culture

The Madness Of Moral Monoprinciples

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There’s a book I’ve mentioned a few times here, The Unaccountability Machine. It’s a book of why things in the 21st century suck, how we changed, and how we knew better. The very short form is that businesses (and thus governments and culture) became obsessively focused on stock price/monetary value and went bonkers. We’ve normalized it, we’ve built our culture around it, but it is in the end insane.

Directing your entire life by a single measure, building a world around it, diverting all your resources to it, is a short-term thing. It will break, as we in 2026 are realizing by basically reading the news.

This is business, but let me suggest that it can happen in culture and religion. A kind of Moral Madness where One Thing Matters which supposedly serves as a foundation, but eventually goes completely mad. Call it a Monoprinciple.

The anti-abortion movement in America was my first inkling of this. I’d see politicians, pundits, preachers, and followers utterly obsessed with banning abortion. Everything swirled around that motivation without any kind of moral consistency – no care for actual living children, living women, etc. There was an air of madness about it, a spinning inconsistency, wild-eyed and disturbing – leading to bombings, murder threats and further insanity.

Of course this played to the power of various politicians and preachers, but sometimes I wonder if they ended up riding the tiger they raised from a kitten.

Confucians and filial piety were another thing that got me thinking about Monoprinciples. It’s not hard to read any form of Chinese Philosophy and see something on filial piety and respect for family roles. Anyone who’s dealt with a dysfunctional family knows that such things aren’t what they’re cracked up to be. Though my readings were mostly Taoist, I did read Confucian books and other works of philosophy and history and you can feel those moments writers had to reconcile these issues – usually very poorly.

A hint of madness over the years, trying to reconcile to the reality of some parents just being pieces of shit. A hope for a foundation that wasn’t going to ever be found.

In Influencer-infused Christianity of 2026, as AI write this, there’s a peculiarly shallow madness. Talk of Jesus, of God, of some Christian Principles that are so important. Then people are trying to sell you Bible shoes or preachers are involved in a sex scandal or some Church-scamming politician spews absolute insanity in terms of policy. There’s so many people talking about how they’re so Christian, but it doesn’t seem to mean anything. It’s an empty madness, a hollow phrase, a Monoprinciple that can’t even be examined it’s so hollow.

Everyone wants the One Magic Thing that makes it all work. Or at least lets them convince others it’ll work so they can sell merch and pass the collection plate.

But it won’t work. You can’t invoke one magic principle or one magic name that supposedly Encompasses All Principles. Life’s weird and complex, definitions play into each other, moral actions require careful measurement. Just like the “Line Go Up” madness of the business world was invoked to pay a bill now coming due, it’s the same with moral principles, trying for a single measure will crash, even if you’re no longer around to flee.

It reminds me of the Taoist idea that “having the Tao” provides morals, duty, stability. Having that unity, that sense of connection is where principles come from. But to cling to one thing is to have it all fall apart.

–Xenofact

Why Conspiracy Theories?

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“Why are you so interested in Conspiracy Theories?” is honestly kind of a good question. I write on spirituality and philosophy, meditation and culture. Why am I also interested in people convinced Reptoids are putting 5G in our vaccines beyond, you know, curiosity?

Well, curiosity is part of it. I’ve been interested in Conspiracy Theories since the 80s. I had an interest in paranormal phenomena (especially UFOs and cryptids) early on in life, and became more aware of Conspiracy Theories in the 80s through mix of politics, interest in weird phenomena, and a Psychology degree. Honestly, that’s a trio of interests right there that explains a lot – I just find them fascinating.

But there is more to it than curiosity, but trust me, don’t discount my ability to go “that’s f-ed up, tell me more.”

First, I am interested in Conspiracy Theories as they impact our lives. Even if I had no other interest in them, the fact is they have and do affect our world. As I write this in 2026 we’ve got an entire American Administration of Too-Online Conspiracy Theorists. People have killed others over extreme beliefs. You have to be aware of them for your own safety and to avoid falling into them.

