The Literary Life | Big Tech Purge a Blessing in Disguise?

 

Having begun the discussion on one of my three blog themes for 2021, the preservation of liberty, I will now introduce the second, the literary life. When I originally determined my themes, I didn't recognize a connection between these two concepts; but now their close relation strikes me as startling. Perhaps I can open the conversation of the literary life by sharing my own experience in a world before the dominance of the internet and social media on people's lives. 

The majority of folks now seem to live their lives directly on social media and do not know how to function otherwise. It's a true addiction. But earlier this week I deleted my Facebook accounts, and it really didn't hurt! Because of what this "platform," which is really a publisher, recently pulled, in cahoots with other Big Tech companies, I could rise above the personal and leave on principle, an ability that I can attribute to having once lived a literary life. 

As an English major in college, I learned that literature teaches us about life and the human condition, and that by reading high quality works that have stood the test of time, we can gain wisdom and understanding. Additionally, by analysing the ideas found in great works of literature, philosophy, and religion, then developing a thesis and arguing our point in writing based upon the text, we grow in our critical thinking skills. 

Today the focus is on information, and the power to control it, and this information largely comes in the form of video. I enjoy watching YouTube videos myself, and I spend much more time on those channels than I do reading blogs online or consuming print books. Even when people do read books, it's often on a hand-held device, so an inordinate amount of time is spent in front of screens. People work on computers, check their social media constantly, sit for long hours in front of the television, and have very little time left for more traditionally human pursuits. 

When I lived alone for most of my 20s in the 1990s, I had the bare minimum of technology available at the time. My computer came from an office that had replaced their system. All it did was spreadsheets, which I didn't use, and word processing. I typed my poems on it, saved them, and printed them out. That's all I used it for. To access my hotmail account, I had to walk down the street to the coffee shop and sign up for time on the shared computer. There were maybe two people that I emailed. I bought a cell phone, which only made and received calls, and I used it predominantly in the car. I don't remember if it even had texting. None of my jobs involved computer work, except for being a library clerk, and that was in a situation of interacting directly with people. Every job I had required that I work in direct service of others, in person and face-to-face. 

In my free time I took a lot of walks, watched a little TV on the 3 or 4 channels that my 13-inch television was able to receive, went to see movies, plays, and art exhibits, wrote poetry and went to poetry readings, hung out at bookstores and coffee shops, spent time with friends, and regularly went out dancing. Oh, and I read a ton and wrote daily in my journal. I took classes to learn things like calligraphy and writing for children, in person, and then became a student of belly dance after I was married in 2002. I was a well-rounded woman with a variety of interests and was comfortable both in social situations and by myself. 

As a mother, I homeschooled my child in the Charlotte Mason method, which is based in classic literature and nature study in the field. Lots of time with living books, engaging mind-to-mind with the ideas found in them, and as many hours as possible spent outdoors were emphasized in Miss Mason's philosophy. So there is always a cognitive dissonance experienced when people assume that we homeschool online. My daughter, now 16, uses an online math program and some other online resources, but the bulk of her learning comes straight from actual books. 

Unfortunately, I have in great part lost the comforts and benefits of the literary life I once so much enjoyed, and I spend a great deal too much time on my Kindle. I can only imagine the self-imposed isolation of life on a smart phone!

Our path to preserving liberty is not ultimately going to be found in big government, public schools, Big Tech, or mainstream media. It's going to be found in libraries, homeschooling, private schools, churches, and local governments and communities. It has to start in the home first and foremost, and with the cultivation of our own minds and the development of character and virtue in the classic sense. It has to do with the re-education of our senses to wake us up to the real world around us and the redirecing of our hearts to the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. We have to get back to Nature, to self-reliance, to in-person interactions, and to a literary life. 

Perhaps we will find that the Big Tech purge of conservative voices will be a blessing in disguise. If more and more of us find the courage to leave the likes of Facebook and Twitter, and to cut our dependence on social media even when we find good alternatives; and we reinvigorate ourselves physically, intellectually, creatively, emotionally, and spiritually in the ways human beings have done for thousands of years, we will have the edge when we we need it most. And that time is fast approaching. 

