Orwell Has Been RIGHT All Along

In his latest column, Matt Taibbi writes that Orwell was right. Taibbi is a little late, but he's right nontheless:

Taibbi gives a smooth rundown of some of the most obvious and cloddish examples of doublethink:

"Moral panics erase memories. It’s their primary function. 9/11 wiped the national hard drive of everything from the third degree to My Lai to Operations Phoenix and Condor to the Church Committee to the School of the Americas to countless other shameful episodes, and the lessons learned from them. The Trump-Russia scandal blotted out Snowden, made the spooks the good guys again. 2016 rehabilitated neoconservatives, now reinvented as never-Trumpers, cleaning away the shame of Iraq, Abu Ghraib, Afghanistan, etc.

The “misinformation” panic wiped out the WMD fiasco, restoring honor to credentialed press. The DNC leak erased “Collateral Murder.” After George Floyd we hated cops, after January 6th we loved them. Ukraine now is openly being sold as a blue-pill cure for everything that went wrong during the War on Terror, including the recent defeat in Afghanistan. “Realism” is in disgrace, and “leadership,” “regime change,” and the “universal appeal of freedom” are back, only this time their primary backers are the upper-class cosmopolitan Democrats who marched against the simplistic “freedom against evil” plot neoconservatives tried to sell them twenty years ago."

Always able to get the perfect turn of phrase, Taibbi calls it the "Church of Forgetting".  Taibbi is playing the role of Syme in this drama by being able to molecularly distill the principles of Newspeak. The only difference is that Taibbi isn't working for Big Brother.

Neither is Glenn Greenwald.  He tossed this out there on Twitter. Taibbi placed is dead center in his column.  

It's only a matter of time before GG is banned for life:

If you want a front row seat at the zoo in order to watch Boobus Americanus, look at the replies to Greenwald that manage to find the most minor distinctions and then justify the bombing of Libya.  It's astounding.

It isn't all hopeless, however.  Remember, fear is the disease.  Fear is a sickness. They WANT you to despair.  That's the part that's always baked into the cake by the people who run the Ministry of Truth.  As someone who has read 1984 at least twice, I responded to Taibbi:

""Hope lies with the Proles."

Here in the black neighborhood, there was a huge amount of "vax hesitancy"; you're allowed to say whatever you want about Russia / Ukraine, and HS English teachers can cover both sides of the story without fear.

Why? Because the entire area has been written off by the repellent and disgusting Laptop Class. African Americans are used as foot soldiers and cudgels when necessary and then disposed of in times like this. The New Yorker dusted off Cornel West because their average reader's age is probably 71. No one on twitter is seeking West's opinion.

When you operate among the Proles, there is a certain freedom; an odd ability to move around with impunity that reminds me of what These United States used to be like. In the blizzard of digital information, there are many Symes walking around as well. This is one of the main differences between the novel and IRL.

It's 2 years to the day that the plandemic began. It's already been thrown down the memory hole even though "cases" are higher and overrated NWO shill Obama just announced loudly that he has Covid and we should "all get vaccinated". That asinine statement alone pins your point perfectly Mr. Taibbi. I'll bring this all up at work today, fearlessly.

Remember, hope lies with the Proles."

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Animal Farm: PATHOS

This is a sample from my Wordpress site Mavericks Within the Machine, which has some material for homeschoolers, teachers, or students who want a different take:

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The Greek word pathos means “suffering,” “experience,” or “emotion.” It was borrowed into English in the 16th century, and for English speakers, the term usually refers to the emotions produced by tragedy or a depiction of tragedy.

Questions for discussion:

1. What images or depictions or slogans are constantly used to play upon the animal’s emotions? 
2. What do these things accomplish, and who benefits?
3. Read the excerpt. The Animals are afraid to sing “Beasts of England” out loud. Are there things you’re afraid to say out loud or online today? Discuss.

Excerpt:

Animal Farm Reading: Chapter 10 pgs 127 – 132.

Q and A due Tomorrow (50 points):

“Many animals had been born to whom the Rebellion was only a dim tradition, passed on by word of mouth, and others had been bought who had never heard mention of such a thing before their arrival.”

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Delano Squires Explains Our Life on ANIMAL FARM

In Orwell's Animal Farm, you are not allowed to disagree with the Chief Pig, Napoleon.  When the 4 dissenting pigs and Boxer disagree with the revision of Snowball's bravery at the Battle of the Cowshed, the dogs grab those pigs, after they have apologized, and kill them.  3 dogs go after Boxer, but he sees the attack and swats them away, and is ready to crush the skull of one of them, but Napoleon tells him to back off.

Delano Squires explains that we live on Animal Farm right now:

If you disagree with "Jaclyn Moore" - who became a 'woman' in the space of 4 days, you're 'cancelled'.  If you disagree that Jenner is a woman, you're gone.

No one is allowed to disagree with the Pigs, particularly with Napoleon: Animal Hero, First Class.

