’s eligibility to hold office. Credit to the New York Times.  Even if you don’t agree with them, fact check them with media sources from all political sides – you’ll see the pattern soon enough.

Supreme Court Poised to Rule on Monday on Trump’s Eligibility to Hold Office – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Conflicts continue to ramp up, and they are likely related.

And with the political discourse, we also have to realize that we have a very real linkage to the larger geopolitical stance of the United States on the world stage.  What we have to remember is that what happens in the USA resonates with the rest of the world with ripple effects that are mind-bending to some, and very clearly evident to others who can see the links to these events from a different vantage point.

What does that mean?  It means that even the situations who seen tangentially related at best, or totally unrelated are very much part of the same construct.  They are just not as evident when seeing it from a particular vantage point.  And that would not be a person’s fault, they are just not afforded that vantage point to see the big picture.

For an illustrative example let’s say you’re in a valley, and you are at the bottom of the valley inside a forest.  You might not be able to see the mountains around you, or even what is just a few yards from your vantage point.  But if you climb the mountain, you’ll have a much larger view of the valley and where everting seems to be located.  From there, you will be able to further explore with ease each area because you will have a better idea of how the terrain is laid out.

In geopolitics it is very much the same.  For people who are in their own echo chambers, or political bubbles – they will not be able to see how the events are laid out and how they relate to one another.  The way you can ascend this illustrative mountain is by understanding context.  This context raises your awareness of what is going on, and from there you can see the road leading to each event.  Keep in mind that each stage is going to have an inherited level of complexity, and it is meant to discourage people from keeping on climbing.

When I wrote my book AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools, I provided some tools on how to see this context in ways that will help you climb to a better vantage point.  The geopolitical realm is complex, and it is also very contentious.  And the end result of many adversarial nations is to negate the USA from remaining the premiere nation in the world – and give an open avenue for adversarial regimes to take the USA’s place.  This has been happening for a while, and they will succeed unless we realize what its going on under our own noses.

I’ve said it before and it is worth repeating.  There are insider threats integrated within the confines of the United States of America, and in many countries that are allied or partnered with the USA.  Insider threats come in two big categories:

1. Witting Insider Threats:

These are people who are performing actions and supporting adversarial narratives and carrying out their desires willingly.  In other words, they are very cognizant that what they are doing goes against the USA and its influence in the world.  Even if they disguise themselves as patriotic.

2. Unwitting insider Threat

These are people who are too stupid to realize they are doing everything the witting insider threat is also doing, but they are just not aware they are complicit.  This latter one is a lot more dangerous than the first one, because they are easily manipulated.

And it is worth repeating that there are a lot of people in Capitol Hill and in other prominent platforms who are repeating and parroting those adversarial talking points verbatim!  I will be dedicating specific content to identifying how this works and how to defend against it.  Remember that these insider threats tend to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.  They will seem patriotic and even probably drape themselves in the regalia that screams USA – but they are repeating the points from their adversaries.

An easy way to see if that is the case is by looking at state-sponsored propaganda and news from an adversarial nation.  How do you know it might be an adversarial nation?  Well, if it is solely run by the state, then that means that the freedom of press is non-existent, and all narratives must concur with the government or be silenced.  So that is already a good pointer, because the USA has freedom of speech [at least for now], and you’re able to speak your mind without the government coming to violently retaliate against you and everything you’ve ever loved.

We still have this freedom we are very much taking for granted and there are a lot of nations who have recently lost it.  They didn’t pay attention to the same indicators I am mentioning, and it was likely there was somebody just like me trying to raise awareness, and he or she ended up screaming into a void.  I’m trying to change that trend, and fortunately there are many who see what I am seeing – we are just not communicating together effectively.  That is what I want to change through my writing.  HLC

 

As my little platform got more traction, the trolls started to appear.  I expected it, and even interacted with some.  I learned a lot about them and me.

 

Engaging with trolls.

Counterintuitive to many (even myself perhaps) the (very few) trolls who landed shortsighted comments on my platforms – they were quite entertaining.  Maybe not for the reasons most people think.  But for starters I am not a person who needs external validation, therefore no matter how offensively superior these keyboard warriors pretend to be, I just find them tragically amusing.

I also notified them that I might write about them, and the fact that when I interact with them – THEY are not my actual target audience, but rather anybody who might benefit from this interaction.  Also, however shortsighted their commentaries, it somehow counts as “engaging” for my platforms.  So, as I am steadily growing in social media it becomes a win-win.  I get entertainment and material to write, plus it engages with other viewers who get to see our interaction.

