Please, Just ... Just Bear With Me Here

Read the thing.

I never really wanted to summarize the news to people. In the ‘biz we call it “scraping” and it’s when you take quotes from an article and inject your commentary. The difference between a real journalist and a blogger is that I take the reporting of a journalist and then opine about it. The reason why this practice has become so popular nowadays is because of how difficult and complicated and confusing our reality has become. Sure, you’ve have opinion-leaders in the past, but we’ve really experienced an explosion in this kind of content, thanks in no small part to the samizdat-enabling capabilities of the internet.

But I don’t really want to be doing that.

Like, first of all, I put these kinds of articles up for free and so I don’t make any money from them. Second of all, it literally takes almost no cognitive power at all to provide block quotes and then to inject your own quips between them. The only skill involved is in finding the stories in the first place and in being able to type fast or to crack a joke or two in the article itself to keep interest in the usually boring write-up.

But, because most of the good info about the war is only being written a) in Russian and b) among samizdat sources, I understand that farming this info is difficult for most people. Thus, I provide a valuable service that I believe needs to be done in the interests of the public good, which I do believe in, even if I am otherwise a very immoral person (I don’t believe in the foundational moral myths of our time). If it weren’t for me translating Prigozhin’s rants and calling out liars like The Duran who were literally covering up what he actually said, well, that information would have never gotten out.

Look at the work that Dr. Livcsi is putting in with his translation and summary of the book, “Why the SMO?” Again, this is a valuable public service. In theory, you’d think that in 2024 a government or an NGO would be able to just get a grant to do this work and make it available to the public to keep them informed about stuff. *snicker* Yeah, yeah, I know, a ridiculous notion.

There’s actually a pyramid related to cognitive acumen that you should be aware of.

Here it is:

By doing this sifting and translating work, I am only really passing information on to you, the reader. This is either the lowest or the second lowest rung of the pyramid. And, because I’m not doing anything cognitively stimulating or working to improve myself in any way, I see this kind of work as a chore, mostly. As proof that I don’t put much value on it, I almost never paywall such articles. If I do, it is out of spite.

Besides, the public really does deserve to know the info, and, I’m literally the only guy for some reason who is willing to do the work.

Of course, the “some reason” mentioned above is probably the insane propaganda and smear campaign directed at anyone who deviates from either the NAFO or ZAnon line. In contrast, if you stay under the krisha of either ideological position, you are essentially shielded from attacks. In fact, you can basically just forget that other positions exist, because you just show up to work every day translating the official statements of, say NATO commanders, or Shoigu’s MoD statements and get backslaps and applause day in and day out.

And there are very large and very eager audiences for this kind of content.

That is what the work of a propagandist is.

On “our side”, they just take RT or MoD or Rybar/Open Ukraine/etc official statements and block quote them on their blogs while occasionally adding a “yuh-huh” and maybe even a sassy black woman style “mmm-hmmm” to them from time to time. There is practically no “value added” anything to their commentary. Like, they just give these government (read: spook) statements their seal of approval, basically. And this is important because it convinces their audiences that government propaganda has been independently verified and by one of “theirs” no less, so that means it can be trusted. Other than that, it is simply a matter of staying topical to keep people’s attention and, well, you’re golden as far as business is concerned.

People really like this sort of slop. They sign up for it. They pay for it.

But I hate it and I refuse to serve it up at this fine establishment.

I freely admit that “blogging” is very low value-added work and I don’t think anyone should make a good wage doing it. That is, at least the scraping part is. Hell, an AI could and should be automated to do this work. In fact, I think Simplicius actually does use an AI to write those atrociously long and convoluted “Sit-Reps” at this point and I wish some tech bro would, like, run it through an analysis machine so that we can find out for sure or not.

We can even place bets beforehand.

Have you seen those AI pictures and videos flooding Facebook?

No one above the age of 50 seems to be able to tell that they are AI generated.

