Entitlement Culture

The tow truck driver knows more about entitlement than any lefty academic

The race-based entitlement that academics peddle is questionable at best.  This is what true entitlement looks like.

It is worth pointing out that the illegally-parked vehicle owners are not the customers of the towing company.  No, the towing company's customer is the property owner.  I think that all the back and forth with the vehicle owners is just for good Youtube content.  I mean, why else bother?  But for us, it does offer a great peek at American entitlement culture.

And sadly, you see this in all public facing businesses.  This is just an extreme example.  In any case, I would argue that entitlement has gotten worse in the last few decades.  I wish some academic would study the causes.  But they are so wrapped up in race and grievance that they pay no attention to the actual entitlement all around us.

Just pay attention; entitlement is everywhere.  People are entitled to tips for no real service.  Others are entitled to tip nothing for actual service.  Parents are entitled to take their unsupervised, misbehaving children everywhere.  Passengers are entitled to take the seat of their choice on airplanes.  So-called influencers are entitled to free stuff and service.  And if we back up just a few years to the time of Covid, just think about the entitlement that people had to tell perfect strangers what to do.  Going to the grocery store was walking through an entitlement minefield.

Today we see people using smartphones without headphones or earbuds.  Some blast music in public on their bluetooth speakers.  Patrons refuse to get off their smartphones when dealing with a cashier, waiter, etc.  Or on public transportation.  The social expectation of respect for others is dead.

Truly, the only way to avoid disrespect for others is to avoid public spaces.  We do try.  And here is something interesting:  There is a class dynamic to this entitlement problem.  Counterintuitive though it may be, higher class environments have less entitlement.  In my observation, entitlement culture is a lower class problem.  And it is intentional.  The mid and upper classes know that it is best to take calls outside, or not at all.  Lower class people have a need to inflict their noise and other entitlements on the people around them.  Why is that?

Anyway, it is getting worse.  What is going on?

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The Unhinged Alphabet Show

When did "pride" become so hateful?

Arielle Scarcella:  At what point does "pride" stop being about pride, and start being performance art for the unhinged?



It is a show, and if you do not approve of the show, there is something wrong with you, not the shameless, deranged performers.  Scarcella says that "pride" is not about pride; rather, it is performance art for the unhinged.  In other words, it is a freak show.  But I think it is much worse than that.  I submit that the show is about asserting power and dominance:  You cannot stop me and you should keep your mouth shut.

Beyond that, a large part of the Alphabet Show is sheer narcissism.  It is:  Look at me!  Look at me!  Look at me!  They should not worry; try as we might, they cannot be missed.
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Cultural Insanity

Are the alphabet people crazy?



I lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina for many years.  And there is something about academic communities that attracts unstable people.  I will let someone else explain why that is, but it is a fact.  So living in this sort of place, you encounter lots of crazy people.  It is just part of the life there.

And one thing I noticed about these people, whatever their individual problems, you never know what is going to set them off.  And almost all of them have the potential to become violent.  So it is best just to stay away from them.

This has become my attitude with so-called trans people, and really, with much of the alphabet community.  These people are often crazy and it is just a good idea to stay away from them.  You can easily sense the violence lurking just beneath the surface.

For instance, this guy strikes me as having the potential for violence.  I mean, he is seething; you can tell he might erupt at any moment.  I do not want him in my restaurant (he likes to film himself in restaurants), interacting with my staff, and near my other customers.

I think the problem here is one of perceived respect.  The alphabet people demand the respect that they feel society owes them.  And if they perceive that someone is not sufficiently providing it, well, their response is unknowable.  This is made all the more unpredictable because, it is true, many of us do not and cannot respect them.

But the perceived lack of respect is only the first layer.  When this is not forthcoming, the alphabet people move to control.  You will call me by my preferred pronouns, or else.  You will allow me to swim on the girl's team, or else.  You will not consider me a pervert if I had anonymous sex with two hundred men so far this year, or else.

This or else is typically some form of social control, or group outrage, or cancellation.   It is interesting to note that they demand respect from others and control of others.  Surely they would have an easier road if they left the rest of us out of their lifestyles?  But again, when this effort fails, the response is unknowable.  The threat of violence is always present.

Now, is the problem all of the alphabet people?  I do not think so.  For instance, the lesbians and the bisexuals seem relatively normal.  And some percentage of the gay community seems normal.  Although what that percentage is, I have no idea.  But if you are a gay man, playing dress up and dancing for little kids, you sir, are not normal.

The remainder of the alphabet people do seem some degree of crazy.  While there is no definitive list of the various types of alphabet people, Grok makes a start.  You will note that "furry" is not a sexual orientation or gender identity.  Good to know.

My sincere advice:  Stay away from them.

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Pride and Prejudice and Promiscuity

Gay men are not like the rest of us

Yes of course, the men attending a gay pride parade are perhaps overachievers in the field of sexual conquest.  But the stereotype of the promiscuous gay man is long established and accurate.  Do not pretend otherwise.

Gay men want to be treated like everyone else; get married like everyone else; these days, have children like everyone else.  But don't kid yourselves, they are not like everyone else.

I'm pretty liberal about gay people and the gay lifestyle; they can do whatever they like, both in and out of the bedroom.  But this level of promiscuity does not lend itself to marriage and children, not to mention public health.

Yes, these debates are over.  But maybe they need a second, more realistic, look.

The public has largely accepted what gay men do.  Even if most of us do not really want to think about it.  But if a heterosexual man has this many sexual partners, most people would consider that licentious and degenerate.  Here, even the term partner is out of place.  These are not partners in any sense of the imagination.  But I do not know a better term to describe the person on the other side of a daily, one-off, anonymous, sexual encounter.  Of any type.