In upcoming posts, we will continue to explore the connections between the preservation of liberty and the literary life, and how this all finds its foundation in the domestic monastery. 

Big Tech Treachery | A Patriots' Underground Railroad?

 

I'm sure you've all heard by now about Friday's Big Tech purge. Twitter kicked President Trump off its platform and even deleted his tweets from the official POTUS account. The app for Parler, a free speech alternative to Twitter, was removed by both Google Play and Apple; and as of midnight tonight, Parler's website server will be taken down by Amazon, effectively wiping it off the internet. Parler says it has plenty of others competing to be its new server, so there is still some hope.  

Facebook also made sweeping purges of users and groups, most notably for me the #WalkAway Campaign, a group of over 500,000 people, founded by Brandon Straka. All of the group's admins' personal accounts were wiped as well. #WalkAway was the most diverse group you can imagine, with people of all races and ethnicities, many members of the LGBT community, teenagers to senior citizens, folks from all walks of life. The common ground is that they have all walked away from the Democrat Party, and the group's purpose was to provide a place for testimonials and support. #WalkAway has no history of violent rhetoric or action, either online or in person. They broke no Facebook rules. 

Brandon is working right now to get his group reinstated on Facebook, but he realizes it's time to find a new home. He asked for viewers at his YouTube channel to find the group at clouthub.com. I joined CloutHub today myself, and it looks like a user friendly, alternative social media platform for Patriots. Brandon had previously asked followers to sign up at the #WalkAway website for the email list, only to have Leftist trolls report him as spam, resulting in getting kicked him off his email provider! 

On the news media front, CNN has launched a campaign to pressure cable providers to no longer host Fox News, News Max, and One America News! Both the social media and news media giants have been engaged in censorship and information manipulation for a long time. With the Democrat Party soon to be in nearly complete power of the federal government, the Communist coup will be a done deal. It's the end of the Republic as we know it. But are all the nails on the coffin pounded shut?

I doubt the effort to remove Fox News, OAN, and News Max will be successful, and even if it is, there are other options, such as LifeSite News, Church Militant, and EWTN, all conservative Catholic outlets. YouTubers such as Timothy Gordon, Patrick Coffin, the Rubin Report, Candace Owens, Dr. Taylor Marshall, and Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire group are all good resources for news and commentary. (Please note that I don't necessarily agree with all opinions or viewpoints expressed on these platforms.) Of course, conservatives on YouTube have also been enduring a great deal of censorship, needing to resort to speaking in code in some cases, so alternatives to that platform will likely be necessary too. I've heard Rumble mentioned in this regard. 

Just as Patriots may need to geographically relocate, concentrating themselves in red states, we will need to regroup online, finding new venues for communication. I think email, which has been making a comeback, is going to be instrumental as a way to ensure privacy and communicate to large groups of people. I've recently started using Proton Mail, a secure server out of Switzerland, and I'm very happy with it. 

One caveat to all this is that the conservative movement, by which I don't mean the Republican Party specifically, must remain entirely peaceful (while keeping in mind that self-defense could become necessary). Violent extremists should not be welcome. What happened at the Capitol last week did nothing to further the "Patriot Party" cause and gave Big Tech just the excuse they needed to launch their assault. 

I'm thinking in terms of a Patriots' Underground Railroad to get us off the "Democrat Plantation," as conservative author and activist Candace Owens puts it in Blackout. We need to find a new home court advantage. Mixing it up on platforms like Facebook and Twitter is counterproductive. No, we don't want to get lost in our own echo chamber like radical Leftists are, but we desperately need the support of like-minded communities, the ability to speak freely and safely, and places to organize our plans. 

Since Blogger is owned by Google, even this little corner of Organic Mothering may eventually have to find a new home...

The Preservation of Liberty

 

In my Jan. 4 post, I listed three themes that Organic Mothering will be centered around this year. Considering the storming of the Capitol in D.C. during the Electoral College hearings yesterday, and the imminency of the Biden/Harris presidency, I will begin with the theme, the preservation of liberty. 