Not only that, when 'Jack to Jaclyn in 4 days' wants to boycott a black man, Dave Chappelle, it gets attention and we're all supposed to take it seriously:

Any problems with that? No? Good.  Bow your head, speak the force fed lies you're told. After all .... you don't want JONES back running the farm, do you??

This is the sick game we are in now, and it is part of the complex recipe to end the once powerful United States.  If you are willing to state that men can get pregnant, they can get you to say anything.

Delano Squires, dissenting pig, again:

"A century ago, white supremacists wanted to keep white identity as pure as possible to serve their political interests. Today, people like Robin DiAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi, who believe whiteness is the ultimate privilege, cling to the one-drop rule for political purposes. The more black people and people of color there are, the larger the coalition they can build to seize power and affirm their alleged fight against white supremacy.

Contrast the complicated and fluid dynamics of race with the simple and steady realities of sex. A woman in 2021 would have been called a woman in 1921, 1421, and 21 B.C. Regardless of her occupation, physical appearance, or style of dress, no one would have been confused about who she was.

That has also not changed.

The left claims to "trust the science" when it comes to COVID and climate change, but when it comes to gender, stating a biological fact is considered an act of bigotry. Whether you're grounded in Genesis or genetics, there are only two sexes — male and female. Any anomalous condition like intersexuality is a deviation from that norm. Just because some of the most powerful people in the country think men can get pregnant does not make it true."

Here is one of the key parts.  The "most powerful" people in the country do NOT believe men can get pregnant.  They say that, but none of their actions show this.  They make YOU say it, and believe it, and push it, so that your family will be riven by dissension and argument.  Mission accomplished.  Once the family unit is obliterated, the rest is easy.

Pay attention to Squires.  He's one of the animals here on the Farm who is willing to not only speak up, but unwilling to speak the lie.

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How Does 'The Odyssey' Reflect Human Nature?

Think about how ‘The Odyssey’ reflects human nature?

Answer: Which one is more important, The journey OR, the goal at the end of The Journey? From which do you learn more? Explain clearly please.

Notes: 

• “The Odyssey” (Journey), by Homer, a traveling poet
• Passed down through generations by ‘word of mouth’, predates books
• The importance of the Journey
• Odysseus, the main character – protagonist
• Telemachus, Odysseus’ son
• Penelope, Odysseus’ faithful wife The Odyssey is an Epic Poem. 

Reading: Intro, 3 pages to review:

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Introduction to 'The Odyssey'

How are ancient Epic Poems relevant today?

'The Odyssey' is an Epic Poem that is thousands of years old. It explores philosophical questions about ourselves. It is a bunch of adventures within a man's journey home.

After fighting for 10 years in the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew have to get home. It takes them 10 years. This journey is that story.

Question for the day (10 points):

• Why do you think a 5000 year old story of a journey home is still read today? What must it be about to still be relevant today?

Please watch the following short introductory video:

 

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"The Lady or the Tiger" - Film review

This short film of the short story "The Lady or the Tiger?" was made in 1969. It looks ancient even to me.

The filmaker essentially put visuals and music to a reading of the story, so it is really an interpretation of the story more than anything else. I would like you to review it. Write 2 paragraphs (or more) as you will be explaining your opinions on a few things.

Think about the music choice. I don't like what they did with the sound, but you might. The characters and setting are interesting as well, as you can tell immediately what 'feeling' the filmmaker was going for when showing the 'semi-barbaric king'.

Watch the whole thing, and give your opinion about the film. Please use creative language so that your opinion comes out with clarity and force.

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"The Lady or the Tiger?" Analysis

How is society subtly reflected in “The Lady or The Tiger”?

Do Now: An accused, but innocent person is put in the amphitheater to be ‘married’ or devoured on the spot. Explain the following quotes from the story with this fact in mind:

1. “The institution was a very popular one.” Explain this quote please (25pts)

2. “Thus, the masses were entertained and pleased, and the thinking part of the community could bring no charge of unfairness against this plan, for did not the accused person have the whole matter in his own hands?” Explain this quote please (25pts)

Review the story for clarification, if you need to:

 

What Noble Lie is presented by the king in “The Lady or The Tiger”?

We are looking at some pieces of the story "The Lady or the Tiger". The way criminals are put on trial in this story is crazy. They have to choose a door, and they either get eaten by a tiger, or married to a beautiful lady. That 'proves' their guilt or innocence. The king thinks it's ok because 'chance' determines their fate.

The king in the story is really power hungry. HE determines who gets put on trial:

Excerpt: “…for nothing pleased him so much as to make the crooked straight, and crush down uneven places.”

This is the King’s Plan for justice:

1. There is a crime that gets his attention.
2. A trial will take place in the amphitheater
3. Chance / fate will decide the person’s verdict, a lady or a tiger.

