Author Archives: Raizen

Firing Off On Palworld

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Earlier this month, Palworld dropped on Steam, and since then, it’s raised some eyebrows with its resemblance to Pokémon.

I haven’t yet played Palworld, and maybe I’ll give it a try later on. It does look intriguing. This article is little more than my own opinion about the drama surrounding it, not my impression on the game.

In the Pokémon community, this game has stirred up some strong feelings, with many taking a side between supporting the game or not.

As I see it, Pokémon could use a bit of competition to stir them to improve. There have been issues surrounding Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, largely concerning performance issues, with some complaints being petty, and some being well-founded.

One of the matters concerning Palworld that has caught player’s attentions is that some of the pal characters bear a strong resemblance to Pokémon. As I see it, games like Digimon and Monster Rancher have done a lot more to ape Pokemon’s style, yet those games aren’t something that The Pokémon Company has had any issue with.

But there’s evidently something about Palworld that got their attention, as indicated by the following statement:

While one may interpret this as meaning that Pokémon is going to go after Palworld, what it comes down to is that it’s caught their attention, and they’re looking into it. Their statement that they didn’t grant the use of Pokémon assets is not a definitive statement that that Pokémon assets were used. It’s something that they intend to look into, and as the last sentence indicates, they intend to defend their copyright, if necessary.

And it might not come to that, because even though comparisons can be made between certain Pokémon and Palworld’s pals, they may be sufficiently different that no action would be needed to protect GameFreak’s copyright.

Remember that if a company doesn’t defend its copyright, they risk losing that copyright, hence Nintendo’s interest in defending Pokémon, which is the highest grossing intellectual property in human history.

Based on what I’ve seen, Palworld doesn’t infringe on GameFreak’s copyright, it merely imitates it, which wasn’t an issue when it came to similar games like Yokai Watch.

There have been comparisons made between the Pokémon characters and Pal World pals, and you may have seen some. Some of those comparisons may have been misleading, as one source of some more popular comparisons has admitted to scaling some Pal World models to make them more closely resemble Pokémon.

Having said that, I’m aware that there is something about Palworld that stirs up strong feelings among Pokémon fans, one way or another, particularly among those employed at Nintendo. There’s something about arming little critters with guns and sometimes eating them that goes against the established tone of the Pokémon franchise, and most games that plainly took inspiration from Pokémon. But that difference in tone can possibly be used to make the case that Palworld is sufficiently transformative to avoid legal trouble.

Another point of contention that has come up is that the developer of Palworld, Pocket Pair, has developed assets using AI. As I see it, this isn’t a big deal, as this is the direction that game development has been going in. In fact, as I see it, people in the future will be able to make their own games at home for personal use, by simple use of prompts. Imagine arriving home from work after a hard day, and asking your computer, “I’d like a dungeon-crawler JRPG.” Or, instead: “I liked yesterday’s game. I’d like to pick up where I left off.”

AI is already changing the way games are made, and the way things are looking, there’s more change to come. At some point, game design will become so trivial that you could just do it yourself.

While there has been many amusing takes on Palworld, you haven’t read the worst one unless you’ve seen PETA’s take:

However the situation develops, it’s already clear who the biggest losers are.

The MamaMax Fiasco Begins

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Muta, known mainly as SomeOrdinaryGamers, has expressed his disappointment with his one-time friend, MamaMax on X. Seeing what’s coming, MamaMax has attempted an apology video, but it was too little, too late.

Muta has called his video possibly the most serious one that he ever had to make. Considering that this is the same person who exposed a dubious charity operation trusted by the game community, that’s saying something.

Here is his video, if you’re interested. It’s just over an hour long:

Obviously, someone as big as Muta doesn’t need a signal-boost from me. But I do remember MamaMax’s video from when it caught my attention, late last year, which I commented upon. I would have guessed that there was drama behind it, but I was not aware how deep it went.

Apparently, Max has dropped the GODCULT branding. Seems that didn’t work out for him.

