Kristian
@kltblom.bsky.social
I really like pickled Herring, and I don't do debates. Define "we" https://wealthforlife.substack.com/
created March 22, 2025
359 followers 274 following 2,156 posts
view profile on Bluesky Posts
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Yeah, the whole obsession with trying to determine which ideology was flowing through the brain of a seriously disturbed individual at some point in the past is irrational. Normal, socially well adjusted people with fully developed identities do not murder other people. Period.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Healthcare isn't an insurance problem or a profit center; it's public good that supports the hyper productive technological frontier. Capitalism 101
Christian Christensen (@chrchristensen.bsky.social) reposted
Stereotype breaking: Which demographic group in Sweden has highest % of 25-year-old women who have started higher education? 1. Born in Sweden with 2 foreign-born parents: 62% 2. Born outside of Sweden but arrived by age 7: 57% 3. Born in Sweden with 2 Swedish-born parents: 55%
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Compare the real freedoms of Swedes over the last 250 years versus those promised but not universally provided to us in America. Take trespass for example. Look at freedom of movement and what happened during Covid. Look at a press that has always been State and Elite Establishment propaganda.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Seems like White America is finally waking up to the fact that they actually never had any of the freedoms that were advertised, but never delivered, in the declaration of independence and the bill of rights.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes, the absolutism is nauseating.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
I want to point out that the historically most diverse and free press in the world has existed for well over a century in Scandinavia, and none of it tries to be unbiased. We are all products of environmental/cultural conditioning; we should acknowledge what science says about human neurology.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Except people are not "like this" everywhere where the internet exists...
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The intelligence gap is hilarious
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
This violence is pathological and structural. Not political. open.substack.com/pub/wealthfo...
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Blocked most follows over the last 72 hours
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Risk premium
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Our leaders are products of our institutional structure. A structure that produces violence.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Important piece in middle of a quite bizarre acceptance by the MSM of unscientific nonsense
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Spencer Cox on CNN demonstrating an inexcusable ignorance of how the human mind works. He gets cause and effect backwards, talking about the overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon males that routinely kill innocent civilians as if they were normal prior to being radicalized by political or religious ideology.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Socially well adjusted people with fully developed identities exist in every community in America. 70% of eligible Americans did not vote for the Demagogue. Just get involved with good people in your community.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Empathy isn't something one turns on and off selectively. Empathy is unconditionally experienced by socially well adjusted people with fully developed identities. Empathetic people serve humanity by applying knowledge, not ideology, to problems facing society.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
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Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
It's structural and pathological. Not political.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Just the violent offspring of the dominant social class in a deeply dysfunctional institutional structure that we must reform to build a better America
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
This violence is not political. It's pathological and structural.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
This violence, this ignorance, these foolish politicians; it's structural. open.substack.com/pub/wealthfo...
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Patriarchy dies hard as Robert Graves said
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
What's significant?
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
We need basic common-sense reforms such as the creation of an independent Parliamentary Ombudsman office with full investigative and prosecutorial powers that it uses to enforce ethics rules, laws and the constitution and to safeguard legality, fairness, and trust in public administration
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
P. S. We know why avoidable murder is far more common in the US than in functional societies. "Well regulated militia" â individual self-assessment. Sweden: guns common, murders rare. Why? Licensing, training, storage laws, plus strong social safety net. They apply evidence, not ideology.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The result? Preventable suffering continues, and pundits, influencers and writers and politicians make a living peddling ignorance and voters "debate" solutions we already have. "Conservatives" and "Liberals" need to grow the hell up and sign up for a lesson in critical thinking. 6/6
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Moralizing ignorance - left, right, whatever flavor - is no substitute for knowledge. The scientific method exists because intuition about complex systems fails. Yet we keep implementing ideology and ignoring crystal clear evidence. 5/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The research exists. RCTs, longitudinal studies, natural experiments. Filing cabinets full of what works. But it competes with what ignorant influencers and politicians and ordinary people *feel* should work based on their conditioning. 4/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Ideology beats evidence. DARE felt right but increased drug use. Scared Straight made crime worse. Meanwhile "soft" CBT & "expensive" home visits actually work. Same with housing-first, cash transfers, etc. 3/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Politics rewards quick visible "tough" responses over prevention that takes years to show results. Easier to build a prison than fund nurse home visits, even when prevention costs less long-term. 2/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
