Two parallel stories, one personal from two days ago, one political repeated through time and space.
Individual behaviors mirror political failures, or vice versa.
I went for a haircut at the only somewhat nice hotel in our closest small city. I haven’t had a professional haircut in over five years, it was my birthday treat to myself. My hair was really long and wild. I’d come to like it like that, though I knew it needed some taming. While working, Hubby and I kept professional-looking hairstyles, it was expected. Now that we don’t work for wages anymore, it’s kinda fun to let it all grow out, right before it all falls out in old age.
I told the stylist what I wanted. When I was young they called it the ‘long shag’; these days, according to my Youtube search, it’s called the ‘long wolf cut’. The stylist said she understood what I wanted–long layers. I even specified: “I want the waves and curls to be enhanced.” I was thinking–“Big 80s hair, Baby!” Why not! It’s my birthday celebration style, and that’s what I want!
The sytlist proceeded to chop over 6 inches from my hair, blow it dry to pin straight with the help of 3 stinky products, and then to top it off, tried to convince me that’s what I asked for.
Do you need a special license to notice these are not the same?
When I tried to explain to her that a “medium bob” cut is not the same thing as a “long wolf” cut, she started in on the gaslighting. She was very skilled at it.
Perception management is not the same as taking accountability.
My hair was so damaged, she had no choice. I wasn’t sitting straight and so she had to keep cutting. It was too puffy before, it was too frizzy before, it looks so much better now. “You look so pretty!” She kept repeating this, as I kept repeating, “Yes, it looks good, you are a talented stylist, but it’s not what I asked for!”
“The weakness of every utopia is the same. It demands that men believe what they can see with their own eyes to be false. The slogans change — “justice,” “progress,” “sustainability” — but the pattern does not. Sooner or later, the ration card, the empty shop, or the failed harvest breaks through the illusion. The lie may govern for a season, but reality always delivers the final verdict.”
Perhaps she only knows how to cut one style? Perhaps, and this is probably true, the short bob looks much better on me, objectively speaking, from a professional standard. Perhaps it is healthier looking and shinier and smoother now, all true.
“But you are still missing the point: It’s not what I asked for, and it’s not what I paid you to do!”
She refused to get my point. Flat out refused. I was not trying to get a refund or even a discount. I’d already tipped her, the transaction was complete. I just wanted her to recognize what she’d done.
We circled around her excuses, and I left, saying I’d return in 6 weeks, which obviously I never will.
“But populations are not passive. They respond not with submission, but with defense — of security, autonomy, and cultural identity. Citizens resist when they sense erosion of their freedoms, dilution of their traditions, or manipulation of their choices. The result is a Nash equilibrium: a tense standoff where each actor maximizes its own interest, constrained by the anticipated reaction of the other.”
Such is modern political life as well. Was she modeling the behavior of the politicians she sees on TV? Does she think, because she’s the professional, her opinion on what my hair should look like trumps my own, even though I’m not a child, but am in fact a middle aged woman who knows what she wants, has requested it clearly, and is paying her quite handsomely?
“Each generation births new architects of destiny — technocrats, visionaries, committees — convinced that this time, the blueprint will hold. That this time, the people will follow. That this time, the outcome will be different.
But history is not kind to central planners. Grand designs imposed from above, no matter how noble their language, inevitably collide with the stubborn complexity of human life. People are not data points. Cultures are not spreadsheets. Societies do not bend neatly to metrics and milestones.
Agenda 2030–2050, like earlier initiatives, assumes global consensus is possible, centralized governance will surpass local challenges, and large-scale ecological and social changes can occur without resistance. These are not lessons learned — they are lessons ignored.”
Lessons ignored, like my stylist. Her job is to do what I pay her to do, not to re-interpret my desires. Even when I expressed clearly, in a non-threatening manner, after paying her, that she did not give me the haircut I paid for, she refused to see her culpability. She blamed my hair and my poor posture.
Her insistance that I recognize and declare how pretty it looks is akin to the Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe as they were insisting how they deserve to be compensated for all the expertise they brought with their occupying forces and for the infrastructure they built. But of course, not to be held liable for all that they destroyed, lives nor infrastructure.
“Historical Lessons
Attempts to impose totalizing visions from above have repeatedly failed. Examples include:
• The fall of Robespierre (Boudoiseau, 2003) during the French Revolution (Britannica, 2003c).
• The collapse of Ceaușescu’s regime in Romania (Britannica, 2003b).
• The Nazi pursuit of Lebensraum (Britannica, 2003l), which ended in destruction.
