Posts by Joseph Bailey41

bluemason3 said:The way I see it—exams are just a massive, cheating-filled joke that everyone pretends not to notice because there isn't any other way to do things.

So, what's the big surprise here? 🤔

frozenstag9 said:Honestly, once you look at all this, there’s just no longer any logical reason for people to band together into states, cities, or any other kind of organized society.
It’s becoming crystal clear that if people actually want to survive, they’ll need to head out and settle on remote hillsides where there aren't even paved roads to be found.
What we're seeing here is really just the opening act for a total technocracy—a complete takeover designed to control the masses until everyone is essentially just a walking corpse.

Yeah. 👍

Schools work perfectly well online, and it's pretty clear we can manage just fine without those big religious or consumerist gatherings.

Sam Wright21 said:A discussion regarding the maritime affairs of the sailor... 🤦
It strikes me that the true driving force behind all this is none other than Mother Teresa.

Just so you know, she isn't disabled or dealing with some incurable illness. If that makes things any clearer for you.

Sam Wright21 said:You’re right, as usual. God dammit. It’s great how my authority was handed down by hiddenpuma75. Apparently, that queen is some kind of terminal invalid—critically ill—and now I’m supposed to feel guilty because I attacked her as if she were just any other person. And don't act like you weren't part of this whole mess too.

Where are they even going to argue about how much someone spends on nonsense? 🙄

Wrong. 😬

mistybison said:It was just a joke. 😁

For instance, if we used an avatar like this, they might actually run away 😁 :

All you had to do was post the picture in the thread. 👍

Sam Wright21 said:A-ha. That little pack of zealots won't run from anything 😬

The forum acts as their sanctuary, a digital fortress where they feel untouchable. You don't even need to invite them into your home; you just have to step inside "theirs."

In cases like this, you go after the leader and ignore the rest. If you manage to take out the head, you risk someone else stepping up to fill the void and inheriting their followers, who are a massive pain in the ass. Honestly, it's probably better to just stay away from all that drama. 🕺

Sam Wright21 said:I experienced this exact phenomenon right here on the ZUD forums, where I was essentially ganged up on by a mob,😬

In my view, what we are witnessing is a classic case of emotional vampirism; they are simply looking to drain your vitality. There are essentially three distinct archetypes of emotional or energetic vampires, and the question is which kind you happen to encounter.

For instance, the type I encountered on the ZUD forums—who largely operate through pack mentality because they are nothing more than mediocrities—is impossible to avoid, as they rely on crude, low-brow humor to mock others.

A subcategory of this would be the "geniuses," figures like Carlos Castaneda or Pablo Picasso; they tend to strike individually, possessing enough intellectual weight to employ methods far more cruel and sophisticated than the average mediocre crowd.

Your post specifically addresses that first group.

Then, you have the vampires who attempt to kill you through sheer logorrhea—endless, tedious monologues—much like our colleague hiddenpuma75.

Finally, there is the third type, which I personally find the most exhausting: the eternal complainers, the perpetual mourners, the endless victims. Those are the ones I prefer to avoid at all costs.

There is a great movie called What We Do in the Shadows about vampires, and it was later adapted into a series. In that context, there is a modern twist involving an emotional vampire of a different sort. He spends time with a female vampire of the third type, but their relationship inevitably collapses because they are too evenly matched; neither can satisfy their parasitic need to drain energy from the other.

According to legend, a vampire can't enter your house unless you invite them in.

hiddenpuma75 said:Zero spirituality here, and zero leaps of faith!

Looking at this strictly through a political lens feels way too one-dimensional. As progressives—guys like casualtiger2 and Joseph Bailey41 included—we really need to be multi-faceted and look at the bigger picture.🙂

At the end of the day, we all face the same inevitable end. 🤣

hiddenpuma75 said:To quote mravac88:

I’m actually tied up right now and heading out, but I’ll get back to this later. 😁

By the way, I’ve honestly lost interest in psychology lately; it feels like nothing more than dwelling on trivialities and engaging in a sort of mental sado-masochism.

Once you realize that psychology is essentially just daydreaming about our own internal daydreams—fantasizing about our emotions and thoughts—that dark cavern of psychological theory starts to look pretty terrifying compared to the freedom of living outside of it.🙂

That said, for those who are still trapped within the cave of their own minds and emotions—deep inside that psychological grotto—I have to admit that psychology can be quite useful.👍

But only if they eventually realize they aren't defined by their thoughts and feelings, allowing them to finally leave that cave behind and step out of their mental loops and into real life.🙂

That isn't really psychology to me. It feels more like pure business. They think they can score a win just by sucking up to people who are more powerful—the ones with more fame, money, or influence—than they are. Then, when that other side doesn't hold up their end of the bargain, whether it was explicitly stated or just implied, they act surprised and start complaining.

