The Monthly Review — October 2024
All of New Outlook's topics, stories, and opinions you missed this past month, in one place.
For the readers who love short, snappy reads. Those who are short on time or in commute. And those who want a quick entry point into exploring bigger ideas.
The Monthly Review is your sneak peek into many of the topics, stories, and opinions I’m typically publishing on New Outlook, from the short notes to the long-form articles. Let’s have a quick dive!
➊ A GENERATIONAL TALENT
Obama was basically the Michael Jordan of politics. Generational. Won back to back titles. Was the face of the Party. Was multi-dimensional in persona and skill (sang when he needed to, hooped when he needed to, went off the cuff and spoke so convincingly when he needed to). He just knew how to play the game, and he brought out the absolute best in his administration personnel when it came to selling out everyday Americans. His administration just operated like a well-oiled propaganda machine. I mean, for goodness sake, the guy went into the belly of the beast in Flint, Michigan and sold them on the idea that their water was safe by pretending to drink from a glass of water right there on live TV in front of an audience full of Flint residents. No other Democrat politician today or in years past could ever pull that kind of trickery off without instant backlash. Truly generational.
Perhaps politics will eventually have their Kobe Bryant or LeBron James figures (athletes who have been compared most to Jordan in persona, play style, impact, and accomplishments) — that remains to be seen.
But no one will ever be Jordan. No one will ever be Obama.
Political propagandists as polished as Obama only come but once every 20 years. Kamala Harris’ failure in spite of being propped up by the corporate news media machine, and every institution known to mankind, is proof of this.
★★★★★
New Outlook Recommends
The Boondocks: Season 3, Episode 1
“It's a Black President, Huey Freeman”
Fourteen years ago, The Boondocks brilliantly chronicled the election of America’s first black president, Barack Obama. The scenarios on display throughout the episode not only shed a light on what the political atmosphere was like at that time, but they add a much needed context to today’s politics. The parallels to Kamala’s current political campaign is uncanny. The empty slogans. The celebrity endorsements without any concrete reason for the endorsements other than the fact that she’s “black” and a woman. The demands, from the likes of Barack Obama, that black people (men) show up and vote for Kamala because… she’s “black.” The vitriol unleashed upon those who dared to critique the “black” presidential candidate. It’s all in there. An absolute masterpiece and a classic. Especially what it culminates to at the end.
➋ HOLDING THE LINE
I was once the quiet, private person who valued keeping his thoughts to himself.
But then you encounter so many people who feel so bold to publicly insult your views when they find out that they can’t neatly put you into labeled box.
You encounter so many people within society who have been brainwashed to upend cultural and traditional norms in favor of Woke beliefs that are so far removed from reality.
You encounter so many people who still worship politicians, government, corporate media and news outlets, intelligence agencies, corporations, and other powerful entities, and somehow believe that these entities exist to help Americans.
At some point, you get tired of remaining quiet, of biting your tongue, of not saying something while the world is turned upside down. At some point, you want to speak truthfully to combat the rampant lies and propaganda because some people have to be willing to hold the line to avoid total societal collapse. You want to stand up for something instead of remaining quiet while the world figuratively burns.
To stand alone and speak the truth today is to be considered “radical” or “treacherous.” To accept blatant lies and go along with the crowd today earns you the titles “brave,” “ally,” “honorable,” and more.
I simply choose not to live by lies.
➌ LIVE NOT BY LIES
This simple graphic illustrates how American Corporate News Media works. This is what they have done to the industry of journalism. And this is how they propagandize an entire nation to uncritically take up false claims and adopt the wrong outlook on reality.
Their promise is simple: “As long as you continue believing that this is a banana, you’ll be rewarded with many lucrative opportunities and you’ll get to keep your position within the in-group for as long you’d like. You are one of us. You belong here.”
My advice to you: Be the so-called “Right Wing Extremist.” Speak the truth. Call things out for exactly what they are. Remain tethered to reality. Refuse to detach yourself from the simple facts of life. Do not accept lies as truths because you are promised a position within the group.
We don’t need more people willing to trade integrity for a membership to the institutions. We need more people with integrity who are willing to risk the lucrative memberships to powerful institutions because they value preserving societal norms, culture, and traditions.
➍ TRUTH OR LIE? YOU DECIDE
If the truth is on your side, you’ll welcome ALL scrutiny because you will always end up on top after any bout of thorough investigation.
If you are pushing lies, you’ll prevent ALL sorts of inquiry, questioning, and research. You’ll openly support censorship, banning, labeling, public smearing, propaganda, deplatforming, defunding, cancelation, and much more.
So ask yourself, which of the two routes did each of the following events take when covered in the media by the “experts”? That should tell you all you need to know:
Covid-19?
Lab Leak Theory?
Vaccines?
Israel-Palestine?
Ukraine-Russia?
Trump Assassination Attempts?
Biden’s Mental Fitness?
Jan. 6th?
CRT & DEI Initiatives?
Anything Kamala Harris?
➎ THE MARK OF THE IDEOLOGUE
What Woke identity ideologues sound like:
“As a black woman, I have to wake up very early in the morning to go to a job I don’t even like for 8 hours.”
