I posted a link on Gab to one of my articles last week. It got some likes, it got some reposts, it got some comments and it got some retards. The prevailing characteristic of the retards was their belief in the awful Donald who had betrayed them. This was somewhat amusing as that was the main point of the article that I wrote. I don’t usually post my articles to Gab but I did this time as a form of social experiment to test what I had written, which was confirmed.
But it got me thinking.
The level of despair among those who had professed to believe in Trump is off the charts. They have no faith, they have no hope, and they certainly have no charity. They were fair weather followers. When things were going well, happy days. When things look bleak, throw the guy you’ve professed to follow under the bus. Good on you, Ann. Just like a woman.
But this corner of the internet does not care about women. We are only interested in the patriarchy and how we can return to its graces and strengths. One of my traits of the modern man is number 23 – The modern man gets on with it.
Being calm is not just about handling yourself well in a tricky or stressful situation. How attractive is it when a guy handles something well but then goes around talking himself up for days on end? In some cases for the rest of his life. With every beating of his chest our respect for his deed diminishes. We come to understand that he performed well in the situation despite of who he is, not because of it.
I wrote that five years ago, and it holds up. But I overlooked another aspect of this trait. And that is that a man does not give up. He does not lose hope even when all hope seems lost. He does not despair.
Many of us are fans of Tolkien. Well, all of his major works revolve around the notion of not giving up when all seems lost. One of the central characters in The Lord of the Rings is Denethor, the steward of Gondor.
… Denethor uses the palantir at the time when Frodo has been captured by Sauron – and sees a hobbit in the enemy’s hands.
Denethor assumes that this is the Ring bearer hobbit whom Gandalf sent into Mordor, and that Sauron now has the Ring. Denethor therefore despairs, his mind breaks, and he descends into madness, suicide; and the attempted murder of his son Faramir (whom Denethor assumes, also falsely, to be certainly fatally injured).
What Denethor does not know is that although this is indeed Frodo, and he is indeed in the enemy’s hands – at that time Sam has the One Ring; and is not in captivity.
And it turns-out that this small unknown fact is enough to transform the entire situation from one of ‘certain’ despair – to the success of the quest.
Almost all of us gaze into the palantir every day. It is the mainstream media, whose sole task is to ensnare us in their false messages and to make us give in to despair.
But despair is simply self-indulgence. Vox Day epitomises the attitude of holding fast and not falling into the evil of despair. He understands that things are happening behind the scenes of which we know not. But crucially, he also understands that things might indeed not go our way right now, yet many times in history what appeared to be setbacks at the time turned out to be events that changed the balance in favor of those seemingly doomed to fail.
As men we not only cannot give in to despair, it is our burden not to. We are tasked with winning the fight, and part of that involves giving courage to those around us, even when all hope seems lost. In fact, giving courage only counts when indeed all hope seems lost. It is no great feat to be carried by a winning team. What counts is being an example of courage, strength and faith to a team seemingly on the point of losing.
As the poem says, when all around you are losing their heads, you need to keep yours.
Originally published at Pushing Rubber Downhill. You can purchase Adam’s books here.