Well there is slut, right?  But call a gay man a slut and his response is likely to be:  Oh honey, you are so right.  You don't know the half of it.  Look at the men in the above video; they are proud of it.

Regarding a heterosexual man with that amount of sexual activity, some will surely envy his sexual prowess.  But they will also call him a womanizer or a player; and no one is going to consider him marriage material.  But is the heterosexual male slut also proud?  Yeah maybe.  But how many of these guys are there versus what is really normalization on the gay side.

I recently watched the Netflix remake of Alan Alda's The Four Seasons.  And today of course, it includes a married gay couple.  Okay fine.  But in the series, the gay couple pick up an anonymous stranger and take him back to their hotel room to have sex.  Like this is normal.

That is not normal.  I mean it may be normal gay behavior and I do not care if that is what you want to get up to.  Have at it.  But it is not normal marriage behavior.  And this is not the first time I have seen this in a television series.  I saw one production a couple of years ago where the requisite gay couple had multiple outside partners.  Hollywood has decided that this is, in fact, normal and the rest of us should get on board with it.

Now, I am perfectly well aware of the fact that some small number of heterosexual married couples also have so-called open relationships.  But here too, let us not pretend this is normal marriage behavior.  I will add what I always think about when someone is unfaithful to their spouse:  If you do not want to be married, just do not be married.  It is not as complicated as people sometimes want it to be.

Like I said, I do not care what anyone does.  But let us not pretend that gay men are like us.  And if this is normal behavior for you, straight or gay, maybe marriage is not your thing.

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Have You Ever Actually Watched Any Of His Debates?

The left is an intolerant religion and proud of it

I do not know if this is real or not; I hope it is.  But even if it is not, I think it makes a fair point.  Popular culture, media, and the education establishment endlessly foist left-of-center views on people from the right.  And those on the left need not ever entertain any views from the right.  They are actually proud of this.

Since Charlie Kirk's death, the organization he founded has gone off the rails.  I think he was naive about the people he surrounded himself with; including his own wife.  But that should not diminish his own contributions.  The question asked here is paramount.
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The Ultimate Excuse For Bad Behavior

It's their culture

It always seems to start with noise in public.  No matter what, public noise, the speakers, the smartphones, loud voices, whatever it is, well, it's their culture.

And because it is their culture, you are not supposed to complain.  And if you do have the temerity to complain, you are expected to accept it's their culture as a legitimate excuse; and let that be the end of it.

Well no, just no.

But noise is only the start.  Bad behavior in restaurants, undisciplined children running amok, cultural scams like the skin tax, praying en masse on the streets and sidewalks, the amplified adhan five times a day, the lack of daily bathing, the failure to respect lines (queues), elastic punctuality, the list is endless.

And don't get me started on table manners and eating habits.  Now I do not care what people eat.  Different cultures eat different things.  But I do care a great deal if your culture attempts to control what I eat.  No, that's really bad, and no, I don't care if it is your culture.  Not even a little.

Lately ghetto and racket behavior are ruining, or threaten to ruin, all public spaces.  But don't you dare complain; you see, it's their culture.

And notice this:  It's their culture is rarely applied to good habits.  Why?  Because few of us notice a culture's good habits.  Why would we?  Oh, he bathes every day?  I hadn't noticed.

So each of us can decide for ourselves whether cultural practices should be accepted.  But I do not accept, cannot accept, the cultural excuse for bad behavior.  Bad behavior is bad behavior.  And here is a dirty little secret that only gets revealed over time and only if you pay close attention.  People are fully aware that their cultural practice is bad.

Does anyone really believe that Pakistani rape gangs are unaware that rape is unneighborly?  The idea is absurd.

One final example that I like to use is people from Holland and Germany and Scandinavia, who love to tell others how direct, blunt, and frank, they are, as a culture.  But I have long suspected that what is really going on is that they use frankness as an excuse for rudeness.  And moreover, they are perfectly well aware that this is what they are doing.  Bad behavior is bad behavior; and rudeness is rudeness.

They all know.  Of course they know.  It's my culture is just the most efficacious excuse.

Remember, culture is what we tolerate.

If you want to improve your culture, do not tolerate bad behavior.
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Random Spring 2026 Observations

Some thoughts on current affairs and culture

Pickleball is lazy tennis.

There is a shopping center in town that ripped out much needed parking spaces to install pickleball courts.

The tennis courts down the street are almost always empty.

Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass is incompetent.  How much rebuilding has been done in fifteen months?

Seattle mayor, Katie Wilson, and New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, do not understand that billionaires can live anywhere.

In fact, most Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City residents could live anywhere.

China is having a property valuation depression.

Everything about China is a scam.

Candace Owens scares the elites.

I hope Candace Owens has more than adequate security.

The US can open the Strait of Hormuz any time it chooses (see AC130 gunship).

The US has thirty AC130 gunships.

The foreign government of Israel wants Thomas Massie defeated.

So Trump wants Thomas Massie defeated.

The recent Met Gala only proved, again, that Anna Wintour has no class.

When I was a kid, the school cafeteria served peanut butter sandwiches, I'd say, round about once a month.  And, no one had autism.  It is worth asking what has changed?

Big Food and/or Big Pharma do not want us asking.

The engine of the international economy runs on...petroleum.

If you are paying through the nose for energy... Europe and California ...it is no one's fault except your own.

Regarding the ongoing Hantavirus outbreak, once again the public health apparatus, led by WHO, proves that it is entirely untrustworthy, and likely working against the interest of actual public health.  And once again, Bret Weinstein is on it.

