#14.4 School Sucks Project Podcasts 62 thru 82

[9-5-13: links corrected]
 
For this next set of podcasts, there doesn't seem to be any other place but the unwieldy webpage I mentioned in the first number of this series, to get information about podcasts that might have existed, but have for whatever reason gone missing. So when a podcast doesn't exist, the numbers skip accordingly.

2010-10-15: #62 Children of the State (Part 1) – Incentives

This is perhaps the most significant podcast in this series so far about an issue that I personally consider crucial for any future progress whatever. If this is not solved, there is no doubt that the future looks rather bleak. I expect people to get quite emotional about this subject because after all we were all children once and have our own past histories to review. Please listen to this with an open mind and an open heart.

 

Homework:

Howard Zinn- A People's History of the United States

2010-10-31: #65 Bureaucrats Are People Too!

There is much in this episode including where Brett understands that the morality of normal decent people is used to hold up as support of an organization (government) that doesn't even really support them, but uses them for its own usually hidden agendas (he's learning, which is what we all need to be doing).

Steve Ressler of GovLoop, who describes himself as a third generation public servant, asserts that people who work for government don't suck, when in fact they are, as Brett points out, part of organizations that DO suck out of the productive (and the unproductive too) their property (the work of the labour) and their lives (opportunity costs of not getting to do what they are perhaps best at doing, or more interested in than what they have to be doing to make a livelihood). Ressler is attempting to defend himself and his colleagues (government workers) against published public sentiments that they are overpaid, lazy, etc.

Brett sharpens his critical pencil point: psychopaths who seek public office or jobs in “public service” so they can impose their will on others using the FORCE of law are one thing, the majority of government employees may have no interest or direct knowledge of what's going on and who may really care about what they do, are another. This is probably mostly true about public school teachers. Brett points out that the basic problems with government deal exactly with their use of FORCE for everything, especially funding, saying they can't get a job done without more and more money, more power (more laws allowing them to use more FORCE on the rest of us) etc.

Then Brett makes it clear that there are private organizations as well (we'll label them here as limited liability public corporations) that get from the government (through bail outs, etc.) the same advantages to operate like the government (as criminal gangs). For those of us who would attempt to set up (the or an) VEN, the issue of funding certain organizations is a key issue that we shall address in future posts.

Ressler remarks that where there are monopolies (natural ones like water, police and fire fighting services in local communities) that he wants competence, etc. Brett squares the argument that all that may be fine, but that central planning, etc. doesn't work very well (being polite). Brett gets back to the foundations of liberty as they need to be reasserted; rather than wasting time and energy worrying about the top of their structures, we should be busy constructing something else from the bottom up (exactly what we advocate based on E. C. Riegel's observations). Ours is not a struggle with other people, but with ideas that once revealed widely to enough people for the monstrosities they are, will cause more people to distance themselves from the organizations these ideas represent (corporations and governments).

2010-11-5: #67 A History Teacher Walks Away from Government School (1 of 2) Preparation for citizenship

This episode begins with the reading of a letter Brett got from a former history teacher (Rich Nastro?) who wanted to come on as a guest and explain his experiences. There's much more in this episode.

2010-11-9: #68 A History Teacher Walks Away from Government School (2 of 2) Is Anyone Learning About Economics in School?

The episode begins with a news piece from just before the year 2000. We have our own ideas concerning the topics discussed; that it does matter how the money is created and who gets to create it, that trading stocks in limited liability “public” corporations in a rigged market has little to do with real economic development or growth. We are treated to more news stories along the path to destruction. The interview with former history teacher, Rich Nastro continues. Much is discussed which is pertinent to what this blog is about. They talk about what happens when and if government money stops flowing; violence and confusion. We all hope for a smooth transition, but what we're about on this blog is setting up something that can be set up to replace the current system which we regard as terminally broken. What passes as expertise from a small government point of view from 2008 (Ben Stein) closes out the episode. We note that he, nor anyone else, gets to the heart of the matter; who gets to create and destroy the money.

2010-11-13: #69 A History Teacher Walks Away ... (Addendum)

A Thanksgiving message. Spotlights Rich Nastro's comments on economics and what really goes on in school from the interview for the previous two episodes.

2010-11-19: #70 What You've Been Missing

2010-11-26: #72 Children of the State (Part 2) – The Treatment Trough

This too is a core podcast in the course, the episode starts with the medication of children with amphetamine derivative drugs. So when your system fails, because it's ill conceived, belongs to a former era in another country (totalitarian Prussia) or just doesn't work to train people how to think, etc. you give em drugs, and oh by the way for all the other drugs they don't want kids (or adults) to use they have a Federal agency, the DEA, wasting people's lives and money. A “stream of consciousness” look at related topics follows, forming a very powerful episode. Brett really expresses himself well on all points and what he is describing is a form of Hell. Think how many problems could be solved by the VEN solution. Of course those in charge, being evil, regardless of whether they are aware of it or not, have no intention of allowing competition. Anyone with half a brain knows where all this will go eventually.

2010-12-17: #74 School News (#5) Police State Pupils – Acquiescence and Aggression

Brett starts with a few stories breaking at the end of 2010. He's speaking to those who have been able to wake up to their situation and hopefully to the ideas of liberty. Were we expecting some other reality when we grew up? Listen to people wilfully accept TSA searches! He continues to read some outrageous news stories about strip searches in schools that most of us would never have imagined possible when we were children. Awareness of these things begins with knowledge of them. The SCOUS has apparently given the nod to these outrageous practices. This was the level we had slid to as of late 2010. There's no reason to believe things have not gotten a lot worse since.

There are people out there who desperately want power over others for whatever reasons and many are attracted to government positions, many to public schools. Deny this if you wish, we'll stand with those who are abused by the system and say that there is NO REASON WHATEVER for any of this to continue. Nevertheless, the mass awakening seems unlikely. Brett suggests that the time or opportunity for this kind of mass awakening has come and gone. All the media needs to do, and they have so many helpers among the entrenched “professionals,” is to JEER anyone who doesn't go along, complete with a cache of rationalizations to try and rationalize everything that is being done.

