ClydeStyle

Category: control

  • Convenience is killing us

    What is the cost of convenience these days? It seems like the better we are technologically, the worse off we get.

    Artificial Intelligence says the phrase “convenience is killing us” means that our constant pursuit of easy and readily available options, often in the form of processed foods, fast services, and readily accessible technology, is negatively impacting our health, environment, and overall well-being by encouraging laziness, poor dietary choices, and a lack of meaningful engagement with our surroundings; essentially, prioritizing immediate comfort over long-term health and sustainability.

    It has always been this way. For example, in the 1700s, we would have a wood-burning stove and a fireplace, and between the two, the family would be gathered together in one room to stay warm. The kids would be lying on the floor near the fireplace. Mama would be in her rocking chair knitting, and Papa would be smoking his pipe and reading to the family from the “good book,” and there would be good, stimulating discussion and togetherness.

    In 1830, a Scottish inventor created the thermostat, and with it, heat could be dispersed throughout all the rooms in the house with a controlled temperature and there was no need to gather together at the end of the day. By the 1900s, everyone was separated in their own rooms doing their own things. So much for togetherness.

    If you ask a person in their 90s about the way things were, you would discover that to them, it seems like we as a country are in one big hurry for nothing. Everything is fast and in a hurray. We want things now. No waiting! Patience is gone.

    And in our haste, we settled for less quality. In addition, we have sacrificed our health, created social isolation, lacked physical activity, created a negative environmental impact, and created mental health concerns. Is it really worth it?

  • Appropriate: Building character even when only God is watching

    There was a recent journalist who shared her sexual harassment story in a new podcast. This was the first time she had spoken openly about it, and even after a few years, she was still shaken by the events that happened.

    She did not say exactly what hurt worse, but the person who did this to her was a trusted colleague, and she never saw it coming. He made references to her private parts, and, to me, it appeared he was “shooting his shot” with her.

    She is a beautiful woman who has always displayed a professional demeanor and definitely not the type to invite such behavior. She ultimately left her job over this and never reported his inappropriate behavior.

    We live in a country of blurred lines. Private things should remain private and likewise for things public. When you blur the lines, it supports inappropriateness.

    For men specifically, we need to develop an inner governor that safeguards us from inappropriate behavior. We need to be able to halt this behavior during the thought process. This way, the actual corresponding behavior never comes to pass.

    This is a moral issue. Whatsoever a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If we surround ourselves with the wrong things and we allow for negative energy to remain in our inner spaces, we are doomed to fail.

    Some of Donald Trumps comments regarding women come from a sense of entitlement and having the power and wealth to, for the most part, do what you want to do.

    It is for men to protect our women by maintaining appropriate behavior at all times. It is difficult to write this without sounding too preachy, but we need a stronger all-out effort to make our society as safe a possible k e for our women and children.

  • Healthwise: Doing fine in the US is cognitive dissonance

    How common is this: You’re walking someplace, and you see a friend. You say, “Hey, how are you?” And the friend says, “Fine, how are you?” For most people, this is a normal conversation which has no real meaning. It is an empty standard greeting.

    The truth of the matter is we don’t know how really bad we are doing until you change behavior and start doing better. Now, this is not a blog on healthy eating or a plea for you to change your diet. What’s this? It’s a blog on awareness with the intent to bring about change.

    Let’s start with the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has sold us a bill of goods. I thought that they were the watchdogs in the food and drug fields to make sure big pharma and food manufacturers don’t kill us in unsafe practices or substance abuse. In fact, what the FDA is doing is searching for the thin line between how many toxins the body can put up with verses the kickbacks they get for allowing mandatory minimums when it comes to our health.

    How much fecal matter can we consume before it kills us? How many insects, poisonous waste, and dangerous substances can we consume with too horrible side effects?

    It is true that the FDA doesn’t even regulate the entire food label. They only oversee the nutritional information on the back. On the front, a food maker can claim a bunch of things, and it doesn’t have to be true. They can use words like organic, wholesome, healthy, sweet, whole grain, or low sodium, and it is up to the consumer to figure out the truth.

    Much of our food is banned in other countries. Our pork, chicken, and beef don’t meet the standards outside of the US. Chicken, for example, is washed in chlorine and injected with salt water so that it weighs more when it’s being sold. Most of the food we consume has so many additives, preservatives, and other toxins that, over time, cause many diseases. Our food is so void of nutrients (about 70 percent is processed) that even if you exercised twice daily while consuming the standard American diet, it would still be harmful to you.

    We have so many degenerative diseases due to our diet that we live very unhealthy lives. Saying we’re “fine” has become a figure of speech and not a state of mind. We can not allow the FDA to be our guide. We have to seek moderation in much of what we eat, consume far more fruits and vegetables (mostly raw), get plenty of sleep, and drink plenty of spring water. Eat meat in moderation and exercise every day. This is just the start.

  • It’s all a plot: LGBTQ is becoming the new birth control

    Throughout my life, I have heard of White Fear, and I wondered what it was and was there really any validity to it.

    You see, there are some in America who fear the inevitable time when white people will lose their numerical majority. The fear is that they will be paid back for all the wrong they have done from slavery to Jim Crow to denying civil rights to police brutality to income disparities to incarceration. White guilt leads to white fear, and so since the 80s (or probably before that), there have been measures taken to slow the process. I thought it sounded too far-fetched, but then I started looking at some facts.