Here's how the "trial" worked:

"When all the people had assembled in the galleries, and the king, surrounded by his court, sat high up on his throne of royal state on one side of the arena, he gave a signal, a door beneath him opened, and the accused subject stepped out into the amphitheater. Directly opposite him, on the other side of the enclosed space, were two doors, exactly alike and side by side. It was the duty and the privilege of the person on trial to walk directly to these doors and open one of them. He could open either door he pleased; he was subject to no guidance or influence but that of the aforementioned impartial and incorruptible chance. If he opened the one, there came out of it a hungry tiger, the fiercest and most cruel that could be procured, which immediately sprang upon him and tore him to pieces as a punishment for his guilt."

or this happened:

"But, if the accused person opened the other door, there came forth from it a lady, the most suitable to his years and station that his majesty could select among his fair subjects, and to this lady he was immediately married, as a reward of his innocence."

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Please answer (30 points):
Do you think this is fair? I think this is pretty strange, and very unfair. The king thinks 'fate' is the best way to determine what happens, because Fate can't be corrupted. What do you think? Write a well written paragraph explaning your thoughts. Continue reading / listening to the story as there is a twist at the end.

Please listen to the second half:

Introduction to the short story: "The Lady or the Tiger?"

We will be spending this week and next week on a new story: "The Lady or the Tiger." It's a good one. There's a barbaric king and his daughter, and the king controls everything, including the courts. Well, his daughter has an affair with a commoner and in this story, that is a crime. Now the king has a problems, as it's his own daughter's boyfriend on trial......

We will begin with some basic court terms:

Learning Target: How do societies define ‘justice’?

Do Now: Put the following terms in the proper order as best as you can, and give a short description of each:

Terms:

· Indictment (accusation)

· Probable cause

· Arrest (stop)

· Jury / Lawyer / Judge

· Miranda Rights

· 4th and 5th amendment rights

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To get started, here is the story we will be reading, listening to, and analyzing. Please listen to the first half, about 8 minutes:

The written story is here:  http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/LadyTige.shtml

Questions for Jason Whitlock

 Jason Whitlock and Clay Travis have been making noise in the Sports Media world.

They are rejecting the WOKE nonsense that the corporate titans want us to ingest unthinkingly.  Whitlock has stated repeatedly that his religious background and his father were instrumental in his upbringing.  He's Fearless about using those bedrock principles as a shield against the nonsense that passes for 'activism' today.  I sent him these questions and requested an interview:

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Mr. Whitlock,

I am an English teacher in a rough neighborhood school and I would like to interview you for not only my own small platform, but for posterity and my students.

I am at Mt. Vernon High School in NY, right above the Bronx county line. Our basketball program is legendary. We’ve produced Ray and Gus Williams, Rodney McCray, and recently, Ben Gordon. We compete for the NY State Basketball title every year.

It is your educational and schooling path, about which you’ve spoken recently, that got me interested in speaking with you. Your in-depth biographical interview with Clay Travis was incredible in its detail. Your father’s teachings, your mother pulling you out of school and sending you to the suburban school seem to have been some of the key ingredients in your development. It is this early era of your life I’d like to discuss.

In focusing on school / education, I’d like to ask you these four questions to begin:

1. If you could get one do-over from your High School Academic experience, what would it be? In relation to that, what would be the one thing you’d stress to high school students in a district like mine if you were in front of the room for 45 minutes?
2. LeBron James is reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. (I had the same question you did - is he reading the same version I’ve read multiple times?) Relating to this, what book, or books would you list as required reading for every 11th or 12th grader in the black neighborhood? Or every American for that matter?
3. When your mother moved you into the suburban school, you mentioned that your father was angry. Why was that the case? Classically, the suburban schools have better reputations and get better results. It seems counterintuitive, even though in the end it worked.
4. There has been a concerted and consistent effort over the past century to remove not only religion from school, but theology itself. As someone who is up front about his faith, would you send your child to a parochial school? Public school? How would you counter the now rabid secular Marxist wave flooding the screens and minds of our young people?

Mr. Whitlock, you represent a unique place in American society. People see you as some sort of knee jerk contrarian. I don’t. It is your consistency in holding to bedrock western culture / American principles that sets you apart. You haven’t changed, society has.

I’ve used some of your videos with my Public Speaking Class 12th graders to show them how to craft an argument. Even if we never are able to connect, I’m going to take the time here to thank you for not only helping me provide material that has helped young adults, but for the greater effect of showing others that you don’t have to bend to pressure. You can remain standing and continually speak and write about what you know is good and true, however unpopular it may be.

Sincerely,


Douglas Marolla

My writing is here.

My YouTube channel is here.
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https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/

Welcome to Mr Marolla's Class!

Welcome to the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year! 

As we begin the year doing digital and distance instruction, I want to show you what my classroom looks like. I'll work to get the online atmosphere as close to the one we'd have if were were in the building. As you can see I am interested in the comic book world, history, sports, old (to you) music, and literature. 

