Quiplinks VII - Shout Out Edition

YES MA'AM!!!

I am not doing this for fame or money. I am not using my real name, and I don't even try to make money from Google Adsense. I am doing this because I want men to get up off their asses and stand up for themselves. - Rob Fedders
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Yet again, Mr. No Ma'am inspires me to get up off my ass and start hammering away at the keyboard after the longest blogging hiatus I've taken since I started this thing in 2007 (3 & 1/2 weeks).  I intended to make it a month, but what the hell, I'll just ride the muse when she sings.

It is apropos that Rob inspired me to resume blogging again, considering his blog is what inspired me to start this one in the first place. But enough about me.


One of the things I admire most about Rob is that he's never sought to promote himself as some Grand Poobah of all these great ideas. No, he's always been about paying it forward. Spreading the knowledge he gained and giving props to those he learned from (just like the many great Martial Artists I've met who exemplify humility and acknowledging their Instructors rather than focusing on their personal abilities and accomplishments).

He's turned his blog into a virtual repository for the works of the first generation of red pill dealers in the early days of teh Interwebz, guys many present day bloggers and commentariat of the MAndrosphere have never heard of. Check out these compilations of MAndrosphere knowledge before anyone ever thought to blog about THE RED PILL concept:

The Book of Bone Crker

Philalethes' Essays

The Eye of the Mind

The Wisdom of Zenpriest

The Book of Pook


Rob recently returned from his own extended hiatus with a two-part post that is a comprehnsive dissertation on "Activism"  and how it relates to Men's Rights. Before I comence with the quiplinks, I urge you to go and read the whole thing...especially those of you who are relative newcomers to these fringes of teh Interwebz.

MGTOW Activism Part 1 | MGTOW Activism Part 2

The section I'd like to most draw attention though is here:

There is no right way or wrong way to be a MGTOW Activist - it is one of the features of MGTOW, so I'm not going to try and shoehorn in what makes an MGTOW or not. However, there are certain things we have discovered that worked for us in the past. 

Start Your Own Blog or WebsiteA long time ago now, I used to regularly read William S. Lind's columns about Fourth Generation Warfare. Now, of course, I am not advocating doing anything violent, but rather taking the concept of decentralization found in Fourth Generation Warfare and adapting it to the internet. There is no "leader" of MGTOW to attack or discredit. We are all leaders of our own movement, and if one of us is removed, there are more nameless people to take his place.

For those who take up the challenge and decide to enter the fray and become a Fourth Generation Interwebz Warrior, Rob's got some great advice for those who feel the inspiration to start blogging:

If you do start your own blog, here is a quick tip: don't publish all of your articles all at once. What I mean is, lots of guys start up a blog, get really excited about it, and crank out one or two articles a day - every day, and then find that within two weeks they are burnt out. What you need to do is make a post every three days or so when you first start out (later, after you are established, an article a week will keep the hits rolling in).

So, when you have all that energy at the beginning, go ahead an write your articles, but schedule them accordingly by spacing them out. You will be glad you did, I promise. It will also give you the luxury of not being under the gun to write something simply to keep your blog running, and thus, you will find that if you are writing two weeks ahead of publication, your articles will be of much higher quality.

Also, keep in mind that when you first start your blog, your hits will be minimal, no matter how many articles you write. So don't blow your brains out over articles that hardly anyone will read. Your goal should be to provide something every few days so that people will know to keep checking in, and thus, you will begin to get exposure by others linking to you.

Good advice. As I noted in my last post, I had recently spent some time reading through my own archives. I have to laugh at some of my earliest posts that had only 12 hits. Don't worry if some post you labor over and you feel is a really good piece doesn't experience success right away. If you keep at it, eventually you'll get wider notice, and that's when your new readers will begin to look through your archives. I'm still somewhat surprised when I see people reading posts I wrote back several years ago getting linked to and commented on.

Linkage is Good for You
Be sure to link to others, especially those that link to you. I check my stat-counter almost every day, and if I see that a new blog has linked to me, it will automatically get linked in my blogroll. I want them to get exposure, and further, the more exposure they get, the more I will get in return! I also link to blogs that I have read which don't yet link to me, but I go through my blog list every few months and clean out the ones that have not provided a reciprocal link to my blog. Why? Because I want those who scratch my back to get the most amount of traffic I can provide them with, and clogging up my blog list with oodles of links to those who are unwilling or just don't care enough to link me back, lowers the exposure those who do support me will receive, and this in turn harms me.

