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David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

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Stop using children as pawns to promote adult political agendas

By David McElroy · September 23, 2019

When I was a teen-ager, I thought I had everything figured out. I had strong views about politics, theology and pretty much everything else. Looking back, I was wrong about almost everything.

Greta Thunberg is a mentally ill child from a very dysfunctional family, although her supporters get angry if you point these things out. She has various mental disorders and her family has many serious issues, but we’re not supposed to mention that.

When she was 8, her politically active parents scared her with stories of the world ending because of climate change. She became obsessed with it and now left-wing activists (starting with her parents) are using has as a pawn, starting with climate change but also encompassing a far-left social and economic agenda.

She’s autistic and suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, and she became so obsessive about her climate fears that she quit eating and suffered various physical problems.

Today, her parents and other left-wing activists are using Greta as a political pawn. Media outlets and politicians who already want governments to take over the world economy are going along with the scam, treating what this child has to say as though there is angelic wisdom in her words.

But the truth is that she is a brainwashed and dysfunctional child who is repeating what she’s been told. Taking her sanctimonious words seriously makes no more sense than it would have made to let me set world economic policy when I was 16 and thought I knew it all.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: children, climate change, politics

Epiphany: My message changed when I selected a new audience

By David McElroy · September 22, 2019

Everything I’ve written for the last five years has been for an audience of one. Everything I’ve had to say was ultimately for her.

Part of me has known that, but the conscious part of me has been in the dark. And now that I understand, it all seems obvious. It was all for her.

On Brian Koppelman’s podcast this week, Seth Godin was talking about how creators change their work depending on the audience they choose. Godin’s argument was much deeper and more complex, but it was on this particular point that I suddenly had to stop the recording Sunday evening — because I had experienced an epiphany that I hadn’t seen coming.

A little bit more than five years ago — May 13, 2014, to be exact — I had run out of things I wanted to say here. On that date, I actually wrote something explaining that I had realized that everything I’d done for the previous three years had all been for a woman. I no longer had anything to say to that woman. I was moving on — and I was seriously considering shutting the site down.

And then something happened. In a miracle of timing, someone else came into my life — and I had a lot to say again. The words I needed to write suddenly changed.

Without having any intention to do such a thing, this woman changed my work.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized

People with healthy self-esteem don’t fear what others might see

By David McElroy · September 21, 2019

Years ago, I chipped a tooth. I don’t remember how it happened, but it’s a small chip on a lower tooth, so it’s not especially prominent. When I got the chip fixed, my dentist told me that the repair would probably break off every few years and I’d need to keep replacing it. He was right.

I’ve had the repair redone a couple of times already, and it broke off again a few weeks back. I’ve been too busy to get back to my dentist, so I’ve walked around every day lately fearing that people were staring at me and pointing fingers behind my back.

A few days ago, I was talking with a couple of friends at the office and I mentioned that I really needed to get to the dentist to get this terrible chipped tooth fixed.

Neither one of them knew what I was talking about. Even though we were sitting there talking — sitting close together — neither one of them had noticed. When I pointed it out, both seemed genuinely surprised that I was concerned about something so tiny.

And now I’ve been thinking uncomfortably ever since then about why I’m so worried about it — and why I’m so concerned that others are judging me.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: psychology, self-esteem

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My Instagram

For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, check out the sponsor of one of my upcoming YouTube video episodes. 🙃 #parody #threestooges
Have you felt as though you’re living through Grou Have you felt as though you’re living through Groundhog Day lately? Me, too. Here’s a quick-and-dirty political satire I made this evening for fun and stress relief.
About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color is poking through the skies to the east of my back yard.
The lights and color might have been more spectacu The lights and color might have been more spectacular a couple of minutes before this, but this was the best view I had of the Monday afternoon sunset from a bridge over I-20 in Moody, Ala.
I just remembered this shot I got a couple of hour I just remembered this shot I got a couple of hours ago of the fading sunset while I was in the Publix parking lot on the way home. If you suddenly find yourself craving Arby’s or Wendy’s, blame the giant icons in the sky, not me. 😃 (BTW, this was with the iPhone’s 8X telephoto lens.) #nature #naturephotography #sunset #birmingham #alabama
I had just pulled into a parking lot Friday night I had just pulled into a parking lot Friday night and was watching traffic through the distortion of the gently falling rain on my car window when I realized that the abstract view I had matched the way I was feeling tonight, so I turned it into a brief abstract video to match my mood.
Get ready for the next great animated Christmas cl Get ready for the next great animated Christmas classic, featuring singing and dancing and danger from Alex, Oliver and Sam. Coming soon to a theater near you. (The funniest part is that if I cared about this as anything more than a Christmas joke, it strikes me as something that could be profitable with the right story development and the right animators.)
Here are a couple of views of the sunset I just wa Here are a couple of views of the sunset I just watched on my way home after showing houses. I didn’t have my camera with me, so these are just iPhone shots. #nature #naturephotography #sunset #birmingham #alabama
This is what it might look like if the cats and I This is what it might look like if the cats and I were cast in a Wes Anderson film.
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For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, check out the sponsor of one of my upcoming YouTube video episodes. 🙃 #parody #threestooges
When I got home late Sunday afternoon and laid dow When I got home late Sunday afternoon and laid down on the bed, Oliver climbed onto my chest to make sure I knew he had conquered me.
The sun has been up for nearly half an hour, but A The sun has been up for nearly half an hour, but Alex sees no reason he should follow suit — especially on a morning when it’s so dark and foggy outside.
This is a wide-angle view of Oliver trying to stay This is a wide-angle view of Oliver trying to stay awake as he relaxes on my arm late Saturday night.
When I told Alex that I was going out for the even When I told Alex that I was going out for the evening, he lifted his head, but only long enough to make it clear that he expected me home by the time he was hungry again.
It’s after 7 a.m., but Alex thinks that is far too It’s after 7 a.m., but Alex thinks that is far too early to get up on a Friday morning, so after looking around briefly, he’s gone back to sleep in the cat bed on my desk.
Instagram post 18343137238245320 Instagram post 18343137238245320
Alex has been hanging out with me after midnight, Alex has been hanging out with me after midnight, but maybe we’re all going to get to bed earlier than usual tonight.
Here’s the next in a series of ridiculous video pa Here’s the next in a series of ridiculous video parodies I’ve been making recently for my YouTube channel.
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Briefly

