Whistleblower Jamie Reed on the courage to change your mind. Ryan Holiday on saving his family from the algorithm. Plus: Rob Henderson and your resolutions.
“It also made life a bit hard for Jamie. As a progressive queer woman married to a transman, she was called by many on the left a traitor”
———————————————————
It’s important for everyone to emphasize every time this issue comes up that the people who support gender transition of minors are capable of *anything*. Pick the historical atrocity. These are the atrocity people. They just haven’t been fully activated yet but they’re getting close. Doing medical experiments on children with mental health issues is what people in the poker community call ‘a tell’.
Not great since they control the government and the schools and the corporations.
What a perfect title for New Years Day - "How to Think for Yourself in 2024". I love TFP and have been a subscriber since the begining. I also listen to a lot of podcasts and occasional Youtube videos. I think I enjoy the comments section more than the articles. You get to know the "voices" and want to to see what they say. But I've realized, I may not forming as many of my own thoughts. My brain is filled with reactions of others. My church does and 21 Day of Prayer and Fasting staring January 8th. I will do the usual no alcohol, more veggies (though I am a pretting healthy person overall). I've decided to fast podcasts and social media. I am unsubscribing to many emails. I will make a conscious effort to choose what to read, and spend some time writing down my own thoughts. I will ask myself, will reading, or commenting, actually push me to doing something that aligns with my goals? Or will it just make me feel like I am doing something. I know the silence will be difficult, but there is a wonderful world around me, if I take the time to experience it.
Happy New Year! I go back to 2020 when I hear people who blame the algorithms for political polarization. I remember in the summer of that year, I was about to go insane with the Covid nonsense and the summer of BLM. With all of the free time on my hands, I was engaged in battles with people over Covid, BLM, and the coming election. I remember a day when I was literally crazy, which made for a bad phone call with my Mom. ( Who I would lose a month later)
So, I made up my mind to stop engaging in battles, and I did a Woke purge on my Facebook page. Everyone who made me nuts was unfriended, and I stopped sharing my thoughts with friends. All that was left were unpolitical people from different chapters of my life, and I loved seeing their lives and kids. (I'm so thankful they didn't take Ryan Holiday's advice.) My Facebook is now rather than a maddening thing to trigger a joyful scroll down my Facebook page.
The algorithms are what we make them. I can choose to get the blood pressure up ( Kristen Welker on Meet the Press has done the impossible, making me miss Chuck Todd), but I can also watch old Wrestling videos on YouTurbe that the algorithms give me that suck me into a hole of nostalgia.
We can get out of the game if we know how it works. They give us what we want or do. When we make changes, the algorithms change. Happy New Year! Let the madness of 2024 begin.
Oliver, TFP, thank you for the mention. All that early morning reading before my day starts finally paid off.
Also, Suzy, that Gordy dude has great advice. Go to places that aren’t just “meat” markets.
A friend once told me, look for the quiet guy who stays to clean up, to help, who volunteers, is patient, and has kind eyes, who’s interested in who you are and what you love—not just your looks. I met mine caroling on New Year’s Day two years ago, and it was sparks from the beginning. They don’t all come in the package you think they will. Good luck!
“Some other recurring themes: none of you are excited about what 2024 holds in terms of domestic and international politics.”
——————————————————-
If the electrical grid doesn’t go down in 2024 I will consider the year to be a huge success.
Also, my goal is to have 1 million followers for my Twitter account @TrumpsAnkleMonitor which should really take off when that Jamaican Communist Lady in DC sentences him to house arrest.
Right on-point. The hardest thing for anyone to do is to believe in something with all their heart, to lobby and evangelize for it, go out on a limb with all their friends - and then slowly realize they were wrong and find the courage to say in front of God and everybody, "I was wrong."
But how to do this? I believe the answer is to internalize the philosophy of, "I don't care WHO's right - even me; I only care about WHAT's right." Whatever circuitous path Jamie may have taken through life, the internal programming to say, "I only care what's right" - whether it came from parents or just a strong sense of right and wrong - served her well. Best wishes to all for the New Year. We just might make it.™
THANK YOU!! Bari Weiss! Truly have enjoyed the Free Press so much the last year! Great content. Comforting to know I’m not the only one thinking ‘What’s wrong with these people??’. (The world at large)
Suzy, I support the idea of looking in good places for good men for the article. Whatever you do, value yourself enough to make sure a guy values you. Basically, don’t try to fix a douche.
Here’s a suggestion for you, Oliver: take a writing course. Your cover article reads like something sensitive from the NYT, ferkreisake.