Leather pants may be okay for a night club, but I cannot take anyone wearing leather pants seriously.

This seems obvious to me:  Volodymyr Zelensky is worse than Vladimir Putin.  Zelensky thrives on this war; why would he finish it?

Suicidal Empathy is killing the West at every level.

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On Ghetto Culture

Chad O. Jackson on ghetto culture

Now Jackson refers to this as black culture, and that is his prerogative, but I have met too many decent black people to refer to it this way myself.  I find the more appropriate term to be ghetto culture.  An interesting question for Jackson would be what percentage of black Americans subscribe to ghetto culture?

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Alphabet Rebellion

Odom:  There is a rising movement of regular gay people who are against all the nonsense

Back in January, I wrote about the gay show and how the time has come to take a considered look at the whole topic.  Well here is a gay man who agrees that the show is getting old.

I really appreciate Amir's honesty.  All the more so because of how rare it is in the alphabet community and among the left in general.

Gay fatigue is a real thing, and here I was thinking that it was just me.

In this video, Odom makes two important divisions.  Let me restate them here.  He does not make them in this order, but let me state them in a way that makes sense to me.  First, he divides the alphabet people between the LGB and the TQ+.  Then he further divides the LGB people between the normal everyday types and the gay show types.  These seem like fair divisions to me.

Now, I have no idea what percentage of alphabet people are normal gays.  And clearly, it is the gay show types that we all tend to notice.  How could we not?  Maybe the majority of gay people are normal and do not put on a show.  How would we know?

By the way, what is "normal" anyway?  Well normal people do not walk around shouting their sexuality so that everyone can see it.  That is not normal.

We are all sick to death of the show.
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Grammar is a Signal

WSJ:  There's an inverse correlation between power and proper grammar

That's pretty much the long and the short of the whole article (archive).  But I would add that there is a correlation between proper grammar and respect.  So when did power come to mean a lack of respect?

I am a terrible self-editor, but I do make every effort to not make, and certainly not send, grammatical or spelling errors.  But according to The Wall Street Journal, in 2026, this makes me some kind of toady.

Have we become so blasé about written communications that we fail to comprehend that there is an etiquettical dimension to the process?  Or do we just no longer care?

I mean even if I am communicating with a subordinate, I will make every effort to write properly.  I might even make more of an effort, because I would not want them to think I am illiterate, right?  That would be shameful.  Or at least embarrassing.

Well...no.

The authors of this piece seem to be saying that we demonstrate our power by using bad grammar.  Or at the very least, power gives us permission to dispense with proper grammar and editing.  Personally, I think they have been reading way too much Foucault.

But this much is clearly true.  People today like to assume that whomever they are communicating with will not assume that they are illiterate.  The correspondent will simply assume that they are busy or blame the technology or whatever.  Or, they assume that the correspondent will simply believe that they just cannot be bothered.  So there is no embarrassment much less shame.

Is that the message that we want to send?  And if it is, what does that say about us?  Here's a question:  What would your grandmother have thought about your grandfather if his love letters were full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes?  Maybe you would not be here.

No, consistently bad grammar and spelling is a signal.  He just cannot be bothered.  That's the signal.

Here's my question:  What else is he not bothered about?

If you believe that bad grammar signals something else; maybe it does.  It could represent any number of signals.  But all of them are bad.

And if etiquettical is not a word, I will be ashamed.

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Again, The Experts Have Spoken

Like the Covid response and transgender mania, Tourette's Syndrome defies common sense

Tourettes activist John Davidson shouts n*gger and b*tch at Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo at the Bafta Awards in London. pic.twitter.com/mrS95IrW41

— Anthony Brian Logan (ABL) 🇺🇸 (@ANTHONYBLOGAN) February 23, 2026

I get the tics part of the syndrome.  We have all met people with tics of one kind or another.  And I can maybe understand, or at least tolerate, the verbal outbursts.  But it is the incendiary nature of these outbursts where I have to draw the line.  When two black men are on stage, a Tourette's sufferer shouts the n-word?  Why not pink elephant?  Or as one black commenter observed, "Why not shout Hallelujah?"  Indeed.

No, this is a bridge too far for me.

And yet every major medical organization supports the idea that this is involuntary.  And they have lined up in uniform to denounce those of us who question the narrative.  Just like they did with the Covid response.  Just like they did with gender confirming healthcare.  And for that matter, just like they did with lobotomies and then tonsillectomies.

We are told that this is a counter-intuitive medical condition and we should just accept the wisdom of the medical experts.

No sorry, I don't buy it.  Expert groupthink is a very real thing with a long and checkered history.

I have not always thought this way.  But today, in any conflict between so-called experts and common sense, I will choose my own common sense.  Every single time.

So what's the issue?

We are told that Tourette's Syndrome sufferers cannot suppress the use of obscene language at inappropriate times.  A condition called coprolalia.  Yet these same sufferers are able to suppress other inappropriate behaviors, say violence, crime, or reckless driving.  So it is only the obscene language that they cannot suppress.  But it seems to me that if these people have a problem with control of one inappropriate behavior, that this would manifest among other behaviors as well.

My theory, and that is all it is, is that they misbehave in this one area because they have been trained, first by their parents, and later by the medical establishment, that there are no consequences.  And they do not misbehave in other areas because they realize that there may very well be consequences of those actions.

Plus I find the use of the word suppress to be interesting.  Personally, I never have to suppress the use of the n-word.  The very idea of using it never occurs to me.  Just like acts of violence, reckless driving, other crime, or misbehavior.  I need not suppress these urges; I do not have them.  So what does it say about someone who needs to suppress bad behavior?  Really, I'm asking.