My most intense focus is getting you out of the mindset of waiting to be told what to think or do, and getting it so that you do things and create your own life script. I suspect you don't understand quite how powerful and capable you are, and how much incredible potential exists in your soul. 

As we go through the year, whether we are in virtual world or reality, I'd like you to ask the questions that need to be asked, and realize that much of what you're told in The Main is nonsense. We'll get into that. 

Let's get started with some introductory material Monday and Tuesday. See you soon! 

#education #thefreelanceteacher #marolla

Dennis Kimbro - Black Millionaires and Wealth Strategies

Dr. Dennis Kimbro not only gives you a look at the strategy and mindset of many black millionaires, he gives a clinic on how to market to his audience.  Here he gives a master class in rhetoric, and how to grab your intended audience's attention and hold it for 20 minutes.  If you'll notice, he's selling you his book.

He makes it look easy.

From the Youtube description: "Engage with Dr. Dennis Kimbro as he shares excerpts of learnings from his best selling book, The Wealth Choice. Based on a seven year study of 1,000 of the wealthiest African Americans, The Wealth Choice offers a trove of sound and surprising advice about climbing the economic ladder, even when the odds seem stacked against you. 

Readers will learn about how business leaders, entrepreneurs, and celebrities like Bob Johnson, Spike Lee, L. A. Reid, Herman Cain, T. D. Jakes and Tyrese Gibson found their paths to wealth; what they did or didn't learn about money early on; what they had to sacrifice to get to the top; and the role of discipline in managing their success."

Please answer the following 3 questions:

1. Do you think the strategy talked about here will work?
2. Which path to wealth did you find most interesting?
3. Was Dennis Kimbro's delivery / message effective? Why or why not?

Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper" - Ideas and Concepts Within the Story

We are currently reading Liam O'Flaherty's "The Sniper". Within all the stories we read there are great concepts to discuss. These concepts, often dealing with the Human Condition, are often more fun and interesting to talk about than the story itself. Here is an example from "The Sniper".

The Sniper - Ideas and Concepts from Douglas Marolla on Vimeo.

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Aim: How does foreshadowing guide you through the story, "The Sniper"?

Let's analyze each quote. For each quote, give a short explanation (1-3 sentences):

1) "His face was the face of a student, thin and ascetic, but his eyes had the cold gleam of the fanatic. They were deep and thoughtful, the eyes of a man who is used to looking at death." Explain what this tells you about the Sniper's personality. (10 points)

2) "He had eaten nothing since morning. He had been too excited to eat. He finished the sandwich, and, taking a flask of whiskey from his pocket, he took a short drought. Then he returned the flask to his pocket. He paused for a moment, considering whether he should risk a smoke. It was dangerous." Explain why it is 'dangerous' for him to light a match and smoke a cigarette. (10 points)

3) "Morning must not find him wounded on the roof. The enemy on the opposite roof coverd his escape. He must kill that enemy and he could not use his rifle. He had only a revolver to do it. Then he thought of a plan." What was the Sniper's plan to escape? (10 points)

Here is the story read aloud, if you need it for review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qniva4k947o&t=8s

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Here is a look, if you're interested, into what the early stages of Sniper Training look like in the US Marine Corps. Many of you know that my older brother was a Marine Sniper in FAST Company. This is similar to the training he was put through.

Online Learning: Who Destroyed Your Neighborhood and How They Did It

I feel it's important to send this out to you today. Especially now, with the Novel Coronavirus working its way around, and government officials and Corporate Media talking heads telling me what I need to do in order to be safe. People often wonder why I have trip-wire sensitivity and inherent distrust for the Government Media complex and their statements. The story below is the first thing I think of when I ask myself "are these people trustworthy?" It is also the first thing I talk about when people get angry at me for not instantly bending the knee and doing as I'm told by Corporate Media / Gov't.

It's a dark chapter in American history, and it wasn't that long ago.

The conspiracy theory, in the 1980's and the 1990's, was that the government was responsible for flooding the Black Neighborhood with crack cocaine. If you spoke openly of this, you were called all sorts of names. One of the more common ones was "Conspiracy Theorist". The problem was, it was all true. A reporter, Gary Webb, figured out the entire thing. The chain of command, why the CIA was sending drugs into certain areas, which government officials were involved - Webb had it all mapped out and he wrote a series of articles on it.

As usual, the Power Elite, mostly the Government and the Corporate Media, went after Webb, not his story. They didn't go after what he said or the facts They wen't after him. Hard. Webb killed himself eventually, shooting himself in the head twice. Re-read that last sentence.

He eventually turned the whole thing into a book, called Dark Alliance. I own it.

From the above article in The Intercept:

"Gary Webb’s troubles began in August 1996, when his employer, the San Jose Mercury News, published a groundbreaking, three-part investigation he had worked on for more than a year. Carrying the full title “Dark Alliance: The Story Behind the Crack Explosion,” Webb’s series reported that in addition to waging a proxy war for the U.S. government against Nicaragua’s revolutionary Sandinista government in the 1980s, elements of the CIA-backed Contra rebels were also involved in trafficking cocaine to the U.S. in order to fund their counter-revolutionary campaign. The secret flow of drugs and money, Webb reported, had a direct link to the subsequent explosion of crack cocaine abuse that had devastated California’s most vulnerable African American neighborhoods.