More good advice, though I don't really follow it. From the very beginnings of this blog, I never even knew I was able to check my blog stats. Only within the last year or two did I bother to look into that and start checking up my stats and referring url's on a regular basis. But I don't do it to try and figure out how to get more blog hits or anything like that, it's more out of curiosity and disbelief. (I still can't believe how many hits I get nowadays, even with a 3 week hiatus, my hits barely dropped. I don't get it...). Rob also offers this perspective:

Another thing I tend to avoid is linking to big blogs. First of all, they don't link to me so I don't "owe" them anything. Now, I get it, if they linked to everyone who linked to them, they would have blogrolls that numbered in the thousands. But on the same token, if they are so large, then they certainly don't need me to link to them in order to get exposure. Everybody knows who the big blogs are already, whether I link to them or not. Also, it kind of negates the notion of "decentralization" to have big websites acting as a clearing house for all of our ideas. I prefer to send my traffic to the smaller guys so that they may get their legs under them and grow into big blogs themselves. I'd like to see dozens and dozens of really big blogs dealing with men's issues, but this will never happen if we ignore the little nuts who may grow into a mighty oak, in favour of only looking at the full grown oaks and simply wishing there were more of them around.

I like Rob's idea of trying to drive traffic to "the little nuts." Heh.

However, my approach to assembling my blogroll is a little more selfish. I primarily assembled it for me. It's my daily reading list with my morning cup of joe. My personal policy has always been to add anyone and everyone I've ever found who's posted something I found interestintg, thought provoking and relevant to this sector of teh Interwebz . Many folks I've added to my blog roll have reciprocated and added me to their blogrolls.

To all who have done so, thanks, I appreciate the courtesy even though I don't expect it. To those that don't, no biggie, that's not why I linked to you in the first place.Your still entertaining and thought provoking enough for me to always be curious as to the latest things you're writing about. To date, there is only two blogs I've ever purposely deleted from my blogroll, and those are for reasons I'd rather not go into anymore, as my focus in participating in these fringes of teh Webz is now largely aimed at avoiding DRAMA. Got enough real drama in real life to deal with as it is.

That all being said, I think Rob's advice for fledgling bloggers is good.

Back when MGTOW first debuted in 2006, we used to do something called "shout-outs." Basically, anyone who showed that they were flying the MGTOW flag and were committed to maintaining a blog, got a public shout-out to the other MGTOW bloggers so that he would be entered as a link on everyone's sidebar, and also to provide the newbie with some traffic to get his legs under him. It also had the benefit of providing the person who did the shout-out, to be able to take a few days off of blogging while directing all of his traffic to someone who needed it, while still providing one's readers with, well, something to read.

Here is a shout-out for someone you may recognize. {That guy was a kook!}

Marky Mark just did one the other day.

And here was mine.

When I got my shout-out, it was probably the most significant thing that happened to me in my entire blogging career. Before that I was only getting about 75 hits a day, but suddenly I was getting Eternal Bachelor's 2,000 hits a day all directed to my site and I was like "Holy Smokes! I'd better sit down and write some good stuff while I can!" After the shout-out disappeared into Eternal Bachelor's archives, my blog settled in to about 400 hits a day, and from there it steadily increased. In part it kept on increasing because of the exposure I had received, but even more so, once I had the exposure I was highly motivated to keep it by continuing to provide my readers with more content. And here I am, seven years later, still running my blog! So, don't forget to take care of the little nuts, for they will be the oaks of tomorrow if just given the chance to grow.

In that spirit, the following Quiplinks will be shout outs to all the "little nuts" of the MAndrosphere.


May those of you who stick with this effort over the long haul grow into mighty oaks as we seek to spread the philosophy of Going Your Own Way and continue to wage this fourth generation war...

...a war of AWARENESS.