Like tens of millions of other Americans, many of whom believe that we just witnessed a fraudulent presidential election, I see disaster awaiting us with the new regime. The idea of the USA becoming a satellite of the Chinese Communist Party no longer seems like a dystopian fantasy. The Biden family has close ties to China, as was unearthed via the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Joe Biden's will be a highly compromised administration at best. As vice president, Kamala Harris will have the power to break any tie in the Senate, which is now split 50/50 along party lines. The House has a Democrat majority. So the Executive and Legislative Branches will be under nearly unchecked Leftist control. The only possible checks and balances I see would be sane Senate Democrats brave enough to vote against any overreach or unconstitutional moves by the Exective Branch, and the supposedly conservative majority of the Supreme Court. That isn't much to bank on. 

With the federal government basically lost, what can Patriots do to preserve liberty? The best plan seems to be to revert our focus to states' rights and local governments. As Catholic author and YouTuber Timothy Gordon has said, we need to think of each state as it's own Republic. Here is his most recent video, which outlines the plan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8AOib988Ms.

Gordon recommends the introduction and first two chapters of his own book, Catholic Republic, to understand the concepts of nullification and interposition, laid out by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, respectively. Our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, wrote "The Kentucky Resolution," and James Madison, our fourth president and author of our U.S. Constitution, wrote "The Virginia Resolution." Their concepts and resolutions reflect the same basic premise, and as these men are fathers of our nation, they can by no means be dismissed as radicals. 

I have ordered Gordon's book and will post my reflections down the road. In the meantime, get it ordered yourself and read the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, which are both short and can be found together here: http://jackiewhiting.net/ap/TLdocs/KYVAres.htm.

Gordon sees nullification/interposition as first steps to blocking federal tyrrany. He seems to feel that secession movements are in our future. Though he stops short of saying the word in the above video, it is strongly implied. His belief is that Patriots living in blue states need to move to red states ASAP, in preparation for the fight to come. The COVID-19 response has provided us a good picture for which states are the most determined to stay free. 

Godspeed, Rita Michele

A Clutter Free January: Kitchen Drawer

Today I officially began my kitchen project for "a clutter free January," which I wrote about yesterday. My kitchen is actually already in reasonably good order, but there are some things that could be improved and made more functional. I started with the drawer next to my refrigerator. 

Our dining room used to be right next to the kitchen, separated by an open doorway. We use cloth napkins regularly, so they were kept in the dining room. That room also served as my husband's home office, but alas, he would not keep it neat on his own, and he didn't exactly appreciate my efforts to keep him organized. As such, I decided to convert my home dance studio into our dining room, which we've been loving. But retrieving the napkins from the home office has been inconvenient, so today I moved them into the kitchen, in the cabinet area seen at top. 

The drawer was previously a kind of junk drawer, but it held important paperwork for the dogs and house, and also odds and ends like seed packets, pictures, magnets, and recipes. I had forgotten about these recipes so never used them. I sorted through them, recycled what I didn't want, and put what remained with my recipe books. These will further need to be dealt with, but that will be a project for another day.

Once the drawer was empty, I cleaned it out and then transferred the napkins, plus a set of cloth place mats. The paperwork and some of the other odds and ends were swapped into the drawer in the home office. Items that did not belong either place either found a new home, or they were taken upstairs to my bedroom annex for future organizing. Here is the finished drawer: 

This drawer is the closest one in the kitchen to the dining room, so it will be perfectly convenient now to grab the napkins to set the table! The only drawback is that when this drawer is opened, it grazes the refrigerator handle, so I can no longer hang a towel there. But there is always a towel hanging from the oven door handle, and I also keep a work towel on the counter, which I often dry my hands on anyway. I don't anticipate any problem with having one less kitchen towel. 

Originally I planned to set a timer for 15 minutes to work on this project, but I decided to just do it, however long it took. I didn't anticipate it being a terribly long project. However, setting a timer is a great way to help you get started on a chore you don't really want to do, so I recommend it. If you don't finish in the first 15 minutes, you can set the timer for another right away, or you can go do something else for 15 minutes and then come back to it. 

Please share in the comments if you are joining me for decluttering this month, and whether you are starting on your kitchen or somewhere else. I would love to read about your progress! 

