Thanks Anita, I'm really glad you feel that way. I'll continue to try to live up to those expectation. My natural instinct is to attack the worst actors in my tribe, my species and my gender, and to cull them out of the herd. As a civilized man, I resist that angry preference for violence as I must, but I suspect integrity is finding a reasonable balance between culling the herd and holding back.

I hope I find that balance, as I hope we all do. I'm happy that you and I are in the same herd.

As am I.

HI! Paul, You are so right. I do agree with you totally.
Oh! Suddenly, I recalled you mentioned once you abandoned a site for a health-related niche. If so, why? I like to know since my passion is health-focused like I just posted an article on how to use penile pump for ED? in https://ebettercare.com/how-to-use-penile-pump-for-ed/.

Best,


James

Hello James -

I haves much knowledge on many things and thought I would start with health as it is the one thing we need!
I started and did not really understand what I was doing like we all do in the beginning so I said no this is not really what I feel so walked away for a couple of months and then returned with my true inner feelings of what I wanted to do - I thought it was making and selling audio cables but now realise it is actually helping people to get the most out of their audio systems by setting it up correctly and this is what I am doing now offering them a free service!

paul

Hi! Paul,
Thank you for clearly revealing what has happened to your course of niche search. That makes sense, and move on. I will do the same; of course, I may succeed in what I have been doing.

Happy Holidays 2017,


James

Well done James

Paul

Well said, James. I've known many men with great power, and even the most humble and self effacing of them feel some entitlement for the hard work they've put in to get to that position. There should be rewards, but they must not feel entitled to abuse others. I can understand powerful sexual urges, as most men do, but most of us control those urges and do not force ourselves on anyone, no matter how much we feel we deserve their attention and touch. Most of us don't have the opportunity or the power, so it is easier to control ourselves. Our friend in self control is FEAR. Those in powerful positions need the help of that same friend. We must equip them with great FEAR so that they have an easier time staying courteous, considerate and civilized, even when their glands dictate other actions. Fear can do that.

Steve

That's a terrific point, Jimmy. I hope we find a systematic way to reward those good deeds without condoning the despicable ones. There is always more good that comes out of the carrot instead of the stick. I'd love to know how to make that happen...

Powerful analysis, Ivy. This all makes sense, yet one wonders how society manages to stand by idle and blind for so many decades while these petty thugs do their repulsive crimes in the shadows, too often without paying any obvious price.

Now that many are being taken to task, I feel we must all stand up and celebrate their demise, taking every opportunity to show our disgust for their abuses. Unless they are pilloried mercilessly in the public square we invite those that remain to continue abuse and those that have not started to begin.

The time has come to empower the abused to burn those in power that deserve it, and give accusers the protection, respect and trust they need to rise up confidently and unleash the fury of their revenge. They are starting the charge. Why not make it a massacre? Much better education for those who remain.

I'm a peaceful guy, and I believe in innocent until proven guilty and justice for all accused. That said, justice delayed is justice denied, and it has been delayed far too long. Those who remain must serve as examples for those yet to come and must pay for the crimes of those who passed on without paying anything. I have a daughter, a grand daughter, two sisters, a mother, a wife and dozens of friends who are all in danger as long as these criminals are tolerated. I rejoice at the end of that tolerance.

I'm with you, Matt. They and others who could do the same must FEAR the wrath of their fellow males. They must pay a HIGH price, and confess their sins in public, as they are stripped of their power and prosecuted.

I don't believe in burning at the stake, but I could make an exception for some of these serial rapists. At least the ones that don't confess, repent and apologize in public should be exiled from civilized society until they do.

I couldn't agree more. My wife is from an island in the Caribbean and she has told me if cases where men were guilty of these types of crimes but were never legally brought to justice. She said that the community would get together and carry on a mock trial and a mock hanging of the guilty party so that they can be socially shamed for their deeds. Although no one is physically hurt, everyone is made aware of the actions of the guilty party and he is then shunned.

That sounds perfect. The only thing that I could imagine that might enhance it is giving them an opportunity to confess and atone for their crimes, then tying them up and allowing the victims and their families to do as they like with them.

I agree totally, Frank. It is men like us who must show that we stand with the abused and not the thugs who have used power and shadow to commit disgusting crimes against those close to them in business. The current media pile party is a start, but I think it is important that every father of a daughter, son of a mother and brother of a sister show his outrage against these snakes.

