210 Comments
Nov 24, 2022Liked by Chris Best

“Pockets of exhausted people seeking refuge.” Yes, that just about describes most people I know trying to find meaning in this chaos. If we all keep writing and stay on the path, we can break out of the existential crisis. Powerful words, thanks for sharing Chris!

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I love this, thank you for the positivity! Your closing line really resonated:

“Those people seeking peace one by one—the truth seekers, the misfits, the poets, the builders, the outsiders—are the ones who will write the future.”

I’m happy to be one of them 😊Together, we can shift the tides!

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This “asylum seeker” writer-artist-creator-whatever is mighty grateful for the Substack community!

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Me, too. Big time.

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Same. I hope to continue to be one of them a well ❤️

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Yes, I get that vibe too, even here in the UK, where things are fairly obviously falling apart. And I think you are right - Substack helps.

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Agreed Michael, I too am witnessing the decline in UK which has been going on for at least 50 years of my nearly 80 years of observing, sometimes from a distance, which offers me another perspective.

I take heart from the thought that only a new economic model can emerge from the wreckage of a failed one, which of course is the plan of the WEF et al on a global scale. But centralisation has conspicuously failed in government as well as corporations (the mega ones survive only by monopoly pricing and they are killing the SMEs upon whom we rely). My solution (not the only one) is a local economy:

https://austrianpeter.substack.com/p/progressing-plan-b-a-quarterly-review?s=w

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You reminded me of diaries of resistance fighters during ww2 that I have read, who overwhelmingly thought that 'surely this is the end of capitalism/the old economic system now that all this happened'. And indeed, there was a brief window after ww2 where new systems were tried. It's an interesting history to study, and might provide some worthwhile lessons for the future.

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Freedom works... systems don't. Just protect the freedom and the implied natural law in all of us. Fuzz

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Yes indeed Robert - I too have read some of the most interesting diaries of WW2 and their amazing message: "Their indomitable spirit - which carried the survivors through by the power of their faith". - gives me hope and belief in our future. (well not mine necessarily - but my children do have a stake in their future).

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Iwould add: Local representative governance; as was the original plan of the US signers of the Constitution. Big Government being paid for by Taxing the people was never the plan

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A new economic model: I’m working on it.

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Mine is mine... yours is yours. I can make another for ya but you gotta let me have some of what you got. No one in the middle. If you invent a third party to take mine, so that you can donate it to someone else. Just look at that damn thing wiggling around in the dirt... what is it?

It's theft. That ain't fair...! in fact, it's criminal. Don't make criminals of us please brother, Fuzz

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Very true Fuzz. As a systems specialist for 50 years my mantra has always been: "people don't fail - systems do"

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And yet there is such a thing as society, community. You are part of it, and it within that that you thrive. Getting it right is very very hard. Abdication is easy but delusional.

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Yes, but enslaving us to some kind of ism is hardly a peaceful answer.

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The Constitution is not available at the moment. The whole thing's been hijacked. To make it work... maybe Convention of States, it's legal and a state is sovereign and so are you if you live in the states. Federal government, on the other hand, is not sovereign.

There are other problems with it too. I'm not left or right, but I've read my history and know my economics. Mostly what we're kicking around in this digital room is how do we be free? I always start in Philadelphia and be a mouse in the corner, listening to my forefathers. The really addressed the same issues we're talking about now. How NOT to be enslaved! A sticky wicket fer sure...

If you want to read some really stodgy shit, read Lysander Spooner's "An Essay on Trial by Jury." He died in 1887 I think. But that hairy old man translated the Magna Carta from Latin to English so he could understand what went on there. An amazing piece, worth suffering through. Fuzz

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Aha! Found you!

Society breaks down after you've got a hundred active people in your phone book. I think Indian tribes were like that till we came along and they needed to get to together to fight us off.

It appears to me that we're a society right here. I've been in a lot of them. But you know, we shift and move... ever met someone waiting in line that you went to school with? Did you talk for hours or just about the old days for fifteen minutes? Social animals owe each other respect and a hand in a fight but we are not born with a debt to society, surely not a National Debt...

Isn't it all about just getting along?

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Well, I think that this is the place for Iggy:

“And all of it was made for you and me / and if all just belongs to you and me / so let’s take a ride and SEE WHAT S MINE!

La la la la lalala lah

And that’s the point of what I’m trying to do.

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Let's compare notes when you can Michael - there are lots of options but I favour UBUNTU because I have experienced it as working in South Africa:

https://austrianpeter.substack.com/p/progressing-plan-b-a-quarterly-review?s=w

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I agree.

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And I was agreeing with the comment you made with this in it...

"Agreed Michael, I too am witnessing the decline in UK which has been going on for at least 50 years of my nearly 80 years of observing, sometimes from a distance, which offers me another perspective.