• Mao’s Great Leap Forward (Britannica, 2003e) and the Cultural Revolution (Lieberthal, 2003), which caused massive human suffering. Each case shows that utopias enforced by elites end in failure, often violently.”
“Socially, the plan underestimates resistance. People do not change because a summit declares it. Habits are resilient. Traditions run deep. When transformation is mandated rather than chosen, it breeds resentment, not renewal.”
The choices and desires of those paying for services must necessarily be a higher priority than that of those performing the services. That includes politicians, and hairstylists.
“4. Restructuring of Daily Life
From how we travel to what we eat, the Agenda seeks to reshape daily habits in the name of sustainability. But these are not abstract metrics — they are intimate choices. Mobility restrictions, dietary mandates, and housing redesigns touch the core of personal freedom. The assumption that populations will comply quietly with lifestyle engineering is not just naive — it is politically combustible.”
“State incentives — subsidies, surveillance, social scoring — aim to steer behavior. But when these incentives clash with core values like freedom, identity, and sovereignty, they lose traction. Compliance becomes brittle. Trust erodes.”
I can’t help but wonder if her other clients have always bowed to her bullying style of perception management? Does she insist all her clients praise her work, whether or not they really liked the results?
Just grin and bear it, everyone?
“The Nash equilibrium here is not stable. It is volatile, held together by mutual constraint rather than mutual agreement. Elites cannot push too far without triggering rebellion. Populations cannot fully disengage without risking exclusion or punishment.
Populations remain bound to the system because withdrawal carries a price — exclusion, punishment, loss of rights. The equilibrium holds only so long as resistance is isolated. But once enough people disengage together, the balance shifts: punishment loses its sting, and the system itself begins to collapse.”
I suppose only time will tell the truth. Eventually.
If I ever run into that hairstylist next time I’m at the hotel I’m inclined to say: “I’m fine with it, it might even grow back before it all falls out. But just for the record, not everyone wants to look like your vision of the sleek middle-aged professional. Some of us have outgrown that look.”
“Agenda 2030–2050 treats the human species as a single actor, capable of coordinated transformation. But humanity is not a monolith. It is a constellation of cultures, histories, and identities. The anthropogenic hypothesis, when stripped of nuance, becomes a justification for centralized control — see here — a mandate for elites to redesign society in the name of planetary health — see here.
This is where the danger lies. When ecological urgency overrides democratic process, when sustainability becomes a pretext for surveillance, when global goals erase local voices — the result is not cooperation, but coercion.”
i was wondering what kind of year your having this year? by that, i will tell you that we have had things breaking. regularly. almost daily! for instance. we had a refrigerator that stopped working, great. awesome. then the plug in on the wall almost burned because of the surge that came from it. k…fixed both. then a roof panel blew off. damaged the plywood. we fixed it. then the furnace quit. then a leak in the vehicle. leak in the tractor. had a dog that found a way to cut himself. vet sewed him up. infection followed. fixed it. all year long. one thing after the other. a friend gave me airy fairy info. ‘the universe clearing space making you fix things because your going to need it! ‘ chemical storms. blew down trees damaged fencing. fixed. then again. and again! 3 times this year. then endless drought no rain since first week of june. got 1/2 inch last week but it didn’t do anything for the man made drought.
how about you? how is your year going overall kind of thing at the kensho homestead?
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Thanks for sharing H, and asking. Sorry to hear of your continual frustrations. Same here! We’re still losing lambs and even though our drought didn’t start until later this year, they still aren’t thriving as they used to. I blame chemical fallout and bad air. Now it’s so crazy dry the grass dies long before it should–it’s still 90+ degrees every day. Luckily we’ve not experienced any of the New-Normal weather disasters this year: hail, flooding, all-summer drought, tornado, hurricane, so that’s nice. But we did have another 2 mature trees suddenly flash-out dead in less than a week. We will see what the weather terrorists have in store for us this winter–perhaps another freak snow storm?
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I absolutely agree with you on the chemtrail fall out it is killing the birds. the turkeys the deer that eat the grass soaked in it so why not our livestock? i don’t believe the paid liars in government and their excuses for things.
the oak trees are flashing out dead.generally it is all the nut producers that are dying the by hundreds. we have the exact same weather as you. hot, dry and burning. the grass is burned. the water is stagnant. lots of mosquitoes we never used to get because it used to rain so much it washed their larva away. not anymore.
the oaks shed their bark trying to save themselves. the last ditch effort. a ring of oak shaved off like a saw blade was taken to them. clean and no insects under it or in it where it shed off. i think it is their fall out and the trees are trying desperately to survive it.
we have been fortunate no deadly weather like you but the burning is very bad. we will run out of water if this keeps up perhaps that is the plan for the rural areas. either flood us out or burn us out.
i am so sorry for your lamb loss. we had to give up goats because we couldn’t keep them alive. too many dying and we did use the chemical wormers as well but to no avail. nothing we did and we did have knowledge worked. once they get poisoned from the grass inside i think it can’t be fixed. i don’t know. we finally sold our last ones a couple of years ago and never tried again.