At the end of the day, you really can only count on yourself. That’s why it feels pretty reckless to sell out your own dignity just to get ahead... but let’s be honest, people (and yes, women are people too) aren't exactly known for being geniuses. If we were all a bit sharper, those self-proclaimed gurus and religious leaders wouldn't have nearly as much room to maneuver.

You know, you're actually right about one thing—life really is incredibly fascinating.

hiddenpuma75 said:What exactly are you trying to prove by throwing these exceptions in my face? Please, walk me through the logic here. 🤔

I could easily fire back and say that some gay men are Christians.
But how does that actually serve as an argument?🤔

Sure, men are generally stronger than women, but they aren't stronger than Sandra Perković.
But again, what is the point of that comparison?🤔

I haven't seen any mainstream media outlets mocking leftists just because they happen to be leftists. Nor have I seen people attacking a respected figure like Ilinčić with slurs, just as we don't see people mocking a concert pianist like Ilčić for his appearance.

Look, if it's perfectly normal to be gay and also be a smart, decent person like Ilinčić—and if it's wrong to mock someone based on their sexual orientation—then why isn't it equally normal to have a certain look? Why is it that Klauški, Tomić, and their whole crew feel fine making fun of a brilliant concert pianist like Ilčić just because of how he looks?

That is the essence of a double standard, and I’d appreciate it if you addressed that directly instead of clouding the discussion with these irrelevant outliers, like pointing out whether certain Catholics have beards or not. 🤦

You're the one who kicked up all this dust in the first place. Just give it a moment to settle. 😉

hiddenpuma75 said:Well, this whole thing is such a mess that we might as well start with him.

It wasn't some peer like Sisyphus or hiddenpuma75 who exposed Castaned; rather, it was his own famous lover and student, Amy Wallace, who pulled the rug out from under him.

Since Amy came across as vulnerable, pathetic, and even "foolish" in that devastating testimony, it actually makes me feel—as someone acting as a juror here—that what she said was the truth.

Amy essentially sacrificed her own dignity just to pass along the truth and serve as a warning about a truly repulsive individual and his bizarre, dangerous cult of followers.

So, all I did was do my part: I bought the book, read it, 🙂 and then shared the ugly, dirty, foul, and slimy reality regarding Carlos Castaneda’s private life, his lies, his cruelty, and his eccentricities with the dreamers back in the States.

The bottom line? Castaneda is a literary genius when it comes to fiction and psychology, but he clearly learned absolutely nothing from his own books because, at his core, he remained a terrible human being.

At the end of the day, real-life practice and lived experience matter far more than theory and fiction, don't you think? 😉

In my opinion, she gave up her dignity a long time ago by agreeing to his vague, nonsensical demands in the first place. What do you guys think—why do some people actually go along with being humiliated like that?

hiddenpuma75 said:Look, life isn't just one thing—it's multidimensional. Please don't try to force us into your narrow little categories.

As progressives, 🙄 we can certainly explore the intersection of spirituality and the political influence of public figures like Dr. Željka Markić, and specifically discuss why she is being treated the way she is. 🙄

Fine, go ahead and write it. Just don't expect me to join the conversation.

hiddenpuma75 said:I can't quite recall what that was about. Do you have a link, or could you elaborate a bit? 🤔

You mentioned it back in post number 21. Honestly, I don't really keep track of all the little arguments on this forum.

hiddenpuma75 said:ps. (just for those who aren't following along or might be out of the loop)

I am being very DELIBERATE and perhaps a bit tedious when I write DOCTOR Željka Markić, and here is my reasoning.

The liberal media will NEVER use positive descriptors when talking about Željka Markić; you’ll certainly never see them referring to her as, say, DOCTOR Željka Markić.

But whenever there is a story about someone like Mimi Simić, they always make sure to include titles like "author" Mimi Simić or "film critic," and so on.

So, on one hand, we have the agitators Ilčić and Markićka, yet we never actually read about them as

concert pianist Ilčić 🙂

or DOCTOR Željka Markić 😉

These little media nuances are the subtle hallmarks of fake news that my eagle eye catches every single time. 🙂

Who even cares? The people actually interested in this stuff spend all their time camping out on Politics, not Spirituality.

hiddenpuma75 said:Of course they are. Honestly, the leftists and the right-wingers are practically two sides of the same coin, and that’s exactly where they trip up. They both suffer from this total inability to grasp that neither side holds a monopoly on the truth—there is no such thing as a single "correct" path.