In the spirit of giving Shout Outs, we're starting off this edition of Quiplinks with a pertinent quip from Francis Begbie:

"So you're a regular around here ken. Fair fucks to ye. You're reading all the shit, all these alpha fucks en beta bucks lozozozoz and whatnot. You're aware of your Roissys, your Rollos, your Rooshs. Ok. But, there are a number of underrated, underneath the surface bloggers that you should be reading, guys that are well worth your time." - The Soul is Not a Smithy

"And that, ladies and gentelman, is what 'effective activism' looks like.  Something so interesting, so compelling, you CAN'T look away.  A truth so revealing, it cannot be unseen.  A fundamental change in perspective." - Hunting for Archetypes

 "Bluntly, men are being punished for being good men." - The Phantom Toll Booth

"I want to tell you, my friends, of a sad occurrence in my life. These events transpired early last week, and I will never forget the disappointment." - Illusion of Sanity

"I don't find the lack of intellect among the average person all that disturbing." - Uncle Bob's Treehouse

"When people have problems, they search for answers.  They question their worldview." - Young Man Red Pill

"Waiting for the right time is a trap. It is a way of justifying your cowardice. Days of ‘it not being the right time now’ easily turn into years of lost opportunity." - Reflections of the Age

"As we all know, every good argument can either be summed up in small enough space to fit on a bumpersticker or a tweet. If you found a simple and witty phrase, you are obviously correct." - The Karamazov Idea

"That’s still how I operate: “Regardless of others’ feelings.” Not because I think they’re unimportant, but because there is nothing I can do about them, and no time even if I did." - Things That We Have Heard and Known

"Well, women, on some level, know that they have been lied to. You can see that in their fears." - Dark Brightness

"...Feminism is a religion that is as accepted now as mainstream values as Christianity was sixty years ago–it’s NORMAL. Because of this, people don’t even realize they’re supporting it." - Feminism is Empathological

"Back in the day I think some one called these kind of females Frog Farmers. Chicks who turn Princes into Frogs instead of the other way around." - Rex Patriarch

"When women complain about men wanting to marry a virgin, they need to keep in mind that we have a very good reason to do so. None of us want to become the next Neville." - Donal Graeme

"Exercise self-control in your speech, maintain a positive and healthy mental attitude, and edify others by your words.  Swearing should be used to fit in that. " - The Alpha Anomaly

"This shameful patriarchal oppression has to stop! We must take the patriarchal power away from men, and give it to women as compensation for past injuries." - Deansdale's Blog

"I’m pursuing myriad self improvement activities, but I always feel there is a bit more I can be doing." - You So Would...

"It's amazing how far we've come along this path." - Carnivore's Cave

"This is both an ancient and a modern story, and perspective might help us to come to grips with where we wish to go as the feminist dystopia collapses around us." - Patriactionary

"And there it is the truth raised up from a century of dead men’s sighs. It is by not thinking that we cease to wonder. " - Society of Amateur Gentlemen

"If the Catholic Church actually looked like this, I think a lot more of us Manosphere Atheists would be calling ourselves Christian…" - Stares at the World

"This is basically a proof I’m doing pretty good with this parenting thing." - A Guide for a Young Patriarch

"Female Supremacy is the manifest purpose of Feminism." - Man, Woman & Myth

"'Porn is a legit sexual outlet...' No, it is not. Porn kills your dick's soul." - finndistan

"For libertarians, the issue of abortion is a very uncomfortable one, because it sits right smack bang in the middle of a massive dilemma for any conscientious libertarian." - Didact's Reach

"Sometimes, I don’t realize I’m doing it. That’s the real problem. Unrecognized flaws cannot be fixed." - Honest Introspection

"I should have known better, but my youthful naiveté made it hard for me to recognize." - the LIFESTYLE

"And perhaps this is why men don’t “put a ring on it”.  Women have instead sold their soul for another sort of Ring." - Unmasking Feminism

"Frame control is one of the most important things you can learn. You don’t need to assert your frame 100% of the time as long as you have a general understanding of the concept. If another person has a better idea, it is ok to back down. There is a difference between being strong and being unnecessarily stubborn." - welcome to the lifestyle

"...equalitarianism can never really be achieved, because people are fundamentally unequal in a huge number of ways, which means that it is an endless crusade, the perfection of which remains more or less elusive and equidistant regardless of how diligently it is pursued. " - Veritas Lounge

"Bitches, I’m, you know, fucking unique and shit!!!" - Grit Artisan

"We bark our talking points, they yelp back with theirs, no minds change, and we end just how we started." - Alpha is Assumed

"Our government is now tripping over dollars to pick up pennies." - MEN-FACTOR

"Who wouldn't want to watch the "Washington insert your ethnic minority heres"?" - Spootville