While it was already abundantly clear that MamaMax was interpersonally manipulative, I was not aware at the extent he went to to attempt to manipulate other content creators into furthering his cause, as he attempted to do with his audience.

In his video, as you may remember, MamaMax came off as a fanatic, and proceeded to split the world in two, and tried to lay the guilt down on those who aren’t joining him in combatting CSA.

But his cause was not as noble as he made it appear to be. All that he really had to go on was the testimony of a witness, and that was good enough for him to dox what could have easily been just a Vampire: the Masquerade LARPer.

I did some research into the person who MamaMax named, and it pretty much came back nothing. But before you fault me and my internet-sleuthing skills, please know that MamaMax, the very person bringing the accusation, apparently has about as much on him.

So basically, MamaMax is trying to recruit Anonymous as his own personal army, with nothing to go on besides an accusation. And it’s not just any accusation, the mere accusation he is going on is of one of the most serious crimes that can be committed.

If you don’t see the problem with that, close your browser, cancel your internet subscription, and delete System 32.

To make matters worse for MamaMax, because it wasn’t enough to bring about 750,000 subscribers an allegation that has the potential to not be true, he brought it forth in a matter that is self-serving, egotistical, and inappropriately theatrical, rather than with the seriousness that such an accusation merits.

And through it all, against the guidance of his friends who fought desperately to get him to see reason, he resisted their insistence that the matter instead be brought to law enforcement, which is how such a matter should have been handled. And he should have known better, considering that MamaMax himself has been accused in the past!

As I often say, pay attention to those who virtue signal the hardest, as they’re often acting with a guilty conscience, usually because they have skeletons in their closets.

While I could say more about this (such as how MamaMax interpreted Penguin0’s silence as a slight against him and brought that up to his audience), I’ll get to the point: I doubt that this whole matter will go down well. Max Striker has not been conducting himself with the highest level of stability. His distrust in his friends, as well as his refusal to see reason, along with his willingness to use psychological manipulation on his friends and his audience, indicates poor judgment that has a strong potential to lead to tragedy.

Or at least a strong, public, open-and-shut defamation case. If it turns out that Max’s target is innocent, I’d be all for it. Because I’m far beyond sick of this shit. And if he’s not, Max has still proven that he’s not someone to turn to when it comes to this kind of matter.

I suspect that Max is going to do something stupid. Either something tragic, or with the potential to make him more infamous than he already is. Just hearing him speak among his friends, he doesn’t sound like he understands what he did wrong. And if his judgment is that poor, his attempts at damage control might just make things worse for himself.

From his video late last year, I had a strong suspicion that Max would appear on the news, someday. We’ll see whether it comes to that.

And then, all the mouseys died.

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This is some deeply unsettling news. I want to hear Anthony Fauci assure us that this isn’t gain-of-function research, that’s the only thing that’ll assure one with a state-recommended level of media literacy.

A team of researchers in China are at it again. Except the coronavirus that they’ve developed this time now has a 100% fatality rate in humanized mice. But hey, at least it’s not the Wuhan guys, this time.

Let me tell you, it’s a great thing that humanity has collectively learned the obvious lesson that there was to learn from the last few years. That is to say, that there are some things that you just don’t mess with.

And now, it’s on to enlightenment, from here. How? By developing another mutant strain of viruses that destroys the brains of mice in Chinese labs, that’s how. And if the unthinkable happens and the virus somehow passes on to humans, then at least there will be a lesson to be learned for the hypothetical few who are still alive.

Because science is just so important.

For those who have trouble seeing through the sarcasm, I’ll just say it: this is a vintage bad idea. Also, please don’t kill all the mice. Raichu is a mouse, and if there were no more Raichus, that would be just sad.

A couple years ago, I thought that Bitcoin was the stuff. Then I found out how much used Pokémon games were appreciating. But now, I’m thinking that maybe investing in lifeboat rations may not be a bad idea. And maybe some other survival supplies.

