Hunter and hunted
Random musings from the trash bin
Dear T,
Despite touting itself as the “least regulated state in the US,” you can’t just move to Idaho and do whatever you want. There are still rules, they say.
Chief among these are,
You can’t just “go hunting,” and, in fact, the state of Idaho requires you to have “a license.”
No matter how hard it is to find elk and shoot them, and despite the fact that everybody here eats beef, shooting cows is considered bad form — unmanly, even.
You have to make sure the cows you shoot aren’t somebody else’s. And finally,
This usually means hunting on “public property,” like some kind of communist.
These things combined ruin the whole experience of hunting, and, if not followed exactly, the thing that ends up being hunted is you.
All I wanted to say is that the Great American Experience is dead. Below you’ll find some other discoveries I made this week, and I hope they’re easier to swallow than what I already listed above.
Yours, in tears and coonskin cap,
-J
June 29th, 2026
Meliocentrists.
Atheists tend to worship Galileo — for telling the public that the universe doesn’t revolve around them.
Which is precisely the same reason atheists hate Christians — for telling them they aren’t the final authority; that the Light has some into the world and The World isn’t necessarily The Light; that their views are small and even contemptible in the face of eternity.
Breeding.
If you end up with one or two kids and think you’re “done,” just look at one of their faces. Is this somebody you’d get rid of? Or would you give everything you owned just to keep him alive?
If you have another baby, that’s exactly how you’d feel about him too.
Don’t be robbed by your lack of imagination. You’d pay any amount to have what you can’t yet see.
A double dose of incompetence.
Vows of poverty, chastity, silence — strange, but (historically) honorable.
Being dirt poor, being single at 30, getting tongue-tied — a disgrace.
We don’t measure a man by the state he’s currently in. We care more about what he can do.
The best move of the incapable and incompetent is to pretend they’re slumming on purpose — and thus that they prefer it. These are many times referred to as “monks” and “Stoics” — sometimes even saints.
But because they’re incapable and incompetent, they usually pretend somebody else caused them to fail — and that they hate it. Which adds another reason to hate them.
The Pig-herders of Gerasene.
Don’t be surprised when God does a miracle and the next day you want him to leave. Everyone wants a miracle from Jesus until it’s time to get rid of their swine.
Always atoms, never molecules.
“I believe in God, but not in organized religion.”
“I believe in love, but not in marriage or families.”
“I believe in earning your keep, but I don’t believe in businesses.”
None of these statements is less stupid than the others.
Whatever thy lot.
Whatever MY lot, it is well with my soul. — righteous.
Whatever THEIR lot, it is well with my soul — evil.
Now ask yourself a question. Aren’t these really the same thing? Why is it a good thing to accept the will of God for you and not to accept it for somebody else?
Christian ethics, at bottom, are the belief that everyone is important except yourself. Thus the comic genius of Joseph Heller,
Major Major’s father had a Calvinist’s faith in predestination and could perceive distinctly how everyone’s misfortunes but his own were expressions of God’s will.
— a case of Christianity inverted.
Ed Sheeran.
In High Fidelity, John Cusack delivers the classic line,
What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss.
Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?
But this is only considering misery. The other main options are lust and disgust.
The reason pop stars have to be hot is because pop music is almost always about love. Shape of You is only tolerable when you’re not looking at a picture of Ed Sheeran.
And splash with a hint of sin.
A man can’t be truly evil without some goodness. He requires some measure of trustworthiness, intelligence, charm, ability, and even some form of wisdom. Without these he goes nowhere. He might even be considered a victim.
Likewise, a man can’t be truly good without a little bit of badness. He requires some pugnacity, some craft, some guile, some sex, some fakery, some discontent with his own lot; some adherence to the here-and-now instead of eternity; some disrespect for the comfort and safety of somebody; some belief in his superiority to others, some preference for his family over others’; a willingness to occasionally break rules — an ability to let loose and have a good time while something else in the world is on fire. He doesn’t buy peace at any price. He will raise hell with those who threaten heaven. He knows who to cry for and who to laugh at, and hurt, and even kill.
If he lacks these things at certain times he’s less of a saint and more a liability. To be a really bad man, you must be a little bit good. To be a really good man, you must be a little bit bad.
Lightning never strikes twice.
Jesus says, in Matthew 23,
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
And this highlights the most common mistake of the fake-righteous. Your prophet is almost never your father’s prophet.
What dad needed to hear isn’t necessarily what you need, because his sins aren’t necessarily the same sins as your sins. A prophet is as precise as a pin-prick and as electric as a bolt of lightning. He never strikes the same place twice because that would be missing the mark. Your prophet isn’t just right: he’s right on time — to be offensive to you, a moving target.
Those who pine for the old prophets, mimicking their dated messages and old styles, aren’t actually in favor of the new prophets.
They’re just librarians.
Two absurdities.
“We have to pass this bill to find out what’s in it.” — Nancy Pelosi.
“The Bible is the word of God” — from somebody who can’t tell you what’s in it.