With that said, let me be clear that I do not intend to interact with every troll out there.  Fortunately, my audience for the most part is amazing people.  Whenever I was interacting with these trolls, I just so happened to be working on something else that was important but more akin to “busy work” on my computer – and these little breaks interacting made me laugh – but I did not spend more than a few seconds on each interaction.  Whenever I have important stuff to do, they would get no reply.

Yet once in a while, we’ve all been there – we have tasks that need to get done on a computer that are mundane enough but need to get done – well that was me during these interactions.  If you guys find this topic as interesting as I did, I might make it into a series. If these guys came unsolicited to start some ridiculous stuff – the least I can do is to share how ridiculous their assertions tend to be.

For today I am going to choose only one from a couple of examples that I encountered while hanging out on “X” (Twitter).  There is no shortage of trolls and others who are not necessarily trolls but definitely feel vindicated on spewing all kinds of ignorant opinions, disguised as facts.  Yet, some of them have a very substantial following, and that is one of the reasons why I decided to write this article.  Because in some instances their rhetoric does resonate with other people who are just as confused.

And yes, all of these trolls are supposed to be residents from “civilized” Western Nations.  But despite this, their tunnel vision perception of the world creates a concerning situation for me.  They are the microcosmos of a much larger problem.  I’ve written about it for years.  It does not matter what the topic is, some people are just divisive.  Conversely, I prefer to be a unifier and an educator.  That is what I did during these interactions.

 

A troll or just a very confused individual?

Well, in reality they can be both and one on the same.  Some people just engage because they are sophomoric enough to think that being a jerk is somehow the zeal of ingenuity.  Others truly feel compelled to voice their opinions because they either want attention, or because they feel they have “something to say.”

But let’s understand that having “something to say” does not equal “adding to the conversation.”  The examples I will talk about for this article are in one of many very different subjects.  For today I’ll cite a religious extremist – in this case he happens to be Catholic.  You can see the full exchange at the link below.  In a future article I’ll talk about an example with a climate change denier.

The religious extremist person did change the thread flow as the conversation continued, but hope this gives you an idea of the tenor of our conversation.  To be honest I don’t feel like looking frantically for every thread he started.  Because he often engaged in circular reasoning – so this is pretty much the gist of it.  But you’re more than welcome to read through this and any of my replies.  I stand-by my words.

 

ZakTheTemplar ✝️ on X: “@crisis_half @nytimes Yeah I did in regards to the LGBT community. You agree with their protests? May I ask what happened for you to take such a stance against Faith? Something genuinely must have happened for you to challenge It? Do you reject the Bible?” / X (twitter.com)

 

In either case, this one like all these trolls came with the usual tell tales of a person who start with guns blazing on attack mode as their own perception for being a “mighty keyboard warrior” feels like vindication.  In reality, as you will see in any examples I am citing, they were very confused about many basic facts, and they have no shortage of double standards when it comes to their thought process.

Eventually this and the others stopped bothering me, but I did take them for a ride around their own biases until they had to hit the proverbial brick wall.  My life is still as good as it was before we ever interacted.

If I was a betting man, both of them – none of whom I’ve ever heard of again, likely still have the ordeal of our conversation chewing inside their minds – even if unconsciously.  I am very familiar with putting the proverbial mirror in front of people if push comes to shove, and they will see their demons displayed in full sight.

We can try to run from the truth, but ultimately, we can never run from ourselves.  I don’t do this to be punitive, on the contrary, I might be the only person who is actually affording them the opportunity to see themselves for who they really are.  Even if they don’t realize it now and won’t realize it for a while why this was for their own good.

Are they going to change?  I don’t know – but I did my part.  Behind each troll I saw a scared lonely person.  Understand that people can be alone in a crowd and even when in a committed relationship.  In every case their avatar has “something” that was not them as their own person (not even a depiction of themselves), and of course their profile had no link to show who they really are.

That to me is cowardly because if you are “brave enough” to say something offensive, then you should be brave enough to show who you really are, and stand-by your words and actions.  It is worth noting my avatar though cartoonish is a depiction of me, and my profiles have links to my online presence, so you can see who I am as a person.  I’m not hiding.

In fact, I have been very vocal about everything you get to read on my site.  Actually, although it might seem paradoxical, I have been writing these cultural-propaganda-combating articles lately because I want to go back to writing more heart-warming things.  For instance, as I sit here overlooking my backyard and my daughter playing on her bike – I feel very sorry that a lot of confused people will be in the driver’s seat as she grows to the point where I can no longer function.  A lot of these confused people out there are gaining traction, and they are very much aligned with the example I’ve cited, and the others I’ll speak of in the future.

I’ll talk a bit more about each case if you guys want, and you can see this or any of our full conversations on our twitter page at the following link under the “replies” tab to enjoy all my comments.