And please stop highlighting people who went to Ivy League schools. We are not impressed. Even if a piece is authored by an Ivy grad, just don’t mention it. We are not fucking impressed. Neither should you or the rest of the staff at TFP be! Especially after the last 3 fucking months. Find some stuff from folks who went to U of Utah, Kansas State, Coastal Carolina, etc. They are out there, you might just have to work harder, and put down your NYT and cast your eyes a bit farther afield from your experience.
Classic Rob Henderson, out to claim his gold medal in the childhood trauma Olympics.
Its almost as if one could describe their difficulties in life without putting other people down or acting superior about it.
I lost my father to suicide at age six. Never once have I acted like my accomplishments mean more than someone else’s because of it. It made me tougher than others but thats the extent of it.
Rob Henderson speaks truth, y'all. I could have written his piece being born to a single mother who was a nurse in the 70's working days, nights, and weekends unable to afford 'daycare'. My brother and I learned how to fight, cook for ourselves, and do our laundry at age seven. Thankfully, we had working class folks around us to teach common sense. We are both 'successful' these days with five successful and productive children after two of them had near death experiences(an unknown virus on 100% life support recovering to be a powerlifter and another with eating disorder from 63 lbs and 22 hbpm back to 127 lb health).
Yes, keep your phone at a distance at all times and drink just a little bit more, socially.
So on this trans thing, particularly trans children and the issue as it impacts schools, I have always struggled with why it made me uncomfortable. I know trans people IRL and they are lovely people. So why does the controversy trouble me? And as happens sometimes TFP and it's commenters have helped me perfect (?) my POV. I think it is because you cannot mandate public acceptance of transgender people without mandating unacceptance of gender is binary. And lots, probably most, of people believe it is. Many, many laws are based thereon. To expect, nay demand, the disruption of societal cohesion to fit the whims of a very small segment of the population is not IMO a good strategy. To employ children as a tactic to achieve that goal is egregious. There are far too many unintended consequences of meeting that demand. Is society in a state of evolution? I hope so and if so transgender may well become normalized. But I think the effort to mandate the acceptance is foolhardy and may well do more harm in terms of lack of acceptance, than good.
Getting back to a real Canon camera, and developing our pictures, is the best way I'm saving myself and my family from the algorithm. Plus cell phones emit carcinogenic, chronic radiation, which further addicts children by magnetizing them to the device:
“It also made life a bit hard for Jamie. As a progressive queer woman married to a transman, she was called by many on the left a traitor”
———————————————————
It’s important for everyone to emphasize every time this issue comes up that the people who support gender transition of minors are capable of *anything*. Pick the historical atrocity. These are the atrocity people. They just haven’t been fully activated yet but they’re getting close. Doing medical experiments on children with mental health issues is what people in the poker community call ‘a tell’.
Not great since they control the government and the schools and the corporations.
What a perfect title for New Years Day - "How to Think for Yourself in 2024". I love TFP and have been a subscriber since the begining. I also listen to a lot of podcasts and occasional Youtube videos. I think I enjoy the comments section more than the articles. You get to know the "voices" and want to to see what they say. But I've realized, I may not forming as many of my own thoughts. My brain is filled with reactions of others. My church does and 21 Day of Prayer and Fasting staring January 8th. I will do the usual no alcohol, more veggies (though I am a pretting healthy person overall). I've decided to fast podcasts and social media. I am unsubscribing to many emails. I will make a conscious effort to choose what to read, and spend some time writing down my own thoughts. I will ask myself, will reading, or commenting, actually push me to doing something that aligns with my goals? Or will it just make me feel like I am doing something. I know the silence will be difficult, but there is a wonderful world around me, if I take the time to experience it.
Happy New Year! I go back to 2020 when I hear people who blame the algorithms for political polarization. I remember in the summer of that year, I was about to go insane with the Covid nonsense and the summer of BLM. With all of the free time on my hands, I was engaged in battles with people over Covid, BLM, and the coming election. I remember a day when I was literally crazy, which made for a bad phone call with my Mom. ( Who I would lose a month later)
So, I made up my mind to stop engaging in battles, and I did a Woke purge on my Facebook page. Everyone who made me nuts was unfriended, and I stopped sharing my thoughts with friends. All that was left were unpolitical people from different chapters of my life, and I loved seeing their lives and kids. (I'm so thankful they didn't take Ryan Holiday's advice.) My Facebook is now rather than a maddening thing to trigger a joyful scroll down my Facebook page.
The algorithms are what we make them. I can choose to get the blood pressure up ( Kristen Welker on Meet the Press has done the impossible, making me miss Chuck Todd), but I can also watch old Wrestling videos on YouTurbe that the algorithms give me that suck me into a hole of nostalgia.
We can get out of the game if we know how it works. They give us what we want or do. When we make changes, the algorithms change. Happy New Year! Let the madness of 2024 begin.