We have decades of research showing what reduces violence & social problems. Early childhood programs, poverty reduction, mental health treatment - all proven effective. So why don't we implement them? 1/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Reality has a liberal bias đ
Erin Vanderhoof (@vanderhoofy.bsky.social) reposted
after reading media theory about this for MONTHS, i present my Grand Unified Theory of why video essays are so good these days! With many thanks to @lindsayellis.bsky.social, who provided her thoughts on the matter www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Respect
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
If it wasn't for the fact that Conservative ideas and policies have been, and are, objectively speaking the cause of avoidable death and suffering on an absolutely horrific scale, we could just move on to implementing knowledge based ideas and policies, but that's not where we are at. đ
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes, and we will not get what we need until we reform our archaic and maladaptive institutional structure that is not fit for purpose in the modern world. There's a reason incompetent and antisocial people are rarely elevated to positions of authority in the Scandinavian systems of government.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Exactly right. As I have said since I was a teen in the 1970s; show me one Conservative idea, one public policy, that's not also a central tenet of Liberalism, that's not in conflict with modern knowledge and science. Conservatives are people that cannot distinguish between opinions and knowledge.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Neither Bari Weiss et al or Ezra Klein et al have demonstrated the ability to distinguish between debate and truth, or ideology and knowledge, or persuasion and indoctrination.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Bari is another product of the very academic institutional structure that we are talking about here. An archaic and maladaptive departmental structure that has not evolved in any material way in response to what we have learned since the Enlightenment. A structure that elevates debate over science.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Culture is a product of institutional design; that's what must be recognized first. Western institutional structures are maladaptive because Conservatives all around the world deny that Evolutionary Biology, not 18th century philosophy, is the relevant discipline in the information age.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
It's nuts! If we had a functional education system that's not based on ideas about knowledge, learning and human behavior that were disproven by science over a century ago, we would not routinely elevate incompetent and antisocial individuals to positions of authority; these problems are structural.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Ragnarök is now
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
That kind of ignorance of history is why we are here today as a nation
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
I am not surprised!
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Neither American Liberals nor American Conservatives have a functional concept of how the modern financial system actually works in real life. That's why People like Mamdani are labeled "radical".
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Remember "No Child Left Behind"? Great educational concept. Dumb financial concept.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
You are correct; there is no private market solution to the functional provision and allocation of necessary resources such as childcare, eldercare, healthcare, education, housing and transportation. The solution is the "Nordic" model. Federal funding of public sector supply of necessary resources.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
We build a better America by distinguishing between opinions and knowledge. By forming pro-social groups that actively exclude antisocial and violent people.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Gorgeous
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The answer is very simple; Ezra never learned to distinguish between persuasion and indoctrination. What Conservatives have been doing since 2015 is classical conditioning. People were not persuaded by Conservative arguments; they were indoctrinated.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Things change
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Bigots don't like it when they are stood up
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
And the only people that consider me a "White" guy are Westernized racists conditioned by their cultures to believe that skin color and appearance separates humans into separate species. I am an indigenous member of a Scandinavian people.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Opinions are one thing. Knowledge another.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Failure to comprehend the information in the works of these domain experts due to inadequate background knowledge. Take your political purity tests to the bookstore and get back here when you have bothered to read, digest and produce an academic analysis of the corpus.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Your clarity of thought is a light in the darkness
Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd.bsky.social) reposted
I said something last week that is more broadly applicable today: Calling for empathy is not neutral or apolitical when only one group of people have been socialized and brutalized into having empathy.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
"How can artists and audiences approach music so that, to use PĂ€rtâs famous expression, âevery blade of grass has the status of a flowerâ? share.google/49cdvDXztObM...
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Runs; male objectification of women as legitimate targets for their perversions, is endemic in patriarchal societies. We need fundamental institutional reform.
Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd.bsky.social) reposted
This is class solidarity. In case youâre at all confused.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
What this is, is the unconscious compliance with the demands of Patriarchy by its beneficiaries. Absolutely pathetic human beings.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Same ignorance straight through
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
We know what's wrong with Patriarchy and the men and women that benefit from it.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The real question is; what's wrong with the minds of pundit consumers?