And, last but certainly not least (and with much appreciation for regular inclusion in the Lighting Rounds):

"If you’re looking for an LTR or a girlfriend. Just don’t; it’s stupid. If you want sex, get sex through an STR, FWB, or ONS. If you want companionship, get a male friend or a dog. If you want a family and life-partner, get a wife. Getting a girlfriend is the worst of all three worlds while minimizing the benefits of any of them." - Free Northerner





Now, to wrap this all up, there's one more piece of advice Rob Fedder's offers all these up and coming blogger of the MAndrosphere that I neglected to mention before the quiplinks:

Don't Delete Your Blogs

Of course, not all people will want to keep blogging forever. If you no longer feel the motivation, that's fine. It is a thankless job and the pay sucks. But please, oh please, don't delete your blog! Not only does it remove from the internet a significant body of work that others might find and read, whether old or not, but it also removes all of those links in the articles, in the comments, and on the sidebar, which support those of us who still are blogging.

Most guys who quit blogging have not lost the faith in the message, they simply are fed-up with blogging. There's nothing wrong with becoming a Man Going His Own Way (MGHOW) and moving on - in fact, it is one of the natural conclusions of MGTOW. But please, if you've found a path to enlightenment through MGTOW and the manosphere which resulted in you starting up a blog, leave your work up so that others may find it, and so that the links in your blog may direct others towards those who are still actively blogging about it.    

Getting to the Point

"Time flies. The older you get, the faster it goes."

That's something my old man told me the entire time I was growing up. He was right.

There are times where I look through this blog's archives and shake my head in bemusement. There are things I'd forgotten I'd written. There are things I've blogged about that I can't believe I used to think like that. There are other things for which I laugh when I realize I wrote in 2007 that I could have easily written today, other posts, wishing I could take it back. Bah.

In any case, re-reading my own writing over a span of years has been an interesting journey into the continual effort in gaining a true education in how life really works in our Brave New World Order.


Every day, somebody new discovers teh MAndrosphere on teh Interwebz. Every day, we see comments of folks who've taken the red pill and choked it down and faced the ugly truths of how each and every one of us has been lied to by our schools, churches, media, leaders and most everyone else. Many folks can't even begin to fathom the lies they are living, because that is all they've ever known.

I write that from the perspective of having been one of those guys for quite a long time. This blog is one, long documentation of a process of deprogramming and truth seeking.

Sometimes, it gets repetitive, and I log on to this blog and stare at a blank "New Post" page and realize that what I'm trying to write, I've already written. Other times, I'll even write a full length post, than re-read it and simply delete it. Too redundant. What's left to say that I haven't already said?

That's when I log off and go read elsewhere. Sometimes, someone, somewhere in these fringes of teh Interwebz writes something that inspires the muse. I get writer's block often. But when the muse comes, the posts almost seem to write themselves. Other times, I read someone else's blog entry and get inspired all over again.

Like today.

I've been a long time reader of The Vigilant Citizen. He's changed his blog layout, format and content a lot since I first came across his site, but I never clicked on his "about" page until today. I usually don't look at most bloggers About pages anymore. Back in the early days of the emerging MAndrosphere, I used to, but now we just have too many blogs to read. (This is a good thing.)

Only so much time in the day, and time flies!

Anyhow, reading Vigilant C's About page was the inspiration for this little bit of nostalgia I've been indulging in with this post. VC doesn't use the Matrix Allegory - red pill | blue pill device which is essentially the MAndrosphere zeitgeist. Nevertheless, what he describes is what we are all familiar whenever we see newcomers who find these fringes of teh Interwebz:

I remember when I first learned about the “Truth” and it wasn’t pretty. I remember learning about how the mass media lie to our faces on a daily basis. About how the educational system only teaches the youth what they need to become obedient workers. About how politics are merely a puppet show and that, regardless of who is in office, the same Agenda will be going forward. About how our rights and freedoms are being revoked. About how the masses are purposely being dumbed-down. About how simple values are rejected from popular culture and replaced by shallow materialism and glorification of immediate fulfillment of impulses.

Learning about these things was overwhelming and, to be honest, it really pissed me off. I remember being depressed for days, repeating to myself “Everything I was ever told was a lie”. I was disgusted by the world I grew up in and the people I used to look up to. That was an awful phase. But, looking back, I realized that it was just a phase – one that all seekers of truth eventually need to go through. It is shocking, disheartening, confusing and totally not cool. But necessary.