My Opinion of the Keffals/Chris Chan Interview

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Just this morning, Keffals has uploaded an abridged version of his interview with Chris Chan. For those who care to view, the following is the video:

I may have indicated as much already, but when Chris Chan trails off into pseudo-spiritual babble, I mostly just trail off, assuming that he’s adding nothing of value to the discussion. But I have noticed some amount of consistency in his delusions, which indicates that he has given them some thought. Whether he sincerely believes his own bullshit, there’s at least some amount of premeditation in his spouting-off.

Having said that, when someone has a guilty conscience and therefore a motive to obfuscate, and they’re not making sense, it’s not a bad idea to ask whether their statements are truly designed to be understood.

During the interview, Chris said something revealing in a way that he probably didn’t realize. While he still vehemently denies committing the crime with his mother that he previously gave an unprompted and disturbingly detailed confession to, he stated that the crime was committed by another Chris Chan in another dimension. But this was considered important for Chris Chan to bring up, even though he denies that that other-dimensional Chris was actually himself.

For one thing, this sounds like a form of dissociation, an obvious way for Chris to cope with the guilt of committing a crime by convincing himself that the crime wasn’t really himself, but instead a different version of himself in another dimension.

What’s more, this explanation opens the gateway to potential gaslighting on the part of Chris, where Chris can attempt to convince people that their memories of Chris’ crime, and his confession to it, are actually memories that leaked from another dimension, causing us to remember things that, according to Chris, didn’t actually happen with the Chris Chan of this dimension.

Remember that Chris Chan has previously stated his belief in a “dimensional merge”. Whether he believes in it or not, it still is something that he can view as a tool to exonerate himself.

Also, at some point in the interview, Chris pivoted to talking about Donald Trump, for whom he clearly has disdain, even though nothing about Trump’s presidency or political career has had any noticeable impact on Chris, himself. Another example of how parroting left-wing talking points can melt an already weak mind.

Chris Chan also brought up Russia, making them out to be a modern-day Babylon, and in the process, sounding like so many false prophets of days gone by. He said that Putin would “fall by his own sword”. As I see it, Russia has a high likelihood of facing a collapse for some reason or another within the next few years. But the idea that Chris has any amount of special insight about it is laughable.

By the way, Chris Chan really needs to drop the whole schtick where he pretends to be Jesus Christ. Anyone of Christian background would find this grossly offensive. What’s more, Bible prophecy indicates that, when Jesus does return, the coming would be with great glory, and the entire world would become aware of Christ. This doesn’t sound like what’s happening with the author of Sonichu.

I’ve suspected previously that Chris Chan’s messiah complex was some form of malingering, an obvious attempt to further an insanity defense. Chris Chan’s insistence long after his trials indicates a sincerity in his delusion.

Chris Chan did a lot to attempt to capitalize on the discussion, wanting to convince those who block him on X that they were just going to get harassed anyway, whether they block him or not. This is, of course, shitty reasoning, as anyone aware of Chris Chan is aware that he’s the kind of guy you want to stay away from, as he tends to bring with him some unwanted attention.

Of course, Chris Chan still sees himself as the victim of his own bad reputation, which he himself did plenty to cultivate. He brought up Bluespike, even though Chris could’ve easily handled him by not responding to him. He brought up the gal-pals who were actually trolls, when he could’ve been skeptical of anyone claiming a strong interest in him in spite of never meeting him, and being scammed by multiple people with the same routine in the past.

Like many predators that have been outed, they want people to just leave the past in the past, and just pretend that they never did what they did. Because Chris can’t identify with normal people, he doesn’t comprehend how normal people handle forgiveness. If someone has had a career in grand larceny in their history, and we all collectively decide to not punish him, that doesn’t mean that we’d consider him just the same as everyone else for a position as a bank teller.

Chris Chan committed incest. While he may have avoided punishment, most people would still prefer that he not attend conventions. Especially considering that he continues to deny that he committed the crime, in spite of the evidence. We don’t want him near our kids, we don’t want him near ourselves, and we don’t want him leaving replies on our X updates.