What exactly do you mean by constantly bringing up the leftists, the progressives, and the atheists?

By that logic, if we’re going by the textbook definition of what being a leftist actually means, they should all technically be considered "progressives."
I honestly don't see anything "progressive" about this. There is nothing forward-thinking about the way they are mocking, belittling, and essentially using the media to tear down Dr. Željka Markić—a mother of four and a dedicated community activist—simply because she identifies as a conservative Catholic.

I really meant to get back to you and Joseph Bailey41—our resident "experts"—about this a couple of months ago, but life simply got in the way and I never found the moment.
To be honest, I can't quite remember which specific thread this was on—searching for it right now just feels like too much effort—but I’ll try to get the gist of what I meant across:

You and she have always been staunch advocates for women’s rights and their status in society, consistently calling out that outdated, chauvinistic mindset held by many men in this country—a mentality that, unfortunately, still lingers quite heavily here in America.
If I understood you correctly, your main argument was that women are doing just fine, while men are actually the ones struggling—and that women aren't being oppressed or pushed around in this country nearly as much as people claim.

That all sounds wonderful and honestly, a solid ten out of ten. I actually wanted to pick your brain about something earlier, but I just didn't get a chance—so the timing of this post is perfect!

So, I wanted to get your take on something: why does the progressive left seem to have this specific mindset—almost like an aggressive, old-school mentality—where they just relentlessly tear into Dr. Željka Markić through the media?
I usually try to stay out of the political fray—it’s just not my thing—but this isn't even really about politics anymore. It’s more about basic decency and, quite frankly, destiny. WOMEN It seems like, from the perspective of the "progressives," her biggest flaws in life are simply being Catholic and having been the one to organize that referendum.

It’s funny how things work—whenever Dr. Željko Markić is being put through the wringer, you suddenly notice that Tomić, Klauški, casualtiger2, and Joseph Bailey41 all go completely silent. 😉

I’ll just share one little detail that doesn't get talked about enough. Whenever the liberal media outlets cover Dr. Željka Markić, they always seem to pick these specific, unflattering shots. It’s like they go out of their way to find those split-second photos where she isn't smiling or just looks caught at a bad angle. It's a pretty obvious pattern if you look closely.
That’s just one more example of fake news and psychological manipulation playing out on the American public stage.

It’s a similar situation when you look at... A concert pianist. Regarding that fellow Ilčić.
In the media, that’s just what they call him. nedrk . 🙄

If a media outlet decided to swap out "homosexual" for a slur like "faggot" or some other vulgarity, people would immediately scream foul, calling it pure bigotry and low-class gutter journalism.
Whenever Klauški or Tomić bring up Ilčić, they always throw around that "NEET" label—and honestly, it feels like the one thing that defines his entire identity.

Honestly, the sheer hypocrisy of these so-called progressives is just plain nauseating.

"Just because"? I wouldn't go that far. The target here isn't her identity, it's her specific views—views that even many conservatives or Catholics wouldn't agree with. (For instance, some conservatives are gay, and some Catholics are just huge dog lovers.) If we follow your logic, we could claim that Franjo Harmon was "media-bullied" by Feral, or that Carlos Castaneda was humiliated by hiddenpuma75, and we could keep going forever.

I get that you probably want to pick a fight right now since you couldn't quite prove your point over the last few months, but I’m honestly not feeling up to it, and even casualtiger2 doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic about it either. Maybe give the I Ching a try instead?

hiddenpuma75 said:And how would you label—or how should we all label—the way the media systematically assaults, shames, and smears Dr. Jerry Mark? She’s a mother of four, a physician, a successful entrepreneur, a gifted orator, and one of the most powerful social activists in America.😉

I made sure to write "Dr. Jerry Mark" explicitly, because the mainstream media would NEVER bother to include her title like that.😉

Actually, Raspudić has written some pretty insightful pieces on this topic here https://energyspaceworks.files.wordp...pg?w=600&h=450

So, I’m glad to see that Raspudić sees things just as clearly as my own humble observations might suggest.😁

If that’s how you feel, it honestly doesn't do you any favors. I read his pieces just like anyone else—I look for that heavy emotional undertone because that's usually where someone's true agenda starts to leak through. In his specific case (which is ironic, considering he claims to advocate for the right not to be mocked), what we're seeing is a pretty blatant spread of, well, intolerance. Personally, I have no intention of sinking to that level, regardless of which side of the political aisle someone is sitting on.