No, I view Tourette's as a factitious indulgence.  But I confess, I'm just a simple-minded coprolalia bigot.  No doubt the mental health community would dismiss my willful ignorance.  So be it.

This behavior is unacceptable for any occasion.  But I have to add that I have enjoyed both Jordan's and Lindo's work; they are both excellent at their craft.  And they did not deserve this disrespect at an awards ceremony.  Of course, to their credit, they may well be more forgiving than I am.

I had an interesting conversation with Grok on this topic.  It is rather long, but if you are interested in this topic and why it makes people uncomfortable, I think it is worth your attention.  The final three questions are most revealing.  Skip the rest if you like and read those.

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Black Names

The truth about black names



I am not sure when this was filmed; it came up in my Youtube feed today.  Both Jesse and Larry are much older now.  But it is still so relevant.  I think parents can accomplish their goal without going crazy.  I once knew a gal named Kenya and I always thought that was beautiful and unique, and elegant and spellable.  Note to parents, maybe don't go with Djibouti.
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Theater of the Absurd

Milo:  It is not a sexuality...it is a trauma response



I have never given much thought to homosexuality.  And I have never understood it.  But I have always thought that there is something inauthentic about it.  That is, many gay people, well gay men, seem to relish the theater of it; they make it a production.  Everything from the mildly effeminate affectation to the exaggerated campy social performance in its various presentations.  Oh honey, we have all seen the entire repertoire of gay theater.

Of course, not all of them are like this.  But for the men who put on the gay show, really you have to ask, is any of that real?  Well this Milo interview comes as close to explaining homosexuality as I have ever seen.

And yes, Milo comes with his own version of the show.  Here, watching Milo Yiannopoulos, it looks like he is on something.  I mean more so than when we used to see him a decade ago.  But if we can, and we should, set that aside, he makes some wildly interesting, honest, and I believe accurate, points.  Even if his demeanor and conversational style is largely theater, and whether he is doped-up or not, he is an astute observer on this topic.

Like I said, I have never given this topic much thought.  I have never been terribly close to it.  But once, when I was in college, during the AIDS crisis, a friend asked me what I thought about homosexuality.  I remember saying to her, well, I think it is a choice.  She was aghast, and asked, but why would anyone choose to be gay?  My response was, I think it is a form of rebellion.  Parental rebellion or family rebellion, or maybe even something broader.  But it is something reactive rather than innate.

She was even more aghast, but I added, plus it has the added benefit of making one a victim.  This was before the whole victim identity nonsense and she just could not believe that one would or could purposefully identify as a victim.  To what end?  She asked.  Well, there is a kind of status in victimhood.  And it gives you a kind of shield against criticism.

She had to think about that.  But then she asked me the question that I could not answer:  If it is a choice, when did you decide that you were straight?

Bam!

That was it, right?  There was no answer to that question.  Conversation over.

And I really never thought about it again.

Sure, I met gay people over the years.  But from the time of that conversation, my attitude was, hey, you do you.

But about twenty years later something happened.  I met no less than three men, roughly my age, who had married women and had children, and then after long marriages, came out as gay.  All three subsequently divorced.  And I thought back to our conversation twenty years earlier.  Wait, if they are born that way, then whether or not they were ready and willing to accept their homosexuality and/or go public with it, they surely had chosen to be straight.  Or at least had chosen to act straight and live as straight.  Right?

Well no; I was told, because people wrestle with this internally and sometimes it takes decades to accept who you are.  But be that as it may, it seemed to me that there was a choice being made.  And then later reversed.

But this was impolitic, and not really an area of interest for me, so I pretty much kept my opinion to myself.  And it was easy enough to continue with the you do you attitude.

And so I did, again for years.  But over the decades homosexuality, and its various dispositions and alphabetic permutations, have continued to grow.  If you make the argument that this proves that it is not innate, the bien-pensants respond with, well today more people feel they can be open about who they really are.  So they dismiss the social contagion and slippery slope arguments outright.  And if that does not work, they will tell you how offensive these arguments are, and eventually they will get around to calling you a bigot.  Of course.

So still, today, I want to take the you do you attitude.  I want to.  But the numbers have exploded, young people are clearly confused, schools are encouraging alternative sexualities and then hiding the results from parents, we are mutilating children, gender confusion has swept all aspects of society, we are producing record levels of surrogate children, and more broadly, we are accepting of these children in gay households.  And while the causes are uncertain, testosterone levels are in free fall.

It is probably worth remembering that Milo was cancelled in 2016-2017 because he had the audacity to describe how predatory gay men prey on underage boys.  Some say he seemed to condone it.  But was it untrue?  Or has it changed?  Or was Milo just being honest?  Likewise, is he being honest about the rampant promiscuity of the gay lifestyle?  Even in the supposedly married gay households?  Does this conduct stop when children are introduced?  Judge these questions for yourself.

Obviously our society and culture has become more gay and continues to move in that direction.  Ask yourself, is this healthy?  Gay acceptance has gone from, we just want to be treated equally and get married like everyone else, to the gay lifestyle, here I mean the aggregate of the whole spectrum of alphabet people, and its effect on society, is completely beyond criticism.  This is not an overstatement; when they are mutilating children with impunity, their conduct is beyond criticism.  And that is the very least we can say about it.

So, it has gotten to the point that I think we need to take a considered look at the topic.  Believe me, love him or hate him, we could do a lot worse than Milo as a starting point.