My own position regarding jeering is to let the jerrer know that he/she is using a jeer to dispute what you or someone else says, writes or thinks (turning the other cheek). After that the next jeer from the same person deserves something stronger, like writing them off your list of friends, shunning them, etc. If anyone wants to jeer, let them be advised that we will take note of their jeers, may even reproduce them for others to see. We will not stand for jeering to go unpunished. It starts there. Have you no integrity, no self respect? Don't you want it? Don't you deserve it? What do those who jeer you into silence and compliance deserve?

Wake up then, you are living in a prison that other people working for the government have made for you. You are not free. Those behind the government, those who run the money, are the only people in society who can be considered free in any sense. If you have been paying attention, you must know that they would never allow a competitor (the or an VEN) to emerge. Anyone with half a brain knows exactly where this will end up.

Meanwhile consider what Brett is reporting about what is allowed in public schools (and probably a few private ones too) and extrapolate it to other areas of society, you'll find them everywhere. By the way, if you notice that all this that Brett is reporting is simply wrong, also realize that NO ONE is making any complaints against it, in fact they are DEFENDING it! Consider what this does to people, if you can. If you think they'll never do this to you, go right ahead and live in your nice pretty illusions, perhaps you'll be lucky and never encounter any trouble. But when they begin doing it to everyone (as they have in other countries and at other times in the past), will you then wake up? Maybe by then it will be too late. Nice gulag they are running already, getting children and adolescents prepared for the larger adult gulag that awaits them. The attraction of aggression is dealt with quite well too; Brett clearly understands some of the most fundamental psychological patterns. This stuff is real, it's real bad, real ugly and until it is raised to the level of mass consciousness (somehow) the evils associated with it will continue ... and get much worse.

It's not new, Brett closes it out with some propaganda (from 1943) about paying taxes. Better save your money (their money) so you can pay your taxes and continue to imagine that you are really free. Pay your taxes so your government can keep making guns and planes and ships (and send people overseas to get killed) while others make money on this war as they have on every previous war.

2010-12-21: #75 Kids Are Not Defective (#10) Gender Roles and Pigeon Holes

There might have been a #9 in this series that I didn't catch. In any case, this one is in sequence and after all this effort is attempting to provide a complete listing. Jason Osborne is mentioned again. Here is a trailer for the movie Chartarum. Here is another trailer.

This episode is asking why there are about 19 times more men than women involved in the liberty movement (and by the way anything having to do with E. C. Riegel or the or an VEN is definitely associated with this movement). Stephanie Murphy of Ladies of Liberty Alliance (LOLA) and Wes Bertrand are Brett's guests. Their discussion builds on the previous episode; acquiescing for women, aggression for men, each being defining roles.

 
2011-1-7: #77 Children of the State (Part 3) – Trapped

Non violent communication is mentioned. That is the objective. Brett talks about having conversations with those who either disagree or may have difficulty seeing things differently. He's discussing the state of public education and he uses the analogy of a discussion between a creationist and an evolutionist. The creationist has suppositions built into his loaded questions which cannot be answered by the evolutionist therefore the evolutionist looses the argument. (The analogy which can easily be understood by most people is unfortunate in that it shows the dialectical nature of such arguments which do not allow for a 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th possible explanation. Creationism and evolutionism may both be inadequate explanations for a number of reasons that were well known to natural scientists of the 18^th century and before, whose perfectly logical causal explanations were thrown to the side during the 19^th. This analogy is boxed in a dialectic which tosses all other possible explanations to the curb. Of course there is the other possibility no one likes to talk about; that there is no simple explanation, or even worse we just do not know.)

I bring these ideas to the forefront here to make a universal point about the nature of dialectic; the probability that all such arguments lead to being hung on the either or horns of a dilemma (some say is a prehistoric animal) and never arriving at anything instrumental in discerning the truth. As now for instance education, if you have been following along, the one scenario that is never even brought up is the little red one room schoolhouse run by the school-marm. In such an environment where students are drawn from wider ranges of ages, real learning did and still can take place. What's the universal solution? There is none, and the framing of the question is itself misleading, expecting the impossible; a one size fits all program that leaves no child left behind, a meat grinder that is not supposed to produce people who can think, but people who can follow orders and attack when given the order, enforcing a Prussian police state model for society. Why else would people be universally dumb, shallow or otherwise incapable of thinking independently of the cultural symbols and messages broadcast through the mainstream media? It's what the central planners in all their evil psychopathic desires to rule over others have decided. It's time to wake up!

Brett reads a report about indigent families and SSI it's relation to marked impairment diagnoses of their children. This is a huge mess, leading to perhaps unforeseen consequences. All these programs are funded through debt, which empowers certain other people and of course all those prescription drugs, the sale of which benefits certain other people, etc. Parasites and predators? Most people can't even see them. That's part of the unenviable job set forth for anyone who does, to try and get others to wake up.

2011-2-14: #79 Youth Bashing – A Generation Ago and Beyond

The history of growing up, factory workers, how children were treated by adults a century and more ago, as slaves or pets. If the former, as soon as one was able to have some independence, one was dragooned into forced labour for little or no money (any of which might have ended up in the hands of the family grown-ups). Some still view children this way today.

The new attitudes toward children changed during the 20^th century. Brett describes the making of children out of adults; adolescence. This is again a core episode full of observations which still affect us today. He makes mention of marketing; how 2 groups of people can be depended upon to want more than they can really use; children and addicts. The implications are discernible. Brett fills out the rest of this excellent episode with media slants that obscure truth rather than revealing it for the usual reasons, to support the favoured solutions.

Homework:

Robert Epstein- The Case Against Adolescence

2011-2-25: #80 Persuasion, Prussia and the Purpose of Education (SAT Writing Class Rant)

This episode is largely derived from a m SAT writing class.

2011-2-27: #81 John Holt – Instead of Education (Freedom Book Club Discussion Part 1 of 2)

This and the next episode features Stefan Molyneux and a cast of people from around the world. There is also an update on Scholars' Academy in New Hampshire featured in School Sucks podcast #40. The state plunked down some money for charter schools and people went for them so this promising private alternative school is now gone.

 

Homework:

John Caldwell Holt- Instead of Education

2011-3-2: #82 John Holt – Instead of Education (Freedom Book Club Discussion Part 2 of 2)

Begins with a quote from John Holt's book.