Derided by some as conspiracy theory and heralded by others as investigative reporting at its finest, Webb’s series spread through extensive talk radio coverage and global availability via the internet, which at the time was still a novel way to promote national news."

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The above article is really good. I recommend it.

There are some good videos, documentaries and movies on this topic. Here are some of them:

Crack in the System: It is the go to documentary on who was responsible, and how they did it. By using Freeway Ricky Ross, an illiterate high school tennis star, as its lens, the documentary gives you chapter and verse on the path of destruction created by the Federal Government and the Media.

Gary Webb lays out the process in this video. This video was originally erased from Youtube until recently re-uploaded:



The story was made into a Hollywood movie, which, while only a cursory analysis, is actually pretty good:



After going through this material, I don't think there is any way you can, from this day forward, look at Corporate Media and / or government officals with anything but distrust.

If they're willing to not only cause this level of death and destruction, lie about it, and kill the messenger; what else are they willing to do?

Once you wake up you can never go back to sleep.

8 Non Fiction Must Read Books - Mr. Marolla's Opinion

8 Essential Non-Fiction Books

1) When Pride Still Mattered, by David Maraniss. This book is not only the definitive biography of Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach, it is a prism into an America that is gone. Maraniss used Lombardi’s reputation and life to explain the coach’s life, but also a time when your word was bond, and hard work, craftsmanship, and pride in one’s self and work was paramount. Lombardi spend years as a football coach at a small Catholic High school, and he scratched and clawed his way to the top. There was no building of a ‘brand’, no posing for the cameras, and no handouts. It’s a fantastic journey into a more difficult, and perhaps better, America.

2) Carnage and Culture, by Victor Davis Hanson. There are reasons why the Christian West has won key battles throughout history. Hanson details all the key decisions, predicated on the culture of the West, that helped the British win at Rorke’s Drift, Cortez win at Tenochtitlan, and the Americans to win at Midway. There are other important battles talked about in the book. The chapter I go to repeatedly is the one on Cortez in Mexico. How a much smaller group of Spaniards could take down a powerful and violent Aztec Empire is fascinating. Hanson’s thesis is solid, and he impeccably defends it.

3) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, written by Himself. This is the first of the autobiographies, and the most raw. A young Douglass intuitively recognized not only the double and triple standards of society in his young life, he learned, and unashamedly described, human nature. The worst personality traits of each sex, the way power corrupts a soul, the power of literacy – Douglass learned them all before he was ten. A short read, but it has the depth of a much longer book.

4) The Underground History of American Education, by John Taylor Gatto. Gatto was a schoolteacher for 30 years. The last decade of his career he researched the creation and motivation behind the American public school system. What he found is both fascinating and disturbing. Disturbing is probably not a strong enough word. A small group of powerful people wanted a mass of malleable, thoughtless citizens who would be good factory workers and soldiers. To create the Elite top of the pyramid, look at the curriculum of the 8 top boarding schools in the United States (Kent, Hotchkiss et al). To create the managers of society, look at where I went, Brooklyn Tech High School. To look at how to create millions of unthinking consumers, take a walk through your local K-12 system. If you really want to get black pilled, read the Common Core State Standards. Gatto rips the cover off the system and shows you some dirty secrets. Often people ask me “what can one person do?” You can do what John Taylor Gatto did.

5) Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson. When they look back at the ‘woke’ era, this incident, meticulously recounted by the authors, will be one of the bellwethers of the time. 3 young men, all white and well off, were accused of a rape they did not commit. Because of their race and economic status, the Corporate Media told the American people, for months, that they were rapists and racists. The rhetoric and actions of the press, the awful behavior of the school administration and many professors, show you that the media and woke culture are 2 of the most despicable entities ever let loose within American society. The future Robot Historians will wonder why we didn’t put the press and university administrators on an ice floe and push them into the sea.

6) The Great Bridge, by David McCullough. The Brooklyn Bridge construction project began right after the Civil War. It is still one of the most busy and functional bridges today. How did they do it? Who dreamed it up and built it? There was no electricity. There were no combustion engines. And yet, the bridge towers are 275 feet high, and one of them is grounded on bedrock. The Manhattan tower never made it down to bedrock. They were so deep under the riverbed, and the silt was so thick, Roebling, the chief engineer, made the executive decision to anchor the tower and move forward. In an era of small to no government help, a gold standard, no unions, no bailouts … you get a look at how things got done and the intellectual firepower of the men who got them done. One of the best post-Civil War books of all time.