Posts with replies by HALF Life Crisis (@crisis_half) / X (twitter.com)

 

Part 1 – The Homophobic Religious Intimidator.

To contextualize Pope Francis (Catholic) says he has changed his stance as far as blessing same sex couples to marry.  I commented that I am glad the Catholic Church is moving forward on this topic.  The homophobic comments soon after followed.  Apparently, they are very concerned about what consenting people do in private.  To me that’s creepy.

For the one I am citing, I came to find out that he is Catholic, he is definitely homophobic – but he is also [claiming to be] hiding because he is afraid of Muslim people in the United Kingdom.  As the conversation progresses you can see how his bravado lost a lot of traction.  I’ve had conversations like this one thousands of times throughout my life.  Usually, they end in a similar way.  They will realize they are indeed practicing double standards – even if they don’t voice it out loud.

ZakTheTemplar ✝️ on X: “@crisis_half @nytimes Yeah I did in regards to the LGBT community. You agree with their protests? May I ask what happened for you to take such a stance against Faith? Something genuinely must have happened for you to challenge It? Do you reject the Bible?” / X (twitter.com)

But everything I say to them is intended to create a sense of self-awareness and bring them full circle.  Especially if they are hypocrites.  By giving firm compassion (but not letting myself to be run over – that is not the same) – it flies in the face of their misconceptions.  They will get bitterly defensive and kick and scream – that is normal and expected.  They are actually realizing (even unconsciously) that they have been lying to themselves all along.

This is normal, and it is part of indoctrination and propagandistic purposes.  Paradoxically, this man is convinced that he is holding the truth – but his facts do not add up.  I would go on a limb to ascertain that he might actually lose his faith in the future – but not anytime soon.   He calmed down a lot as our conversation progressed – but it is because I know how traumatic this can be to a person like him.  He is lost, he needed help.  I don’t attack a person while they are down.

The man been attacking others ever since our interaction, and likely won’t understand what these double standards were for a while.  It would be extremely naïve for me to think this will resonate immediately based on his deep level of indoctrination.  But the seeds of this interaction will continue to be chewed in the back of his mind until one day he will wake up screaming with the epiphany.  That is normally how it goes down.

So why did I even entertain interacting with this person in the first place?  Well, because the problem is a lot larger than one person – like him many are thinking the same thing – but they are just not going to compel themselves to express their homophobic rhetoric openly.  It is worth repeating that this man just so happens to subscribe to Catholicism, and in no way, this implies that every Catholic out there is anywhere this extreme or confused.

My message was simple, why do you care what other consenting people do in the privacy of their bedroom?  He (like many religious parishioners – no matter their fate) threatened me with hell.  Which is funny because he actually thought I was perhaps a same-sex couple, I’m not – I’m a dude married to a lady and we have a daughter.  I am straight, but I am also not an asshole who judges people for their sexual orientation.  I say, if people love who they love as long as it is consensual – that is fine, and otherwise it is none of my business.  Just like what happens in the privacy of my marriage is none of anybody’s business – that simple.

Our conversation, after he started a keyboard attack, eventually met a head-on challenge to his stance on [misinterpreting the doctrines] on his own faith – while I was also defending other faiths.  None of which I practice by the way – but I am not a religious basher.  In fact, I always say that a person should be free to worship whatever makes them a good person.  It is when this worshiping start to usurp other people’s rights that I have a problem with.  And what he was doing was exactly that – particularly bashing same sex couples.

I realize he is still spewing a lot of divisive talking points – but I am more interested in shedding light on why these are so toxic.  Of course, I wrote an entire book about it, and it will be released sometime in 2024 as of the time I am typing this article.  But the reason is because some (and by some, I mean unfortunately a bunch) of people use their religion (whatever they subscribe to) as a catalyst and justification for doing some really messed up things onto others.

I find it especially atrocious when they frame in a manner that they are doing us a favor by imposing their doctrines by force.  And funny enough this very person says he is very much against owning guns – yet he is perfectly ok rejoicing if people would have an eternal damnation because they happen to love somebody from the same sex.  And again, why should that be any of his business?  An omnipotent deity does not need an errand boy to pass judgement.

But on judgement, they say in different sentences that only their God can judge.  But yet he started this entire conversation by attacking me for appreciating that the Pope was finally ending a centuries old prosecution of LGBTQ people.  For the more homophobic group I would emphasize – sure you don’t have to understand it, but that does not give anybody license for treating others with disrespect.  And plainly, it is nobody’s business if two consenting people love each other – except for those two people in that relationship.