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one more song …this is the spirit lacking today! and one that desperately needs rekindled. we are way past the point of some of these atrocities. things like william wallace dealt with. and worse today but easier hidden. the pedo island comes to mind.
not the actual violence of course but the spirit of independence that is so lacking today. the willingness to say NO. with a middle finger raising to back it up. or simply to stand firm in the NO!
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no….not one….you and decker. i read some others post. like if you post something from another one i read it. but i don’t go to that site regularly. most of them i can’t relate to…okay. 99.9999 percent i can’t relate to. but your homesteading and info and recipes. cheese making, farming everything just about that you do i can relate to!
decker is just an absolutely brilliant writer and i just look forward to each and every post. wondering what the decker will say about this or that. he calls it a shit post writer but he is anything but that in my humble opinion. i won’t have his word magic or yours! maybe that is why. you write so well it makes me wish i had that skill. plus it is always spot on.
i can tell a lot of bullshit it rings a bell in my head. i just know it! part of the silent knowledge we all have inside us. and you and decker are as honest and honorable as the day is young! and nearly everything you write is truth. and that is what i seek the most.
instead of airy fairy garbage or feel good crap or ”lets not be negative”…NO…LETS BE NEGATIVE BY GOD….the airy fairy has crushed the spirit of the world and everyone in it. for not seeing things how they are…they see things as they WISH them to be. i can’t do that.
i prefer the real. and throught the real do my best to stop the true negative…those destroying the world and every living thing in it such as the chemtrail daily poisoning. granted i can’t stop an airplane but i can do like you do and expose it as best as possible where possible instead of just accepting it like the airy fairy do. that is just one of many things wrong with the world that people need to be NEGATIVE about…the fighting spirit needs rekindled.
a little known song . the spirit is what is needed.
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well said kensho. i couldn’t agree more. there are very few ”services” now. it is the narcissist way of service. ‘it isn’t my fault you don’t like it’. i got hair cuts like your new one 15 years ago and quit going. i looked up some videos and books on self hair cutting and did it myself and still do. i never could get the old fashioned ‘feather’ cut i like. i don’t care how out of date it is I like it and it is easy to handle for me….the hair cutters back then couldn’t understand that and would make it a butch. just what i didn’t want! I wanted a long layered. shoulder length.
since i couldn’t get what i wanted for my money i learned to do it myself. believe me the first few were horrible but i did it anyway and called it the wind in the clippers look! clippers that nailed bits and pieces and uneven at that. but now i have it down to a science as best i can and i enjoy doing it. i save money and i get what i want instead of what they want to give me.
the services today are all about you get what they give you! if you don’t like it it is tough titty said the kitty! you won’t get a better service. went to a restaurant recently. i rarely ever go to one and its service was the reason i don’t go. they forgot us and left us over an hour without food and we had to go find our waitress and remind her we were still there! when we complained to management they brought our food to us, cold and said ”sorry”. but no reduction in the bill. should have walked out but were were hungry and had places to go that necessitated eating out. no quick trip home for a dinner. their service was the same…ho..hum…we are busy! suck it up. basically
welcome to the new normal! where there is no service. certainly no good service and the customer isn’t right they are an inconvenience and they are treated as if they should be grateful the business is letting them in the door! quite the flip around.
on your article there…..thank you for the link…well written. and your comments too are brilliant. i would add only that those destroying society in order to force its control know exactly what they are doing. they KNOW they are tearing it down and ripping it apart and they KNOW there will be resistance. They also know that once the dust clears they will step up and provide the ‘new’ society with rulers….them….new boss same as the old boss. the whip wielders only change faces, never tactics.
the old society and its liberties will lock step into a semi free state and rulers having completely destroyed the old and rebuild from its ashes what they want, not what those resisting them wanted. little by little they put the human species back on their knees in their feudal serfdoms.