As I pursued my research and as I gained a little wisdom and experience, that nasty feeling eventually went away. Gloria Steinem famously wrote “The truth will set you free. But first, it will piss you off.” That is certainly true. But after the “pissed off” phase, better understanding our world leads to an extremely valuable reward: Knowledge, wisdom and happiness.

Although I do not consider this site to contain all of the “Truth”, simply a small part of it, I nevertheless hope its contents is insightful enough to prompt in some people a “thirst for more”.

I could have written that. Indeed, I pretty much have. That's what the past 5+ years of blogging here has been all about. Gaining an awareness of truth, and aligning my life in accordance to it. Many of these things have become automatic. The development of critical thinking and analysis.

After a period of time of actively seeking the Truth through research and questioning, discerning what is real and what is illusion becomes an easy task. Instead of mindlessly absorbing everything that is communicated through mass media, a truth seeker will have the ability to say “Wait, this is BS. I do not believe it and I reject it.” The erection of a gateway that controls the acceptance of messages in our minds, also known as “critical thinking”, is one of the main benefits of truth seeking. This site focuses on mass media because its multiple outlets are used to sell illusion and delusion to the masses. They also define what is acceptable, what is desirable and what is not.

This is where the THEY LIVE glasses metaphor is so apropos. 
 

Watching a few hours of MTV programming is enough to understand that its contents promotes a specific set of values to the youth, notably the importance of materialism, the cult of celebrity and fame, the glorification of appearances and of the superficial, the sexualization and fetishization of everything and so forth. A young person that has not developed the ability to think critically will absorb this information, integrate it and, ultimately, live by it. However, an educated mind will realize that all of these values are artificial constructs and deceiving illusions.

Now you know why our Public Education system was deliberately dumbed down...so that the masses would fail to develop critical thinking skills, so they can be told WHAT to think, not HOW to think. To make minds malleable to the subversive influence of the Tell-A-Vision. Public School education is a factory, an infernal assembly line, churning out young minds ready to be molded by mass media indoctrination, so that we follow the script THEY have written for us all.

So what's the point of it all? Why The Mandrosphere? Why this continual beating of a dead horse with the "red pill | blue pill" Matrix allegory?

This realization also leads to a new appreciation for the simplest things in life that are, coincidentally, the most important things in life. Spending time with loved ones, appreciating the world’s beauty and becoming a better person cost absolutely nothing, yet they are keys to true happiness.

That is the point of all this truth seeking on teh Interwebz! Not to form a movement or support some political party or try to "fix the system." There's no fixing it, because it's not broken. It's doing precisely what it was designed to do.

Our current System is looking to lead us away from these values because they create people who are not dependent of the System. The System needs us to crave and want, and to live for the crap that is sold to us. It needs us to spend our paychecks, to load our credit cards and to take on ridiculous mortgages in order for us to replicate what we see on TV. Our debts are the chains that link us to them and we willingly chain ourselves.

What is more profitable to them? A strong family based on morals, values and traditions or a shallow individual who looks to fill the gaping hole in his/her life with appearances and consumer products? Who is the easier to influence toward a specific idea or agendas? Our current System is a giant wheel that needs each one of us pushing in order for it to advance. Without us, the wheel goes nowhere.

This is why Christianity had to be subverted, marginalized, feminized and expunged from the public discourse of mass media society (are you ready for the upcoming Rabbits and chocolate eggs day?!?!). Christianity promotes family as the foundation of society.

Happily married folks make happy families that breed too many children.

Happy people surrounded by family and friends, and who live a life in which they embrace faith in a higher power, don't  buy things they don't need with money they don't have, to try and fill that hollow emptiness inside. They don't look to the Government to provide them with cradle-to-grave direction, sustenance and subsistence.

The effects of rejecting what is fake and embracing what is real is the equivalent of eradicating a cancer that slowly eats away the spirit. But before curing an illness, one must identify it. So, despite the doom and gloom, knowing the ugly truth should not lead to unhappiness. Quite to the contrary, learning what we should avoid also leads to learning what we should embrace. These wonderful things are within our reach and always will be.

That, I believe, is the only real point to this all.  Learn what to embrace and find true happiness in this life. That is all there really is to it.