If you’re interested in one transgender asking another transgender softball questions, the interview doesn’t disappoint. That aside, it’s plain to see that, between Chris Chan and Keffals, it’s Keffals who is operating with more intellectual horsepower. It just so happens that that horsepower is directed towards degeneracy.

The Collab Between Chris Chan and Keffals Makes Kiwi Farms Easy To Justify

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Apparently, Chris Chan is planning a collab with Keffals. This was according to Chris, as he posted the following on X:

You may know who Chris Chan is, as he is considered the most well-known of all lolcows. A couple years ago, he committed a sexual offense involving his own mother, becoming a case study in true crime, and ascending to horrorcow status.

Keffals is a bit more obscure, but perhaps far more enraging. He became known for making HRT drugs at home to sell to minors without their parent’s knowledge or consent, and ran an infamous “catboy ranch”.

The packaging for his bathtub-made HRT contains the phrase, “Keep out of reach of parents.”

Both persons are males who pretend to be women, and both hate Kiwi Farms with a passion, so it wasn’t terribly unlikely that the two would have eventually found each other.

If you’re unfamiliar with Kiwi Farms, it’s an online message board that initially focused on discussing Chris Chan, but has since pivoted to discussing the ridiculous things that social media personalities do. It’s often made out to be a hive for online bullies, and while it’s true that many of its members are unsavory individuals, I think the board as it is now can be justified. In fact, I’ll go ahead and do that now.

Suppose that arson was legal. As in, you could do it, and the law wouldn’t lay a finger on you. Would you do it?

If you’re like most people, your answer would be, “No!”. This is because most people would see arson as immoral, regardless of what the law allowed.

But suppose that, not only was arson legal, it was actually incentivized. Five dollars for each house destroyed. Odds are, most people would still refuse to do it, and would be outraged at such an incentive, if it were to exist.

However, some people would jump at the offer. “Five dollars, per? Hells yeah!” they’d scream, before getting to work. We would call such people “sociopaths”, because what little they’d have to gain is something which, in their minds, outweighs the suffering that they’d cause.

But suppose that homes were being destroyed, but rather than by acts of arson, instead through influence. Suppose that a level of abstraction separates the act that destroys the home from the home being destroyed, in such a way that allowed for plausible deniability on the part of the influencer.

The influencer might influence people to drink base liquids, eat laundry detergent, dive from moving speedboats, take prescription drugs without a prescription, idolize dangerous terrorists, make self-destructive lifestyle choices, and many, many more acts which, if people were to try them, the likely outcome is that families could be torn apart, property could be damaged, and even lives could be lost. And while all this is going on, influencers are financially rewarded just for the attention that they get.

If this were to happen, and if it were financially incentivized, would you see that as a problem?

Let’s drop the hypotheticals. After all, you probably knew what I was getting at when I brought up the influencers. The fact is, influencers do encourage destructive behaviors. These behaviors have caused damage that these influencers didn’t have to face consequences for. And yes, these influencers are being financially incentivized to accrete attention to themselves, even if the attention is through the promotion of destructive and socially corrosive ideologies and activities.

These influencers are the sociopaths who don’t give a damn what damage that they might cause for you or for anyone else, so long as they’re getting the attention that they want, and the money that they really care about.

These sociopaths are among the many influencers on social media.

They don’t have to believe what they’re saying. And they usually don’t. They don’t have to see the communities, families, or individuals whose lives they are destroying. And they couldn’t bring themselves to care. They might even convince you that they’re your friend, when in reality, your mere attention only slightly enables the transaction that is their sincere desire.

By now, you’re probably wondering what can be done about these influencers. The answer is to shine a light on them, and subject them to the ridicule and satire that is richly merited.

That’s where Kiwi Farms comes in.

If it weren’t for Kiwi Farms, deviants such as Chris Chan and Keffals would have a much easier time being the predators that they are.

