Ideological Juche: A Manifesto
"Ah fuck he wrote a Manifesto" says the FBI agent responsible for monitoring my online activity
Introduction
"Everything is political" is indeed true. Everything is also economic, every thing is an art form. But in reality nothing is political, nothing is economic, nothing is an art form. These are just illusions of human consciousness. These things mean nothing to any other creature, and I'd wager God. If God does tip the scales in our tribal warfare, it's probably with a "Why did I even plant that tree and give the serpent the ability to talk?" sort of attitude.
The hard truth is the politics we so obsess over is territorial pissing in the most literal sense, save for the actual piss (most of the time). When you see a yard sign for a politician you don't like, your anger response is that of a dog smelling the rival poodle's urine who lives up the street. We are able to mark territory though a mixture of old fashion violence, verbal understanding, and mutually agreed upon terms. We can even mark abstract concepts like money, formal leadership roles, and culture as if it were physical territory. We even talk of there being an ongoing "Culture War", who's main victims seems to be quality art and free expression.
There has been a polarization of the body politic since Obama's second term. This polarization, this mass politicization has effected everything from video game journalism, to Jaguar cars, and even churches. In my small town there are two churches down the road from each other, who like to counter each others politics via their marquee signs. I like to think the two pastors are both in on it, like they divvied up who got the conservatards and who gets the local libtards in town.
If a game comes with a main female character with big milkers, this is taken as a sign of victory for gamers and regular Asmongold viewers, a defeat for game journos and Hasan fans, with jiggle physics being seen as either a stand against tyranny or a reinforcement of the Patriarchy. They're not rejoicing for the raw pure joy that ample anime titties should bring on their own. Instead it's merely a culture war booby trap. And instead of "ugg fucking men being pigs again", the other side makes it about body shaming and capitalist oppression, or some reaching shit like that. Something as stupid and inane as computer rendered honkers are completely blown out of proportion, even more than their actual size on screen.
While all this was largely started by the left, at this point the right is just as guilty. James Lindsey trying to force "woke right" to be a thing was not without merit. Marshall McLuhan once said war is a form of education, and the woke sure gave the right wing an education on being insufferable.
Even as someone who has always had a strong interest in politics since I was a kid, I'm sort of sick of it. I tire over politics being shoe horned into all media and every facet of life. I tire of worrying if something is "based" or not, or if I'm engaged in some "ism." I tire of the news cycle, I tire of having to keep up with the news or the feeling I'm obligated to. I'm tired of being reminded of Jews or Zionist involvement in this or that. Can't someone just eat a bagel in peace?
I've come to hate politics, the thing that made me feel so smart and grown up as a kid, staying up late to watch Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher. Or feeling like an adult as I laughed along with older family members watching that hack John Stewart. Colbert Report was kino though, but unfortunately Colbert mistook his pretend punditry as license to do actual punditry after dropping the bit, in David Letterman’s old seat of all places.
And yet I keep to politisperging. I seethe when someone I don't like is elected, feel glee when a policy I support gets passed, even if it has little to do with my actual life. I get caught up in the drama of it all. It's as if I need a mental framework to stop myself from falling into the same tired patterns.
Even if I committed to living a fully depoliticized life, politics is not avoidable. As Trotsky said "You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you." Neither the Red Army, nor woketards, and not even boomer cons will just let you grill. If neither our churches nor flame broilers are sacred enough to be spared the smells of conceptualized piss, how does one Febreze that which is ultimately abstract?
It is with this I craft a new ideology, a new way of viewing politics and society. Born from my falling away from my own preferred forms Kool-Aid and finding all other flavors to be rancid, I've taken to moon shining my own, with just enough cyanide to get a buzz like lemurs do1. It maybe my own and only for me, but that is the spirit of bootleg spirits after all.
Ideological Juche
Ideological Juche (or IJ) may just be the first anti-political political ideology, hostile to the very notion of politics itself. The name is an ironic reference to the North Korean concept of “Juche”, which roughly means "self reliance2." This term “Juche” is flipped like a hip-hop sample, taking a term from one of the most totalitarian regimes to ever exist, subverting it for a world view meant to enshrine individual and intellectual self reliance.
Main Goal and Purpose
The main goal of Ideological Juche is to enable maximal individual agency, while also having a commitment to seeking truth and understanding in a social climate hostile to all three. It takes a critical and outright hostile view of the state, while also encouraging critiques and analysis of societal power, especially where it interferes with one's individual agency and ability to think.
It takes up the left's common call to "deconstruct systems of oppression", but instead focusing on dismantling those systems externally, it seeks to deconstruct them from within.