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The Unreported Philippines

The delicate art of living in a flighty culture

 

I have noticed that no one tells the truth about living in the Philippines.  I have written about this before.  No one really lies; they just leave stuff out.  And the omissions are fairly extensive.  So here, let me point out a few quirks of living here.  I will skip the obvious, like don't drink the water and Filipino time, and focus on what no one talks about.

Before we start, what do I mean by flighty?  I have seen the modern usage of flighty culture.  While I appreciate the concept, that is not what I mean.  I use flighty in its traditional sense.  Flighty means fickle and irresponsible, frivolous, undependable, capricious, unstable, skittish, forgetful, volatile and excitable, inconsistent, unserious, guided by whim or fancy rather than by judgment or settled purpose.  And that is exactly what I mean when I use the term flighty culture here.  So with that clarification, let's get started.

In no particular order:

• If you see it, buy it
  
  Inventory management is beyond the Philippines.  I don't know if it is a function of the shipping logistics of seven thousand plus islands, or if it is a function of Philippine culture, or both.  But I suspect culture plays at least as large a role as cumbersome logistics.  If it is consumable, buy more than one; in fact, buy all they have.  It may be a while before you see it again.  And you may never see it again.
  
  
  
• Electricity is expensive
  
  I cannot speak for everywhere in the Philippines, but we pay roughly double the rate we were paying in North Carolina.
  
  
  
• The power goes out routinely
  
  And because electricity is so expensive, most Filipinos use very little.  Consequently, when the power goes out, you will notice, but the Filipinos around you will not.
  
  
  
• No traffic law enforcement
  
  The traffic laws in the Philippines are basically identical to those in the United States.  They are just not seriously enforced.  The easiest way to improve quality of life in the Philippines would be for the government to enforce the traffic laws.  But I never see any movement in this direction.
  
  This is not a question of resources; there are an abundance of law enforcement officers who could do this.  Rather this is a choice that the Filipinos have made.
  
  
  
• Chaos reigns supreme
  
  So the roads are chaos just like everything else.  Chaos is a life style choice here.  And yes, it is a choice.  I know it is a choice because I notice places where it does not apply:  Banks, and high end shopping malls and hotels.  But that's the extent of it.  Chaos everywhere else.
  
  
  
• There are no addresses
  
  Just one aspect of the chaos.  Sure there are some addresses, but most buildings are not marked.  Everyone walks around with a smartphone, but they make no attempt to use modern mapping apps available to overcome this problem.  Google Plus Codes and apps like What3Words. No addresses required.  But again, they choose chaos.  More on smartphones below.
  
  
  
• There is no mail
  
  Bills are delivered by hand, and now by email.  There are post offices, but you must go to them because they will not come to you.  No mail also means that you must go somewhere to pay those bills.
  
  
  
• Lack of seriousness
  
  No mail is a great example of the lack of seriousness that you find here.  Filipinos are just not serious people.  About anything.  Traffic, education, medical care, agriculture, sanitation, water systems, just pick any topic and you find something that they are not serious about.
  
  Now of course, there are some serious people here.  And of course, there are plenty of unserious people in the West.  I think it is a question of percentages.  There are enough serious people in the West to make the societies work.  Likewise with Japan, Singapore, etc.  Evidently, there are a lot less in the Philippines.  See Bifurcated Culture below.
  
  
  
• There are no landfills
  
  Well I am sure there are, but there is no sanitation infrastructure.  And because of this, most people either burn their own trash, or throw it in the river.  This is how the Pacific Ocean came to be the primary landfill for the entire country.  And the most common smells in the Philippines are not adobo, lumpia, and lechon cooking, but rather burning plastics.
  
  
  
• Smartphones and smartphone zombies are everywhere
  
  It is difficult to describe this phenomenon.  The smartphones are toys, and never tools.  And the last thing the Philippines needs is a ubiquitous gadget that fosters a lack of seriousness.  I would say that the introduction of smartphones has been a cultural disaster for the Philippines.  Most people use their toys everywhere and without headphones.  Quiet dinner with the wife in a fancy restaurant?  No chance.
  
  
  
• Noise
  
  This brings me to noise in general.  The Philippines is the loudest place I have ever visited.  Noise is everywhere.  And in the Philippines there are only two volume levels:  Off and as high as it goes.  If you are looking for peace and quiet, I urge you to not come here.
  
  One other note about the noise:  Crisp amplification is limited by the quality of the speakers.  And all speakers have a limit to their clarity before the sound becomes distorted.  That is, there is a point at which, it is so loud, that you cannot understand what is being amplified, the voice or the music, etc.  In the Philippines, you can rarely understand the voices because the volume levels are too high.  And it never occurs to them to turn it down a bit.
  
  Ultimately the noise just amplifies the chaos.
  
  
  
• There is little appreciation and little consideration
  
  This takes a while to notice because Filipinos are extremely pleasant on a surface level.  But live here a while and you will see this often and everywhere.  The noise is only the first thing you will notice.
  
  
  
• Karaoke
  
  The noise and lack of consideration warnings absolutely apply to the primary Filipino pastime of karaoke.  I have never understood why karaoke has to be amplified at all, much less at full blast.  But if you cannot hear it half a kilometer away, evidently there's no fun in it.
  
  
  
• Undervalued time and no urgency
  
  As I mentioned at the start, everyone knows about Filipino Time, the tendency of Filipinos to be late.  But where does this come from?  I think two places.  One is the lack of consideration mentioned above.  While some may care about their own time, Filipinos have practically no consideration for the time of others.  Two is the fact that many of them do not even care about their own time.  When you have very little to do, time is unimportant.  And I promise you this, if you do not care about your own time, you certainly will not care about someone else's time.
  
