Hello, dear reader, welcome to the blog! My name is Gene and I’m a thought criminal.
I decided to start up a blog in order to articulate various aspects of my worldview. I seek to clarify the positions for myself, describe the reasoning that brought me to them. Also I want to have a little fun too.
Understand, however, the aforementioned worldview is one that, as the title of the blog implies, has aspects that many would find unacceptable… possibly even evil, hateful, literally criminal. (in fact, some future posts on this blog will literally be illegal in many countries… stay tuned for that!) I have many “wrong” opinions, and many views that when expressed would get me all sorts of nasty labels, and would quite possibly cause me trouble.
In Orwell’s 1984, the concept of “thought crime” was in fact literal crime, punishable by the government. If you recall, the society was divided into 3 strata: the inner party (elites), the outer party (government servants), and the proles (the proletariat). The outer party members had some level of privilege in their position with the state, but they were the ones that were constantly surveilled by big brother, with their beliefs and speech carefully controlled by the Ministry of Truth. While the proles lived in poverty, they had relative freedom compared to the outer party folks.
I’ve noticed that in the various social situations and contexts in life, we can find limited privileges by keeping our opinions and views within a set of boundaries. Even in situations where “we don’t talk about religion and politics”, there are some views in those categories that can be freely and openly expressed, while others would have you ejected as an outcast swiftly and severely.
For example, if you examine the global power structures in place in our modern world that are analogous to the “inner party” of 1984, you will find an incredibly disproportionate representation of a certain ethnicity, with a certain national loyalty and adhering to certain religious traditions. There’s a special form of racism with a special name that is deemed particularly bigoted and despicable, that applies to these people only. And it is applicable not only for direct bigotry, but also for any criticism or mere implication that anything could possibly be wrong with the aforementioned disproportionality!
On this blog, I’ll put my head on the chopping block and delve into some of that stuff. Not all of it will be such contentious subjects, some will be more run-of-the-mill conservatism. But I figure if I can get out a clear expression and justification of my various political and religious views, then I’m better off, even if no one even reads it. My intention is to attempt to explain myself to my “normie” friends, as clearly and completely as possible, without insulting or denigrating someone who holds contrary beliefs. If I’m going to level any attacks or insults, I will be careful to attack the ideas, rather than the individuals who hold them.
For example, I have come to the conclusion that atheism is completely, utterly, balls-to-the-wall batshit insane. Absurdly insane. I’m not saying that you are insane or stupid if you are an atheist. However, I believe you’ve accepted something insane and stupid into your brain. I’m just stating my observation about the idea. You’re welcome to take offense and hate my guts, but that’s not going to help much in finding truth. Your best bet is to examine my justification and determine where it is invalid, and go about your day. If you can’t find anything wrong with my justification, maybe just calmly sit with it for a bit and trust you’ll think of something later.
We have a tendency to identify with our ideologies, and then have an emotional reaction when we sense a threat to the validity of those ideologies. I know from experience, and have gone through a range of political and spiritual beliefs to find my way here. I can tell you there’s not much use in identifying with labels, it is more useful to allow for an agnostic position while you gather evidence and points of reason before coming to an acceptance.
Perhaps this blog, dear reader, can be a conduit to such evidence and points of reason. Even if I can’t convince you to become a thought criminal yourself, at least I can provide some context – some insight into the specific viewpoints and thought processes in the mind of such a person, so you can be better educated about why you must despise and reject someone with my nasty labels.