Ideological Juche replaces knee jerk emotionalism and combativeness with sober analysis. It seeks first and foremost truth and understanding, and how to navigate accordingly. It approaches politics and wider society with a surfing approach, or put more viscerally, treating the whole of modernity the same way raccoons and possums treat our trashcans: something to be raided for goodies, with the real trash left behind for someone else.
On Politics
Politics is a function of the state. When you engage in politics, be it with radical action, voting, or even just arguing with your aunt, you ultimately are affirming the state. Even shooting at Feds only gives the state that much more of an excuse to hire more armed personnel, increases its reach, and further justifies forcing its booted tentacles into our lives. It also gives all would-be political grifters and amateur commentators something to gab about and fulfills their content requirements.
A state cannot exist without some kind of inner politics as people grapple for power within it, to have the final say on who's getting pork spending and who's special interest is seeing cuts. Even in total dictatorships, there is a sort of inner-politics that happen within the total ruler, because there are going to be times when even a President-for-life is going to be divided on what to do (usually leading to political struggle between ministers and advisors).
IJ is hostile to the very notion of politics. It views it with contempt, the same contempt as when your dog pisses in a corner. For as mentioned previously, that is what politics is, high brow challenge pissing. It's just how us modern human mark territory, be it literal or figurative. It is nothing more than spear chucking with a lot more steps, with deadlier or more abstract spears.
Politics is not to be totally ignored however. Instead of getting caught up in the drama and emotionalism, Ideological Juche aims to take a detached view, reading the political winds as one does the literal winds of the weather. One of the few endorsed forms of activism is raising awareness of common propaganda techniques and signs of a psy-op. IJ tries to find reoccurring patterns and archetypes, so as to avoid getting another “fell for it again” award.
On Democracy
Democracy, despite all the saccharine feelings associated with the term, just replaces the contrived "will of God" with the "will of the people." It's often complained how government never really reflects the people's will. That's by design. Democratic voting is a justification for the state as much as it is a sincere mechanism for governance.
At best democracy sets a floor for how bad a government can fuck up, not a ceiling for excellence. It's sort of ingenious in that way: instead of seeking greatness, most democracies just do enough to get by and get the votes3, without fucking up so hard it collapses the state, though the history of South Korea proves this is not guaranteed4.
Democracy gives people the chance, or the illusion of chance to create change. This is to the state's benefit. Democracy acts as a "how's my driving?" function, while giving a justification of "well we all agreed to it" even if that is a hollow platitude to the reality of representative democracy. This all supports the state by giving the people a soft paper way to stage faux revolts, while getting some potentially helpful input from the electorate, and creating a culture where what the state does is on the forefront of people’s minds. This inflates the importance and significance of the state in the minds of the people, as they mistakenly overestimate how much they effect they have on the doings of the state, contributing to the state’s soft power.
Democracy has become a game of controlling people and factions like chattel instead of gaining the actual will of the people. In effect the will of the people is shaped to the elites' liking, instead of being an organic populist sentiment as most pro-Democracy advocates bill it as. Edward Bernays admitted this about a century ago, and one of the few accurate observations Noam Chomsky made in his whole life5.
I will say at least the West is not a totalizing totalitarian state like the Soviet Union (at least yet), in which such a thing as IJ is not possible, adding to the irony of using a term from one such regime. Ideological Juche in such a state would really be an act of resistance, where as in current American society its more of a form of willful mental hygiene.
"Left" or "Right"
Ideological Juche rejects the left-right spectrum, only keeping it around as that is still how most people contextualize politics. It doesn't concern itself with being "based" or wondering if it is enabling this or that "ism." IJ does not position itself as left or right, nor makes any attempts to shoe horn itself into any camp. It freely pulls from ideas and thinkers associated with the left and right, though of a distinctly anti-authoritarian and anti-establishment sort.
I will admit IJ is rooted in my disillusionment with Libertarianism, while keeping true to the personal tendencies that drove me to Libertarianism to begin with. Another term you could call IJ is "Tragic Libertarianism." The fact is people do not naturally follow the NAP6, meaning the horrors and abominations of the state will be with us until some sort of eschatology finally comes to fruition.
Parallels with Other Ideologies
Speaking of Libertarianism, Ideological Juche falls broadly within the family of "Anarchist" ideologies. But most Anarchist are obsessed with politics. I'm reminded of Michael Malice's appearance on the game show Cash Cab, in which one of the questions asked was who were the top three most searched politicians, and Malice started rapidly listing every politician he could think of, with the host shocked with how quickly and how many he could name on the spot. Malice was successful and got a nice bag that day.7
It makes sense the people drawn to a fringe ideology like Anarchism in all its variants are going to be people into politics, political theory, and activism. Right now its mainly Anarchist Antifa shooting hot lead at ICE agents, when traditionally they’ve kept to Dennis the Menace antics. None the less, I always found it ironic that people who want to abolish the state are the ones most obsessed with it.