 

INTERMISSION

#14.3 School Sucks Project Podcasts 41 thru 61

[9-5-13: links corrected]
2010-5-9: #41 American History F-ed, – Part 8 Conclusion (The Natural State?)

Imagine there's no government, it's easy if you try. This one builds on the previous episodes and states some things ... in plain English. Brett throws a sharp rock through Pragmatism, a non-philosophy that has no respect for the truth, only effects. After this, no one in his right mind would ever describe himself / herself as a pragmatist. His short history of government of the mythology of governance, is really humorous, but it's also pretty accurate. Is it natural to want and need leaders? He takes a look at that question.

2010-5-16: #42 School News! (#3): School District Sues Taxpayers To Stop Questions

2012-5-24: #43 Kids Are Not Defective (Introduction)

There is a webpage that lists all 11 podcasts in this series here.

012-6-7: #44 Kids Are Not Defective (#2) The True Self Vs. the Fantasy Family

 

This is the first episode where Brett mentions Richard Grove (Peace Revolution series). This is an instance of networking, something we should all be doing. This monologue deals with some universal subjects, the family and society, nostalgia and dividing lines of then and now. Disciplining of children and child abuse are addressed, “good enough for us” rhetoric.

By the way, so far Brett has never mentioned the Trivium, which he will eventually get through Richard Grove. It is interesting to note this at this point because this is how all of us gain information, from networking through others, something we can do now from wherever we are via the internet, that our parents or grandparents never dreamed of doing. With this new acquaintance and idea sharing, couldn't we decide to rise to a higher level of consciousness?

For instance, it's quite obvious that children and even babies are after all just other people like yourself. Therefore how you would be treated is how you treat them. That's a very old maxim but goes unnoticed simply because we are conditioned to make excuses for some people to have the monopoly on violence (government and public schools as its extension) over us.

This bullying treatment being accepted by us from government authorities, we expect that our bullying of children and adolescents should likewise be accepted without question. Again, those who naively suppose that they can or do have any effect whatsoever on whatever system of government under which they live are quite simply mistaken and if you have been following along, you have already seen other ways of viewing the world than you probably expected; views based on plain facts. The uselessness and waste of time of politics was something E. C. Riegel understood and we take it as obvious, which is why our situation as described is accurate, proved through the trivium; data duly gathered, logically analyzed to remove fallacies and rhetoric arrived at as more reliable (more certain) statements.

Brett's statements are in many ways deeper than these because he focuses on family issues; it all really is our own fault because we let it happen and it gets back to consistent mistreatment of children. Yes, children may have it better on average than they had in prior centuries, but that's not saying anything worthy of excuse. We also happen to know that there are those who view children (and hence people) as necessarily expendable, because of genuine selfishness (for which we now have an instrumental definition); the taking advantage of others for one's own ends.

2010-6-12: #45 Kids Are Not Defective (#3) Curiosity Kills Christianity (and vice-versa)

 

People died for your freedom. The statement is addressed directly. This is a key episode examining American culture and icons. Christian conservatism is examined to show (not too hard) that it has been turned into support for the state (just another form of statism), in ways that have nothing to do with real Christianity or the real Christ at all. By the way, the exact same thing could easily be said of any religion.

In this episode Brett get's autobiographical. This is his authentication, it shows where he came from, what lessons he learned, how he was formed, etc. He describes his Roman Catholic upbringing.

2010-6-13: #45 [Abridged] Christianity Kills Curiosity (and vice-versa)

2010-6-19: #46 Kids Are Not Defective (#4) The Mutually Destructive Exchange

This episode takes on bullying. Bullying as misdirection / psychological projection away from low self-esteem. But that's obvious. More of his life as a teacher; he's really an outsider looking in. That's OK by me, he's a reporter in that case ... and a student pursuing the truth, as we should all be. Of course he goes beyond this, showing bullying as merely one of the products of the education / socializing process. He explains the process of victim being bullies too; uses moral superiority, develops a cutting edge vocabulary, etc. etc. Bullies like to work in groups too, who accept only information that confirms their myths. Childhood trauma and self-hatred as the source of bullying? Most likely, let's be honest. He's examining this as part of the process from infancy to adulthood.

2010-6-20: #47 Kids Are Not Defective (#5) The Incubator

More about myth and school and advice concerning bullying at school. More details concerning students and teachers in a typical school setting. A rather good presentation.

2010-6-28: #48 (Supplemental): The Catastrophe of Conventional Wisdom

Reflections on just completed Porcupine Festival (PorcFest), Lancaster, New Hampshire. He also mentions The Liberty Forum where he spoke, the last two thirds of this episode. Before this he mentions Larkin Rose, who of course was one of the contributors to Richard Grove's Peace Revolution course. More networking. We note that we are seeing this here in late 2012 from more than two years' distance. I did this course index in part on purpose because Brett interested me enough that I figured I'd start from the very beginning, so to speak, and “read” him, considering that knowing where he'd been, I'd have a much better idea of what he's currently doing. This amounts a to a kind of catching up process that I often employ doing research. In reference to the Trivium, this is getting one's grammar together. At this time in the series, Brett is grasping for what the Trivium will later present to him, and everyone else on the quest. Silver Circle Project envisaged telling the truth through animated cartoons. Here is and article from 26 April 2012. Brett runs through a few more names, contacts he made at the festival and then is introduced by Jason Osborn, speaks and takes questions.

2010-7-2: #49 The Free Lunch Project (Massachusetts Infomercial)

2010-7-7: #50 School News! (#4a): Warning Signs of Violence To Come

JROTC: Jr Officers Officers Training Center.

2010-7-17: #51 School News! (#4b): The Mainstream Media: Parrots On the Shoulders of Pirates

More on bullying and then on more subtle levels ... how the media shades things.

2010-7-25: #52 Kids Are Not Defective (#6) Holes

Brett mentions Liberty on Tour as an affiliate. Then Coxsackie-Athens High School is mentioned and he reads a speech by a valedictorian student, Erica Goldson, who tells a Zen story and then goes on to dead pan describe what has happened to her, she was the best slave, test taker, saw every subject of study as work, etc. The whole speech is quoted. It's an amazing speech. She clearly gets it. She mentioned John Taylor Gatto. 15 people had sent it to him! The episode goes on from there. Brett gets a little autobiographical. It's a tremendous episode.

