The stArt of War

The following is an ongoing list of rules to help Black men successfully navigate through this world. None of them would be considered controversial for any other group to employ. That means for Black men it would warrant a death sentence or, at the very least, death threats. What I am suggesting here is that Black men retake ownership over their own lives. This is necessarily going to threaten those who depend on the status quo because that status quo depends on our disposability. And so, the first rule you must master is both the simplest to understand and the hardest to implement. You will see it weave its way through many of the subsequent rules.

1.The answer is no.

The default setting for you should be to say no to any potential request. I say potential because you should be able to anticipate a request and say no to it before it even happens. What does that look like? A woman calls you out of the blue who you haven’t heard from in months? Say no to picking up the phone and let her leave a message. Another example: The police are canvasing the neighborhood and are questioning residents? Say no to answering your door. Why be this way? How often has any request made of you been for your benefit? Few and far between, right? You don’t owe anyone your time or a conversation. When you do grace someone with your time, you should know exactly how it’s going to benefit you. For the handful of people who have earned your trust or demonstrated their value over a significant period of time, that benefit might be something intangible like their company. For everyone else? You should be able to quantify the benefit. You want my vote? What specifically are you going to do for me and/or people who look like me? Their response should begin with me or Black men specifically, not people of color, not minorities, not Black people, but Black men. If it doesn’t start with us specifically, don’t even allow them to finish the sentence or ask for a follow-up. Walk away. The answer is no. Don’t worry about the negative consequences of being seen as rude. They never thought much of you anyway. How do they turn your no into a yes? When they start doing at least as much for you as they expect from you. For example, when Black men start refusing to vote for any candidate, and the blame is laid squarely at your feet for whatever happens by whoever is in office, you will get a sense of just how powerful the word no is and how much everyone hates you for using it.

2. Focus on reducing your consumer debt over growing your income.

Over the last 5 years, you’ve heard the war cry from women. They want 6 figures or more. Charlatans on social media platforms like YouTube have pushed the same narrative or refused to push back against it. All they are doing is feeding you into the capitalist meat grinder. Remember the first rule above? Say no to debt. You do not need to make 6 figures to not live in squalor. Your goal should be to get to a point where you can survive on a minimum wage salary. Because, at that point, what tf can anyone tell you? Nothing But do you know what you can tell them? See the first rule. You have to be very smart in how you get into and leverage debt. Avoid or minimize student loans. I recently recommended you take a job at a school just to get free tuition if you need the degree. I have literally earned a degree and paid exactly zero for it. Credit cards can be useful if you pay the balance every month. If you can’t do that, don’t get them. I’ve bought 2 houses in the last 15 years on a teacher’s salary. There’s always some fool telling me how times are different now when I tell them the above. “We’ll never see 2% interest rates again." Of course, they completely miss the point that I bought one in 2009 and one in 2020. Anything interesting happened around those times? You pick opportune times. My thought when I talk to people like this is to ask what they were doing 15 years ago and 5 years ago? My guess is the same thing they will be doing 5 years from now and 15 years from now. Nothing. I don't bother. Say no to continuing conversations like these.

3. Conduct yourself like an atheist.

I didn’t say you need to be an atheist although it would help. If that’s what you thought I said, then clearly you are the swine these pearls are being cast to. You don’t need to be an atheist to be critical like one. Say no to the church which is now a single mother sanctuary led by homosexual pastors and parasites. Let me give you the good word today my sheep. The good news is, if there is a hell, they’re all going. The bad news is, if there is a hell, we’re already there. Let me let you in on a secret. The chance of you conceptualizing what you call God or any organized religion in the exact same way as any other person is exactly zero. So why do you subscribe again? What’s in it for you? Salvation? From what exactly? Once you answer that, you’ll see why I said the chance of any two people believing in the exact same god is zero. You can have a moral compass without having to believe in a deity. After all, they don’t have a moral compass, as evidenced by all of recorded history, and they believe in a deity. Clearly these two things are not linked. What you believe in the quiet of your mind is entirely up to you. I simply suggest that you conduct yourself as if there is no super powered being in the sky coming to save you. You will have much better results and have many fewer disappointments. Why? It forces you to confront things for what they are. The truth is everything and everyone is trying to kill us. And they are going to succeed. The question before you is how well will you live before they succeed. If you can also make them miserable in the pursuit of your happiness, well that’s just a bonus, isn’t it?

As I mentioned before, I will be updating this list from time to time. I’m going to keep it as a living document, so to speak. I’ve said nothing here that should cause anyone concern, but I can guarantee you it will cause everyone concern if you start abiding by these rules. While they may say it’s because my rhetoric: anti-Christian, racist, misogynist, etc,. that really isn’t the issue. The problem is I’m telling Black men to stand up for themselves, to disregard the wishes and desires of those who never thought about what was best for you ever. That will cause a lot of problems for a lot of people. They will consider you selfish, ungrateful, even evil. All the things that they are. Assume they are correct to be concerned. Assume that your non participation spells disaster. Let's say if Black men start adopting the correct way to approach this society, it spells the end, not only of the so-called Black community, but for the world in general. Standing up for yourself would likely cause the first domino to fall. Do we have an obligation to remain on out knees for the safety and comfort of all? Remember what I said at the very beginning? You owe everyone precisely nothing. In fact, Black men in the United States may be the only group of men who can legitimately say this. We aren’t indebted to this country or any political party. We haven’t carried out atrocities worldwide or enslaved other groups of people. We haven’t overthrown sovereign governments or perpetuated wars abroad. We don’t owe anyone anything, but are owed everything from everyone. That is both the worst position to be in and the first position to be free in. If they have a problem with us conducting ourselves in a appropriate manner given what they’ve done, then what should they do? They should rectify the problem. But if what I say is true, there answer to that would be no. I'm simply asking you to adopt the rule used against you.