All posts by Mike Slater

On Eating Horse Manure

February 8, 2018
by Mike Slater


I want to talk about people rioting after your team wins the championship, and what it says about human nature.

I used to think that this was abnormal behavior: climbing street lights, breaking windows and – in one guy’s case – eating horse manure.

But I’m coming to the conclusion that this is actually normal behavior. The NOT acting like a fool is the unexpected behavior.

Let me explain.

Humans are broken and fallen and evil. The song Amazing Grace, “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” A wretch. A despicable person. The Bible says no one is righteous, not even one. This is our normal state. It’s not good.

To keep us upright (and at least functioning enough to be able to work with and amongst our fellow human beings) there are internal guides and external guides. We’ll just focus on external right now. These are guard rails that say: “This is proper behavior. If you deviate from this, there will be negative consequences for your life.”

Some of these guardrails are legal, “You can’t punch someone in the face”. If you do, you go to jail. Some are societal, “You can’t eat horse manure.” You legally can, but it’s socially frowned upon.

These societal guardrails are called culture.

We are thiiiiiiiis close to chaos. All of us, at any given point in time, but it’s culture that keeps us upright and in line; standing tall and moving in the right direction.

Now, what’s interesting about the Super Bowl, For whatever reason, our culture says: “if your team wins the championship, there are no societal guardrails for one night! So act like a fool!” Or, in other words, act like you normally would if society didn’t have guardrails. For one night!

And this is what you get.

Chaos. And a guy eating horse manure.

Now, in normal circumstances, the “eating horse manure” guardrail in our culture is firmly in place. No one thinks that’s socially acceptable.

But there are other guardrails that have eroded, and this is why cultural conservatives care so much about culture.

Just one example from today, have you seen the picture of the Hadid sisters? Two models, sisters, posing naked together.

If you’re immersed in our oversexualized culture, where the guardrails have been eroded, you think that’s beautiful photography. But you live in normal land, you see that and think “What in the world?”

I put on our facebook page pictures from Playboy in 1957, there are women dressed with more clothes than a 90-year-old librarian: tube socks, baggy sweaters, skirts below the knees. And the guys are gawking. I compared that to what women wore to the Grammys. They look like hookers.

This is a cultural guardrail that has eroded. There now are no guardrails. It’s game on.

What’s the problem with this?

I talk with Jordan Peterson the other day, he makes an argument to his students that if you were born in Nazi Germany, you’d probably be a Nazi.

Why? Here’s what he said

I think of course, “If I was in Nazi Germany, I wouldn’t have been a Nazi! I would have been Dietrich Bonhoeffer, plotting to kill Hitler! That would have been me!”

I think, “The reason I’m not like that is because I’m such a good person. I have a great moral foundation that I live my life by and I have a lot of discipline and a strong moral code.”

Well, don’t get too proud of yourself, Slater. Peterson says a lot of it is good fortune:

It’s easy to be a good person in our society! With our prosperity! It’s easy. Too easy. It lulls us into thinking that people are good.

I think that one reason why so many young Americans especially like socialism. It’s not because things are so bad and we need it. It’s because things are so good, and kids don’t know how evil people are capable of being.

It’s easy, in our society, to think, “People will share and be honest and good and wait their turn and be generous.”

Nope. They won’t. Because we’re not those things. At least, it’s easier to be those things when we’re wealthy and safe and prosperous and healthy.

So what’s the takeaway from this?

1) It’s important to know what evil you’re capable of. It gives you some kick in the pants to make yourself a better person.

2) It’s important to know what society is capable of. It makes you more aware of the importance of societal guardrails.

3) And for me, it’s awareness that life is a million little decisions.

I think of Ernest Shackleton, Arctic explorer, at the end of two years being stuck, they had to make a last ditch effort to find landfall. So they launched their lifeboat, six of them, to travel 900 miles, going on the stars to find a tiny island. It would be like finding a needle on a football field blind. Over fifteen days, and they made it.

The amazing part to me, every measurement they made had to be spot on. If they were one degree off at any moment, they would have sailed past the island and into the open sea. They had to be precise at every moment or else they would not have come close to getting to the island

It’s the little decisions you make every day. Be aware of them. Don’t get too far off course.

Shapiro, Peterson and Abortion

February 4, 2018
by Mike Slater

Truth Exists.

It’s sad that this needs to be stated out loud, but it does.

This is a great example of how far we’ve fallen. This is Ben Shapiro at UCONN:

https://www.facebook.com/203805062990264/videos/1728566163847472/

Let’s go to the root of this: Truth exists.

The progressive philosophy is that there is no such thing as truth. It’s all relative. Truth is so relative that every question must first be filtered through your identity group. So, in this case, the question is, “Is abortion immoral.” Well, that depends: Are you a woman or are you a man? Are you rich or are you poor? Are you white or are you black? Are you an atheist, or a Christian? Everything has to be seen through the prism of your identity group.