I take heart from the thought that only a new economic model can emerge from the wreckage of a failed one... '

I've noticed the "link lines" that connect comments to other comments are often just WRONG. (I hate that!) I'm going to have to start putting some kind of clarification on all my comments... C'mon, Substack! Cancha afford to fix this by now? LOL

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[1] And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain, and when he was set down, his disciples came unto him. [2] And opening his mouth, he taught them, saying: [3] Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. [4] Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land. [5] Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. [6] Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill. [7] Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. [8] Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God. [9] Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called children of God. [10] Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:1-10

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Thank you Nadir for reminding me of the essentials in life. Our problems stem from the worst of all the deadly sins: GREED. But greed itself has an underlying and all too human drive: FEAR. Fear of losing what I have and fear of not getting what I want (not NEED which does not feature in our secular world drive by consumerism). As Buddha said: "Life is suffering - suffering is caused by desire - if you can let go of desire you can relieve your suffering".

Nations can succumb to pride and a wrong view of wealth​—and so can individuals. Jesus gave a parable that showed how subtle this snare can be. He spoke of a rich man whose fields produced very well. Delighted, the man planned to build larger storehouses for his produce and happily looked forward to a long life of comfort. But this did not happen. God said to him: “Unreasonable one, this night they are demanding your soul from you. Who, then, is to have the things you stored up?” Yes, the man died, and his wealth availed him nothing.​—Luke 12:16-20.

https://austrianpeter.substack.com/p/notes-and-thoughts-on-reading-an?s=w

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Beautiful article, Chris. Yes, indeed, good times are coming and it specifically the one by one model because then it is certified to come from an internal choice for good, rather than following the crowd. Each one of us needs to be able to make the shift when we imagine we are the only one doing it. That is the sign of truth. It does not need a consensus nor peer approval. This is what is so fun about Substack, being able to speak clearly and let people make their own choices. It gives me an opportunity to bring the message of highlighting the Divine Image in every man, woman and child and to also expose those who would try to scare us into choosing fear, and its attendant complicated false solutions, over hope and its obvious simplicity. May G-d Al-mighty bless you!

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Spontaneously becoming a semi-well known writer here (I had no past experience blogging nor did I plan to, all of this just kind of happened), has given me a great front row seat to all of this.

My personal belief has been that humans are inherently good and yearn for things that are real deep and authentic but society constantly pits them against each other to be in a divided state where they are at each others throats and consumed by superficial attention grabbing gimmicks marketers push down their throats.

I avoided blogging entirely because I didn't want to be involved in all of that (rather just read a book), and one of the things I really appreciate about substack's structure is that it incentives deep thought out nuances which is what I intrinsicly enjoy writing and there is a huge unmet demand for.

Two of the key focuses in my writing have been to encourage everyone to come together (as we have much more in common than where we differ, and together we can accomplish much more than we can as fragmented groups) and that we are in an era when the traditional form of divisive propaganda no longer works.

For anyone that's interested, this is one of the best articles I've come across (it inspired my most recent post). It explains why a shift in the propaganda based governance the country uses has to shift now, and much of it aligns with substacks's core values: https://consilienceproject.org/the_end_of_propaganda/

Thank you for all that you do! I never imagined that I would be a blogger, but this platform works for me (also in case it's relevant, Glenn Greenwald's endorsement of your model after the Intercept failed to meet its original goals was the first thing that brought me to this site).

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Thank you for the link, that's a really good article which clearly explains the different trends in information spreading and propaganda from ww1 up until now, and also discussed what a future could look like.

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Thanks Chris and Team for Substack! I was going to make my own blog regarding nutrition, especially the immune system's need for at least 0.125 mg 5000 IU vitamin D3 a day (70 kg 154 lb bodyweight). Substack is a better alternative in every respect.

I think The Forgotten Side of Medicine is one of the most thoughtfully written Substacks in the lively and important commentariat which sprang up in opposition to the disastrous (so-called) vaccine centric, nutrient avoiding, early treatment denying mainstream COVID-19 response.

Chris, I quoted you in a 2022-02-27 article titled "Substack supports extraordinarily detailed, timely, thoughtful and pertinent discussion, Linotype, Internet, HTML, search engines, blogs, Open Access academic publishing, SciHub, Substack . . . ": https://nutritionmatters.substack.com/p/substack-supports-extraordinarily

"Part of the reason why we have a society where we know there are things we can trust is because dissent is allowed, and because the discussion of unpopular things is not suppressed."

In that article and the two which follow it I link to many Substacks in this commentariat, which now also concerns the corruption of medicine in a broader sense, such as, 2022-05-05 https://amidwesterndoctor.substack.com/p/the-origins-of-medical-blindness .

Chris, I wish I shared your optimism. I am sure many things will improve and I am sure that Substack is a globally significant part of such changes. However, the sheer volume of stuff out there, and the inability to interest most people in ideas which, in their current framework, are so obviously wrong and indeed destructively anti-social, makes me less hopeful.

Most people do not have the time, inclination or perhaps the ability to research important matters from first principles. So they rely on others to pre-digest the material, and follow what those people write and say. There we have it: frank groupthink.