2010-8-12: #53 Kids Are Not Defective (#7) Drapetomania

Total Transformation commercial buzzed out, then Brett talks about slavery. Morality to practicality. Slavery, the slaves' compulsion to flea captivity, slavery ended soon after. Similar arguments were made for later institutions; schools, where teenage rebellion is now a mental illness, treated by drugs, etc. all to conform obedience to authorities. This episode features Brett's interview of Dr. Bruce E. Levine. This is a very revealing discussion!

2010-8-15: #54 Keys (Instalment #4): Emergence (w/ Erica Goldson) 

Excerpt from the valedictory speech quoted in #52 as it was delivered by the author, Erica Goldson. Brett describes the tunnel of education. This episode features Brett's interview of Erica Goldson, 2010 Coxsackie-Athens High School valedictorian.

Homework:

John Perkins- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

2010-8-23: #55 Kids Are Not Defective (#8) A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far, Far Away...and Today

 

The topic is heroism. Brett shows us who the heroes of the day typically are, the heroes of government school, psychopathic sociopaths, those who claim to know what's best for tens of millions of other people, those who are willing to shed other people's blood to get their way, and to whom we are to feel gratitude for saving us. He correctly sees this as part of a sinister process to deprive students, who become us, of access to knowledge of the common virtues.

What Brett and others would like to assume, because they are usually atheists, is that these virtues are purely rational and discernible on rational realistic grounds. If that be so then basic morality and ethics is also rational; right and wrong are knowable and measurable quantities, etc. But that may not mean that all people are capable of acknowledging, learning or accepting this basic rationality. Such things may or may not be provable for everyone. We might know more after we see the people who emerge from such schools as described in episode #40 of this series.

Another question begged by all of this is into what kind of a world, what kinds of jobs / livelihoods, is the education system training people for? It's easily contended that the education process cannot train any more cookie cutter people than the present fascist corporatist government structures can absorb. This of course leads to the present “musical chairs” economy of genocide by a passive aggressive policy, the “gee whiz” response of the welfare and social security bureaucracies to the economic “losers” who didn't figure out that the best slots in the present society go to those who figured out that their business was to become wolves and find sheep to sheer and devour.

Of course Brett's talk is on a far deeper more personal level than this. It's about basic stuff like self worth. Brett's guest speaker is Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain Radio, certainly among the more interesting of the many of Brett and Richard Grove's guests. Stefan and Brett discusses heroism.

2010-9-3: #56 (Supplemental): Brett Veinotte On Liberty Conspiracy With Gardner Goldsmith

Brett on Gardner Goldsmith's Liberty Conspiracy show.

2010-9-4: #57 Kids Are Not Defective (#9) Relationships: Conformity and Convenience

2010-9-12: #58 (Supplemental): Brett Veinotte On Gnostic Media With Jan Irvin

This marks the first time Brett ever brings up the Trivium. The networking continues. Jan Irvin and Richard Grove are both key contributors to all these re-education efforts, and hopefully there will be many more.

2010-9-27: #59 Escape From Imaginationland (1 of 3) - The Set-Up

This episode (and those that follow) deals with situations where you have comprehended and understood something new and were faced with dealing with those who have already finished learning all they ever want to learn and believe that what you are talking about is either stupid or crazy. While perhaps people want to be good, more people are tired of the lives they have to live and resent others pointing out where they have failed. That's not too surprising, since most people by the time they get to be ... getting on in age, just want a little peace and quiet. Sorry to say maybe, but it's true; most people do not really or often like or appreciate helpful information coming to them from others, and it's something that gets worse the older one gets until one gets used to the times of one's life and basically throws up one's hands and says, “enough, I don't want to fight anymore.”

It starts when either one of the two following points are attempted with most people; 1) they resent being told they are slaves when they believe themselves to be free becasue they have been told this all their lives and accepted it without question and 2) they resent being told that the heart and soul of their government, their nation, is sick and based on fallacies or worse and needs to be moved away from. “Easy to say for you,” they will reply, because the economy where they live has already been so adversely affected through government actions (known or unknown by them) and they just want to live their lives as best they can without having to worry that the little reliable money they have to rely on from government or other sources stops flowing. As Brett says, to these people, they live in impervious mental houses that are immune from having any new inconvenient doors to understanding opened to them. Brett is saying that the goal of management is the continuance of fantasy, the moving pictures on the walls of Plato's cave. So Brett is dealing with these issues, or trying to so this is really his story. Each of us has our own. He's focusing on empathy even when it's likely that he'll never find it.

Homework:

Paulo Freire- Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Robert Epstein- The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen

2010-9-29: #60 Escape From Imaginationland (2 of 3) - The Emotional Incentives of Fantasy 

This podcast is the first where Brett and Richard Grove are together, this episode focuses on trying to find the source of people's dissatisfaction; perhaps it's not (for Americans) their presidents, although our expectations are usually ridiculously high. We hear a lot of quotes from a lot of recent presidents and those who support them. We hear a lot of dates listed, things have not changed. We hear stirring words on many noble and honourable sounding subjects, but there is no change.

With all due respects, Brett is doing what everyone does, focus on the fronts, the things people say publicly because those things can be verified, the thoughts and spoken words of those who make deals in private are never heard and cannot be verified, therefore they are ignored. In fact, one can't really blame most people because of the things I mentioned in the last series of comments. People have no idea of political freedom and most do not want to know. So are they free? No, but they don't want you to tell them they are slaves.

This is another very good discussion with one of the personalities that emerge in these podcasts; Richard Grove, who gets a lot of my comments for these podcasts concerning people's natural resistance to new and threatening ideas. They talk about keeping emotions in because that's what most people have been trained since their childhoods into doing. Statism becomes what people need to believe to survive rather than accepting that this is a fantasy that relegates them to the status of a child forever subservient to the state's nanny management. Pseudo self esteem from being part of the statist racket is another usual response to dealing with this reality. This conversation is deep and full of implications.