And now that the two have found each other, it’s become much more important that an eye is kept on the two. Because if the two are the miscreants that they are independent of one another, just imagine what they can come up with working together.

Coach Red Pill Might Have Actually Died In Ukrainian Prison This Time

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It happened again. There’s another news story going around about how Gonzalo Lira died in Ukraine. Gonzalo Lira went by his pen name, Coach Red Pill. Remember him?

This story was brought to us by The New Voice of Ukraine via Yahoo News. As you read through the story, you’ll probably get an idea of just how things are going for journalism in Ukraine. Anyone who has ever voiced any amount of skepticism about the war in Ukraine is made out to be pro-Russian.

In a previous post, I pointed out that Gonzalo was jailed and possibly killed in Ukraine after The Daily Beast’s Mark Hay wrote a hit piece on Gonzalo, calling him pro-Putin. At the time, Gonzalo was staying in a country where if a journalist accused someone of being pro-Putin, that’s something that can stick.

I could ask Mark Hay how he feels about this development, but the fact is, when you libel someone, it’s your desire to destroy them. You know how guitarists like those decals that read, “This machine kills fascists”? Perhaps Mark Hay would want one for his keyboard, which reads, “This device kills bloggers”.

While I’m not familiar with Gonzalo’s career, I know that when he went by the handle Coach Red Pill he was outspoken about the state of world affairs, and advocated running off to another country for safety. This was some time before the Ukraine war popped off, and the country that Gonzalo chose to run to for safety just so happened to be Ukraine.

In hindsight, that wasn’t a great choice.

There is an expression that goes like this: truth is the first casualty of war. As I see it, the truth exists independent of anyone’s acceptance of it, and survives any attempt to destroy it. There are far too many journalists who are trying to do just that. And now, a blogger who was in the wrong country at the wrong time has become another casualty in a war between one bad guy and another.

I could hardly focus.

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Forgoing a decent attempt at an intro, here’s the madness:

Honestly, I struggled to keep focus. When someone starts spouting metaphysical pseudo-spiritual psycho-babble in the same way that Chris Chan has been lately, I have a hard time staying engaged. At that point, I just assume that they don’t have anything of value to say, and my mind drifts to something I’d rather be doing. Such as playing a video game, or modifying a recipe, or even something as normally dull as watching some soap opera that my mom liked, which goes to show how long the list of things I’d rather be doing can get when I’m stretching what politeness that I have to wait for them to just finish talking so I can say, “Hey, that was something. Thanks for sharing that. Bye.”

At some point, I caught that she didn’t quite understand how to explain the gender she felt like, which sounds like she’s under-qualified to do as much as exercise simple metacognition. Because of this, I wonder whether she was really successfully stringing her sentences together, or my mind was somehow filling in the blanks in a hallucinatory manner, similar to how holes in a wall can disappear when they are covered by a blind spot.

Now, here I am pondering whether this wonder of a person can so much as operate a microwave unsupervised, or whether this task is delegated to a handler in an institution. In either case, it’s clear that she’s not wanting for something to eat.

What I did get out of the video is that some woman out there doesn’t know how to explain a gender that’s a product of her own imagination, but she’s so cocksure that she’ll assert that she still knows it better than you.

Whatever drugs she’s taking to make her happy, they seem to be working a treat.

Johnny Somali Fined 200,000 Yen

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According to Yahoo News Japan, nuisance streamer Johnny Somali has just been sentenced to a 200,000 yen fine by a Japanese court for obstruction of the operation of a business, which if you know Japanese culture, you know that that’s something that they take very seriously.

If the name Johnny Somali rings a bell, odds are, you’ve heard of the infamous Kick streamer whose routine is going to one of the most polite places in the entire world and acting like a jackass. Japan is basically what you’d get if LinkedIn was its own country.