Now most people have a device in their pocket which gives 24-hour a day access to whatever collector and amplifier of stuff they choose, we can have mass social movements grow from nothing to globally destructive movements in months. The most obvious example is support for the so-called vaccines for COVID-19 (which were originally promised to provide herd immunity), driven by experts who should know better, unchallenged by a clueless and pharmaceutical advertising revenue corrupted mass and censorious social media, transform into a disastrously wrong and oppressive government mandated program which many individuals had to accept the dictates of, in order to remain employed. It also killed and injured many people directly, as well as allowed the pandemic to spread when it could have been suppressed rapidly with early treatments, especially special vitamin D3 or calcifediol (which is 25-hydroxyvitamin D) to boost 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in days or hours.

Substack doesn't solve this problem. However, with no barriers of cost or required expertise, it enables any committed individual to immediately get on with analysing and writing about important, contentious, matters and to find an appreciative audience.

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Could you (or someone else) point me to where you have read that people died from the covid vaccines and how many?

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Thanks for the link, Doc. I've felt for years that there's little real news on so-called news media. What is regarded as news and how we should be notified is determined by beholden committees, who decide what we need to know.

A most recent example was the announcement of 'Monkey Pox' as some sort of national epidemic: it took at least three weeks for the 'media' to admit how it was spread and who was affected. The billions spent on propaganda and disinformation couldn't hold back the truth. Sure, the first network to declare the truth will pay a price, and some scapegoat may lose his job or have his reputation destroyed for going against such a well-funded lobby. But money can't buy everyone and every news outlet.

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Many thanks Doc. My best friend is a retired medical doctor in Brisbane and we Skype regularly. Thank you for your link. Here in UK, the ruling elite are past masters at subterfuge and manipulation as witnessed by the Covid 'scamdemic' and their military grade PsyOp which have destroyed so many lives - a war on their own people!

Having worked in HMG War office in the 1960s - I have an insider's view on the machinations of the state. https://www.theburningplatform.com/2021/09/18/britain-is-using-world-war-2-psychological-weapons-to-nudge-the-public-into-compliance-letter-from-great-britain-09-18-21/

And my doctor friend is an active warrior in the battle for hearts and minds:

https://cmnnews.org/

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Thank you. Substack is a refuge, a place for nuance and openness.

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Chris, this is BEAUTIFULLY expressed on many levels. Blessed are the peacemakers. Thanks so much 🙏

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From your keyboard to God's ears!

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Nov 24, 2022·edited Nov 24, 2022Liked by Chris Best

Cheers, Chris — I hope you're right. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Thank you for this beautiful and inspiring message, Chris. I feel it, too.

Totalitarian regimes always contain the seeds of their own destruction, and no matter how many tentacles they use to censor, oppress, suffocate, menticide, propagandize, coerce, and psychologically traumatize people into submission, the lies *always* eventually collapse and humanity ultimately prevails. CJ Hopkins and I discussed this in our Dissident Dialogue (https://margaretannaalice.substack.com/p/dissident-dialogues-cj-hopkins). To quote CJ:

“Basically, my approach to life is affirmative, and I have some kind of weird faith in life, in people, in all forms of life. And I don’t think it [global totalitarianism] succeeds. It is something that has to implode.… I don’t think it’s a matter of stopping it. I don’t know if we can stop it, but … just like any other form that comes into being, the seeds of the death of that form are built into it, and as that form achieves its ultimate expression, the seeds of its death are also developing already inside of it and are at work, taking it apart, blowing it apart and ultimately destroying it and making way for whatever other forms are going to evolve. That’s the crazy faith that I have. I don’t think we can stop or push back on GloboCap … but I think many of us are feeding these seeds that eventually lead to what comes next.”

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As always Margaret you are on target and your work with CJ is inspirational. My good colleague, Niall Warry, writes about how we can compete with this dystopian global takeover, which does indeed contain the seeds of its own construction because to succeed there must be 'compliance'.

As more and more people of the world wake up I know that humanity will prevail. Laura Dodsworth has a wonderful phrase to describe our resilience: 'Spiritual Spine'.

https://austrianpeter.substack.com/p/the-financial-jigsaw-part-2-special-36e?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

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I so hope this prediction is true, and, whichever way it goes, admire the making of it.

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There was a Christmas advert here in the U.K. for Sainsbury’s about seven years ago that recreated the Christmas truce. It was very touching!

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Should warn us about the tears that will ensue if we google this! 😉

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Sorry! Ha! It is quite emotional!

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I hope you are correct that things will get better, and all the bickering stops. There is just to much bickering between people now, then before. Years ago, people could say what they felt and someone would just say "I disagree", now it's worse. However, I always hold out hope that things will always get better. I believe our Lord has a purpose for all that's happened. I also believe we'll see his reasoning soon. I truly do hope it's good.

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I agree with regards to not being able to discuss without fear of stepping on somebody else’s feelings and or views. Instead of “I disagree” there is criticism, insult, or arguing. Respect and trust need to be rebuilt. Hope and Faith are the starting points in rebuilding a stronger foundation on true trust. Love is the way.

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Thank you for this precious and timely post!

How about feeding that mighty weed of 'hope' the potent fertilizer of our Human Certainty? And watch as the obstinate weed grows into an unprecedented kind of tree, our gift to a no less exhausted Earth that needs our unshakable faith in a new shared (co-created, as the buzzword goes) story of restored beauty and abundance in peace indeed, cooperation, co-ingenuity... life, at last.

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