7) The Power Broker, by Robert Caro. This book won the Pulitzer Prize. Caro goes through the life of Robert Moses, one man who irrevocably changed the shape of arguably the most important city on earth: New York City. Moses wasn’t interested in money, but he was interested in power. Once he learned how to get it, he got more, and he learned how to keep it. The early years of his career under Alfred E. Smith are particularly interesting as Caro explains the monumental amount of effort Moses put in to cement his positions of power. A study of government, the nature of power, and the gaping flaws within people are all on display. This is one of those books where the subject is closed. No one will ever write another biography of Robert Moses as there is nothing left to write.

8) The Illusion of Victory, by Thomas Fleming. One of the last nails in the coffin of a once free America is the Progressive Era and America’s entry into World War I. The story you get in school (see #4) is that the good guys suited up and beat the bad Germans. Then they celebrated Armistice Day. This isn’t even the comic book level of history usually found in the textbooks. Fleming explains the massive propaganda campaign surrounding America’s entry into The Great War. You learn that the Industrial and Banking interests didn’t really care if a few hundred thousand American citizens were killed. If they were made financially whole, that didn’t matter. Britain and France were going to lose, and America’s entry was necessary to win. With the help of the worst president in American History, Woodrow Wilson, America went into an unnecessary war, and the Progressives got their claws into the American Free Enterprise system. It was all they needed to eventually bring the whole thing down. Fleming got kicked out of the Conservative author club for telling too much truth. This book is an example of that.

Lessons From the Odyssey: Book 12 - Scylla and Charybdis

Lessons from The Odyssey, Book XII. Scylla and Charybdis 

Odysseus talking to Circe. Kirke - Kirk - Circe Church (controller of a flock of animals. 

"Three times in the day does she vomit forth her waters, and three times she sucks them down again; see that you be not there when she is sucking, for if you are, Neptune himself could not save you; you must hug the Scylla side and drive ship by as fast as you can, for you had better lose six men than your whole crew.' 

"'Is there no way,' said I, 'of escaping Charybdis, and at the same time keeping Scylla off when she is trying to harm my men?' * 

Here is one of the lessons we cover. Odysseus wants there to be a third choice. There often isn't a third choice. No one will offer you one, do you have to choose between a bad choice and a worse choice. This is a LIFE lesson. The Odyssey is filled with them. I cover 3 of there here in this Video Lesson. 

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My online school is here: https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com

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This is the text from which I read in the video:

1) Three times in the day does she vomit forth her waters, and three times she sucks them down again; see that you be not there when she is sucking, for if you are, Neptune himself could not save you; you must hug the Scylla side and drive ship by as fast as you can, for you had better lose six men than your whole crew.'

"'Is there no way,' said I, 'of escaping Charybdis, and at the same time keeping Scylla off when she is trying to harm my men?'*

"'You dare-devil,' replied the goddess, you are always wanting to fight somebody or something; you will not let yourself be beaten even by the immortals. For Scylla is not mortal; moreover she is savage, extreme, rude, cruel and invincible. There is no help for it; your best chance will be to get by her as fast as ever you can, for if you dawdle about her rock while you are putting on your armour, she may catch you with a second cast of her six heads, and snap up another half dozen of your men; so drive your ship past her at full speed, and roar out lustily to Crataiis who is Scylla's dam, bad luck to her; she will then stop her from making a second raid upon you.

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2) "Immediately after we had got past the island I saw a great wave from which spray was rising, and I heard a loud roaring sound. The men were so frightened that they loosed hold of their oars, for the whole sea resounded with the rushing of the waters, but the ship stayed where it was, for the men had left off rowing. I went round, therefore, and exhorted them man by man not to lose heart.

"'My friends,' said I, 'this is not the first time that we have been in danger, and we are in nothing like so bad a case as when the Cyclops shut us up in his cave; nevertheless, my courage and wise counsel saved us then, and we shall live to look back on all this as well. Now, therefore, let us all do as I say, trust in Jove and row on with might and main. As for you, coxswain, these are your orders; attend to them, for the ship is in your hands; turn her head away from these steaming rapids and hug the rock, or she will give you the slip and be over yonder before you know where you are, and you will be the death of us.'

"So they did as I told them; but I said nothing about the awful monster Scylla, for I knew the men would not on rowing if I did, but would huddle together in the hold.In one thing only did I disobey Circe's strict instructions- I put on my armour. Then seizing two strong spears I took my stand on the ship Is bows, for it was there that I expected first to see the monster of the rock, who was to do my men so much harm; but I could not make her out anywhere, though I strained my eyes with looking the gloomy rock all over and over

"Then we entered the Straits in great fear of mind, for on the one hand was Scylla, and on the other dread Charybdis kept sucking up the salt water. As she vomited it up, it was like the water in a cauldron when it is boiling over upon a great fire, and the spray reached the top of the rocks on either side. When she began to suck again, we could see the water all inside whirling round and round, and it made a deafening sound as it broke against the rocks. We could see the bottom of the whirlpool all black with sand and mud, and the men were at their wit's ends for fear. 