Ka 'imi pono i ka Interwebz!   lozlzolzolzolzol


A hui hou.

Law EnFORCEment

RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!

From the time I was 14, when I was inducted into a life of crime, I've had many opportunities to interact with the uniformed officers of the Honolulu Police Department. I was an outlaw, a scofflaw of the most mediocre and common sorts. A juvenile delinquent who managed to avoid an overnight stay in a jail cell simply because of the judgement calls exercised by the HPD officers that apprehended me while I was in the act of defying the local laws and ordinances of my State.

As a Gen X'er, breaking curfew (10pm) to drink alcohol in the community parks and at the beaches with my pal's was a rite of passage. Everyone who "partied" in high school did it. Including most of the Cops who upon reaching adulthood and their chosen vocation, now found themselves breaking up the kinds of parties they themselves attended when they were growing up.

Most of these officers were cool. "Alright kids, dump out your beers, pick up your rubbish and get out of here."

Most times, we kids complied with no back talk and showed respect. We knew they could arrest us if they chose to, and that they were cutting us a break. But we heard tales of other kids who showed no respect, and found out exactly what HPD could do if they so chose to when they caught kids drinking. One kid in my school got beat up by the cops after swearing at the cops for  breaking up their after-hours party at the beach park. He then got arrested, resulting in the cops finding the drugs in his pocket. He eventually ended up in Juvie-hall, and eventually got taken out of his home by social services and had to live in a State half-way house until he was 18.

But most times, HPD was cool.

When I was a little older, I got my first car....but I did not have my driver's license yet. I got pulled over in a neighboring town with 3 of my friends in the car. We had been drinking a little beer (but not drunk). None of us had a license. (Told you I'm a scofflaw!)

As I was under 21, even .01% blood alcohol content is considered a DUI/DWI in Hawaii. Not only did I not have my driver's license, neither did any of my friends. No registration or insurance either. The cop that pulled me over could have literally changed my life dramatically at that point with an arrest and DUI charge. Instead, he told me to pull my car over onto the side of the road, and told me he'd drive us all home and that I could come back with a licensed driver the next day to get my car.

This is what the cops were like back in the late 80's and early 90's in Hawaii. It was much like small town Sheriffs in the old days. They exercised discretion and treated the citizenry like people. They realized that the law was excessively draconian if it were to be applied with zero tolerance or consideration of each situation.

Those where the good old days, when I had respect for most Law Enforcement Officers I encountered.
 
Things are different now.

Several months ago, I got caught breaking the law. I was using my cell phone while stopped at a red light. I didn't see the cop car behind me, and they turned on their lights and beeped their siren to catch my attention.

Fuck.

In the State of Hawaii, it's a $149 ticket for using your cell phone while operating a motor vehicle.

But, hey, the cops are just doing their job right?

Except things have changed. I've gotten pulled over before for speeding. Running a red light. Failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign...hey, I already told you I've been an outlaw since I was 14!

Sometimes I got a ticket. Other times, I got a warning and let go. In all cases, the cop usually treated me with respect and didn't condescendingly belittle me or act like an asshole on a powertrip.

But THIS time, for the unconscionable crime of using teh cell phone while driving, I had TWO officers approach my vehicle in a hostile and aggressive manner. While one officer came to my driver's side window and demanded my license and paperwork in a condescending and demeaning tone and manner, his partner stood on the passenger side, with his hand on his gun, ready to draw, as he intently scanned my car with a hostile look on his face, looking for any possible reason to arrest me.

For the first time, the officer looking at my paperwork and interrogating me, began to ask me potentially self-incriminating questions in a manner as if I were a defendant on the witness stand being cross-examined by a Prosecutor. Did I have a firearm in my car? Did I have any illegal drugs? Open containers? Where was I going to?


This sort of traffic stop is something I recognized from the standard operating procedure as depicted on the Tell-A-Vision in locales like the inner city ghettos and major Metropolitan areas of the country.

First time I ever saw that here in Hawaii.

After I got my ticket and was on my way, I talked to some HPD officers that I know personally, asking about this new procedure, and if in fact the cops were actively looking for any reason to arrest me?

Yes, this is the new normal here in Hawaii. No longer are the cops given much leeway in using their own judgement. They are trained to ENFORCE THE LAW, instead of the formerly common practice of maintaining law and order in the community by policing with judgement and discretion. Cops can now get in trouble for letting people go with just a warning.