    In the late 80s, there was a book written by Ben Wattenberg called The Birth Dearth. I had learned of this book through some volunteers who were working with me during Jessie Jackson’s presidential run in 1988. This book outlined America’s problem, which was that white people were not having enough children. Whites were definitely not producing the number of children to equal the children of color who were being born.

    Back then, it was predicted that by 2035, White’s would lose their numerical majority. This prediction was also fueling the undercurrent of people who are hoping for another Civil War and are stockpiling assault weapons and ammo in anticipation of the opportunity to fight.

    In the book, Wattenberg cites three ways other countries have dealt with the population problem. In Finland, Japan, and Australia, they paid women to have children to increase their population. This would not work in America for two reasons: It costs far too much to raise children here as compared to these other countries, and America could not discriminate and only offer this option to whites.

    A second option would be to open the borders around the country. You will notice that in America, there is no talk of closing the Northern border because Canada is there. They want to close the southern border, build a wall, and all that jazz to keep out the Mexicans. A former president said it was because they had rapist, murderers and thieves coming from there, but what, in actuality, it was just people of color.

    Sadly, no matter what political party has the white house, the same is true. The Biden Administration put a policy in place last year to offer social security to Ukrainian refugees so they could stay here comfortably. However, this same administration sent Haitian refugees back home.

    The last solution listed in the book to solve the population problem is to eliminate abortion. We were told that this had something to do with Christianity, but it had more to do with the fact that 60 percent of all abortions in America are white babies. Therefore, ending abortion would preserve that number. All of this is an attempt to stop the growth of the minority populations while increasing the white population.

    Over the last five years, there has been increasing legislation to allow children to change their gender. Hormones can be prescribed without parents’ consent, and irreversible surgeries are taken place so that these young, confused kids can have their way and ruin who God created them to be. How can you increase the population by allowing same sex relationships?

    It looks like the “powers that be” have found another solution to solving their problem. Consequently, Wattenberg’s book will now cost you over $1,000 on Amazon. I wonder why?

  • What’s up with the fresh fruit in the US?

    We are being grossly short-changed in our fruit consumption. We pay more for produce than any other nation in the world. Much like healthcare, we are charged the highest price possible, and the purchase is nowhere near the quality.

    We are told that fresh produce costs more to farm than processed foods. So for that reason we are paying a little more for our fresh produce. The problem with this is that 70 percent of our produce comes from California. Arizona and Washington are second and third, respectively, but why? There is a huge difference in living in the South than the North when it comes to produce.

    Although some produce is imported, most of the in-season fruit is grown in the South but not shared across the country. South Carolina and Florida grow very nice watermelon, but if you live in Michigan, you can only get what is shipped from Mexico. You have to really search the farmer’s markets to get something more fresh, but all the commercial grocers have horrible fruit.

    When fruit ripens, the sugar to liquid ratio increases, which is what makes it sweet. Because our government has chosen to ship our fruit from overseas, our fruit has to be picked well before it ripens so that it is more solid and hard so it can make the trip over here. By the time you are washing it off at home, all you have is some strawberry imposter that can’t get any sweeter.

    This placebo effect for produce does not have the nutrients, taste, smell, or vibrance that it had in the 70s.

    You really don’t know how bad this is until you travel outside of the country. Jamaica has more than 30 fruits grown there. Some I had never heard of, but all were absolutely delicious! Not only was the taste amazing but the cost was ridiculous! On welfare, I would be able to afford a bounty of it all.

    In totalitarian regimes, people eat what they are told they can eat. In a democracy, “we the people” are supposed to decide what they consume. I don’t know what to call what we have in America – I just not that it is worse than the other two.

  • How much control do you think you have?

    Control is defined as the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events. If life was a card game then our biggest bluff would be pretending to have power.

    Control is something we all know exists and we have all been the victims of someone controlling us. There are many things that we desire in our flesh that become entrapment for control. People try to control us with jobs — especially promotions; sex; money; expensive items; and even reputations.

    Some times we come across people who have such a “poker face” or a demeanor that demands respect that we surrender our controls to them even sometimes without even realizing it.

    Truth is that there is only one power. You guessed it: God our father is the only power (authority) and so when we talk about control we are speaking authority and this comes from God. Now, some folks have taken false liberties in the interpretation of Romans 13:1-2 is saying that all power is from God and you must obey the higher powers. The translation is better render we should obey all powers that surrender to God for they are of God. It’s understood in the text as of course Paul would have never told us to follow a blind leader or one who only seeks vain glory for himself.

    The God of heaven is the only authority and he doesn’t want to be blindly followed. For biblical leaders, we were always told to support them who have spoken to us the word of God and whose faith follows (their actions) (Heb. 13:7).

    So then reputation, demeanor, temperament and lifestyle have everything to do with your precieved power. It seems as though people are always looking to follow. The manner of person you are will determine the influence you have and how many people will follow you. If you want to be impactful, you must seek to lead a life that is concurrent with the teachings of scripture.

    God is always raising a few good men and women to work in his kingdom and effect the world. Are you one of those leaders?