We are ruled by the dumbest and most incompetent people among us — and we have a system which allows stupid and irresponsible people to force the costs of their idiocy onto smarter and wiser people. Can we get away with that? Yes, for quite some time. But we eventually reach a point at which the dumbest of the dumb — who are habitual liars and mentally ill fools — lead us to the disasters and destruction that some of us have seen coming for years. We are approaching that point. And yet most of the idiots around us still wave their rhetorical banners of support for the evil people who are leading us to ruin — and all of them point their fingers at someone else, never noticing that their own enthusiastic support of evil is to blame. When things finally fall apart, blame yourself for your blindness to the evil, not whoever happens to be in power when it happens.

I’ve been making some changes to the site lately and there are more changes coming in the days ahead, so don’t be surprised if you some small differences. This is not a wholesale redesign, but rather the addition of some features. Since they’re smarter than I am, I’ve put Oliver and Alex in charge of the technical work, which you can see in this action photo from the control room of our media complex. I recently added a series of landing pages for readers who randomly discover the site from an Internet search. I’ve also changed the YouTube link at the top of the page to go to the new YouTube channel for video essays that reflect things I’ve already published here. (Here’s a little bit about both of the YouTube channels I’m working on.) In addition, I’m trying to move away from using Instagram, so I’m experimenting with photo plug-ins that will eventually allow me to host the pictures — cats, dogs, sunsets, whatever — that I often take. So don’t be surprised to see more changes. Thanks for your patience. Let’s hope Alex and Oliver know what they’re doing.

I have no use for the theocratic and repressive government of Iran. The people who run the country are cruel at best and evil at worst. The Iranian people deserve freedom. But I have no personal quarrel with anybody in Iran. While I’m not thrilled about a future Iranian government having nuclear weapons, I’m just as concerned about nukes in the hands of politicians in Israel, Pakistan, India, China and Russia. I’m not even thrilled with the U.S., Britain and France having them, either, because I don’t trust any politicians to be responsible with such terrible weapons. All I can say with certainty is that American taxpayers have no business attacking Iran, especially since we’re being forced to pay for this attack in order to benefit the politicians of Israel — and nobody else. If Middle Eastern countries want to fight among themselves, that’s none of my business. It’s not the business of the U.S. government, either. I have no quarrel with anybody in Iran — and having the government which claims to represent me launch an unprovoked attack against a sovereign country will only make all Americans less safe in the near future. This attack is poorly conceived and morally unjustified. Remember that when the Iranians launch attacks that we will then condemn as “terrorism.” What the U.S. is doing right now looks like terrorism to me. And let’s not forget that the attack is the latest in a long line of unconstitutional wars by various U.S. presidents — who have no legal power to declare war on their own, according to the U.S. Constitution.

A child having a tantrum understands only one thing: Did I get my way or not? He doesn’t understand the issues involved. He doesn’t understand the reasons that went into a decision. He doesn’t understand any of the things that mature and reasonable adults have to understand in order to live healthy lives. By his reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down his disastrous tariff scheme, Donald Trump shows himself to be — once more — a screaming child having a tantrum. Outside the world of mob bosses who expect to get their way every time, normal adults don’t act this way, but Trump isn’t normal. He’s an angry and vengeful man who has narcissistic personality disorder. And we are in danger as a result. Trump doesn’t understand the legal issues involved in this ruling. He doesn’t understand economics. He doesn’t understand rule of law. He doesn’t understand that he can ever be wrong. All he understands is that he didn’t get his way. And he is now a narcissistic and raging little boy who also happens to hold life-and-death power over most humans on this planet. He’s dangerous — and the system which gives him that power is even more dangerous.

Is it an attempt to blur the gender line between men and women? Or is it some weird tribute to the traditional Scottish kilt? It’s hard to say, but fashion designers keep pushing for men to wear skirts in the last few years. Both men and women in modern fashion seem oddly androgynous, as though it would be offensive for a man to look manly or for a woman to look feminine. A CNN article about the latest fashions from Paris caught my attention Monday and left me wondering about the ugly clothes the designers are hawking. If a man wants to wear a skirt — or a kilt — that’s OK with me, but I’ll stick with a traditional dark suit with a white shirt and tie. (Well, when I’m not wearing t-shirts and sweats, of course.) I always wonder who actually buys the outlandish garb from fashion designers anyway. I would be humiliated to be seen in any of this stuff, but I obviously have no sense of high fashion.

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