Author: David V Stewart

Jealousy among artists

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At the age of 36 I’ve been involved for multiple years with several big artistic “scenes,” including authors of various genres, classical musicians (particularly guitarists), flamenco musicians, and peripherally visual arts scenes such as comic artists. In all of these, there is a character flaw that seems to occur at much higher levels than the background (and I have personal points of comparison – I’ve been lots of other things besides an artist). That flaw is jealousy. Artists are insanely jealous of one another. The worst is probably in the visual arts, but certain music scenes are simply intolerable once…

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The Death Cult

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I’ve been talking about the Death Cult for a while now, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see others coming to similar conclusions on their own. What is the death cult? It is a developing secular religion that is dedicated to death, of course, but this is not a religion of suicide, at least as you normally know suicide. Here’s what I mean: Is your own death the worst thing that can happen? Only a sociopath would say “yes.” What is worse, your death, or the death of your family? The death of your city? Country? Your country and yourself?…

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Postmodern Politics: Beauty Edition #hotgirlsforbernie

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Oh boy, #hotgirlsforbernie has it all. You don’t want to click, but you will. Your curiosity will overcome your better sense. https://twitter.com/hashtag/HotGirlsForBernie?src=hashtag_click This is a perfect example of how post-modernism, with its core ideas of “challenging assumptions” by attacking the meaning of concepts, is fully at home with and ingrained into the modern, western political left. This whole thing is a bit a take-off of the meme that “conservative girls are hotter,” but it all goes so horribly, horribly wrong. ANYONE can be a hot girl for Bernie, you see, even if you aren’t a girl (apologies my friends) and…

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7 Big Mistakes Made by New Authors

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If you are new to the craft of writing (books specifically), avoid these common mistakes; if you are experienced, you probably made some of these, as I have. Focusing on ideas rather than execution. This is very common with fantasy writers, who like to spend time imagining an alternate world, complete with maps, magic systems, and economies. The problem is, none of those things are stories, they are background to stories. Likewise, political ideology is not a story, whatever success Ayn Rand has had. A great yarn is focused on the character drama and the action, and you should focus…

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Problems with separation of church and state

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This is some practical observation. Separation of church and state really means freedom from blasphemy laws. This is why the restrictions on laws respecting religion or prohibiting it are withing the first amendment to the United States constitution, rather separate from it. It’s fundamentally about speech. The problems (or perhaps flaws) arise when the power and scope of the state grows, especially if the religious make-up of the culture has a high degree of diversity. When this happens the state will become atheistic or agnostic over time, as we can see in most western countries today. Why does this happen?…

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Social time – Align Your Priorities for Creative Output, part 8

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8. Social Time We are social beings. We live in groups. To that end, social time is important. Our social nature is also something that is exploited by social media to suck our time and attention away from other matters, and this is something you must be aware of. Depending on your stage of life and personal attitude, social time is something that can be either minimal or all-consuming. It’s also an area of life that few people are really honest about when it comes to acknowledging their preferences. Very few individuals are actually a lone wolf. Some people are…

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Maintenance – Align your priorities for creative output, part 9

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7. Maintenance What I classify as “maintenance” are all the little obligations you have as part of living: cleaning the house, taking out the trash, fixing faucets, fixing cares, mowing the lawn, etc. I also include feeding yourself and performing basic hygiene. I think this is one area where there is an intense amount of focus for things like “life hacks” – little things that either save time or improve your effectiveness in this area of your life in the long run. I saw an add for a device called the “Y Toothbrush” that claimed it could clean your teeth…

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Hobbies and Leisure – Align Your Priorities for Creative Output, part 7

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Continued from yesterday 5. Leisure and Hobbies I think for most people imagining themselves as productive machines, their idealized self isn’t actively engaging in lots of leisure. Again, though, self-knowledge is key. Some people spend far too much time on video games, but plenty of others work hard so they can enjoy an hour or two of gaming a day. Generally speaking, if I totally avoid leisure activities I suffer mentally and emotionally. I need a certain amount of downtime to flourish, and If I don’t get it I find it is very difficult for me to be happy creating.…

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Creativity and Purposeful Activities – Align Your Priorities for Creative Output, part 6

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Previous post in the series. 4. Creativity and Purposeful Activities Here is where we get to producing art. A creative endeavor is something you do because you have a need to create something, to put something out into the world. Painting, music, writing, or even something like wine making, are realms of passion, not merely realms of economic activity. Creativity is always something more than a job. A purposeful activity is something different from that in its fundamental drive – things like charity or volunteer work, which are intended to make a difference in the lives of others but aren’t…

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Once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane

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Remember that the virtual scalpers will NEVER let you be just because of your identity. Once you appease them, you are from then on a SOFT TARGET. This was true with Stefan Molyneux (who didn’t make the rubble bounce after getting booted from paypal), and its true of organizations that are either implicitly or explicitly part of the left. Case and point: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/fall_01_20/ The writer of the story was trans. It didn’t save her. The magazine is pro-trans. It did not save them. They explained that the story was pro-trans. It did nothing. They apologized. It did nothing. It will…

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