Homework:

Stefan Molyneux- Real-Time Relationships: The Logic of Love

2010-10-4: #61 Escape From Imaginationland (3 of 3) - The Most Successful Criminal Gang in History

We continue with Richard Grove discussing things with Brett and later Brett discusses things with Wes Bertrand. One point they make and address is how government is defined in a government textbook as the legitimate use of FORCE. Beyond that you aren't to bother.

We've all heard plenty over the years about people needing to change. Well maybe, but the facts are clear that people do not like being faced with underlying principles that demonstrate conclusively that there is NO DIFFERENCE between a government and a criminal gang. Legitimacy of government right to use FORCE therefore is assumed, not based on any rational principles whatsoever. I have gotten used to Richard Grove's definitive approach to political thinking, his read is clear and direct; he looks right through their scams. Obviously I would like to find and hear more people think, talk and act like him, but we are all on slightly different stages of awakening and radicalization.

What will we discover over the next year that will change our perspectives so that we will regard our previous position as untenable or even stupid? Around each corner there is always something new to learn that can change your life forever. It comes as a great challenge for most who were dragged through school, dragged through life, doing something pointless to them personally for years, just in order to get paid so they could go buy something useful or even essential to themselves (that was in all likelihood made by slave labour in some foreign country) to give up their addiction to notions that they want to believe that governments are instituted to look after them, rather than actually being self-serving organizations that can only care first and foremost about themselves and those private factors that support them, which live as literal economic parasites on the rest of humanity and claim for themselves the “legitimate” use of FORCE. There's a lot more good stuff in this episode.

Homework:

Ayn Rand- For The New Intellectual
Wes Bertrand- Psychology of Liberty

INTERMISSION

#14.2 School Sucks Project Podcasts 21 thru 40

[9-5-13: links corrected]
2009-12-28: #21 Keys (Instalment One) The Decentralization of Information & Communication

2010-1-2: #22 (Supplemental) School Sucks, On A Student's Works Cited

2011-3-7*: #23 Collective Education (A Listener e-mail)

*This podcast references “episode10” which means it was created around the same time, and posted on YouTube a year later. This episode provides a discussion of private (Catholic) vs. public school education. Accreditation is mentioned as a method to ensure state standards and this ... unwarranted scam intended to enforce conformity ... applies to private as well as public schools. Among schools of higher education in the United States, only Harvard University has traditionally run as unaccredited (that too may have changed). It is unlikely that any well known or long established private school is unaccredited. His comments concerning the difference between learning and training are among the most important concepts to acquire from this podcast.

2010-1-12: #24 American History F-ed (Series Introduction)

Brett calls this episode 11, so we are not missing anything. The subject is American history in collective (public or private) schools. He describes most people's ideas of history being the hero stories we were all told as children. By the time we reach our teens and are involved in the present, we lose our interest in real history. His words against mysticism are worth considering. He describes his own experiences with students and his awakening. Each one of us may have one of these, which I presume is one reason why you are bothering to read this ... and listening to these podcasts ... rather than going along with the crowd, much of which remain fast asleep.

 

2010-1-19: #25 American History F-ed – Part 2 (The Way)

Under the light of the present podcasts, the news story about someone who failed to register their children with the local public school district but homeschooled them instead should resonate differently. Where is the outrage? It's been schooled out of us. The way American history is told, as a story, enables the state (backed to the hilt by the elites) to exert its violent power so that the average citizen doesn't even realize it. Brett also lays the blade to nationalism. What is the American Way? It was invented as one of a number of ways of statism, the worship of the state which always ends in totalitarianism. Psychotic sociopaths who love statism and infest governments must have something nice to cover their evil from public view else they fail. At the end he presents McCain's address at the 2008 GOP convention and then draws comparisons between our times and those before the rise of Hitler.

Homework:

Thomas Di Lorenzo-
Hamilton's Curse, How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution--and What It Means for Americans Today
The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
Lincoln Unmasked: What You're Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe
Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government
How Capitalism Saved America: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present
with James T. Bennett- Official Lies: How Washington Misleads Us

Di Lorenzo may not be the only one (he isn't) but his work presents a good alternative perspective, backed by facts. Again we are listing his books here for interested readers.

2010-1-28: #26 American History F-ed – Part 3 (American Idol Worship)

Brett once again confronts nationalism (literally invented by socialists) and presents it as it really works. He looks at symbols (idols) as the means to hide true intentions of the sociopaths who run things. He looks at the pledge of allegiance, tracing its real history. It's quite revealing. It's myth making and it works because people do believe myths and fables as if they were facts. For nostalgia, hear John Wayne present the pledge.

2010-2-2: #27 American History F-ed – Part 4 (Let's Make A Hero; Abraham Lincoln)

Brett describes the memorials in Washington DC as temples to American heroes, a process that's not unlike what they did in ancient times, when the emperors and kings were often held as gods. Brett and his guest, Gardner Goldsmith, have a discussion of phonics vs. look and say, a method which does not work and encourages illiteracy, therefore there is something going on, ideology, which confounds real learning. Then they focus attention on Abraham Lincoln. The real story is quite other than we expect. Goldsmith maintains that the lionizing of Lincoln was intentional traceable back to the split among the founders leaning in the direction of Hamilton, the pro-Federalists. Henry Clay was a partisan of these interests and Lincoln was his protégé. It's time for a lot of misconceptions concerning Lincoln to be dissolved.

Homework:

Gardner Goldsmith- Live Free or Die: Essays on Liberty by New Hampshire Libertarian

2010-2-6: #28 American History F-ed – Part 5 (Let's Make A Hero; Franklin Roosevelt)

Continuing with the myth making, Brett continues his discussion with Gardner Goldsmith (libertyconspiracy.com). The flow of their conversation is that FDR represented one of many in a progression (from both political parties, so partisan politics does not matter) of those who wanted people to look to greater authority; statism, collectivism and socialism for their answers; addiction to state power. The lionizing of these narcissistic and psychopathic individuals is all related to idol worship (and it promotes these traits in the general population!).

