Welcome to the Fray
You've arrived here a slave. My goal is for you to leave having found the road to freedom.
“I’m no slave!” I can hear you say. Yes, you may be one of the minority who aren't. But the chances are good that your chains and shackles are as heavy as everyone else’s... you’ve just chosen not to see them. No surprise, given how much you’ve been conditioned to think of them as the most appealing of finery.
I know it sounds crazy. I know how much this blends into the cacophony of nonsense here on the web. But this is important, perhaps the most important piece of understanding you’ll ever acquire.
Take me on faith for five minutes by reading this page and as far as that time will take you into the other essays. This is not a political site, nor a religious one; it's a call to arms against sweeping economic oppression that profoundly affects everyone, including you, every hour of every day of every year of your entire life. If five minutes is too much to ask, or if it isn't enough to convince you that the ideas here are worth considering, thanks for your time, and good luck to you.
— J.K.
Take Back Your Wallet... and Your Life
We live in a world gone mad, with a madness so widespread that it's come to be taken as sanity. The aim here is to reverse that trend.
There's an old Chinese saying: "Fish aren't aware of water." Sometimes, a mode of thought is so prevalent that all those who think it are unaware of its ramifications - or even of its existence. It's simply "how things are..."
...only it's not. This madness surrounds us and has become such an integral part of daily existence that in some ways it has become the reason for daily existence. In a word, this madness is consumerism - the strange and sick notion that buying crap defines your life and brings happiness.
consumerism - noun - 1. (obsolete) the promotion of the consumer's interests; 2. the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable; 3. a preoccupation with and an inclination toward the buying of consumer goods; 4. the idea that life is defined by buying crap.
It's time people start to wake up and embrace some sanity, otherwise known as anti-consumerism.
anti-consumerism - noun - 1. the theory that consumerism is detrimental to personal, family and national economic health; 2. taking a personal, family, community and national stance against the prevalence of consumerism; 3. the core belief of Renegade Consumers.
So dive in here, anywhere, and start clearing your head. (The link below will start you on a reading list that will take you through the basics.) The only thing you have to lose is a lifetime's destructive indoctrination and conditioning — rules that have been pounded into you to make you a more efficient cog in the cycle of consumerism, at the expense of your personal and economic freedom and genuine happiness. What you have to gain is freedom and control of your economic future — real control, not the illusory control of greater spending capacity.
Fair warning, though: You might find the contents here so outrageous and contrary to your ingrained mindset that you conclude it's pure nonsense... some sort of wild-eyed, fringe lunacy with a hidden agenda. It's none of that. If you stick it out long enough to grasp what's being presented, you face some serious and temporarily uncomfortable reordering of your values and perhaps even a shift in your grasp of reality. The price of peeling off decades of brainwashing can be a cold, sharp shock... but the result is astounding clarity of vision and understanding, and the beginnings of genuine personal and economic freedom. That's the goal here. I want you to reach it. There's no other agenda.
— Click Here to Read Your Way to Renegadery —
If I can't convince you to stick with the ideas here long enough to judge them... hey, vaya con Dios, friend. Emphasis on the "con," keep up that trust in Dios, and good luck to you out there in the jungle.
If you're strong enough to face the truth... welcome to the fray, fellow Renegade. Welcome to the sanity factory. And welcome to the home of an intensive examination of life, the "pursuit of happiness" and the breaking of the chains on your mental and economic liberty.
— I'm J.K. Greyfriars, and I don't buy it any more.