Man Alive! doesn’t have a dust-cover, but if it did, that headline would make the perfect jacket blurb. It comprises a pocket summary of what the book is intended to do: I want to show honest people how to more perfectly express their until-now-stunted self-adoration, and I want to drive the enemies of the human self out of their minds.
Meanwhile (memewhile), the pretend-friends of human liberty are forming an echo-chamber orchestra to play and replay a smarmy video called “If I wanted America to fail.” I have no idea who is behind this funereal lament. The putative web site doesn’t resolve. If I had to guess, I’d say the money to pay for the video came from oil and mining interests, but I suppose that comes down to (oil)well-poisoning.
But that doesn’t even matter. Here’s why:
If I wanted civilization to fail, I would devote my life to pissing and moaning about the collapse of civilization. I wouldn’t do anything at all, and I wouldn’t say anything except to bitch that no one else is doing anything, either.
Do you want to know what Starnesville looks like? Take a long hard look in the mirror.
If you don’t like what you see, at least you know what needs to be fixed if you want civilization and America and your life to succeed.
We don’t need more Republicans. There are plenty already, and they’re useless. The Libertarians are doubly useless: Ineffectual and pedantic. What we need are more egoists. Each one of us is indomitable as a manifestation of human nature. But egoists know they are indomitable.
Do you want to change the world for the better? Start by changing your self. Once that project is begun, take up The Conversation with your spouse, your kids, your parents and siblings, your friends, your net.friends, the people at work.
In other words: Don’t mourn. Proselytize.
Everything starts with you. If you want civilization to succeed, succeed.
And if you want it to fail? Just keep pissing and moaning. It worked in Starnesville, and it will work for you, too.
