I’ll Meet You in No Man’s Land

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Tao of Stu

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I was always fascinated and shocked when learning about the Great War as a child. The stupidity of all wars was here made doubly stupid by the ineptitude of “leaders” who were prepared to see men die in millions in the mud, facing each other across a few hundred yards of barbed-wire and shell holes. Two great industrial nations had strutted on the stage of Europe striking warlike postures for so long that when a crazed student assassinated the Archduke Ferdinand at Sarajevo it was too late for the fools to back down. And so the whole crazy steamroller got under way, supported as ever by the profiteers, the racketeers and the arms manufacturers. Continue reading →

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The Way of the Revolutionary

Posted on November 28, 2021 by Tao of Stu

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Should I conform? Should I rebel? This has and always will be, a constant battle struggled individually, or as a society. A certain amount of conformity needs to exist in life in order to avoid disorder. This is the reason we have laws. Take those laws, rules, control, or even expectations, to an extreme, and some form of rebellion is probable. Struggle with these opposites, and you have a catalyst for war, or perhaps, being fired from a job.

The partisanship of today’s politics may be shocking, but it also reveals something significant about human behavior: the power of social influence. Personal beliefs can be strengthened when people surround themselves with those who share their views and distance themselves from the demonized other side.

But the drive to conform isn’t all we feel. We also try to be different from others, forging our identities through similarity and distinction. In reality, each of us embodies aspects of the conformist and rebel archetypes. These exist as opposing ends of a spectrum and we likely fall somewhere in between.

Recognizing the far-reaching power of social influence—and its limitations—can not only make us more self-aware, but can also help us build a better society. Continue reading →

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Calling on our Collective Humanity

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Tao of Stu

It’s official: the New Brunswick Government has institutionalized medical apartheid.

Those who have and have not participated in human trials for a genetic experiment is the basis on which such an absurd course of action has been predicated.

Despite the rich custom of rights and freedoms in this country, private businesses and establishments are now being manipulated to require users to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccine in order to work, exercise, shop, and generally participate in social life. Domestic and international travel restrictions have virtually eliminated—practically overnight—millions of citizens’ ability to move freely across the earth. Without proof-of-product, which is to say, a receipt, millions are now either prohibited to leave their own country through conventional ports of entry and exit, prohibited from domestic air travel altogether, and/or prohibited from re-entering their homeland. This is a slippery slope we have embarked on, one that historically begins with a “papers, please” policy and the predictable arc that follows. Typically that of genocide and open war. Continue reading →

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Letter to GNB – Mandatory Employee Vaccination Policy

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Tao of Stu

I am an educator in New Brunswick, Canada and am facing immanent layoff without any access to financial support. I sent the following letter on October 18th, 2021. Once again, not a single question has been addressed. Continue reading →

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Lockdowns and the Death of Scientific Inquiry

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Tao of Stu

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The biggest economic, political and social event of 2020 was a health phenomenon: COVID-19. As the pandemic spread from the Far East to Italy, fear grew that we were facing something really serious. Media outlets across the world conveyed images of eerily empty streets and crowded hospitals in Italy, with the consistent theme of fear and uncertainty. The resulting (and on-going) series of lockdowns and the yo-yo of restrictions of varying severity have crushed economic activity worldwide, further exacerbating the income gap to unprecedented levels. Overnight, people lost access to their places of worship, community centers, health centers, social spots, and physical connection with friends and family.  Continue reading →

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