Johnny Somali (Ismael Ramsey Khalid) was in Japan as a student, but gained infamy with his streams on Kick, which often depict him acting disruptive in public. Among his antics included trespassing on a construction site (for which he was charged, but the charge was dropped), playing loud music in public, getting into disputes with locals, loudly playing adult-rated anime on a train, taunting locals by saying “Hiroshima” and “Nagasaki”, among other antics.

Johnny Somali was largely considered a nuisance, and the Japanese seem to be happy that a court was willing to make an example out of him.

As of this posting, 200,000 yen amounts to approximately $1373.40. Which is probably a fraction of what he made with his Kick account.

I know I’m not the only one for whom a visit to Japan would be a boyhood dream. But I know what to expect while there. If you’re going to go to Japan, it’s expected of you to conform. If you don’t want to conform in an advanced and heavily-educated industrial society, then Japan isn’t the place for you.

Don’t believe me? Just last year, two people in Japan were arrested over a prank that involved double-dipping with used chopsticks into a communal container of pickled ginger.

There’s speculation on social media that Johnny Somali could be deported from Japan. But for the time being, it’s still only that: speculation. At this point, Johnny Somali has only been fined for his actions. I know that people want to see the Japanese throw the book at him. After all, his antics are infuriating. But at this point, that still hasn’t happened.

But considering the narcissism that we’ve seen out of Johnny Somali up until now, coupled with his tendency to act out on a whim, it’s likely just a matter of time.

Jews in NYC Riot Over Tunnel

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This morning, I opened up X, saw a story about Jewish tunnels in New York City, and thought, “Oh boy, now what is it?”.

Apparently, a tunnel was discovered connecting a Synagogue in NYC to a grate across the street. Since its discovery, the city proceeded to attempt to fill the tunnel up, sparking a riot among the Chabad Jews who carved the tunnel, apparently because they really liked their tunnel.

There’s a bit of misinformation going around about how the tunnel might have been built so that Jews could access their Synagogue during the Covid lockdowns, but if we’re being honest, it’s still not completely clear what purpose the tunnel served. As one might expect, the intellectual dead-ends who blame the Jews for every last problem that they have were quick to assume the worst, because of course they would.

I’ll be honest and say that I’m no expert when it comes to Judaism, but from what little I know, among the Jews, the Chabads are considered to be something of an outlier, similar to how the Mormons are viewed by the rest of Christianity. I really don’t know what kind of religious justification there could be for a tunnel going from a synagogue.

But whatever the reason may be, a bunch of people in black suits and funny hats flew into a rage at the prospect of the city of New York filling the tunnel back up.

If you wanna see, and I don’t blame you, I managed to find someone on social media that hosted a video that had an impartial tone:

Also, I’ll share this because I found the picture cute. Mozel tov mouseys!

https://twitter.com/CueBacca17/status/1744734137695744048?s=20

There’s also some disinformation about this story going around. Which is to be expected, because there is potential to defame the Jews, and there’s an excess of sub-room-temp-IQ wignats who defied the rules of natural selection to survive to the point that wireless internet can be set up for them, with the rest of us probably paying for it in some way. Dispelling disinformation is not my job, and if it was, it’d be a full time job, and probably wouldn’t pay enough considering the muck one would have to sift through. Among these is the claim that the tunnel led to an elementary school across the street, and was used to expedite a child-trafficking ring.

So, I entered “Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters” on Google Maps to check to see whether an elementary school was, in fact, across the street from the Synagogue. This is what I found:

All one really had to do was check Google Maps and see for themselves that there’s no elementary school across the street from the Synagogue in question. If you fell for the lie, then the world must be a scary and confusing place for you. Which it is for the rest of us, but perhaps much more so for you.

As for what the tunnel was really about, I suppose we’ll find out from much brighter people in the days ahead. But considering the sheer number of Jewish facilities in the area, I suspect that they wanted an access tunnel, and went ahead and carved one out without the city’s permission. Which is irresponsible, considering the danger of sinkholes and the possibility of a tunnel collapse. I know that crossing the street can be quite an inconvenience in a place like New York City, but carving a tunnel is quite the investment of time, itself.