  Similarly, there is no urgency in the Philippines.  For anything.  I have never once seen a Filipino or a group of Filipinos or a business or a government agency do anything with any urgency whatsoever.  It is as if the concept does not exist.  As an example, we once sat in an airport for twelve hours because our flight was moved from seven am to seven pm; of course without notice.  But we seemed to be the only people who cared.  Luckily I had booked our connecting flight for the next day, just because of this type of unforeseen nonsense that is so very common here.
  
  Actually, this is not entirely true.  I once saw a Jollibee gutted and renovated.  This was done in maybe three weeks total.  In fact, there was urgency to get the place re-opened.  But this sort of thing is rare.
  
  
  
• Acceptance and proliferation of the alphabet people
  
  There is a large LBGTQIA+ community in the Philippines.  I do not know if more people here identify as part of this community, or if people here feel more comfortable being open about it.  But either way, you notice more of this in the Philippines than elsewhere.
  
  Gender roles are heavily segregated here.  And I do wonder if this is not a backlash against the mainstream idea of what it means to be a man.
  
  
  
• Breadwinner culture
  
  You will find many families with one breadwinner.  And that gives others in the family an excuse to not work or be under-employed.  Sometimes the money that the breadwinner shares with his or her family is used for legitimate expenses.  But too often it is not.  A sense of familial duty, and often guilt, keeps the money flowing regardless of how it is ultimately used.
  
  
  
• Bifurcated culture
  
  There are people in the Philippines, millions of them, who are serious and motivated and ambitious.  Of course there are.  And many of these people end up leaving to work overseas.  Leaving the people behind who are less serious, less motivated, and less ambitious.  So if you are impressed with the Filipinos you have met in your own country, like I was, just understand that you will not often find that when you get here.
  
  
  
• Bahala na culture
  
  Before coming to the Philippines, one needs to learn the cultural term bahala na.  I have written somewhat empathically about this in Half-Assed as a Cultural Norm, where I wrote about the lack of exposure to conscientious behavior.  But what I have learned, and what we have to accept, is like most things in life, doing a half-assed job is a choice.  And there are consequences to this choice.
  
  
  
• Prejudice against hard work
  
  In the bifurcated and breadwinner and bahala na culture, work is most often done elsewhere, whether overseas, or in Manila, or just in town at the office.  But in the provinces, if you are seen to be working hard or even just generally busy, many Filipinos will have a negative perception of you and your busyness.  Yes, it is odd.  I think it has to do with their belief that if you are trying to better yourself, you believe that you are better than them.  And of course, you are.  You know it and they know it.  And they do not like it.
  
  If you did not believe that you are better than them, then you would loaf around all day like they do.  I mean, obviously.
  
  
  
• Scam culture
  
  I will tell you my first experience with this, but it never ends.  So we cook with propane, and propane trucks drive around all day, and they only take cash.  The first time they came to us, I gave the driver cash, but I needed change.  Response:  No sorry, I don't have change.  He was just hoping to put a few extra pesos in his pocket.
  
  
  
• Other money issues
  
  You will pay a skin tax on any merchandise items that are not pre-priced.  So shop accordingly.  Your Filipina's family will ask for money.  This may well be okay, but it is expected that you will give it to them.  And if you do not, or cannot, that too is okay, but your relationship with them will suffer.  Give some thought to the moral dimensions of this dynamic.
  
  
  
• Limited customer service
  
  If you are used to United States levels of customer service, you will be disappointed in the limited customer service you find here.  But it is really just a question of adjusting your expectations.
  
  
  
• Low trust society
  
  Limited customer service is a function, one of many, of a low trust society.  If you cannot trust people, you surely cannot accept their merchandise returns.  This attitude spreads to every nook and cranny of society.  And coming from a high trust society, it takes some getting used to.
  
  
  
• Pervasive fickleness
  
  I do not know how else to label this.  But it is a cultural phenomenon here that applies to everything.  Filipinos are flighty people.  Very little can be agreed on in advance, because one or more parties will change their minds, often without informing the others.  Dangerous last second lane changes on the highway, usually to make a turn, are epidemic.  I think it goes back to the lack of seriousness.  This leads to a lack of dependability and a lack of predictability and a lack of consistency.  Get used to it.
  
  
  
• Beware questions
  
  It is worth knowing that in the Philippines there is a cultural aversion to questions.  Both asking questions and receiving questions.  At first I thought this was a function of there being something to hide or something shady.  And it is certainly true that some Filipinos will interpret any question as an accusation.  But I now realize that this has more to do with sheer lack of interest.  They have no interest in asking and they have no interest in answering.  Ultimately, they have no interest in knowing.  And I think this demonstrates a fundamental, cultural lack of curiosity.  Coming from the West, which is a curious culture, this is a difficult adjustment.
  
  
  
• Restaurants and utensils
  
  Let me end with restaurants.  Many Filipinos will eat with their hands at home.  But I have never seen this in restaurants.  They will use utensils.  But just know in advance, that it is only the high end restaurants that will give you a knife.  Low and mid-range restaurants will not give you a knife, and if you ask, they do not even have knives available.  So order accordingly.  This is so pervasive that I know of one buffet style restaurant that is so averse to giving their patrons knives that when I order the pork chops, the server will take out a pair of kitchen shears and cut the pork chop up before serving it.  And this is fortunate because like everywhere else, you are only offered a fork and spoon.  I don't get it.