Ideological Juche is openly a form of "Lifestyle Anarchism", a pejorative term from Anarchist theorist Murray Bookchin, for Anarchist who he felt did not engage in enough real life activism8. I would say the closet thing to IJ is the early American Transcendentalism movement, especially since my own desire to depoliticize is rooted in wanting to focus more on spiritual pursuits. Hell, one of the most important essays of that movement was Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay "Self Reliance."9 Walden Pond could be seen as Thoreau’s own little Pyongyang, both never having working electricity.
Objections
Since I can already hear the objections, let me address some of them here.
This is just a pretentious form of "I just want to grill."
Unless you’re really commit to living inna woods, you aren't allowed to just grill in the current social environment of the West. You just want to bake a turkey and watch some all American sportsball on Thanksgiving, but your cousin has prewritten spiel about climate change and how we're on stolen land, while your brother-in-law insists on showing up with his red MAGA hat. You want to go to an open mic night to drunkenly sing sea shanties? Well the person behind you has some protests songs to spew, and the guy after you has "socially conscious" rap bars to spit over beats saved to his phone.
Our current culture will not simply allow you to grill, it won't allow you to just watch a movie without willful messaging, or people reading one into it. And politics is just a reality of human life and society. It must be understood, if only to not get caught up in its lies and emotional drama. In an increasingly polarized political environment, politic's willful foot soldiers and jannies10 will try their best to get you to look up from your grill, toward their own politibrain way of seeing things. I'm reminded of how proud my sibling was convincing our cousin to start voting, when our cousin was content being politically oblivious.
The state and its politics cannot be avoided. It must be dealt with. And understanding the functions of both are necessary if you wish to know truth, and not get entangled in their bullshit. Being aware of the machinations and manipulations of both the state and political busy bodies, be they well funded NGOs or your brainwashed friends and relatives, frees you to see past the noise and distractions.
Also unlike most "just wanna grill types", I have an inherent need to think and analyze things. I'm not putting those people down by the way. I remember learning about the study where it was found some people do not have an inner monologue, which inspired the NPC meme, and my initial reaction was "Oh my God I envy those people!" My inner monologue never shuts the fuck up. Ideological Juche is a way to control that inner yammering so it keeps its eyes on the prize, not seething about whatever nonsense people are currently engaged in.
This is also why I felt the need to come up with a label. Words and concepts give us power. It's why people try to meme words or reuse labels in ways they were not intended. When God told Adam to name all the animals, he was enabling him to have control over them.
Ideological Juche maybe a quipy le ironic term, but by merely naming it, it gives the mind a mental framework and encourages mental discipline. It is a commitment to not be drawn into bullshit, to seek the truth, to always have yourself and those around you priorities first, and to not ruin family reunions over bullshit no one actually has a say in and were probably just psy-op'ed into believing anyway.
And speaking of le ironic named schools of thought...
This is just PF Jung’s Cringe "Enlightened Centrism"
PF Jung is a true wholesome chungus I have no issues with (also he's a Bears fan so that helps).11 I appreciate he is willing to dialog across the spectrums12, and his usually light hearted content is nice fluff in the heated and vitriolic realm of modern political discourse. But our motivations are completely different. He wishes to merge and mend the left-right divide to find the best solution to issues, while still willing to take a hard stand on certain topics.
As stated earlier, IJ has no interest in such things, preferring a observe, analyse, and report approach; emphasizing individual consciousness against the political wind storms above all else. He has an external vision he wishes to fulfill, where as I'm mainly about maintaining both immediate and intellectual freedom. If he actually wills his practical centrist future into being, that sounds nice. But if you have not picked up on, I'm quite a pessimist in regards to our political landscape and society as a whole.
I will say though, I think both self aware ironically termed ideologies do have as a goal depolarization and depolitization of the wider culture and society. His means to this end is engaging in dialog, debate, and memetic warfare to win hearts and minds, where as mine is focused on meta deconstruction and increasing self awareness, both within myself and among people willing to listen.
This is all cope to do nothing
Some would dismiss Ideological Juche as cope. IJ is indeed a cope, but a hard cope with no copium on standby. It's a way to cope in a social environment ripping itself at the seams, as both individuals and the masses struggle with the downward spiral of society, in which political wills play a part in accelerating this fracturing. It's a way to remain sane in an insane society, in which the contradictions are starting to pile up to the point you must be willfully blind to ignore.