This explains so much about society, frankly. It is like a society-wide Turing test that 80% of people are failing. These people can vote so … well, you do the math on that one.

Actually, it shouldn’t surprise anyone then if it were to turn out that Simplicius has fooled his gullible audience even on this level. I’d even respect him more if this was the case, actually … like, OK, there’s actually some finesse involved here.

But I digress.

Again, I do somewhat similar work here, but a) I actually say more than just “I agree with the government and you should too” when I scrape the news and b) I am providing information that isn’t readily accessible to Westerners. So, really, even in this area, I am adding more informational value than any of my competitors.

Worse, what I am doing is probably illegal in the Slavlands insofar as there is any law to speak of there. Both “sides” have laws against “discreditation” i.e., serving up anything but state-approved propaganda slop to the masses. I’m not saying that I’m like, knee-deep in a trench with diarrhea leaking out of britches and high out of my mind on premium top-shelf methamphetamines before the start of the next meat wave assault, but, like, I have incurred some hardship over all of this.

I’ve lost friends and even some family over the stuff that I have written on this blog (because they subscribe to one side of the propaganda or the other). And I can’t go back to any of the East Slavland countries because of what I’ve written on this blog at this point, even if the reason for my initial ban was totally unrelated. Recently, I had my Russian podcast shuttered, which was a revenue generator for me and also a source of many parasocial relationships, because my podcast partners were told that they were not allowed to have dealings with me (me! a literal nobody!) anymore. Also, I don’t want to go back to a NATO country either, because I’m pretty sure they’d interrogate me at a minimum before letting me in and would seize my devices. And I don’t think that I can ever work a white collar job anywhere in the West or East anymore because of what I wrote on the internet to boot. Which, well, that might be a good thing actually on like a spiritual level or something, but still, you get the point I am making here, I think.

Again, compared to others, it’s not much, sure.

But it also isn’t nothing.

I feel fairly certain in saying that 99% of people would not be capable of doing what I have done nor would they have felt any inclination to do it even if they were in a position to do so. There is no financial incentive to doing this work. It has been an uphill battle every step of the way. And if you don’t understand why being the bearer of bad news is unprofitable, you really should probably just take my word for it at this point because you probably have some kind of defect that makes it unable for you to understand a very important aspect of living in this reality that a person with normal cognitive function should be able to grasp more or less intuitively. Nay-sayers and doom-sayers are routinely hated and reviled.

It is a trope in literally all of our accumulated literature and art, and even a recurring theme in pretty much all religions.

Please, try to understand why this is true.

If anything, I am like a jester in a medieval court. See, the only time that anyone will ever listen to anyone saying something that is hard to hear is when they are wearing a hat with bells on it. That is the function of the fool — to tell hard truths, but to do so in a self-discrediting way. This sets the minds of the others at ease because a man who bucks from the official narrative will usually be forced to rebel against the official narrative down the line. If he is a “serious” man, that is. Or rather, if he demands that he be taken seriously by others. Fools, however, disqualify themselves from being taken seriously and earn a little bit of leeway in their truth-telling for doing so.

Just think: aren’t most of the public truth-tellers that we have even now in our modern society somewhat buffoonish in their delivery?

Why do you think this is?

Me, I think there is something deep and arcane and perennial at work here.

I bring this up because of two comments that I saw written in response to my latest interview scorning me.

To paraphrase, one said: “Imagine taking someone named Rurik Skywalker seriously”.

Well, dummy, consider the possibility that it is only someone who is willing to don the hat with bells on it who will ever tell you anything approximating the truth. The serious folks have serious lives, serious careers, serious families and seriously just too much to lose.

Another said: “I would take what Rurik says seriously, but his writing style is too naughty and no-no words offend God who ought to punish Rurik for his blasphemy anyway.”