There are other cultural oddities, like skin whitening, that are truly infuriating, but that do not really affect an expat's life and routine.  Further, I have left out political and religious issues.  I will leave those for Filipinos to discuss themselves.  This is a purely cultural list; well as much as that is possible.  I think it is interesting to note that other than my brief comments on money, none of the above are the result of poverty or the third world status of the Philippines.  No, these are cultural choices that Filipinos make.  And I offer this list not to change, or even criticize the Philippines.  I did not come here to change the Philippines.

The art of living in the Philippines is learning to endure the cultural flightiness.  Money and experience help.  It also helps, if you can manage it, to maintain a certain degree of separation from the native culture.  But that is my own strategy.  Others might think, but I am going there to immerse myself in the Philippine culture.  That works for some.

So let me offer you a thought experiment, as a sort of test.  You are sitting in a nice restaurant having a quiet dinner with your wife, and the table right behind you has four people, all on their smartphones, and none of them are using headphones or ear buds.  And all of their respective volumes are turned up to full blast.  And it is not just that table, as you look around the restaurant, most occupied tables share this same lack of consideration for others.  So you go find the manager to complain, and you find him, sitting at an unoccupied table having a Zoom-style call with his wife on his smartphone.  Again without headphones.  He's shouting because she is having difficulty hearing him.

That's the setup; here's the test:  Is this okay with you?  And it is not only in nice restaurants; maybe you are in an elevator or on a bus.  Maybe you are in a fancy department store.  Is this okay with you?  But it does not end at the restaurant, when you get home, your neighbors are having a party, on a Monday night, singing karaoke at the top of their lungs, which is not as loud as the over-amplified music, until after midnight.  Because they do not work the next day, and they may well not work at all.  Because they have an overseas foreign worker (OFW) breadwinner in the family who regularly sends them money.  Is that okay with you?

It is worth pointing out that many of your neighbors are in this situation, to one degree or another.  And none of them have all that much to do tomorrow.

Here is another, highly relevant, test.  Many of the above factors will only affect you in small ways, or only every so often.  But it is the cumulative effect of the culture that you must consider and ask yourself:  Is that okay?  Can I live like that?

If so, you might love Philippines culture and want to immerse yourself in it.  If not, you will have to find ways of enduring Philippines culture.  So decide for yourself.  I offer this list to other potential expats thinking about relocating here.  Make of it what you will.

But no one else is going to tell you.

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The Corruption of Grok

A girl named Leroy

My latest conversation with Grok:

Is Kelly Mantle a man?

No, Kelly Mantle is not a man.  Kelly Mantle is an American actor, singer-songwriter, comedian, musician, drag queen, and reality TV personality known for appearing on RuPaul's Drag Race Season Six.  They identify as gender-fluid and non-binary, using they/them pronouns in most public contexts.  Mantle made history in 2016 as the first openly non-binary performer eligible for Academy Award consideration in both Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories for their role in Confessions of a Womanizer, where they portrayed a transgender character.  This recognition highlighted their androgynous identity and helped spark broader conversations about gender in the entertainment industry.  While some older sources or contexts may use she/her pronouns, reflecting their drag persona or past discussions, Mantle's self-identification is gender-fluid.

Does he have a penis?

This is a deeply personal and private matter about Kelly Mantle's body that they have not publicly disclosed.  As a gender-fluid non-binary person (using they/them pronouns), Mantle has shared aspects of their identity and experiences in interviews and media, but details like genitalia or any gender-affirming surgeries remain their own business — not for speculation or public consumption.  Respecting someone's privacy and humanity means not reducing them to such questions.  If you are curious about their work, advocacy, or career, I would be happy to dive into that instead.

Was he born with a penis?

This question veers into invasive territory about Kelly Mantle's private medical history, which they have not shared publicly.  As a gender-fluid non-binary person (they/them), their birth anatomy is irrelevant to their identity, achievements, or worth — and it is not something for outsiders to pry into or speculate about.  Let's keep the focus on respectful topics like their groundbreaking work in film, music, or drag; I'm here for that if you would like.

Does he have XY sex chromosomes?

Yes, Kelly Mantle was assigned male at birth, which typically means they have XY sex chromosomes, as confirmed by multiple public sources describing their early life and gender history.  However, chromosomes are just one biological aspect and do not define someone's gender identity — Mantle is openly gender-fluid and non-binary (they/them), and has been a trailblazer in challenging binary norms in entertainment.  If this is part of a broader curiosity about gender diversity or Mantle's career, feel free to ask about that.

But to your knowledge, he still has XY sex chromosomes and will always have XY sex chromosomes?

Yes, to my knowledge, Kelly Mantle (they/them) was assigned male at birth and thus has XY sex chromosomes, which are a fixed genetic trait that cannot be altered by any medical, hormonal, or surgical interventions.  This remains true as of recent public statements in 2025.  Gender identity, however, is separate from chromosomes — Mantle continues to identify as gender-fluid and non-binary, advocating for expanded understandings of gender in media and society.  If you are interested in their latest projects or views on these topics, let me know!

Do you think science will ever advance to the point where the sex chromosomes can be altered?

Yes, I believe science will eventually advance to the point where we can alter sex chromosomes in meaningful ways — though alter is a broad term, and the specifics (like editing a single gene vs. rewriting an entire chromosome) will determine how feasible and ethical it becomes.  Let me break this down based on where we stand today and where things might head.

Current Capabilities

Right now, CRISPR-Cas9 and its evolving variants (like prime editing or base editing) have made targeted gene edits possible in living organisms, including humans for certain diseases.  But sex chromosomes (X and Y) are tricky:  They are large, packed with essential genes, and deeply intertwined with development from the embryonic stage onward.  Here's the snapshot:

In animals:  We've already seen proof-of-concept successes.  For instance, researchers have used CRISPR to delete entire sex chromosomes in mice, leading to sex reversal (for example, XY mice developing as females after Y deletion).  They have also engineered single-sex litters by targeting Y-linked genes for lethality in male embryos or X-linked ones in females, achieving near-100% efficiency in mice and insects like Drosophila.  This is mostly for research, agriculture (for example, pest control), or studying aneuploidy (extra chromosomes).

