By ambrit, who lives in the North American Deep South
Have you ever had someone you know ask you; “Why do you read that blog? Do you like being depressed? “
Such a direct question generally throws you off balance. How do you respond to such an “innocent” sounding question? It subtly undermines your sense of balance. It makes you feel like an “oddball” and an “other.” Do not despair; forewarned is forearmed. Naked Capitalism and fellow traveler blogs provide the resources you need to be forewarned.
My personal favourite reply to such “innocent” questions is to remark that we live in dangerous times. Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness can enhance and encourage depression. Being forewarned and forearmed is essential for the maintenance of your mental, physical, and financial balance. Naked Capitalism supplies the resources you need to attain and protect that balance. In essence, Naked Capitalism is a mental health resource for the awake and aware.
Naked Capitalism has gone to a lot of trouble and expense to provide these resources to us. We owe it to Naked Capitalism to return the favour. Not to be shy about it, money. The Tip Jar is over there. As greater minds than mine have declared; “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.”
The basic structure of any well-designed mental health program has three divisions.
First, one must acknowledge that there is a problem.
Second, one must understand the problem.
Third, one must adapt appropriate healing strategies.
Insofar as we need to admit that there is a problem, really, problems, plural, Naked Capitalism provides the hard data and reasoned analysis that are needed to establish that. Links and Water Coolers abound with articles, both internally and externally sourced, that shine the spotlight of honest inquiry on the myriad examples of folly that infest the world we live in.
Naked Capitalism is an oasis of sanity in the “Vast Wasteland” that constitutes the public forum today. To prove this, spend some time on the Main Stream Media (MSM) offered to us today. Now, while viewing the MSMs, try to stop your eyes from glazing over. Since the eyes are the windows to your soul, after your eyes glaze over, your mind will follow.
The Cynics among us will argue that this process is by design. Regardless if you be a Cynic or an Optimist, the deep rot pervading the sources of our information is irrefutable. We are now living in that “Vast Wasteland” that Newton Minnow predicted in his speech to the National Association of Broadcasters in May 9 1961.
To combat the “Vast Wasteland,” we must join in the good fight in defense of critical thinking and the free expression of ideas. For some of us, it means getting “down in the trenches” and arguing in the Comments Section of Naked Capitalism and other like-minded blogs.
Whether you are an active commenter or a lurker you can advance the cause financially. Money has been called the “Universal Solvent.” To that end, contribute as much of the “solvent” as you can. With it Naked Capitalism can continue its never-ending campaign to dissolve and erase the fogs and illusions spun up by the MSMs to blind and enfeeble us all. The Tip Jar stands waiting.
On the subject of the importunings her for financial support; let us realize that our financial abilities are varied. Some have nothing to give but their local evangelization for Naked Capitalism and informed comments. Others of us are financially “comfortable” and can afford contributing various sums. At the end of the day, it all evens out.
This appeal for funds is not about status, shame, or ‘belonging.’ It is about faith. Faith that the people can rise above the sterile wastelands of the MSMs. Faith that there is an oasis still within the ‘Wasteland’ that supplies the awake and aware with the resources and moral support that we all need from time to time. Faith that possessing the knowledge and critical thinking skills that Naked Capitalism provides characterize functioning members of a Civilized Society.
Being such a member of a Civilized Society is a double good; both a Public good and a Private good. Privately, you can manage the stresses that assail you more efficiently. You are forewarned and forearmed. Publicly, you can effectively either oppose the evils that threaten yourself and the rest of us, or you can begin to develop ‘survival strategies; for when ‘things’ go bad. Either is a superior outcome to what is on offer from the MSMs.
One impetus that pushes me towards the oasis that is Naked Capitalism in the MSM Vast Wasteland is the constantly reinforced perception that we now live in what Bill Black so eloquently described as a “criminogenic environment.”
Coping mechanisms for the experience of living in this society wide “criminogenic environment” include: severely limiting exposure to the MSMs, regular exposure to alternative media (such as Naked Capitalism,) proffering our own Zeitgeist Reports in various comment sections, and most importantly, learning to think for, ourselves. Naked Capitalism is a prime resource in carrying out that task. Naked Capitalism deserves our support for that fact alone. Support for Naked Capitalism is simple self-survival.
Support comes in many guises. The preferred method today entails a visit to the Tip Jar.
You cannot begin to work out the methods of avoiding the traps and snares involved in living in our modern “Vast Wasteland” until you are made aware of those traps and snares. Such an awareness needs knowledge; knowledge acquired laboriously, generally by others. This knowledge is the distillation of hard lessons learned. Naked Capitalism is the messenger that brings this knowledge to us all. Absorbing the knowledge and acting upon it requires critical thinking skills, which Naked Capitalism also offers to us.
The ‘lessons’ that engender knowledge do not spring to mind unbidden. These ‘lessons’ are collected and presented for our benefit in blogs and websites, substacks and reddits, tweets and squawks. Among all these resources, Naked Capitalism fills an almost unique position. Naked Capitalism is a news aggregator, but not just any old news aggregator. It specializes in deeper dives into often obscure and esoteric subjects. Do not be fooled. Just because a subject is obscure or esoteric does not mean that it does not affect you personally. Naked Capitalism is often your first line of defense. Keep those defenses strong.
Without the valiant efforts of all the people who produce, manage, and curate the Naked Capitalism website, most of us would be much the poorer, in all senses of the word. Paradoxically, by contributing funds to Naked Capitalism, you make yourself richer. Richer in knowledge, richer in understanding, often richer by avoiding costly traps and schemes designed to impoverish you, in all senses of that word too.
Thus, my exhortations throughout for you to contribute financially to Naked Capitalism. As I have said before, give what you can. Every bit helps.
The next time some “well meaning” “friend” asks you why you read Naked Capitalism, tell them in no uncertain terms that they should read it too. Naked Capitalism is the best thing yet found to combat the often-overwhelming sense of helplessness and hopelessness that pervades our world today. That sense of helplessness robs up of our ‘joy’ of living. It steals from us our sense of self-worth and value. Tell that “friend” that seeing the world clearly and understanding it honestly is the basis of living an “authentic existence.”
Let me stop here lest I begin to explicate the mystical secrets of Naked Capitalism. That is for another, more auspicious time; when the stars are aligned.
Stay safe and that Tip Jar is over there.