If you can think of a conspiracy theory involving Jewish tunnels that actually sounds intelligent, please share in the comments. I’m still yet to hear one.

Why Biden Takes the Jan 6 Riot So Seriously

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It’s now been over three years since the riot that took place at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan 6, 2021. Since then, the left has taken to memorializing the event as a threat to democracy, and Biden himself has incessantly referenced it, including in his latest campaign ad.

No wonder Trump was such an effective real estate mogul, what with his ability to live rent-free in people’s heads.

It’s obvious that to the Biden administration the Capitol riot was no ordinary riot, even if all evidence points to it not being the deliberate insurrection that the left has made it out to be, but instead a demonstration that escalated to a level that was not originally intended.

What is it about the Jan 6 Capitol riot that gets under Biden’s skin? What follows is speculation about what might be happening with Biden’s thinking.

When a person would become President of the United States, they undergo a slight change in their thinking. They’ll begin comparing themselves to previous presidents.

While it’s true that there have been protests against the policy positions of previous American presidents, the Capitol riot was the first of its kind, in that people showed up in the thousands to resist the very certification of a man who supposedly had the support of the majority. While it’s true that the protesters don’t represent everybody, they acted on the frustrations of a significant portion of the electorate who believed that they weren’t being represented.

Again, this type of protest was unprecedented in its kind, and grand in scale. What’s more, it was a direct challenge to the Biden administration.

It seems as though a vast majority of people who would run for public office has at least a slight amount of narcissism. Seeing as though Biden has held office for roughly five decades, there’s higher potential for narcissism. In the eyes of a narcissist, they must be loved by most reasonable people, and anyone who would not love them must be unreasonable. This may be playing into how Biden has been coping with the Capitol riot: by making Democracy itself out to be in danger, and making himself out to be a hero, fighting the good fight. In this narcissistic fantasy, the people who don’t accept him must be acting out of malice or ignorance.

After all, to know a narcissist is to love one.

However, an American president doesn’t just compare himself to other American presidents, he compares himself to other world leaders, particularly other influential leaders like those who lead countries such as China, Russia, India, Japan, Germany, and the U.K., just to name a few examples. And, as it so happens, it’s rare for leaders of those countries to see such strong opposition to their leadership, particularly on a day as significant as the certification (or respective ceremony) of their particular appointments.

When you understand this, you understand why Joe Biden and his administration are as insecure as they are.

And, as a further blow to his pride, the candidate that serves as the spiritual representative of the frustrations against the Biden administration is the current frontrunner of the opposing political party, and it’s not even close. And this has occurred in spite of every petty legal obstruction that’s been waged against him, and every attempt to make him out to be an enemy of democracy.

In fact, if the upcoming election were to be held tomorrow, it’s likely that Donald Trump would win. If this were to happen, Joe Biden’s pride would be dealt the cruelest stroke. This would mean that the public, after hearing everything that he had to say about his opponent and his constituency, still sided against Biden. At that point, what would he have left?

While this was speculation, I think it’s reasonable to consider when pondering just what it is about the Jan 6 Capitol riot that Joe Biden seems to take so personally. I’m a bit concerned, because as history has shown us abundantly, when men of power are insecure, they tend to turn to desperate methods.

Personally, I think that this election year is going to be interesting. It’s obvious that there’s a whole lot of pride at stake. I’ve said before that in order for democracy to work, each side needs to see their opposition as legitimate. Both major factions have room to develop as far as that goes, and it doesn’t help that there are people all over who wouldn’t make that easy.

While people ascribe huge significance to the presidency, as I see it, his power should be limited to the point that it shouldn’t make much difference who he is. People should care more about local government, as that can make a far bigger impact on their lives. What’s more, other representatives are significant, considering that if one political party does not control all branches of government, they can’t just push through whatever they want.

Here’s hoping that cooler heads prevail, but to be honest, it’s hard to tell which ones those would be.