My 2021 Blog Themes | A Clutter Free January

 (old monastery turned into a home, homeworldlife.com)

I was delighted today to watch Jennifer L. Scott's first video of the new year at "The Daily Connoisseur" and to learn about a cooperative project of YouTube vloggers called "A Clutter Free January," begun by Dawn at "The Minimal Mom." Another of the participants is "Diane in Denmark," and she has a playlist of all of the videos so far. They have begun with their kitchens. 

I'm joining in this project, not as a vlogger myself, but just to get inspiration and focus my efforts, as I had already decided to set decluttering tasks for my home this month. And this fits nicely into one of my blog themes for 2021, the domestic monastery. My other two themes will be the preservation of liberty and the literary life. I will outline the basics of each theme in the days to come. 

We experienced so many alarming things in 2020, which unfortunately promise to continue well into this new year, and many people are exhausted, frazzled, in grief, and very uncertain of the future. I think the Catholic principle of subsidiarity can help us to navigate these tumultuous times, by teaching us to put first things first, and to begin with what we can most easily and effectively influence and control. 

I will keep it short today, and simply encourage you to check out the videos for A Clutter Free January posted so far. Ruminate on some plans for how you can get started in your own home, beginning today with just 10 minutes in the kitchen, which Diane in Denmark can guide you through.

Peace and joy to you this New Year!!

 

COVID Finally Hits My County | Masks and Magical Thinking

 

For most of the COVID pandemic, my northwest Ohio county has been a safe place to be, with low numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. But the rural areas of the state are being hit hard now too, and tomorrow grades 7 through 12 of our local school will go to remote learning. There is concern that our hospitals will not have enough beds and health care staff, and the governor has imposed a statewide curfew, with businesses closed and citizens grounded at home between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. 

So how do I feel now that we actually have reason to be especially cautious in my area? Not much different. I have always taken this seriously and will continue to do so. At the same time, I don't think lock downs, curfews, masks, etc. have had any positive effect, and the cure of draconian government protocols has certainly been worse than the disease. The toll on people's livelihoods and mental health and the loss of constitutional freedom that we may never get back are too high a price to pay for the illusion of "staying safe" and "slowing the spread." 

The CDC itself presented a study showing that the vast majority of people who got COVID always wore masks (over 70%), and that under 4% of those who got sick did not wear masks. Read about it here: https://thefederalist.com/2020/10/12/cdc-study-finds-overwhelming-majority-of-people-getting-coronavirus-wore-masks/?fbclid=IwAR3Zsbj39hbyxYjLU0HSJ2iEkZ-zkREkEe7w2FbemM-sNwYcNXN5pSLuN_c. 

Yet another distinguished doctor in the field came out recently saying that the masks and distancing are useless, and all that can effectively be done is to protect the most vulnerable (https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-youtube-censors-lifesite?fbclid=IwAR1w7WZTYFg0Lak7f4Nv0slGfofjp15By0tl7MoCbDrJIx73IjVXdSA6MOM).  The audio recording of his statements on YouTube was removed, with Life Site News, which had posted it, having their channel closed down for a week, with the threat of permanent deletion. 

So why are we still wearing masks? Why have we been robbed for the past 9 months of our 1st Ammendment rights and our ability to make the best decisions for ourselves, our families, and our local communities that we can? Why is big tech allowed such prevalent censorship? Perhaps our government leaders are simply power hungry. Some clearly are. I think others are in denial. They are being told by a very limited number of "experts" that these safety protocols work, and that the only reason we still have a problem is that citizens aren't being responsible. 

I suppose a small minority of folks have thrown caution to the wind, ironically, the most draconian government leaders being among the most personally irresponsible. But the great majority of folks have done their very best to follow the mandates, and if these measures were going to work, they would have done so long before now. 

My local school had all staff and students wearing masks even during gym and recess, which should have been exempt according to Gov. DeWine's own orders. So even with precautions above and beyond, we still had a significant breakout. Everywhere I have gone in the two largest towns in the county, I have seen very few people not wearing masks. I assumed that they, like myself, had health exemptions. 