This week we talked with the great Jordan Peterson. I asked him to break down as simply as possible what he means when he says Post-Modern Neo-Marxism, because that sounds like a lot. What does that mean:

Post-modern is “identity politics”. There are many ways of interpreting the world and people are supposed to interpret it based on the personal interests of their identity group; in this case gender.
And then the Neo-Marxist: this is the oppressor vs oppressed. In this case, men, (especially wealthy religious men, but men in general) are oppressing women

Listen to the first 3 words of the students question:

“As a woman”

Already, battle lines are being drawn. Already truth is being defined as relative. “As a woman.”
That should sound as absurd as saying, “As a woman, the acceleration of gravity is 9.8m/s.” “As a woman, the earth orbits the sun.” “As a woman, there are 365 days in a year.”
It doesn’t matter if you’re a woman. These things are true. Period. Regardless of your gender, ethnic group, religious beliefs or any other group identity you might have.

Truth exists. It’s not relative.

So, she starts off with “As a woman.” but then, “how do you defend your opinions as a man, as a white, well-off4, religious man?” So, how do you defend your opinion on this or any issue as someone from a group that we have determined can’t have an opinion?

We as this group, “women”, have decided that this other group can’t have an opinion on this topic LITERALLY ABOUT LIFE OR DEATH.

Do you see how messed up this is? Now, of all the topics in America, this topic, abortion is the one that this belief has become most embedded in the conversation. Because the prodigal pro-abortion advocates have framed it as, “A woman’s choice.” So that created the chasm that says I can’t have a say. And men have abdicated this issue. I like that word, “They have to finally undertake a responsibility or duty.”

Men have, on the whole, handed over this matter of life or death and said, “You’re right. Because of this identity group I’m in, I have no say on this.” And that’s sad, because if there is any issue that men should have a say in, it’s abortion, because men protect the vulnerable and what’s more vulnerable than an unborn baby?

And when there’s an unplanned pregnancy, this is when men to step up. This is when men need to love and lead, and for other men to mentor and encourage. We’re doing this series on facebook on Masculinity: the King, the Warrior, the Magician and the Lover. An unplanned pregnancy is an opportunity for both the would-be-dad and other men to be all four of these aspects of true masculinity, but because we’re in the “wrong identity group”, men do nothing, and hundreds of thousands of babies are killed every year.

The root of it is identity politics, perfectly represented by that question which states, “As a woman” and ends with “How do you defend your option as a man?”

Ben Shapiro rightly responds, “Because evil things are still evil even if I’m a white, well off, religious man.”

“My identity has nothing to do with what is right or wrong.”

Why is post-modern neo maxims, identity politics so dangerous? Because we can’t communicate with each other.

“Why is “truth is relative” so dangerous? Because we can’t talk to each other, and we’ll never come to any conclusion about anything if we can’t first admit that truth exists.

Shapiro: “If we retreat into our identity and truth and our morality is centered around our identity, then morality doesn’t exist at all. I refuse to surrender the idea that I can’t have a moral stance on issues that are of concern to society and of concern to the well being of the United States based on the color of my skin…”

Do not surrender your responsibility to defend the truth, no matter who tells you that you can’t.

Ji Seong-ho, North Korean Defector at SOTU

February 2, 2018
by Mike Slater

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I heard someone criticize the president for honoring only Americans at the SOTU.

I thought this was a strange standard. There’s no way the Chancellor of Germany sings the praises of Americans. Or the Queen of England talks about Chinese people. Or the King of Saudi Arabia talks about South Africans. But the President of the United States is supposed to talk about people who aren’t American?

Odd criticism, but the truth is, he didn’t ONLY talk about Americans! He also highlighted a North Korean defector now living in South Korea. He may have been born in North Korea, but he had a deep desire for FREEDOM and for American values.

He grew up near Camp 22, a gulag way up on the border of North Korea and Russia. In 1995, the daily food ration stopped going to the town. He and his sisters would climb the mountains to find grass and bark to eat.

When the crops were gone, they dug up and ate the roots. When those were gone, government officials told them about certain patches of the ground that had nutrients in it. So they ate the dirt.

Yesterday my wife and I went to Chipotle. I spent time considering if I wanted the black or pinto beans. And then I thought long and hard if I wanted to pay another $2 for guacamole or not.

Ji Seong-ho ate dirt to survive

Think about the people commenting today about our first world problems. This man was so poor, and his family was told to eat dirt!

The biggest health problem in America is diabetes because of our decadence. They ate dirt. Or starved to death.

When Ji Seong-ho was introduced by the President at the SOTU, he held a pair of homemade crutches triumphantly above his head. Why did he have crutches? His leg and hand fo cut off when he was trying to steal coal off of a train so his family could survive the freezing nights.

Last month my wife and I did the Whole 30 Diet. You can only eat fresh fruits and vegetables and meat. We complained a lot. “Ugh, Brussels sprouts again!”

Think about that. I’m complaining about whole 30, where I can only eat fresh and healthy food. And this guy survived on grass, tree bark and dirt.

Every ungrateful American needs to hear his story. Once I did, about 98% of my first-world problems disappeared instantly.