Homework:

Jim Powell-
FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression
Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II
Greatest Emancipations: How the West Abolished Slavery
Bully Boy: The Truth About Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy

Amity Shlaes- The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression

Jeffrey Rogers Hummel-

Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men: A History of the American Civil War
Monetary Lessons from the Not-So-Great Depression

Robert Higgs-

Delusions of Power: New Explorations of the State, War, and Economy
Depression, War, and Cold War: Challenging the Myths of Conflict and Prosperity (Independent Studies in Political Economy)
Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government

2010-2-17: #29 American History F-ed – Part 6 (The War On Fire) 

Brett starts with a repeating cycle, which is real, then considers myths and the people at the centre of them who are used to personify government. He talks with Ian Freeman (host of Free Talk live, Keene, NH or freetalklive.com and freekeene.com) and the topic of their conversation centres around the unintended consequences of government action and how the electoral process is used as a basis for continued government intrusions. Their example is the so called “war on drugs.” The War on Fire was real as it turns out, also the product of government intervention to eliminate ALL forest fires.

 

Homework:

Stephen F. Arno- Flames in Our Forest, Disaster or Renewal?

2010-2-21: #30 (Supplemental): Ian Freeman and I Discuss Action As Education

2010-3-3: #31 Keys (Instalment 2) Leaving Government School
 

This episode centres on an amazing interview with a young man named Jack who “dropped out” of public school and has embarked on his own education centred on unschooling and liberty. He was very articulate and obviously knew himself quite well, unexpected in one so young, but it would not have seemed so in our grandfather's day. To be perfectly blunt about it, this lets us see just how far we have fallen. We know who is squarely to blame for it and we know exactly why they did it; they are the grand parasites and predators, we are the sheep. Question for critical thinking: do we want to follow their known plan, their widely promulgated view of the future for us and for themselves, based on their past record?

Homework:

Grace Llewellyn-
The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education
with Amy Silver- Guerrilla Learning: How to Give Your Kids a Real Education With or Without School
Real Lives: Eleven Teenagers Who Don't Go to School Tell Their Own Stories

Blake Boles-
College Without High School: A Teenager's Guide to Skipping High School and Going to College
Better Than College: How to Build a Successful Life Without a Four-Year Degree

Maya Frost- The New Global Student: Skip the SAT, Save Thousands on Tuition, and Get a Truly International Education

Mary Griffith- The Unschooling Handbook : How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom

John Caldwell Holt- Instead of Education: Ways to Help People do Things Better

Jamie McMillin - Legendary Learning: The Famous Homeschoolers' Guide to Self-Directed Excellence

Cafi Cohen - Homeschooling: The Teen Years: Your Complete Guide to Successfully Homeschooling the 13- to 18- Year-Old

Alex Harris, Brett Harris and Chuck Norris-
Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations

John Taylor Gatto and Thomas Moore-- Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

2010-3-12: #32 School News (#1) The Pledge of Xenophobia and Intolerance

More objections to the pledge of allegiance and more.

2011-3-7: #33 New Hampshire Liberty Forum & FTL Interview

The episode begins with comparisons made between public schools and prisons. Brett introduces The Liberty Forum involved with the Free State movement in New Hampshire. Jason Osborn, who has been mentioned often in previous episodes, is probably what is called in fund raising circles, an “angel” of the School Sucks podcasts, etc. Brett discusses unschooling and the necessity of forming alternatives to the public schools. I presume these would operate as voluntary adjuncts to regular school, but I think they need to examine a direct marketing strategy that is congruent with other alternative ways of thinking about things like alternative economies and alternative money. This is a source podcast with a lot of news, from probably early 2010, even though it wasn't posted to YouTube until 2011. Brett is being interviewed.

2011-3-23: #34 Cary Grove Student Discussion Debate

2010-4-4: #35 American History F-ed – Part 7 (Problem, Reaction, Solution)

This is a first rate foundation for this course. It relies to some extent on previous material and summarizes positions. If you don't listen to any of the other podcasts, please consider listening to this one. Hegel is revisited, and that's as it should be, because this is a core of the philosophy that underlies the operations of the predators. Once you see their pattern, and how stupid we have been, then you recognize it, to get out of its way, not to be fooled by its blandishments, etc. Look at the products of statism, war and death, and recognize that its nature ha never changed.

2010-4-13: #36 (Supplemental) NH Capital Access TV Interview

 

2010-4-19: #37 U Conn-athon! (Students For Liberty Discussion Part 1)

 

2010-4-19: #38 U Conn-athon! (Students For Liberty Discussion Part 2)

2010-4-23: #39 School News (#2) Too Fat to Fight

 

2012-5-2: #40 Keys (Instalment #3) Transition

 

Kate Richards from The Scholars' Academy in New Hampshire is Brett's guest, or maybe he' her's. In any case she seems to be more grounded in the actual doing of education and had a lot of really good advice to give to anyone who would pay attention, including the costs. Avoid the central planner trap. Believe it or not the best solution was and still is the one hundred thousand odd one room schoolhouses that might have been or still could be, within each a mix of ten or twelve kids at various ages from maybe seven to seventeen to one teacher. As time went on, you'd add electives that would have smaller age differentials. That seems to be her model and if think about it, it's very natural. Pupils of different ages in the same ... space for learning ... tends to promote different kinds of relationships based on slight advantages in knowledge and according to Richards breaks the often mean competitive tendencies of same age groupings. Her method has plenty of other advantages too.

INTERMISSION

#14.1 School Sucks Project Podcasts 0 thru 20 & Introduction

[9-5-13: links corrected]
Introduction: A Focus On Education

During our sojourn through the Peace Revolution podcasts, we encountered the School Sucks Project podcasts produced by New Hampshire educator, Brett Veinotte, an associate of Richard Grove. While a page does exist on the internet listing all these podcasts, the inclusion of the podcast initiators makes that page virtually impossible for most people's computers to load. That being the case, and a need for a complete list with links being necessary for everyone's continuing education, and while those involved in the project really do need to continue their work unhampered by having to do these kinds of librarian things, it falls to someone who can (me) to make these podcasts easier to access so that more people can easily find and run them on their ordinary computers, without all the extra memory such tremendously long webpages, with all their audiovisual initiators, would require. Was there another list of these podcasts? There was one of all podcasts up to #60 but none of links worked. This page shall encompass the first 60 of these podcasts. Each successive page will be part of the same numbered series, as was the case with the Peace Revolution podcasts. We are featuring these podcast series here because they provide an essential piece of the puzzle of how (an or the) VEN can emerge in quite literally an alternative reality based economic system, rather than a debt based one.