Best regards.

hiddenpuma75 said:And how would you label—or how should we all label—the way the media systematically assaults, shames, and smears Dr. Jerry Mark? She’s a mother of four, a physician, a successful entrepreneur, a gifted orator, and one of the most powerful social activists in America.😉

I made sure to write "Dr. Jerry Mark" explicitly, because the mainstream media would NEVER bother to include her title like that.😉

Actually, Raspudić has written some pretty insightful pieces on this topic here https://energyspaceworks.files.wordp...pg?w=600&h=450

So, I’m glad to see that Raspudić sees things just as clearly as my own humble observations might suggest.😁

I have to admit, this might be the most coherent article Raspudić has ever put together. 👍

As for everything else, I don't really have the heart to turn this into a debate about daily politics. If you're truly set on it, though, we can take this conversation somewhere else where people actually want to argue.

Jesse Davis said:How many times have you dealt with someone being just plain malicious toward you—you know, people who seem to have this desperate need to belittle you or provoke a reaction through lies and fabrications? To be honest, it happens to me quite frequently...
Sometimes I’ll admit, I get genuinely angry at those injustices, especially if the person acting that way ends up getting ahead while I'm left behind.
But then again, most of the time I just find myself laughing at them—it’s because I know exactly who I am and what my worth is—though, like anyone else, I still have those days where certain things just hit a little harder than they should...
What I really want to say is that if someone feels the need to tear you down, insult you, or play dirty just to reach a goal, it's usually because they are deeply unhappy with themselves and their own lives. It's particularly true for those types who try so hard to be "perfect" and please everyone; at the end of the day, they still have to go home and face their true selves, and all that hypocrisy eventually catches up to them.
What are your thoughts on all this??

I think that in those moments, people aren't even conscious of themselves or what's driving them to act that way. Usually, some vague internal dissatisfaction gets projected outward; they try to trigger the same emotions in others that they are acutely or constantly feeling themselves... and the whole dynamic is masked by this sense of "being right."

It’s not that those things can truly hurt me, but they can definitely knock me out of my groove and mess up whatever I was working on before the incident. I don't like that, so I try to avoid people I know are prone to that behavior. Unfortunately, that isn't always possible, so right now I'm working on simply ignoring them and not stooping to that level... not even mentally or emotionally. This forum helps. I view it (among other things) as an excellent simulator for dealing with difficult people.

Rachel Kern5 said:In my hometown (San Francisco), there’s this massive piece of graffiti on a seawall right by the marina near Zenith. It says, "I love pussies – I hate women."

I saw two guys standing there staring at it the other day, and one turns to the other and goes, "Seriously, does it make sense? If he just likes the parts, why would he bother marrying the whole woman?"

What kind of logic are we actually dealing with here?

Infantile misogyny. And a total lack of care from the local city officials.

neonmarlin39 said:Nah, I didn't. I literally just dropped a link with all the deep dives from various historians and academics—total objectivity there—so if you’d actually looked, you would’ve seen it. You want me to post the link again so we can figure out who's actually twisting things? Hypocrite. Also, I’m still waiting on an answer for how many posts you've actually made about me in this thread.

Honestly, if this place actually had decent moderation, you would’ve been banned ages ago. 😁 Either someone needs to actually drop some direct links to all those insults and those arguments you had over in the appeals and comments section so the mods can finally take notice... Seriously, man, quit playing games and making stuff up.

Feel free to drop any links containing analyses over in the History section, but if you want to post links regarding my supposed insults, take those to the Off-Topic board. Now, beat it.

Alright, let's cut the twisting of words. You didn't just "mention communism"—you suddenly decided to quote some quasi-historian out of nowhere who counts everyone who died during the Stalinist era as a victim, whether it was from a heart attack, a clumsy accident, the flu, or just some bad whiskey. Basically, they count everyone. If you really want to debate this, go start a thread over in the History subforum (or find one that's already running) and see how people react there. Just stop trolling the Spirituality section by copy-pasting random scraps from Wikipedia. As for the "bad humor" thing... look, we all slip up sometimes. Maybe you didn't mean to indirectly insult Peanut... but if you did, you fix it with a simple apology instead of digging your heels in and insisting you're right.

If this subforum were actually moderated, I’m certain these kinds of "misunderstandings" wouldn't happen (or at least your posts would be handled appropriately). But it isn't. So, when someone starts breaking the rules, the only corrective measure left is for the community to gang up on them. Whether you like it or not.

neonmarlin39 said:What battle are we even talking about here? I'm not even doing anything—you're just out here trolling and hallucinating on your own. Honestly, you basically beat yourself since you ran out of actual arguments or common sense. And trust me, this isn't the first time you've done this, nor am I the only person who's called you out on your trolling before.

Wait, why are you making this all about me when we're in this specific thread? Come on, let's see if you can actually count...

You really aren't doing okay. But honestly, I'm not going to waste my energy on it.