I wrote these because of the crippling anxiety I've been feeling the past couple of years when it comes to creatively expressing myself. Why? Because social justice as conceived by the identity marxists has no limiting principle except the expression of naked power, has control over most creative industries and ruthlessly expels those they disagree with.

Therefore, I believed it was necessary to set up a set of principles to help guide and defend my writing and more broadly the art of storytelling. I consider these a work in progress, but generally they will always follow and individualist moral perspective.

THE BASICS

1. We stand up for freedom of the individual.
2. We uphold the principles of a free market economy, private property, free speech and personal responsibility.
3. We reject political and religious extremism, collectivism and exploitation.
4. We believe truth, beauty and excellence exist and are worth defending.
5. We agree objective reality exists, we are capable of understanding it and one another through right reason, evidence and compassion.
6. We tell stories to express and explore the universal human condition.
7. We embrace traditional, rational and existential heroes.
8. We understand all things are subject to the laws of nature and only Gods can alter reality.
9. We recognize we are in the entertaining arts, and as such, fans matter.
10. We look towards the future and remember the past.

THE INSPIRATION

Inspired by Axel Springer's "The Essentials", I conceived of "The Basics" as a response to the ever spreading corrosion of narrative, artistic and epistemic standards by censorious, leftwing ideologues. Company after company, artist after artist and truth after truth are coerced into alignment with leftwing narratives in order for offending individuals and institutions to avoid being destroyed by an emotionally crippled, race obsessed mob.

What began as a small problem in the university system rapidly spread to every adjacent institution in our society that relies on higher learning to fuel the next generation of professional classes, becoming a crisis of intellectual destruction. You see the pattern every day. An activist in some random company makes a complaint about how the organization - or someone inside it - has said or done something to offend them. Like clockwork, the company apologizes on behalf of the offended person. The offender is smeared in public, fired, shamed and the company then swears to "do better". As an act of good faith, the company aligns itself with the normative vision of the ideology of the offended. Then, like a brain altering parasite, this transforms the company from one with its own mission or product, into one that merely produces more activists and their ideology. Speech codes are implemented within the organization - racial segregation is not uncommon - and then soon afterwards, the company begins to self-censor and agitate for more censorship beyond its confines. Hiring practices immediately begin to reflect the new ideology, keeping out those with heterodox opinions, formally cementing a totalitarian monoculture within.

Because of this, our national dialogue is now plagued by racist and sexist groupthink, feelings are elevated above reason and the currency of the day is victimhood. Standards are obliterated
. An Artists who fled China's Cultural Revolution, is re-living it here in America. Historical facts are replaced with myth and stating basic biological facts are deemed harmful and hidden away from public scrutiny, their advocates destroyed.

At this very moment, there is a push by these militant toddlers to remove Dave Chapelle's latest comedy show, The Closer, right up the street from me. There are even rumors these activists are even trying to erase Chapelle's image from inside Netflix by removing posters of him and his shows.

There's woke math, where there are no right answers because math is a social construct to these people rather than a description of actual reality. Cancellations are so rampant that there's an ongoing Twitter thread dedicated to documenting them. Western reading curriculums are erased for the sake of equity and social justice.. Critical Social Justice has led to virtual book burnings and to actual book burnings. My favorite part - or maybe the most dreaded - is how news organizations are leading the way. The tone of our media establishment largely falls in line with the activist's.

The homogeneity of thought in our media organs is distressing and the cruel nature of retaliation for thinking and expressing things differently is frightening.

How can we strive to conquer real, huge challenges to our existence and evolution if we can't have honest differences of opinion or open debate? How can real creativity exist in a culture that strives to stay on message at the expense of excellence, merit and truth? How can we enjoy anything at all when the New Puritans are gripping everyone by the ear for "being bad".

THIS IS HOW

There is at least one known method to stop these takeovers from happening, and the German newspaper, Axel Springer has shown us how. This year, the newspaper faced an uprising by left wing staff who took issue with their support for the State of Israel. However, unlike most companies who face this kind of activist pressure...

Döpfner (the company's current CEO) took a different tack. “I think, and I’m being very frank with you,” he said on a companywide conference call, “a person who has an issue with an Israeli flag being raised for one week here, after antisemitic demonstrations, should look for a new job.” And with that, the minor uprising at Axel Springer was kaput.

The CEO was able to push back this effectively and swiftly for one simple reason, every single employee was obligated to read and sign The Essentials, a formal, corporate constitution that lays out the moral and intellectual principles of the company. By formulating and making adherence to these values for employees mandatory, the company was able to stand on solid ground and effectively push back against the activists. They had signed the constitution. They knew what the company stood for, so when the CEO said they could look for another job, not only did he mean it, he had standing to fire them all.

Like an intellectual Great Wall of China, The Essentials saved the company from the onrushing hoards of illiberal agitators.

THE ESSENTIALS

1. We stand up for freedom, the rule of law, democracy and a united Europe.
2. We support the Jewish people and the right of existence of the State of Israel.
3. We advocate the transatlantic alliance between the United States of America and Europe.
4. We uphold the principles of a free market economy and its social responsibility.
5. We reject political and religious extremism and all forms of racism and sexual discrimination.

While there are similarities between The Essentials and The Basics, the principles I've set out have far less to do with nation states and the political entanglements they engender, while still retaining a moral and political compass. For my part, I wanted to broaden the scope and consider other elements like story, fandom and the nature of reality to help guide authors, such as myself, when writing The Tear and other material.

One day I want to allow other people to write within the world of The Tear, but in order to do so, they will have to adhere to the principles above.