While we were taken up with this, and were expecting each moment to be our last, Scylla pounced down suddenly upon us and snatched up my six best men. I was looking at once after both ship and men, and in a moment I saw their hands and feet ever so high above me, struggling in the air as Scylla was carrying them off, and I heard them call out my name in one last despairing cry. As a fisherman, seated, spear in hand, upon some jutting rock throws bait into the water to deceive the poor little fishes, and spears them with the ox's horn with which his spear is shod, throwing them gasping on to the land as he catches them one by one- even so did Scylla land these panting creatures on her rock and munch them up at the mouth of her den, while they screamed and stretched out their hands to me in their mortal agony. This was the most sickening sight that I saw throughout all my voyages."

Newsletter #15 – My Presentation to Students About Schule.

I gave a presentation today to both of my senior classes. I presented an informational, 8-minute talk on school, its origins, and how to fix it.

In the class, the students must rate the speaker and the presentation overall. I got pretty good marks. I also had someone record the presentation, so I could see how I look in real life. I didn’t give myself good marks for that. If you ever want to suffer, force yourself to watch your own presentation. I look like a poorly trained used car salesman, and I sound even worse.

The feedback the students gave me was useful, both for my online side projects, but also for letting me know what piqued their curiosity.

Many students were shocked to learn that:

· School was not created in America. It was birthed in Germany.

· The reason for creating school was to teach Germans to follow orders.

· It takes 15,000 hours to complete your K-12 schooling.

· Literacy in early America was around 97%- and the standards were higher then.

· The Private Boarding schools that produce our leaders follow a very different program.


Because I had only 8 minutes to work with, I wasn’t able to go deeper, but the classes were receptive and, naturally, appreciative of learning. A few even wrote in their evaluations that they had many questions after hearing what I had told them.

This reaction of curiosity is the key. I’ve talked to adults about this and they recoil in anger and frustration. It’s almost as if I had personally insulted them. Usually they call me names (Conspiracy Theorist being the most popular), then they run away.

My belief is that there is hope and salvation when someone is interested in odd, or unorthodox information – and wants to know more.

I never thought I would write this, but perhaps we should act more like teenagers.


Sincerely,

Douglas Marolla

MVHS – Room 227

https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/

The Pendulum Swings the Other Way

Vox Day has engineered a release of the 1918 Colliers Junior Classics via an IndieGoGo fundraiser.
You can find it here.

He posted on his site the Introduction to the 1918 version.  Those of us familiar with the slow destruction of the Public Education System, and the glorious levels of literacy among the population before the implementation of forced taxpayer funded school, the level of language and the topics presented are known.  For those who do not understand what has been done to 'the system' will be confused, yet curious, how a group of books for children could have been so well written and so rich in concept and meaning.

I am reprinting what Vox Day put on his blog, so you can see it for yourself: 

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800 percent and rising

The campaign for the 2020 edition of the Junior Classics continues to go from strength to strength. To explain why it is important, consider the following preface from Volume 4 of the 1918 edition, "Heroes and Heroines of Chivalry", which was excised from the 1958 edition for reasons that will be obvious to anyone who is conversant with the concept of social justice convergence and the long-running cultural war against Christianity and the West. And it probably will not surprise you to know that all three of the stories referenced in this preface were also removed from the 1958 edition.

The preface and all four stories will, of course, appear in the 2020 edition.

The word chivalry is taken from the French cheval, a horse. A knight was a young man, the son of a good family, who was allowed to wear arms. In the story "How the Child of the Sea was made Knight," we are told how a boy of twelve became a page to the queen, and in the opening pages of the story "The Adventures of Sir Gareth," we get a glimpse of a young man growing up at the court of King Arthur. It was not an easy life, that of a boy who wished to become a knight, but it made a man of him. He was taken at an early age, sometimes when only seven years old, to the castle of the king or knight he was to serve. He first became a page or valet, and, under the instruction of a governor, was taught to carve and wait on the table, to hunt and fish, and was drilled in wrestling and riding on horseback. Most pages were taught to dance, and if a boy had talent he was taught to play the harp so he could accompany his voice when singing to the ladies.

By the time a boy was fourteen he was ready to become an esquire. He was then taught to get on and off a horse with his heavy armor on, to wield the battle axe, and practise tilting with a spear. His service to the ladies had now reached the point where he picked out a lady to serve loyally. His endeavor was to please her in all things, in order that he might be known as her knight, and wear her glove or scarf as a badge or favor when he entered the lists of a joust or tournament.