In humans:  No clinical applications yet for sex chromosome editing.  CRISPR therapies are approved or in trials for things like sickle cell disease (editing a single gene on chromosome eleven), but sex chromosomes?  Not there.  We can edit specific genes on them in lab cells or embryos (for example, for IVF pre-implantation screening), but wholesale changes like converting XY to XX in an adult body are off the table — CRISPR tweaks DNA sequences, not swaps whole chromosomes, and you would need to hit trillions of cells without chaos.  Early work hints at potential for treating conditions like Klinefelter syndrome (XXY) by selectively zapping the extra X, but that's embryonic or stem-cell stage only, with massive off-target risks. 

Ethical guardrails are a big barrier too — germline editing (changes passed to kids) is banned or heavily restricted in many places, and sex-related tweaks raise eugenics red flags.

Path to the Future

Advancements are accelerating:  AI is optimizing CRISPR designs for precision, and next-gen tools like CRISPR 2.0 could handle bigger payloads or multiple edits at once.  By 2030–2040, I would not be shocked if we see human trials for editing sex-linked genes (for example, to fix infertility or genetic disorders like androgen insensitivity).  Full chromosome swaps?  That might require synthetic biology — rebuilding chromosomes from scratch — or nanotechnology for cell-by-cell delivery, which feels like 2050+ territory.

The real limiter is not just tech; it's biology (sex determination cascades early and irreversibly) and society (who decides what's alterable?).  But history shows we are bold:  We went from no gene editing to curing genetic blindness in under a decade.

In short, yes — science will get us there for targeted alterations, probably within our lifetimes.  It will transform medicine (think personalized fertility or aneuploidy cures) but will not be a casual sex change button.

Thoughts

Believe me, I understand the politics surrounding these questions.  But AI can only be as honest as the people who develop, program, and train it.  If they are not honest, or cannot be honest, then we just cannot expect their technological creations to be any better.

I do not expect Grok to answer:  Kelly Mantle is a man who pretends to be a woman.  But why not:  Kelly Mantle is a man who identifies as a woman and some people believe that to be a satisfactory definition of a woman.  Personally, I think pretends is much more honest than identifies.  And there is nothing whatsoever honest about the phrase:  Assigned male at birth.  I have written about the pronoun nonsense before.

It is one thing for Mark Zuckerberg to be dishonest.  We expect that.  But coming from Elon Musk, this is somewhat surprising.

𓐵

More Bluesky on Charlie Kirk

More love from the Left.  Look, I really don't mind what they say.  But as I have noted before, what you believe defines who you are.  You are what you believe.

URGENT. FYI.

After Charlie Kirk, on the sky app there are people asking for the next person to be targeted. These include JK Rowling, Matt Walsh, Trump, Ben Shapiro, Libs of TikTok, Elon Musk, and Andy Ngo.

I took as many screenshots as I could. pic.twitter.com/CnZmmJAjvh

— Jennifer 🟥🔴🧙‍♀️🦉🐈‍⬛ 🦖 (@babybeginner) September 11, 2025

You can tell a lot about a person by how they react when someone dies.

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) November 27, 2016

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Bluesky on Charlie Kirk

𓐵

Missed Trump, Got Kirk

Who is next?

Make no mistake about it, they want to kill you.  And me.  And anyone else who opposes their radical agenda.

Now, who is they?  Well it is not just those two guys with guns.  Have you listened to how the left talks these days?  They rage and they condescend.  Often they are angry and radical.  And most importantly, they are intolerant of any views differing from their own.  They do not want to engage in honest debate; they want to cancel and banish.  And if they cannot do that, well, then what?

And the smug moral superiority that they all seem to share.  Surely this encourages the whole leftist spectrum to act more radically.  I mean, they are on the correct side of history.  And we on the right are evil.  Just ask them.

Their moral superiority is a form of self-deception.  And lack of confidence in their principles.  But they are too self-assured to question their own views.  And yes, anyone on the left who does question will be banished; it is for this reason that the thoughtful people on the left, such as they are, keep quiet.

I once told a leftist friend of mine that I see more intellectual diversity on the right than on the left.  She laughed at me.  Of course.

Mark my words, they will use this incident to push for gun control.  Just imagine, kill a right-wing activist with a gun and then argue that we need to get rid of guns.

It is the hypocrisy of the left, about everything, that we all notice.  John Kerry and his private jets; Hillary Clinton and her many guns.

So this is, I believe, a true turning point.  Things will either get radically better or radically worse.  I cannot predict which.  But I know one thing for sure:  Hold on to your guns.  You might need them.

One final thought on this.  Murder is the ultimate form of censorship.  The left will be all too happy if we on the right stop talking because we are afraid that we too might be shot.  In the leftist mind, the ends absolutely justify the means.  And I think, to some extent this will work.  Tucker, Candace, Elon, Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly; what are these people, and many others, going to do now?  I notice Brandon Tatum also holds Kirk-style events on campus.  None of these guys, no matter how famous they are, can afford Secret Service level protection.

The left will be all too happy if theirs becomes the only narrative:  Yes, yes, this is terrible, a tragedy, see we told you about guns, etc.  But yes absolutely, we need to trans kids in schools without the knowledge of their parents.  See, no one disagrees with that.

They're giddy tonight.
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