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Highlander, how good to see you again, it’s been a while! Thanks for solidarity, agreed, it’s service in general that has collapsed. At the restaurants it’s as if the staff goes there just to hang out together, not to do their jobs. They are chit-chatting while your meal goes cold, can’t be bothered to refill your glass, and talk badly about customers within earshot of customers! It really is as if they imagine they are doing you some kind of favor–and I’m a really good tipper, always have been, because I remember those days as a waitress myself, and a good tip meant a lot to me and I worked hard for it. Last time I went to lunch I had to go find the waiter, in the kitchen, to get my check, and then he blamed me, because he had ‘just been at my table.’
I was cutting my own hair too, but it was so long it was getting really hard. Now I will have to up my skillset, as you are doing, to learn the proper way to do it myself from Youtube. And now it’s not long anymore, so that problem’s solved. 😆
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WordPress won’t always LET ME comments. though i have tried a few times. they block me. maybe it is a limiter. as how many you can do a month. don’t know.
the good part of all that is saving money and becoming more self sufficient. i am finding i know almost as much as the local amish. i have taught THEM how to do some things they never knew about. herbal remedies . home cooked meals and herbs to use. making a few things at home they never knew about. natural wormer for my dogs and certain grains to mix for my horse. they only use whole grains but never knew about some of the local stuff i use. so that is something
mutual teaching. plus i have gotten a lot of mutual teaching from YOU MY FRIEND….cheese making book from that fellow that does it without synthetic things. and other. i am creating my own book for things like what you have and others. printing them as they may be gone tomorrow as A.I and censorship remove things so rapidly.
so those people who give poor service are doing me a favor. they will destroy their own business and their own job and i have zero sympathy for them. i tip only when they earn it. i left a penny for the waitress saying here is what your lack of service was worth! she couldn’t care less.
they are cutting their own throats and yet, doing me a favor at the same time. i make my own meals from scratch and cut my own hair. i make my own soap and shampoo. i make my own shoes…from my own leather. have NOT perfected sewing….THAT IS HARD…to put two pieces of cloth together in a way that one side isn’t lower then the other…lol…is a magic i have not yet learned!
it is getting worse all the time. the service everywhere, the electric company, the phone company and its people out of the country who do not speak english. the local grocery store, restaurant. hair cutter, one thing after another.
part of the deliberate destruction of the country and it is being done at the lowest levels and working its way up…remarkable no one has pride in work or workmanship anymore…
that poem comes to mind…this is how the world ends….not with a bang but a whimper
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Ah yes, a whimper indeed! We finally got rid of our landline, not that we wanted to, the service got so bad and the price kept going up so we saw no other choice. But the ‘statistics’ will tell you folks just don’t want landlines anymore. And when electricity prices keep increasing I’m sure they’ll say the same thing–folks just don’t want heat and a/c anymore. Just like they don’t want to fly commercial anymore. Just like they don’t want to eat beef anymore. Such a great mystery these strange behaviors of the plebs, we just can’t understand it! 😆
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And thanks for kind comment, so glad to hear of your increasing skills and self-reliance, on par with the Amish no less, well done!
So glad you like the Asher book too. The latest one is amazing, going to write more about it again soon, learning so much, it’s like a textbook.
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that is the one i couldn’t remember his name and didn’t have time to run to my library upstairs..lol.
i won’t get rid of the landline if i can help it. if they take it from us i won’t have a phone period. i won’t use those hand held radiation devices. direct link to big brother…big brother is watching you….every word, deed, every picture, every microphone. those phones are the best surveillance device ever created. it is creepy! eventually it will go from everyones friend to their worst enemy and personal prison warden! no thanks. i will do without and have done without very nicely.
if that picture is you i love the picture you are a movie star! i like the long hair best but the new one truly is very pretty too. your handsome hubby robbed the cradle…you look all of 20….
thank you again for all your homesteading info and recipes. i have another book you recommended on canning and preserving and the guy has some amazing recipes for pickles that i have done to great success. memory like a collander! things go straight through! i have the book in my library though. i don’t use digital books. one day the whole upstairs will collapse with the weight of my library books. i like a book i can grab and use. my best one so far for to go to in emergency is a book written in 1910 called ‘the peoples home library’ it has all kinds of wonderful info from long ago. though the medicines they used you can’t get anymore. so i reference other books for local herbs i can use as an equivalent.
love your site and your my #2 decker is number #1 i vist every day. i can’t always comment because the system censors stop me or something it fails and says…”sorry, can’t post your comment try again later”…which of course later is never. i give up at that point and figure the censors kicked in
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That book sounds very useful. No, those model pics aren’t me, they were the first pics that came up when I searched for examples of those two haircuts–not the same women either, and one looks like it could be AI generated. Who knows.
Are there any other WP blogs you like besides Decker’s Dispatches from the Asylum, (which is also my fav!)??
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