Various responses to the article
Putting forth an accurate portrayal of California, in contrast with the media hype
A critique of various rightwing narratives about conflict and collapse
Causes of White flight and demographic change in California
Whether race relations will remain affable in California with extreme woke politics
Contrasting different future scenarios for California, including pan-enclavism
How White Californians are uniquely individualistic and rootless, and whether they will develop a stronger identity in the future
Why Whites should take part in multiculturalism to adapt to the end of Americanism
Topics:
Intro to the protagonist Spencer Grunhauer and the plot
Spencer’s philosophy and his manifest
The psychological process of how one becomes more alienated, unstable, and unhinged
Psycho-sexual motives behind politics and moral panics
Social status, elite overproduction, and out of whack life expectations
Making your own way “pill”
Narratives about online grifters
Bullishness on the future of dissident arts
Terror House’s book reading in Brooklyn, NYC
Creating effecting satire
The literary genre of alienated loners
A homage or modern day reboot of Confederacy of Dunces
Comparisons to Robert’s novel Vaporfornia and Matt’s Dragon Day
Examples of gaslighting on the economy, Redefining the definition of recession and declaration of a “Vibecession”
How the economic bullishness and bear rallies in stocks show the degree of disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street
The “Baking” of the Jobs numbers report and inflation data
The beginning of mass Tech layoffs
The super bubble to end all bubbles
Kevin’s article If You Thought the NIMBYs Were Bad – Meet the YIMBYs
Revisiting the pandemic stimulus and how only a fraction of stimulus went directly to the people
Federal Reserve policy, Biden’s “Inflation Reduction” Act,” and vulnerabilities of the dollar
Speculating worst case economic scenarios (deflationary depression, long-term stagflation, real estate crash, and debt crisis)
Geopolitics crisis, supply chains issues, global conflicts and civil unrest
The Fourth Turning theory and Peter Turchin’s method of measuring cycles of crisis
The political implications of the FBI raid on Trump’s Mar a Lago
Kevin’s observations from attending the recent CPAC conference in Texas on the political currents
Revisiting Andy’s earlier work and the genre of the alienated loner
References to incel culture in Muze
Other themes in Muze, including pharmaceuticals, transhumanism, blackmail, and mind control
Writing about depravity from a socially conservative/Catholic perspective
The revival in 00’s conspiracy theories
David Lynch and open ended narratives
Robert’s novel Vaporfornia and its similar themes to Muze
Allegories for degradation
Revisiting Robert’s mocumentary Supply
Matt Pegas’ Dragon Day
The growing dissident literary scene
Andy’s trip to South Africa in 2011
The politics of crisis: acceleration vs. gradual decay
Robert Stark talks to Anatoly Voronin about the war in Ukraine, meta-modernism, and cultural trends. Anatoly Voronin is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, has worked as a fashion photographer and makeup artist, and politically identifies as a meta-modernist and post-liberal Centrist. Check out Anatoly’s Substack blog: Golden Heart Motel, and follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
Topics:
War Diary: Live witness account of 2022 Ukrainian-Russian hostilities
The dissident-sphere’s take on the war and pro-Russia biases
Why Anatoly rejects the narrative of Ukraine being used as a pawn of the West
The end of the post-World War II narrative
Why Radical Centrism and Meta-Modernism are the next levels of consciousness
The Americanization of Europe
Why America is fundamentally a rightwing country
The Black-Red-Gold pill
The politics of beauty and why beauty pageants are radically centrist
The Russian film Bespredel (1989 ) about social hierarchies in the Soviet Prison System
Brandon’s initial interest in penny stocks and bitcoin, and the crypto boom and bust cycles
Brandon’s artistic background, interest in mid-century modern to 70s aesthetics, modern art, and malls
Why Brandon shifted from painting to creating NFTs
The process of creating and minting NFTs
Why Brandon uses the blockchain, Proton
Virtual real estate in the metaverse and Decentraland
Brandon’s response to skeptics and his advice to focus on the project and not fret about the booms and busts
Brandon’s bullishness on long-term economic opportunities for artists to be at the forefront with VR
The importance of having a theme and why Brandon thinks Robert should create NFTs for his art and book, Vaporfornia
Political burnout and the rise in alternative cultural scenes