That shortsightedness and negative rhetoric against LGBTQ really bothers me –Why?  Because they are people – we are all people, and we all deserve to live in peace.  All this extremist propaganda attempting to portray them as “groomers” in a derogatory manner, or any other nonsense is not only extremely insulting, it is also extremely dangerous.  Not just for the people who are targeted, but for the minds of those who tend to normalize this misunderstanding, and giving credence to a few ignorant people who speak from a self-proclaimed holier-than-thou platform.

And the [saddest] truth is that most people who have a problem with LGBTQ people happen to be also very much invested in whatever religion they profess.  Is that bad for religion?  Not necessarily, there are plenty of congregations who have evolved in their thinking and are not bigoted.  In fact, there are plenty of pastors who are LGBTQ.  I’m not a religious person myself, and even with that fact, I do not condone discrimination against any person whose faith makes them happy and fulfilled individuals.

In fact, I have friends from any faith you can imagine.  And some of them also have no faith at all – but we all have something in common – we are all human beings!  It is actually surprising to some people how many more similarities than differences we have – even when we span diverse cultures around the world. For example, that is what makes the United States of America such a wonderful nation.  We have living representation of essentially every corner of the world.

Our diversity is our strongest weapon – that is why outside entities who want to diminish America’s influence in the world first attack our diversity.  When we are fighting among each other, then we are weaker as a nation.  Somebody wins when that happens – and it is not America.  This divisive rhetoric has been running rampant in other countries around the world, and it has been successful at dividing their people.  Fortunately, most of the younger generations are a lot more open to the fact we are more similar than different.

The (perhaps) young man with whom I had this exchange did not care about those instances.  He was more interested in seeing the world from his own small viewfinder, and judging anybody else who did not see it the same way.  More than once I told him that his argument was not a compelling one.  I know for a fact that it hit him like a ton of bricks.  But regardless my message is unifying while his was divisive.  And I stand-by my words.

But it is worth noting that sometimes this division does not only happen on one side of politics.  Sometimes those who seem to be posing as “social justice warriors” might go on the opposition and ram way past the point of balance.  Hence, this makes people who otherwise would be like-minded and willing to be part of the combined solution instead take a wide “v” in a different direction.  What do I mean by this?  Sometimes people who might seem to be “on your side” from certain vantage points are actually more dead weight than help.

And it is this latter group that gives credence to these trolls.  It feeds their misconceptions and encourages that communication breakdown.  I am not advising people to engage with trolls, but I am saying that some of these trolls are just very sad lonely people who are clamoring for attention.  And because of that, they are actually quite vulnerable to exploitation by somebody actually smarter than they think they are.  And this exploitation can give them a “sense of purpose” – and this purpose can (and has) turn into a nefarious action.  Whatever this might be.

 

Part 2 (Coming soon) – The Climate Change Denier Conspiracy Theorist.

This dude even erased our conversation from his profile – which proves my point.  But You can enjoy it the next time you see this series, it is still immortalized under my own profile.

I originally wanted to put both parts in one article, but Part 1 took longer than I thought.  So, I decided while writing a mid-article that it was best to put it into a series.  You can look forward to the entire recount of that situation – it is tragically amusing, then eventually just becomes pathetic.  But it is worth checking out.

As I am getting closer to wrapping this article, please let me know if you want to see more of this topic.  I am not trying to bash these people; I want to use them as an example of how propaganda is alive and well – and how it is poisoning the universal discourse.  Yes, this is a global problem, not just a problem in the USA.

For future articles, let me know which one you want me to write first:

1. Please let me know if you want me to tell you the story about the “patriot who never served in uniform, but who is perfectly ok with stolen valor photos.”

2. Or the “dude who has an avatar with a depiction of ‘American Psycho’ and claims that his whole reason to join threads is to antagonize ‘liberals’ on the Threads app.”

3. Or the aforementioned “Climate Denier Conspiracy Theorist” who seems to be a lonely person who even his pet cat dislike him, and more than likely (and sadly) he will die alone.

Both of those gentlemen for 1 & 2 are very much enamored with Far-Right political views, and show how convoluted their world view can be.  For 3, I am not sure if he is left or right wing – but he is certainly a very confused individual.

In either case, my intent is not to put these guys out as the outliers – but rather to serve as a case study and as examples for how propaganda can rapidly spread misinformation.  In either case once they decide to comment on my site, that is consent for me to comment on their views.  I make it perfectly clear that I will do so if I find it important enough to create awareness.  Like them, there are many who will either vote for a crazy leader or even contemplate violence – even if in their minds they mean well.

Their profiles are also anonymous.  Like I mentioned before, they do not have the valor to show who they are behind their avatars.  I say this because I do not condone retaliation against any person.  If they had any actual identifiable information, I would not be using them as an example.  With that said, I hope you find as much value (or more) in our interactions as I did.  HLC