There is a difference in the two approaches. With things progressing like that here in Hawaii (the land of Aloha!), I can only imagine how much worse it is getting in other areas of our Brave New World Order.




With this new understanding of the new normal of law enforcement here in Hawaii, I found this post from Eric Peter's Autos blog timely and an important reminder to all of us Sheeple, beholden to teh Authoritah of those who carry a gun and a badge and a tax collecting "ticket" book. These are things you should always remember when you get stopped by an officer OF THE LAW:

* Never forget: Cops are not your friend; they are not there to “help” you. They are there to bust you. Don’t make it easier for them. Make it harder for them.

* Never forget that cops are legally permitted to lie to you. Take nothing they tell you at face value. Assume their intentions are malignant.

* Never forget that a cop is a law enforcer. He is there to enforce the law – any law, every law. It doesn’t matter whether the law is reasonable – or whether you’re a nice guy who doesn’t “deserve” to be hassled. Cops are paid to enforce the law. Period.

* If stopped, keep your window rolled up almost all the way; leave just enough of a gap to allow you to hand the cop your license/documents. If he “asks” you to roll it down, politely decline. Whenever a cop “asks,” it means you do not have to comply. If they order you to do something, then you must do it. But force them to make it clear you are being ordered to comply – “Is that an order?” – and are only complying under duress and not of your own free will.

* Be civil – not slavish. A cop is not “sir.” By so addressing him, you feed his inner bully and Rule Number One for dealing effectively with bullies is to not let them think you are a pussy. Simple – and curt – “yes” and “no” answers will get the point across without being directly confrontational.

* Never make the mistake of responding directly to a cop’s purposefully leading questions – which means, all of his questions. If the cop says, “Do you know why I stopped you?” You tell him, “I suppose you will tell me your reason.” If he says, “Do you know how fast you were going?” You say, “I’m sure you have an opinion.” If he asks whether you’ve been drinking, you remain silent.

* Never concede anything that could be construed – will be construed in court – as evidence in support of whatever charges are leveled at you.

* Never admit to anything – ever.

*Never attempt to excuse anything you may have done. Be silent. Shrug. But do not make excuses. Do not offer an explanation. If you do, you’ve just handed the cop exactly what he wants most – a tacit admission of guilt, which in court will become the basis for establishing your legal guilt.

* You have to give them your ID and insurance info – if you are operating a motor vehicle on “public” roads.  It is “the law.” But you do not – yet – have to tell them where you’re going, where you’ve been – or anything else. If asked, shrug.  State – politely, calmly – that you won’t be answering any questions.

* Ask – repeatedly – whether you are free to go. It’s an excellent stock answer to cop questions.

* If you have a concealed carry permit, the cop probably already knows – having run your license plate info through the computer in his car. Still, it is good policy to tell him, even if you are not legally obligated to do so (it varies, state to state). This is a psychological tactic which shows you (in the cop’s eyes) to be “cooperative” without your actually having complied with anything that’s against your interests. It may help defuse the situation – important when guns are involved.

* Never consent to a search. If a cop asks for permission, he is asking permission. It means he hasn’t got legal probable cause – yet. Do not give it to him. Politely tell him, “I do not consent to any searches.” Repeat as necessary.  If he searches you/your vehicle anyway, you may have a legal basis for challenging the admissibility of anything found. But if you gave your consent to the search – and not objecting is the same as consenting – then anything found as a result of that search can and will be used against you in court.  

* Record the interaction. Higher courts have consistently ruled it is legal to do so, irrespective of what the cop tells you (see point made above about cops lying). There is no expectation of privacy in public. He can record you – you can record him. Use audio and video. If the cop “asks” you to turn off the equipment, politely decline. Merely state you are recording the interaction in the interests of everyone’s safety.
Just like they do to us.

 All of these are excellent suggestions. The only thing I would add, would be to temper any of these with your personal situation. If you're pulled over in a public location with plenty of witnesses, all of these forms of compliance without self incrimination are probably safe and may get you out of the stop without even a ticket.

But if you get stopped by a cop in a deserted area with no witnesses around, it would probably be best to cooperate to some extent with the cop in order to avoid getting them angry and provoking them into acting above the law, protected by the thin blue line.


You never know which kind of cop just pulled you over. Some are law abiding, respectful and well intentioned. Others...not so much.