As I suspected months ago and feel I have seen confirmed to be true, nothing can be done to stop this airborne virus, and the widespread use of masks and social distancing has likely lowered our immune responses and harmed our respiratory function. We have made it all that much worse for ourselves, and between disagreements over COVID and the election (which are no doubt connected issues), many have lost their support and connection with family and friends--an emotional loss on top of the physical separation. 

We have to stop this magical thinking, this grand illusion of control. Businesses and schools should stay open, most of us should toss the masks aside, and while being prudent and protecting our most vulnerable, we should control what we actually can and make steps forward to return to our normal lives and a free society. Going backward is not the answer and will result in nothing but increased devastation. If people don't start standing up and demanding their due sovereignty, we may never get to the point of being able to again. Especially if we are facing a Biden presidency, which I pray to God we are not, there is the very real and terrifying possibility of a Communist United States. 

Conservative Women | There's a Place for Us

 

I watched portions here and there of the confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court last week. Nothing stood out to me like the comments from Senator Lindsey Graham (R--S. Carolina), when he told Amy that her confirmation will signal to conservative women that there's a place for them. What I heard him saying was that there's a place for me, and women like me, in this country. I've thought about this every day since, including watching Barbara Streisand sing "Somewhere" on YouTube!

Can we indeed find a new way of living? Amy's confirmation will surely be a step in the right direction. But if Joe Biden wins the presidency in November, and he packs the court, which seems to be the plan, I feel like we will be left in a very dark place, with an expansion certain of the culture of death, socialist Marxism, and mob rule destroying our democratic Republic and its rights and principles like a flesh eating bacteria. 

We need a plan, in our own minds and families, if President Trump is not re-elected. Ultimately, we cannot seek a savior outside of us, except Jesus Christ, and we must steep ourselves in the light, love, and freedom of the Gospel. To what extent our opposition to tyranny and totalitarianism is either quiet, or public and active, is an individual choice, but we have to be willing to stand firm in that resistance, gather the strength of Our Lord firmly within ourselves, and not wait to see what happens. Conservative women, especially, must insist that there is a place for us, a place of honor and respect, and stop accepting unacceptable behavior. 

I've seen no end to leftist liberal women supporting one another, defending even lewd behavior and the abortion genocide, and pretending like any views differing from theirs are intrinsically wrong and anti-woman. Just one case in point was the lascivious Super Bowl half-time show put on this year by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, complete with "dancing" that drew special attention to the crotch, and camera close-ups to accentuate it. JLo gyrated on a stripper pole and ended that performance in a gesture as if she were on the cross of Christ. 

On so many levels it was a disgusting show, and even my teenage daughter had the good sense to characterize it as "gross." Yet my impressions of the show posted to Facebook led to responses implying that as a dance artist myself, and a middle aged woman like the performers, I ought to have appreciated their athleticism. It was even suggested that I felt threatened and jealous. 

My opinion, as is so typical of how conservative women are treated, was invalidated. I saw lots of posts in my newsfeed defending against the backlash Jennifer and Shakira received from many people, who expected a family friendly show, and got nothing of the sort. As supposedly strong feminine role models, these women were lauded as deserving of being lifted up, just because they were women, and especially because they were also Hispanic. 

What a difference conservative women could make if they banded together and unapologetically, and without concessions to diplomacy in order to be "nice," stood up for what we value. The Bible tells us nowhere that we must be nice. Kind, yes, but not nice. Patient, yes, but not nice. We must not be rude, that's true, but we are not called to be nice. Niceness is not a virtue. We are called to be virtuous women. We are called to certain roles in our family, in our churches, and in society, and I have been wanting for a long time to speak up about the biblical truths in this area. However, I know some will certainly be offended, and feelings may be hurt. But ultimately, only good comes from living the Truth. 

There's a place for conservative women. Conservative women helped to found this great country. There's a place for me, and I'm of an age where Scripture calls me to teach the younger women. That is a responsibility that I need to have the courage to shoulder. Conservative women are called to do their part to save a once godly nation, which has not ceased to be abundantly blessed by God and filled with a great many people of real and abiding faith.