Each episode in this series seems to be much shorter than the Peace Revolution podcasts, and those episodes which have anything directly related to (the or an) VEN, or in such cases as they provide primary information, will be shown in red. However any association with E. C. Riegel's ideas may be, you should notice that each podcast has something that is at least indirectly related to the main subjects of this blog; if one would describe an alternative trading system, one is dealing with all factors in life. As with the Peace Revolution podcasts, this series will be broken into sections concluded with an INTERMISSION and as usual the remarks which accompany this list of podcasts are mine.

David Burton

Points of contact for the origination of this material are:

http://schoolsucks.podomatic.com
(This is the page that will challenge the memory etc. of the average computer; your machine may lock up on you, requiring a restart, etc.)

or

http://edu-lu-tion.com (schoolsucksproject.com)

and

http://www.tragedyandhope.com

2009-8-5: #0 An Introduction to School Sucks Podcast

An introduction to the subject matter. In process, Brett Veinotte explains the origin of the American public education system, a model for many other school systems around the world. He points out exactly what public school “sucks” out of each and every student who experiences it. This series is not about “reforming” or compromising with others involved with or enmeshed in the system. It's about leaving something that sucks, largely by walking out and away from it, and beginning the process to acquire a real education. Veinotte authenticates himself as a one time classroom private school teacher, who claims there's no real differences in terms of oversight and curriculum from a public school. He describes his experience as a conscience driven trajectory away from the system. My guess is that there are presently tens of thousands of dedicated people out there; people just like Brett, who still want to make a contribution to society by teaching students who are really interested in learning.

You'll notice two things that recur from time to time during these podcast episodes; first Brett always calls John Taylor Gatto, Jonathan Taylor Gatto and secondly, he makes many references to Ayn Rand. Probably John Gatto wouldn't mind, but there are many out there who have plenty of what they consider good reasons for sidelining Rand. These considerations may be the topic of another paper on this blog, but what we want to encourage is to learn from everyone, no matter their faults, taking from them what is valuable and discarding the rest. The result will not be blind acceptance of Rand or Objectivism, but the recovery of a rational basis for a personal philosophy, based on the principles of personal liberty.

2009-12-28: #1 The "Business" Plan

Let's get right back to the beginning; the illegitimate use of FORCE in order to compel a forced sale (theft), for “the public good,” etc. I consider the subject matter of this episode basic to understand acceptable business practices under (the or an) VEN.

 

2009-8-17: #2 Pavement on the Road to Hell.

Focus on government intervention. The road to Hell is paved with centralized planning, which never works according to its stated goals but rather has other consequences which may or may not be foreseen as they benefit some at the expense of others. This episode also reiterates the fallacy of idealism, a perennial lesson that far too many people do not understand, as how could they since they are never encouraged to examine them? Idealism to most seems a sentimental thing or a matter of the emotions, but it lies at the core of ideology and divides people into those with the vision and those who oppose it. Under idealism of one kind or another, taught or encouraged in the public schools as ideals of reality, not reality itself, are floated many scams for blind public acceptance. Most people are not even aware of the appeal and affect of idealism, as if they were, they would never fall for these scams. This particular scam, American public education, is revealed in some of its lurid details. Brett's closing contention, easily proved, is that all centralized systems are essentially immoral. This is something that needs to be appreciated in cold hard logical terms rather than something emotional; ethical right and wrong from which much naturally proceeds accordingly.

 

2009-8-24: #3 The Myth of Democracy & The Illusion of Freedom

Subtitled, A Young Person's Guide to the American Political System. This episode sets down some guidelines for the rest of the podcasts, succinctly that this series will never advocate anything having to do with “repairing” the present public education system; using the system to change the system, itself irrational. Rather than cut down an evil tree, these people, those who may honestly believe in compromise, who accomplish nothing, would have us continue to believe that the present evil tree can be saved simply by pruning a few branches, etc. No thanks. We shan't be any takers. We'll continue to observe E. C. Riegel's dictum that political activism of all kinds is worse than useless. It's a waste of time and energy. Veinotte explains the dangers of the voucher system advocated by some. It's time we throw that idea out too. It's nothing but a political solution.

We don't want anything that prevents anyone from taking a truly independent stance from which to evaluate anything and everything and most importantly to arrive at one's own conclusions, especially concerning things such as state power and politics. Truth being truth, when two or more people recognize the same thing as truth and arrive at it through real objective logical processes (those who claim such do not exist are liars), then real solutions to real human problems are possible despite what some uninformed and personally disinterested parties may claim otherwise as justification to FORCE their ideas on others. Brett makes many points concerning government that deserve further elucidation. He indicates that once the evil tree of public education is revealed for what it is, the mainstream media will be next. We say good riddance to both. It would have been one thing to accept continuing something for the sheer joy of doing so, but neither of these social institutions is so deserving. Both “systems” are already showing signs of stress. It's only a matter of time. I predicted now at least 20 years ago that there would tend to be a natural confluence of education, entertainment and computing across the internet. It is the trend.

2009-9-1: #4 Politics is Force

 
In this blog, if you have been following along, you have become aware of the idea that law = FORCE (Bastiat) and now by implication politics = FORCE. This episode subtitled, A Young Person's Guide to the American Political System, Part Two.

Homework:

Wes Bertrand- Complete Liberty Podcasts: http://completeliberty.libsyn.com

War Is Immoral: http://warisimmoral.com

Michael Franzese- I'll Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse

2009-9-6: #5 Authoritarian Absurdities vs. The Philosophy of Liberty

A Young Person's Guide to the American Political System, Part Three. The magic soap metaphor. The philosophy of liberty is based on self-ownership and extends to the ends of your life. The product of your time, energy and talents is your private property. Voluntary exchanges of property for mutual benefit is exactly where we want to go with (the or an) VEN. Violations of life, liberty and property are murder, slavery and theft, no matter who does it; governments are chief practitioners of all three. Since no one has these as rights, giving them over to any third party (government) is invalid and irrational.

2009-9-17: #6 Conformity & Compliance

 
Embedded lessons in public education: reflexive obedience and fixed responses, make children conform into groups, encourage relinquishment of individuality. The society we live in today is the result. The story of civilization is as a repeating looping story. Meanwhile we have a lack of real education. The goal of public education is public management 101; preparation for the social matrix.