Oliver, TFP, thank you for the mention. All that early morning reading before my day starts finally paid off.
Also, Suzy, that Gordy dude has great advice. Go to places that aren’t just “meat” markets.
A friend once told me, look for the quiet guy who stays to clean up, to help, who volunteers, is patient, and has kind eyes, who’s interested in who you are and what you love—not just your looks. I met mine caroling on New Year’s Day two years ago, and it was sparks from the beginning. They don’t all come in the package you think they will. Good luck!
“Some other recurring themes: none of you are excited about what 2024 holds in terms of domestic and international politics.”
——————————————————-
If the electrical grid doesn’t go down in 2024 I will consider the year to be a huge success.
Also, my goal is to have 1 million followers for my Twitter account @TrumpsAnkleMonitor which should really take off when that Jamaican Communist Lady in DC sentences him to house arrest.
Right on-point. The hardest thing for anyone to do is to believe in something with all their heart, to lobby and evangelize for it, go out on a limb with all their friends - and then slowly realize they were wrong and find the courage to say in front of God and everybody, "I was wrong."
But how to do this? I believe the answer is to internalize the philosophy of, "I don't care WHO's right - even me; I only care about WHAT's right." Whatever circuitous path Jamie may have taken through life, the internal programming to say, "I only care what's right" - whether it came from parents or just a strong sense of right and wrong - served her well. Best wishes to all for the New Year. We just might make it.™
THANK YOU!! Bari Weiss! Truly have enjoyed the Free Press so much the last year! Great content. Comforting to know I’m not the only one thinking ‘What’s wrong with these people??’. (The world at large)
I’ll still look at the NYT. Once a year, on Election Day, so I know who not to vote for.
Suzy, I support the idea of looking in good places for good men for the article. Whatever you do, value yourself enough to make sure a guy values you. Basically, don’t try to fix a douche.
“Here’s a simple idea from Ryan Holiday: stop posting pictures of your children on the internet.”
———————————————————
Whenever someone in my friend circle posts a picture of their kids on social media I write in the comments
“You know, Hamas also posts staged photos of their kids online as a way of attacking the Jews.”
Doesn’t always go over well.
Here’s a suggestion for you, Oliver: take a writing course. Your cover article reads like something sensitive from the NYT, ferkreisake.
And please stop highlighting people who went to Ivy League schools. We are not impressed. Even if a piece is authored by an Ivy grad, just don’t mention it. We are not fucking impressed. Neither should you or the rest of the staff at TFP be! Especially after the last 3 fucking months. Find some stuff from folks who went to U of Utah, Kansas State, Coastal Carolina, etc. They are out there, you might just have to work harder, and put down your NYT and cast your eyes a bit farther afield from your experience.
Classic Rob Henderson, out to claim his gold medal in the childhood trauma Olympics.
Its almost as if one could describe their difficulties in life without putting other people down or acting superior about it.
I lost my father to suicide at age six. Never once have I acted like my accomplishments mean more than someone else’s because of it. It made me tougher than others but thats the extent of it.
Rob Henderson speaks truth, y'all. I could have written his piece being born to a single mother who was a nurse in the 70's working days, nights, and weekends unable to afford 'daycare'. My brother and I learned how to fight, cook for ourselves, and do our laundry at age seven. Thankfully, we had working class folks around us to teach common sense. We are both 'successful' these days with five successful and productive children after two of them had near death experiences(an unknown virus on 100% life support recovering to be a powerlifter and another with eating disorder from 63 lbs and 22 hbpm back to 127 lb health).
Yes, keep your phone at a distance at all times and drink just a little bit more, socially.
So on this trans thing, particularly trans children and the issue as it impacts schools, I have always struggled with why it made me uncomfortable. I know trans people IRL and they are lovely people. So why does the controversy trouble me? And as happens sometimes TFP and it's commenters have helped me perfect (?) my POV. I think it is because you cannot mandate public acceptance of transgender people without mandating unacceptance of gender is binary. And lots, probably most, of people believe it is. Many, many laws are based thereon. To expect, nay demand, the disruption of societal cohesion to fit the whims of a very small segment of the population is not IMO a good strategy. To employ children as a tactic to achieve that goal is egregious. There are far too many unintended consequences of meeting that demand. Is society in a state of evolution? I hope so and if so transgender may well become normalized. But I think the effort to mandate the acceptance is foolhardy and may well do more harm in terms of lack of acceptance, than good.
Happy new year!!
Getting back to a real Canon camera, and developing our pictures, is the best way I'm saving myself and my family from the algorithm. Plus cell phones emit carcinogenic, chronic radiation, which further addicts children by magnetizing them to the device:
https://romanshapoval.substack.com/p/how-does-emf-affect-children