To become a knight was almost as solemn an affair as it was to become a priest. Before the day of the ceremony he fasted, spent the night in prayer, confessed his sins, and received the Holy Sacrament. When morning came he went, clothed in white, to the church or hall, with a knight's sword suspended from his neck. This the priest blessed and returned to him. Upon receiving back the sword he went and knelt before the presiding knight and took the oath of knighthood. The friends who accompanied him now came forward and handed him the spurs, the coat of mail, the armlet and gauntlet, and having put these on he girded on his sword. The presiding knight now bade him kneel, and, touching him three times on the shoulder with the flat of his sword, he pronounced the words that received him into the company of worthy knights: "In the name of God, of St. Michael, and St. George, I make thee a knight; be valiant, courteous, and loyal!" After this he received his helmet, his shield, and his spear, and the ceremony was completed.

The knight's real work, and greatest joy, was fighting for some one who needed his help. Tournaments and jousts gave them chances to show off their skill in public. We must remember that there were no big open-air theatres in those days, such as the Greeks had, no public races or trials of strength such as the Greeks held in the stadiums, nor were there chariot races or fighting gladiators such as the Romans had at an earlier day. Tournaments or jousts were the big public entertainments, and you will find a famous description of one by Sir Walter Scott in Ivanhoe, in the volume "Stories that Never Grow Old," the tournament of Ashby-de-la-Zouche. In it you will find a clear description of how the field of contest was laid out, of the magnificent pavilions decorated with flags, and the galleries spread with carpets and tapestries for the ladies.

The same qualities that made a manful fighter then, make one now: to speak the truth, to perform a promise to the utmost, to reverence all women, to be constant in love, to despise luxury, to be simple and modest and gentle in heart, to help the weak and take no unfair advantage of an inferior. This was the ideal of the age, and chivalry is the word that expresses that ideal. In all our reading we shall perhaps find no more glowing example of it as something real, than in the speech of Sir Jean de Vienne, governor of the besieged town of Calais who, when called upon by King Edward III of England to surrender unconditionally, replied:—

"We are but a small number of knights and squires, who have loyally served our lord and master as you would have done, and have suffered much ill and disquiet, but we will endure far more than any man has done in such a post, before we consent that the smallest boy in the town shall fare worse than ourselves."

And this story you can find in the volume "Tales of Courage and Heroism," entitled "The Noble Burghers of Calais."

Newsletter #13 – The Remnant is Trying to Tell You Something

Albert Jay Nock wrote a wonderful essayin 1936 called “Isaiah’s Job”.  In the essay, Isaiah is tasked by the Lord to go to the masses and let them know that they have totally lost their way, become corrupt, and that no more nonsense will be tolerated.  Isaiah is to tell them that they’re completely wrecked and broken, and they need to straighten up – and this is their last chance.  Isaiah is thrilled with the task, but then he’s told that it won’t do any good.  Shocked and curious as to why he should bother talking to the masses in the first place, the Lord says: 

“Ah," the Lord said, "you do not get the point. There is a Remnantthere that you know nothing about. They are obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best he can. They need to be encouraged and braced up because when everything has gone completely to the dogs, they are the ones who will come back and build up a new society; and meanwhile, your preaching will reassure them and keep them hanging on. Your job is to take care of the Remnant, so be off now and set about it."

I read this essay for the first time many years ago and I never forgot about it.  Anyone reading this who has had unpopular or unapproved thoughts, or asked insightful and difficult questions in class knows what I’m talking about.  Most people belong to The Masses – people who do nothing but repeat what they’re told and parrot secondhand ideas.  I have had some real independent thinkers and intellectually curious students over the past 24 years – I remember all their names.  I always thought of Nock’s essay when they came to class and fearlessly contributed to the discussion.  Was there actually a Remnant or was it just a nifty turn of phrase on Nock’s part?

The Remnant that Nock mentioned in his essay is out there, and I think I now have proof.  

For decades, the school system has gotten watered down, concerned with frivolities, slowly chipping away at a system that was, if not good, at least dedicated to imparting the Educational Basics to its students.  One of the ways that our Rulers ruined the system was they replaced difficult reading material with easy material – usually faddish nonsense that was supposed to “speak to the modern student.”

Yeah right.

There is a growing movement to return school to the olden days methods, teaching literature that is challenging, directed, and multidimensional.  Parents want to feed their children intellectual steak and potatoes for dinner – not pop tarts.  The literature of our grandparents was rich in both language and meaning.  They were pushed and challenged by it and their grasp of grammar and English proves it.  My mother is 72 years old and can tell you, with ease, the difference between a transitive verb and an intransitive verb.  Can you do that?  You don’t have to answer.

This growing group of people is hungry for a return of what worked for children in the past.  The Junior Classics from 1918 are back on the market.  There is a fund-raising campaign to get them published and delivered to customers.  A generation of Americans was raised on these books.  They can be difficult at times, but they’re full of nuance, adventure, and artistic style. 

They wanted to raise $28,000 for the project.  They’ve raised … $202,000.  Over 700% of what they asked, and there are still 25 days left in the campaign.  Someone is tired of the weak, lifeless and dull material in school these days, and they’re talking with their wallets.  

Maybe it’s the Remnant.

Douglas Marolla

MVHS English – Room 227

https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/