“As a black man, I have to work twice as hard as others to earn the promotion at my job.”
“As a cis white man, I have to believe what black and brown folks are telling me about their experience. It’s not my place to offer my opinion on the matter.”
“As a black man, I was raised by my mother who worked 3 jobs just so I could have the opportunity to be here.”
“Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black woman in sports when nobody believes in you.”
What their race, gender, sex, pronouns, etc. have to do with their proclamations is anybody’s guess. You are not special because you are black, woman, man, white, LGBTQ, or whatever other identity you latch onto to drive home the point that you are one-of-a-kind. All of these experiences are the human experience. Struggle is part of life. You either get up everyday ready to face it or cower in a corner waiting for people to pity you and give you special privileges.
➏ LESS SUBSERVIENCE. MORE AUTONOMY.
You (whoever you are) need to stop allowing the “white guilt” narrative to be weaponized against you.
Today, too many people are willingly taking part in denouncing their “whiteness” and shamelessly prostrating themselves (some quite literally) to social justice activists so that they may earn the “ally” title and avoid facing cancelation or ousting from their favorite Woke in-groups.
You (whoever you are) need to stop this. If you cannot be embraced by people for your true authentic self, then perhaps you’re trying to fit in with the wrong crowd. If you have to degrade and denounce yourself in order to be accepted by a group of people, perhaps it is a sign of your insecurity as well as an indicator that you are being initiated into a cult.
So many people have been psy-oped by social activists into buying into the “white guilt” narrative, and I think it’s time we end the madness.
Start functioning like normal human beings who can interact based on shared interests and values. Society very much depends on that degree of normalcy.
➐ SPEAK YOUR MIND
The more you are made to believe that it is taboo to speak about the most mundane things, the more havoc those issues and their adherents can wreak over society.
The quicker you speak your mind about the things people make out to be taboo, the quicker society can correct course.
➑ THE NEVER-ENDING RACE
The more you harp about [race issues], thinking you are doing honorable work as an activist, the more you actually exacerbate and perpetuate it, ensuring that the issue never gets resolved.
[ ] — Substitute “race issues” with any identity that is currently in trend today.
➒ IN PURSUIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE
The Prompt:
“Social justice” movements as they stand today do more harm than good.
Change my mind.
Share your thoughts in the comments.
➓ A SINCERE MOMENT OF GRATITUDE
In May, I launched New Outlook and was typing ferociously into the void on Substack.
I did that for weeks without a single engagement on any of my posts because I genuinely loved having a place to finally share my thoughts, just as I would in person with people I dearly trusted to engage in good faith. I was committed to writing and existing online as a real person, not the caricature of ourselves that we often put on display, on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, to keep up with the Joneses.
Writing was never my go-to as far as creative expression is concerned. I’m naturally a visual creative. Photography (photojournalism, especially) was always my first love.
But there’s something about the way Substack has built this platform that has brought out the writer in me. It’s made me a better reader, a better writer, a dynamic thinker, and a more honest, measured, and sincere man.
I’m so glad to be here with you all. I get to carve out an independent platform that I’ve always thought was missing in the news media landscape. I get to write what I want to write without worrying about being censored or discouraged by industry personnel.
To those of you who have followed my work, commented, liked, restacked, and engaged meaningfully with me in a way that has been enlightening, I thank you for making this growing publication worthwhile.
To those of you who have subscribed and supported this work with your money, I’m beyond speechless and am so grateful to you all because each paid subscription gets me one inch closer to having more time to write frequently, research more intently, produce content competitively, and push New Outlook into the future state that I envision for the platform.
To wrap up 2024, I’ll be working toward my goal of 1K subscribers, and growing the foundation of subscribers who are making this work possible through paid subscriptions.
Hope you’ll keep the dialogue going. It’s what’s made all this so meaningful.
That’s a wrap! Hope you enjoyed this installment of The Monthly Review. If something resonated, leave a like, leave a comment, open the floor up for discourse. Or share this with a friend. Thank you for reading, subscribing, and supporting this project. Until next month.
"You encounter so many people within society who have been brainwashed to upend cultural and traditional norms in favor of Woke beliefs that are so far removed from reality."
Quite right! I started posting on social media because I was SHOCKED at the suppression and distortion of important facts and stories which I saw in the media. I wanted people to know the thinsg that I knew-not believe the things that I believed. Democracy becomes very difficult when voters don't share even a basic suite of facts and assumptions.
Something would happen and I would check google... and some mid-subscription conservative website would have a single article about it. Mass shootings. Endemic corruption. Scientific fraud.
The legacy media isn't worthless because it's biased. It's worthless because it refuses to report on huge centers of power in our society, actively protecting them even when they're drifting away from their mission of actively harming people.
Fortunately it seems that most informed and non-ideologically captured folks are aware of this. The viewers of CNN and the readers of the NYT tend to be older and richer and whiter than average, and more die every day. The most independent and curious young people are not replacing them. They are dying, and I perceive the process to be speeding up!
https://jmpolemic.substack.com/p/our-flailing-elites?r=1neg52