They are seeing their careers gutted, so I say legal and social penalties should go further. I want to see public confessions like the one from Louis CK from anyone who hopes to redeem himself and resume a role in society. Anything short of such a total confession plus forgiveness from every victim falls short of the key to getting back into polite society. It is their fellow males who should bar the door and keep them in exile.

If men are to retain any respect in this society it is our job. We can do it, Frank. Don't you think so?

Behaviour like this has indeed been with us a long time, but I often think it is a remainder of a more primitive time that is still hanging on, and not a sign of where we are really headed.

I had a wonderful lecturer at uni who spoke eloquently about how much power has changed over the centuries. His name is Gary Wickham, do look up his work!

In one especially vivid lecture, Gary spoke about a time before democracies, when power was personalised, and not invested in all the institutions that democracies have today. A man would demonstrate his power by raping people in full view of his peers.

But then there were shifts in thinking that spilled into something new called a chivalric code. A novelty, that contained the idea that one demonstrated how powerful they were by DEMONSTRATING RESTRAINT, rather than just acting out all over the place.

This idea of restraint as a form of power has been evolving in many forms over the centuries, and not just in the West. You can see vestiges of it in the conduct modern militaries expect of officers, for instance. But there are still regressive pockets of behaviour that are at odds with ‘power as restraint’.

I hope that the common shock and disgust we are feeling and observing in response to this news is indication that such behaviour can’t prevail.

But if it does, let History be a teacher: there was once a leader who relished bastardising and humiliating his peers. He seemed unstoppable in his successes. But he was murdered by a man very close to him, whose mother and other close female family he had raped and treated as he pleased.

The man who murdered him reached an inflection point where that was just unbearable. His name was Brutus.

Yes, if enough men think as we do and start making a stand. Things will continue to change and get better. The problem is, just like the women that are put in these bad situations, the men are also concerned about their jobs and careers.

What we need is for more people to stop being depended on others. If you have to answer to someone else's authority you are always in a weak position. Giving them the power.

As more of us take control of our lives and become self-sufficient we can stand up to these injustices without fear of retribution.

Thanks for the history. I had no idea. I knew it was a power thing, but I thought it was just over women. I would never have thought of it as control over everyone.

Really wish everyone could just be treated as equals.

They completely missed that observation in my ancient history classes, and it's powerful. I'd always understood that in the assassination of Caesar, Brutus acted for political reasons to restore the power of the Senate, despite close personal friendship with J. Caesar. Where might I fill in such gaps in my knowledge of ancient history?

When Alexander of Macedonia dominated the civilized world long before the ascension of Rome, his power was dependent on popular election by citizen soldiers in the field of battle. Was this practice of subjugation and humiliation by rape part of that ancient Macedonian culture that so depended on a unified phalanx that elects the general to lead it?

Belfield’s book on the history of assassination, ‘Terminate with Extreme Prejudice’ opens with a scene-setter of Brutus’ turmoil. And a pretty disgusting vainglorious portrait of Julius, too.

Yes, there were many who wished (and needed) to restore the power of the Senate. But Brutus’ personal drivers also gave him a powerful impetus to act, and secured the popular support of his peers.

Yes, the practice of assaulting conquered kings post-battle was well-established in the ancient world and noted by a number of its chroniclers. There is no place for such power play in our time.

In moments like these, I sometimes reflect on science fiction writer William Gibson’s comment that - ‘the future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.’

I think of that idea of the future not just in terms of the technologies and services available to humanity, but also in the sense that although we have been slowly maturing as a society for many centuries, that’s not evenly felt across society. And there are moments of regression we must all work to prevent.

I hope that your observation about slow maturation in a positive direction is correct. To many of us (sometimes including me) it seems as though governmental and social institutions change back and forth without actual improvement while science and technology equip them with more power, beyond their ability to manage.

I do suspect that you are correct, in that rates of death and mayhem as a fraction of the population are clearly dropping generation by generation. Of course nuclear proliferation and the build up of chemical and biological weapons stockpiles could reverse that quickly, but so far, they have not. I think to technologists like me, the slow progress of social institutions as we revolutionize the tools that make an idyllic life possible is maddening, so our frustration builds. It is harder for us to see and believe in that societal progress because of our frustration. Of course the growth of mass media and the fact that news media and politicians magnify and trumpet every instance of mass murder and hayhem makes them seem far more prevalent than they are.

I suppose enough enlightened problem solvers addressing research topics like yours and others in the evolving business - social - governmental matrix will shed more light on the problems and potential solutions. I hope there is reason to expect that to lead the way to more significant progress in our social institutions.