The Liminalist # 82.5: The Pragmatism of Powerlessness (with Marshall Poe)

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Part two of conversation with Marshall Poe, on the new dominant religion, free speech and hate crime, pornography and liberalism, student prostitution, the difference between freedom and licence, the N-word, assless chaps & gay pride, the reduction of the State, political parties in the US, teaching the Chinese about transgender, politics as theater, bloodlines and power, the undesirability of running for office, US confusion, the reality of social engineering, how technology changes culture, the inception of TV, the beginnings of the Internet, inception of values via technology, the war industry and Hollywood soft propaganda, Internet as a foreign policy weapon, the destruction of the soviet union, the unintended consequences of technology, mass sexual dysfunction, intending liminality, Marshall Poe’s need for moral structure, time in the AA, Donald Trump’s shameless speech, dissing John McCain, Jasun’s upbringing, indoctrinated with extreme tolerance, the forbidden question of anal sex, the power of public shaming, the orthodoxy of liberalism, throwing “racism” about, true structures versus false structures,  AA Christianity, relinquishing control, a higher power loophole, the fatality of addiction, what Lutherans are good for, Buddhism and alcoholism, the pragmatism of powerlessness, a world of intrusive thoughts, controlled by a mind machine, what you really are, lost in a dream state.

New Books Network.

Songs:  “The Kommema and his Religion” and “Of the Lakes,” by SunWalker; “A Place for Joy” & “No Place for Joy,” by My Jacket is Yours.

9 thoughts on “The Liminalist # 82.5: The Pragmatism of Powerlessness (with Marshall Poe)”

  1. Hi Interesting talk but remember Mr Poe..
    Tradition Twelve
    “Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our
    traditions, ever reminding us to place principles
    before personalities.”

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  2. Edgar Allen Poe, alcoholic, called it (id) “The Imp of the Perverse.”

    “Those who once inhabited the suburbs of human contempt find that without changing their address they eventually live in the metropolis.” –Quentin Crisp

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  3. The Crisp quote might make more sense if I’d read contextually–yes, Marshall’s right, reading is difficult. Here’s the sentence that precedes the one posted:

    “In an expanding universe, time is on the side of the outcast. Those who once inhabited etc.”

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  4. I disagree 2016 being freer for speech than ever. In 1964, my couterculture ideas were kindly received by teachers, etc. They did not usually agree, but they defended my right to free thinking. My Bohemian father was treated decently. Our speech was not censored anywhere near the way it is today. Near the end of his life around 9/11, my father, once a promoter of so-called free speech (a la Mario Savio), was pleading for tolerance for Christians at the school where he taught.
    When academics self-censor to keep their jobs, what hope is there for a school bus driver? That school bus driver can be written up for merely saying “God Bless you” to a child on their bus, or for using the term “stupid” about anything. (Stupid is a forbidden word in some schools.) People working in low-paying jobs suffer *way* more over “political correction” than people with means.
    And how long will it be before these hate laws begin to put people in jail? I think there have already been preachers put in jail for preaching about homosexuality. It seems to me that I remember anti-Catholic or anti-homosexuality tracts have been illegal in Canada for a long time.
    By comparison, the “squares” used to be downright friendly to us early free-speech hippies. I am nostalgic about it actually. The early “freaks,” even the most dangerous of us, enjoyed tremendous liberty… we were able to get on airplanes without being searched, next to no surveillance, travel freely, it was heaven compared to today and I regret pushing the stuff I pushed.

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    • Yep. So how is it that someone like Marshall is able to maintain so different a belief? (hint: see this podcast’s tagline ^^^)

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