Conspiracy Theories have affected my life and the lives of others very directly. Very directly.

However, I am also fascinated my the history of Conspiracy Theories. How they work, how they’re believed, why, and how long they’ve lasted are intriguing. An enormous amount of Conspiracy Theories are just repurposed older conspiracy theories, and when you scrape the bottom, it’s usually down to some ethnic, racial, or religious bias. Or as I heard it put in Western Conspiracy Theories, if you go deep enough on almost any theory you end up at racism (and usually antisemitism).

You learn a lot about people and culture by studying Conspiracy Theories. Most of it depressing, some of it a warning, all of it fascinating.

But finally out of all of this I am fascinated by the nature of belief.

Studying Conspiracy Theories tells you a lot about how and why people believe things. What speaks to people (and to different kinds of people). How social ties (or lack of same) affects belief. The borders between Conspiracy Theories and cults, or lack of same. How someone comes to hold terrible, inaccurate, and at times vicious beliefs is fascinating, but also important.

It’s important as we will deal with people who have such beliefs. We might have to talk them down. But also we might fall for them, and forewarned is forearmed. To understand such beliefs is to hopefully develop an immune system against them.

That mental immune system is important especially in areas of spirituality, the paranormal, and other spheres I move in. These areas are rife with Conspiracy Theories or are hijacked by bad actors. A little knowledge is an excellent preventative – and it may prevent you from being overcautious in some cases.

So in the end, I’m fascinated by Conspiracy Theories, but they also tell me a lot about people. They tell me about myself.

I might not always like what I see, but at least I’ll dislike it early enough.

–Xenofact

They Will Still Kill You

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When people discuss conspiracy theorists and political operators and the like, the question often comes up “do they believe this?” This question embodies many facets – a search for authenticity, a desire to understand, wanting to counter, and so on. Such a quest is often frustrating, as the solid answers elude us even as we delve in to peoples beliefs. We are through the looking glass and it feels like someone is laughing at us.

I’ve seen this come up recently in August 2026 as people once again ask “hey do these various racists in racist movements believe their extreme rhetoric.” The conclusion as of late – perhaps understandably – is “yes, these people do believe it and they will kill people.” But I’d like to argue that the conclusion is partially right and misses the point at the same time.

Before I’ve stated that there is a subset of people whose political beliefs are narratives about themselves – hero stories essentially. They do not so much believe as want to maintain a narrative about themselves. Their beliefs and actions are a juggling act to maintain the story and their own sense of identity.

Now I suspect a lot of people’s real political and spiritual beliefs are like this. In this performative age where the culture and the technology grinds at us to be Influencers one way or another, I think we all run the risk of being narratives without a person attached. But that aside, how many people actually believe the extreme things they say and how many, well, just say it?

It doesn’t matter. The question is not “do they believe?” It is “will they kill us?”

Yes, people who really believe something bad will kill people. We know this from all of human history. Good people believing something bad will kill people. That’s pretty clear.

But the people who are trying to maintain a narrative, maintain a story, the people with Influencer brain will kill you just the same. They may be worse because they don’t even have hard beliefs to change.

Think of all the people who live in the spotlight, who have turned their lives into shows and stories. They have to maintain their image or suffer a kind of living death as their egos are punctured. Their income may depend on weaving the right story to sell merch and advertising hits. They will do whatever it takes, change their story, alter it, add to it, or deny it to meet their needs.

Of course they will gladly advocate for the death of others. You don’t need some hearty belief that people should die to want people dead. All you need is a story so important the lives of others are just decoration, where your tall tale about yourself matters more than actual humans. All you need are people who think they’re main characters and you’re an NPC.

It’s not how much you believe, it’s how many deaths you’ll cause. When it comes to survival, maybe “actually believing” isn’t the first thing we should worry about. Maybe it’s “who will kill us?”

–Xenofact