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Everyday above ground offers a simple choice; ignorance or knowledge.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Same
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Rhetoric is one thing. Criticism of ignorant and harmful public policies is another.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Best idea
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
So much for my impression that Gavin Newsom had learned that antisocial individuals must be actively excluded from functional groups.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
The only thing deserving of hate is hate
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
We know exactly how to minimize violence in human societies while maximizing freedom, but Conservatives don't accept what modern knowledge and science says. It's that simple.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Every functional society in history has strictly controlled access to lethal weaponsâfrom samurai monopolies to medieval weapon bans to modern gun laws. Unregulated armament means chaos; civilization requires constraining individual violence for collective survival.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
No functional society lets individuals decide their own fitness to bear armsâaccess to lethal weapons is always strictly regulated. Why? Evolution shows that while selfishness beats altruism within groups, altruistic groups beat selfish ones. Unchecked individual power destroys collective strength.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Violence has no place in functional societies
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Yes, there's no devil or hell in the inner teachings of Christianity, something that existed long before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. And Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad are one "thing", but these are things one cannot fruitfully explore in most existing forms of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The ignorance is the message
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Seattle doesn't need development. Like most American cities, Seattle needs redistribution of assets such as housing and land from the private sector to the public sector.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The Nordic model's lesson isn't the specific policies but the demonstration that conscious institutional evolution is possible. They proved humans can deliberately shape their own social evolution.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
It's irrelevant what Trump voters thought; 70% of eligible Americans did not vote for Trump. Harris lost because she failed to understand the world we live in in the 21st century and she, like all too many "progressives" do not understand money and finance.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The Swedish Social Democratic example becomes even more relevant here. They succeeded not by adhering to ideological purity but by accurately reading their moment and building institutions that matched actual social and economic dynamics of a an industrial society transitioning to post-industrial
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The Democratic Party leadership clearly do not understand the evolutionary epochal phase transistions that are happening. They are rotating inside of inaccurate political and ideological concepts that are less inaccuarate the Conservative concepts, but still rotating inside of inaccurate concepts.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
I think she could have won by dropping the Neoliberal policies and gone full Social Democrat; that's what I am saying. Her housing policy, which is arguably the most important issue today for most American workers, was explicitly Neoliberal and would have increased housing costs and rent.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Amen. And this is why Harris lost to the Demagogue; she ran on the same old Neoliberal policies that the Democratic Party has rolled out since Bill Clinton.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
On her way to work this morning my wife stopped at the school to drop off a kid ... except there were no kids in the car.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Haha I just saw the same thing in our fridge last night
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
This seemingly counterintuitive approach forced inefficient firms out of business while allowing highly productive companies to retain higher profits. The result was both economic dynamism and equality - creative destruction with a human face. 3/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The cornerstone of their system coordinated wage bargaining between powerful unions and employer associations through a "solidaristic wage policy" that deliberately compressed wage differences. Low-productivity sectors saw wages pushed up while high-productivity sectors had wages restrained. 2/
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social)
Between the 1930s and 1970s, Swedish Social Democrats transformed a relatively poor nation into a prosperous, egalitarian society without resorting to revolutionary measures like wealth taxes, defunding the police or abolishing private property. 1/
Jess Calarco (@jessicacalarco.com) reposted
Remind me again which party spent the last decade railing against so-called cancel culture?
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
bsky.app/profile/kltb...
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Superimposition of various earthly fixations upon higher order texts is a feature of Patriarchal societies such as Rome and the modern, industrialized Westernized societies that are the children of Rome. Ironies shall never cease....
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
"Rome" is a metaphor for a particular mental model in the minds of the pupils, and "coin" and "debt" and "jubilee" are factors in the psychological education of the pupils. Just like the golden "rule" isn't a rule but a test of the relative ignorance of the pupil by the teacher.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
Reform the Constitution. It's hilariously maladaptive that ignorant politicians are able to interfere with the domain experts of the American administrative state. It's as if we have learned absolutely nothing in the last three hundred years.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
The wishes of the teacher and the inclinations of the pupils. The usefulness of the teacher's wrongness and the uselessness of the pupil's rightness. Those that interpret the religious texts literally are lost.
Kristian (@kltblom.bsky.social) reply parent
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