As for doing nothing, well I was politically engaged for a time. And you know what it got me? Nothing but disappointment, increased alienation, and a brief visit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "Anonymous tip." Okay Agent Mulder. Better be about UFO or werewolf sightings next time, not your glowie-op to get boomers to have a melty en mass inside the capital rotunda.13
Also politically engaged people, especially in fringe circles I like to follow, are some of the most insufferable people imaginable. They generally cling to this or that ideology out of unresolved personal issues, using politics as cover and an excuse to engage in their worst tendencies. The politispergs cry out in pain as they strike you. This is only going to get worse as quality of life declines across the West, and people's mental health follow suit, another reason to go to the trouble of minting my own little gay non-ideology.
In reality, I’m making a value judgement on how to live my life, spend my time, and with whom. You only get so much time in this form, and I’d rather spend it seeking the mysteries of life and existence, not fighting for who gets to be the over glorified dog catcher, or argue the best methods of advanced simian animal control. I can fling my own feces to my liking, thank you very much.
Conclusion
Ideological Juche is my own odd form of anti Kool-Aid, in a similar form as those very figurative flavored packets. It’s more of a general outlook than a prescriptive ideology, largely to justify my own anti-establishment tendencies, without getting bent out of shape over it. It's a way of having my cake and it eat to. Or better put, not getting sick by knowing when to put the fork down, and knowing what to eat around, like someone having a brave dinner of poisonous puffer fish. It maybe just a way to justify myself to myself, but that's what most politics is anyway. At least I can be honest about it, and limit the damage to myself and wider society.
Sorry if this manifesto isn't calling for radical action, blood in the streets, hardcore schizo ranting, or any of the fun stuff you’d expect when you see the word "manifesto" in a title. Perhaps I'll develop Ideological Juche into an actual school of thought. But more likely "Ideological Juche" will largely live as a term in my head to check myself before wreak I myself. And somewhere, an FBI agent breathed a sigh of relief, and went back to lurking his ex-girlfriend’s Instagram page. “One kook we can keep less of an eye on.”
And I’ll see the rest of you rascals the night before morning garbage pickup.
Lemurs on their native island of Madagascar pick up millipedes that emit cyanide as a poison, lick them up and down and rub them all over their body, before putting the venomous critter down largely unharmed. This behavior is thought to be a way to ward of insects and parasites, while also getting high up in the process. Video of this behavior and fucked up drooling lemurs.
The most literal translation of Juche is “Subject”, but this is suppose to mean the total self reliance of the North Korean state. Juche has largely been a sham since North Korea was dependent on handouts from the Soviet Union, and most of their economic problems have been the result of the red Ruskie gravy train being cut off after the Cold War. Their nuclear program partially functions as a bargain chip for free bags of rice.
I’m aware you get a JFK once in awhile who wants to do cool stuff like go to the Moon. But this is not the norm, and such leaders are often marked with rifle scopes crosshairs, as JFK ultimately was.
If you skim though the Wikipedia article on the modern history of South Korea, you realize the only reason the Kim family is not ruling the whole peninsula is US imperialism. Thank the troops next them you’re shlicking yourself to some pretty boy K-Pop star. Without US boots on the ground, your dear idols would be singing in uniformed choirs in praise of glorious Kim Jung Un.
Even his theories of linguistics have largely been trashed, that there is a universal grammar underpinning all languages, that emerged uniquely from human evolution, meaning only humans are capable of understanding language and using it to communicate. Imagine your claim to fame getting BTFO’d by talking parrots, chimps trained in sign language, and now whale noises.
"Non-aggression Principle” for those of you who at least got to second base in high school.
All copies of this have been nuked off YouTube. You’ll just have to take my word for this.
I read this essay from Emerson a few years ago. And while I remember it being more of a screed than anything else, perhaps some seeds were planted that are now beginning to sprout.
They do it for free after all.
I’m not a sportsball guy, but I consider myself a “Cultural Bears Fan” in the same way some people consider themselves “Cultural Catholics.”
Both the political spectrum and the other one, you know the one I’m talking about.
Not a joke, by the way. Feddies gave me a visit over an alleged anonymous tip I was at the US Capital on January 6th of 2021. This probably had to do with J6 being made such a priority they had to check every lead. As someone who used to work in a bureaucracy, I actually felt sympathy for the poor agents at my door, who were probably tasked to follow up on every lead, no matter how ludicrous.