 

2009-9-26: #7 (Hidden Lesson One) Obedience is a Virtue?

This is a basic component of the course. It is not about accepting anything contrary to what you already think you believe or understand. But in order to become aware of the full really obvious and rational / logical connections, you may need to play this one more than once.

We have encountered Ayn Rand before this. I want to point out, as all those who have put these courses together have done already, that they regard Rand and her philosophy, Objectivism, as a worthwhile field for selective investigation. Rand's faults and Objectivism's failure as well, are tied up with arguments from authority and a kind of self-imposed obedience to authority, even consisting of one's imagined peers, as strict as any military code. Strip that, plus her casual misanthropy away, and you have a modernized Aristotelian rationality from which to build a solid personal philosophy of liberty.

2009-9-26: #8 Conformity & Compliance vs. Conscience & Consistency

 

Continues directly from the last episode.

2009-10-3: #9 (Supplemental) Brett on Freedomain Radio

 
Brett Veinotte and Stefan Molyneux. Minarchism is mentioned. This is a philosophical approximation of a minimal government Minarchists supposedly argue that the state has no authority to use its monopoly on FORCE to interfere with free transactions between people, and that the state's sole responsibility is ensuring that contracts between private individuals and property are protected through a system of law courts and enforcement. Minarchists generally believe a laissez-faire approach to the economy is most likely to lead to economic prosperity. Even Molyneux would reject this form of government as prone to corruption. They discuss the predations of the minorities who tend to form governments and the reasons they work on controlling the productive majorities. Relativism and ethics are both discussed. Power disparities based on relative ethics is discussed. Ethical relativism favours elitism. They also talk about how people avoid thinking if they can and how people use categories to dismiss difficult ideas. Veinotte describes his escape from Minarchism and his entry into the podcast market in connection with Wes Bertrand. All arguments against the idea that government always operates from FORCE are invalid, sophistic or spurious.

 

Homework:

Wes Bertrand- Complete Liberty, The Demise of the State and The Rise of Voluntary America

2009-10-10: #10 (Hidden Lesson Two) The Silencing of the Self

He calls this episode 8. The question is why uniformity? Conformity built on obedience is considered desirable as a requirement for rulers of all ages who regard people as inherently dangerous to their power. Autocratic sociopaths and court intellectual elitist central planners are linked up as both not wanting to be confronted by non-conformists, therefore mass training in conformity. Complexities aside, the purposes are the same.

Homework:

Murry Rothbard- For A New Liberty

2009-10-18: #11 First Person Plural Pronouns and YOU

He calls this episode 8 part 2 and later says this is the first part of a two part series on this subject; Wes Bertrand and Brett Veinotte discuss Ayn Rand and collectivism. Rationality, morality and justice are sacrificed to conformity to standards, expectations and groups. Psychological payoffs for conforming to would-be authority constitute an inversion regarding learning; one is learning to obey not to learn anything about reality so as to become independent. Collectivism is subjugation to the group therefore conformity is required. Statism is the religion of the age, not to be questioned because it would defy “the common good” which none but the privileged leaders could decide.

Homework:

Ayn Rand- Anthem
Coronet Instructional Films on YouTube (late 1940's - 1950's)

2009-10-22: #12 Why The Future Will Not Be Like 1984

 
After some preliminary remarks, Wes Bertrand and Brett Veinotte continue their discussion. This episode closes with some hopeful remarks from various news sources. And some unmasking of current conditions brought about through collectivism and governments.

Homework:

Ayn Rand and others- Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
Grace Llewellyn- Teenage Liberation Handbook, How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education

2009-10-15: #13 (Supplemental) Brett Vienotte with Peter McCandless – The Peter Mac Show

2009-10-15: #14 (Supplemental) Expansion & Activation

2009-11-11: #15 (The Third Hidden Lesson) The Installation of Indifference

This train of thought started with obedience, then silencing the self, now installing indifference (apathy), which is a natural outcome from the other two. But apathy is not natural. What happened to why? In another blog post, I made mention of the attack on asking why. The example came from a religious source, but both organized religion and government are definitely opposed to individual people asking why. Brett Veinotte really gets into it in all the lurid details, including what “the system” really thinks of those who don't or wont comply.

Homework:

John Caldwell Holt-

How Children Learn
Learning All the Time

How Children Fail

Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of Homeschooling
Instead of Education: Ways to Help People do Things Better

Never Too Late: My Musical Life Story

What Do I Do Monday?

Freedom and Beyond

Teach Your Own: A Hopeful Path to Education

Escape from Childhood

Instead of Education

The Underachieving School

Silverfire

2009-11-17: #16 Working Against Apathy

Brett Veinotte asks a question, “how good am I at what I do?” leading eventually to “what am I supposed to do?” He discusses imbedding a real education into a regular curriculum, conflict between doing the school thing vs. getting a real education by taking an active part in the process. What is the role of an educator?

2009-11-22: #17 The State's Facade of Honour and Benevolence

Crimes are listed, but they are excused when perpetrated by the state, confirming once again how often most people separate the state from its use of FORCE. This is a key podcast because of the sources it lists (not included here). The focus is on New Hampshire, where Brett lives, and what was going on there at the time. Brett and Kath Hanning? are discussing police harassment of persons associated with the Free State Project. http://freestateproject.org/ The audio could have been better, it's difficult to hear the person Brett is interviewing (you can make the adjustment by using headphones as Brett is on one side and Kath? is on the other). I wish they had been clearer about the various cases they were discussing, but apparently there are many harassment and imprisonment cases involving acts of civil disobedience. None of these stories ever make the news! Why not? It's pretty easy to figure out.

 

2009-12-3: #18 (Supplemental): Caribbean Holiday Spectacular!

2009-12-3: #19 (Supplemental) The Civil Disobedience Onion (Peeling Layer One)

This discussion is if anything more important than the previous episode.

2009-12-18: #20 The Hidden Lesson of School (Conclusion)

Yes, you heard right, Brett calls this episode 10 though it's listed as #20. Brett visits a few public schools, his reviews, how the teaching job drains energy out of its practitioners.

INTERMISSION