Well, buddy, consider the possibility of growing the fuck up. Are you a child? Are you a church lady? Perhaps it is time that you weaned yourself off the teat and tried something a little bit stronger that can put some hair on your chest, no? Perhaps you are right and your god doesn’t want you to hear what I am saying. But this means you should listen anyway and beg for forgiveness later. If your god is worthy of your worship, he will understand and forgive you. If not, then he is not God, and you need not worry for defying him is the straight and narrow path to heaven.

Now, this is the point in the article where I start shaking you guys down for money.

Usually.

But, this time, I realize that I haven’t put out all that much top-tier, top-shelf, top-rung cognitive content over the last 30 days. So, OK, the fact that I made less money this month than the last is somewhat justifiable, I guess. I mean, I can justify it to myself that way. It might be cope, but it beats flying into another one of my unhinged rages at my casual non-paying readers again.

So, let’s try something else this time.

I am going to just level with you. Here’s the thing.

I also do far more important top-tier work like conspiracy/history research and actually creating new theses. I connect information that is only available in disparate Russian sources (books, movies, blogs), I translate it, and then I add my own analysis to it as someone who has access to other sources of information that most Russians didn’t when they wrote their own theses. Thus, I am able to synthesize the conspiracy lore of both East and West and create new information that is truly unique.

Sadly, this means that my work is unappreciated, mostly.

Now, I spend like four days on average on these much harder, much more thought-provoking and much more important articles, on average. This is work that I do in between my “public service announcements”. And the long and short of it is that I really do need to start making it more profitable for me to engage in it.

Here is what I am working on currently:

• The next installment in the Soviet conspiracy series, the best entry yet — Andropov and the creation of the modern Russian state

• The next installment in the metaphysics conspiracy series, Aristotle, the Spartan secret police and Aquinas (probably)

• A new series about the revolution in Russia and the active central role of the Orthodox Church in overthrowing the Tsar

• An FSB v GRU spy conspiracy caper

• A new series on the history of the occult in Russia — we will start with the 19th century renaissance of mysticism

Like, seriously. That is a lot of work.

In fact, this next part I’m actually going to whisper to you, not say out loud, so I need you to lean in real close to the screen so that no one can overhear what I am saying. This message is classified “for your ears only” and I am a little bit embarrassed by what I am about to reveal, actually.

*psst* so yeah, I’ve got like FIVE mega-articles in the pipeline. Yeah man, I already got so many lines of cyber ink spilled on virtual pages that I literally hallucinate that my fingers are stained neon when I close my eyes. Seriously, man, I’m totally serious right now, OK? OK, but … here’s the thing. Man, I told you to lean in already, what’s wrong with you, closer to the screen already Yeah, that’s it, that’s better. Good. OK, so … my pipelines are clogged now, like metaphorically … (well, and physically, actually). I legit feel like I’m Martin Luther sitting on the privy with his pants down waiting for my theses to come out so I can write them down on toilet paper. *shhh* stop laughing and keep your voice down. I’m trying to be serious with you man. Fuck, get it together. OK, so, this is some top-tier, top-shelf stuff I’m talking about here. Like, inject it into your vein or snort it up your nose quality, bruv. But it’s all trying to get out at once is the problem and I can only write and research so much in one day, see? Now this is where you come in, OK? *slap* hey, spit out the gum. In the hand, yes. God, you disgust me, you animal. Just … just pay attention I’m almost done. I just … *sigh* I just need a little time, OK? And a little advance too, alright? Remember all those good articles I got you over the years? Remember that one about Tuva? Eh? That was pretty good, right? OK, so yeah, just get that yearly paid subscription … yeah, that’s the one, one click is enough … credit card information … don’t worry about that … maybe leave a little extra, eh? No? OK, that’s fine, that’s alright, no worries good. You won’t regret this.

Good talk, guys. I’m really … yeah, I’m really glad we had this talk.

So, I’ll … I’ll see you guys around, yeah?

Yeah.

OK.

Let’s just … let’s not make this awkward, OK?

I’ll come back with the goods soon.

Just like I promised.

Yep.

Bye.