Starving the Monkeys: Fight Back Smarter
Posted on 01/30/2010 6:29:11 AM PST by Travis McGee
“Starving the Monkeys: Fight Back Smarter” is about the struggle of the creative, productive members of society against the parasitic masses that author Tom Baugh refers to as the monkey collective. Monkeys are the looters and moochers who essentially dine from the plates of the producers through the tax and legal structures they have put in place. Baugh contends that the vast army of collectivist monkeys would literally starve if left to their own devices.
“Starving the Monkeys” refers to Baugh’s recommendation that the producers strictly limit the monkey diet, by withholding their productive efforts on behalf of the collective. Not by refusing to pay taxes, but by temporarily throttling back on their productive output, and thereby hastening the fall of the monkey collective, which is even now teetering on the brink. He advises retreating into a personal “Galt’s Gulch” until after the impending financial and social collapse, and then emerging with one’s intellectual and productive tools intact. In the former Soviet Union, beleaguered individualists referred to this as “internal emigration.” Whether this strategy will be taken up by enough producers to have an effect on the collective remains to be seen, but it reflects the “Atlas Shrugged” meme that is echoing loudly today, as employers hold off on new hiring for just one example.
Although this is a book designed to help you survive what may be our imminent financial Armageddon, you won’t find recommendations on long-term food storage or home defense firearms. Other recent titles cover that ground, such as Fernando Aguirre’s “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse,” and John Rawles’s “How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It.” According to Baugh, by far the most critical survival weapon is the one between your ears. This book is all about honing your mental edge to razor sharpness for the purpose of surviving the collapse intact.
Starving the Monkeys is not an easy read. It’s extremely challenging, not only to political correctness but to many popular dogmas, including some religious ones. No sacred cow or ox is left ungored. I guarantee that thin-skinned feminists will be highly offended. If you have a low tolerance for seeing your pet beliefs or heroes under attack, this is not the book for you. For example, if you think that Lincoln was our greatest president, you will certainly not enjoy this book, to say the least. I picked the ingrained American devotion to “Honest Abe” as one example among countless others. Be warned. Baugh comes after numerous cultural and social beliefs and traditions with a steel crowbar, to pry them apart and analyze their weaknesses as he sees them. In fairness, he turns the same critical analysis on himself.
So why should you read such a problematic and often uncomfortable book, by a consistently prickly and acerbic (but always hilarious) writer? Simple. For the equally consistent brilliance of thought displayed. You may disagree vehemently with many of Baugh’s suppositions (as I certainly did), but you cannot deny the breadth and power of his thinking. The single chapter titled “The Idea Factory” is worth the entire price of the book, and so are several others.
I’m about half way through this book. The challenging of the “culture of niceness” is absolutely correct. His break down on economic development and productivity are insightful. His criticism of religion comes across as horribly arrogant. The other issue I have is the statement: “Grudgers can live in a society and get along fine”, yet he comes across as a “don’t be perfect, please, so I can be pissed off at you, too, you scum bag”. We’re all roadblocks to his productivity, even if we’re self sufficient and leave the guy alone.
If he’d had only the economic discussions, it would have come across as ground breaking communication of evolution of productive technology and why automation leads to more regulation.
The endless paragraphs of why he fired people and others he has worked with make that half of the book real like a “why I hate people” vent.
And cutting out the venting would have made it a good book.
A lot of good ideas from these folks. But they have bete noirs which diminish some of their value.
I note that this books is available for the Kindle ($19.95 seems unusually high for a Kindle copy). I'm considering downloading it.
“But be warned, the author swings his axe freely. No ox goes ungored.”
Good! I hate ungored ox for breakfast.
You can read a good portion of the first chapter on Amazon.
I seriously doubt that.
Therein lies the rub. How are we gonna do that?
....How about restricting the right to vote and hold office to FReepers? Robert Heinlein’s idea was the franchise went only to veterans. The paradox is that only an oligarchy can rule a republic successfully for the long term, but an oligarchy leads to one man rule.
Sounds fine. But how do you see a restriction of voting rights ever actually happening? By what mechanism do you really think that our system will let that happen?
What I am getting at is that you are thinking in terms of "the way things oughta be," and I am sure that many of us would agree with lots of the ideas you have in that regard. But have you given any thought as to how you would actually get any of those ideas implemented? Do you really think that any Reps or Dems or Libertarians or Greens or anyone in power or likely to ever get elected would let you turn around and curtail voting rights?
Same thing with "return the fedgov to its proper constitutional role." Sounds awesome. As with any other idea you have for how things outght to be, how do you see it happening?
I don’t disagree with any of that! It’s a very imperfect book. I almost chucked it out a window a few times. But it is very thought provoking, even in disagreement.
In that area, you are on the same wavelength as the author.
Guerilla warfare can only succeed when those engaged in it have the population on thier side to the point were the people are not just supportive of your ideas but willing to give active aid & assistance .
Sadly we are not quite at that point just yet. Also the greatest weapon that a guerilla has is not a rifle or a machine gun or even a rocket launcher ,it is access to the internet & desk top publishing for the purpose of desiminating information & ideas that the powers that be deem subversive.
Good question. I suppose nothing will really change until man’s basic philosophy changes...
Are we having a Socratic dialogue?
If so, I’m the wrong person for such an exchange. My major was history in college.
If you are waiting around for the "basic philosphy" of the people in charge to change, then I wouldn't hold my breath (I mean, what's their incentive?). The point of this book appears to be to change the strategy of the producers who are not in charge.
Are we having a Socratic dialogue?
No, we are just discussing how you are over-thinking the problem and under-thinking the solution ;-)
My major was history in college.
Then you would probably get a kick out of the historical perspective presented in the book being reviewed in this thread.
I agree with that.
If I recall correctly, that restriction came after a civil war/revolution, instituted by the winners, who were generally veterans.
. If you’re an Ayn Rand fan...
I am, and thanx for the ping.
Good deal...
Thanks for the link.
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