Community: Needed More Than Ever
It’s been a tough week. You did not need to know Charlie Kirk personally – though many of us did – to be profoundly devastated by his assassination.
BY BROWNSTONE INSTITUTE
It’s been a tough week. You did not need to know Charlie Kirk personally – though many of us did – to be profoundly devastated by his assassination. His mission was all about forming communities of discussion and debate, ending the hegemony of single-minded opinion on campus and in public life.
They could not stand that. So they killed him.
Meanwhile, the mass media and many activists weighed in with some version of “He had it coming.” Merely for exercising free speech.
This evil transpired a day before our sold-out conference at Polyface farm gathered (limited to 400). So we opened with silence followed by prayer for his family and for peace and truth. It was a fantastic time to be together. We all felt emboldened in commitment and more ready to be brave than ever before.
Earlier in the week, members of the national media asked to attend. There was no room plus we already had 100 on the waiting list. We said no. Furious, these reporters then contacted every speaker with notes demanding interviews. Then they contacted the farm asking for admission. The answer: no.
They showed up in town anyway. Antifascist slogans began to appear in public spaces in town. The reporters hung out in restaurants and bars. They confronted attendees, demanding interviews.
Then they did the unthinkable: after hours on the first day, they drove uninvited through the private entrance and parked and marched up demanding to buy a ticket. They were of course told to leave. After that they headed to town again and hung around in bars more, eavesdropping on conversations.
Deception, duplicity, intimidation, invasion of privacy, and probably worse: these are their methods.
Keep in mind that these talks are being posted publicly. The public was invited to the event. This was not some sneaky conspiracy. The only conspirators belonged to the press.
And they had the gall to do all of this the very day following the killing of Charlie Kirk, a time when everyone is hyper-alert to threats. It’s impious at best and quasi-criminal at worst.
Whatever ridiculous article comes out will appear at some point, but we have all the receipts should it come to that. Our content and work is there for all to see. Like Kirk, we are only here for the truth.
We are ever more grateful for those who make this work possible, namely our donors, all 17,000 of them. The number is rising. We of course hope you will join with your support. We have so many Fellows to support, science to back, voices to save, and truth to expose. We cannot do this without you. Please join us with a generous donation.
Registration for the fifth annual Brownstone conference and gala is now live with early-bird pricing. This is your last chance for early bird pricing. It ends very soon.
The dates: Oct 31 - Nov 2. The place: Salt Lake City, Utah. All the luminaries who have led the way for these years will be there, discussing all the crucial subjects. It will be the first year of the Brownstone Prize, which will be awarded at the Saturday Gala dinner. If this follows recent events, it will sell out completely. Now is the time to move and get your tickets.
Jeffrey Tucker’s new book is available. Kindle is available and physical is already selling well. “A blueprint for psychological resistance disguised as cultural commentary,” says the first review. It’s short but inspiring with 15 original pen-and-ink drawings, which is why the physical book is the way to go.
On Wednesday, September 24th, the West Hartford Brownstone Supper Club welcomes Operations Management Group at MIT Sloan member Retsef Levi, a curious and scrupulous scientist with a humane outlook on solutions in these troubled times. He will share insights on the matter of AI systems. When AI systems break down, can anyone fix them? This event is sold out but you can get on the waiting list here.
On Tuesday, October 7th, the Greater Boston Supper Club welcomes Kevin McKernan and Jessica Rose. Kevin will cover the radical mutagenesis that has occurred in bioethics as it pertains to the incarcerated CRISPR baby Scientist to mandated gene therapies that appeared only a few years later. Jessica will have a great conversation with Kevin about their new paper’s data. It’s all about DNA contamination/SV40. Get tickets here.
On Thursday, October 16th, the Chicago Brownstone Supper Club welcomes Brownstone Institute Founder and President Jeffrey Tucker. Jeffrey will talk about the social meaning of the loss of trust. The commanding heights of society have betrayed the public trust, making serious institutional rebuilding necessary. Jeffrey and Brownstone Institute look to guide the rebuilding by generating new ideas in public health, philosophy, scientific discourse, economics, and social theory. Get tickets here.
Here is some content since our last email.
The Spirit of Thankfulness By Jeffrey Tucker. America is a commercial culture, but we have always managed to recognize that this means it is also a gift-giving culture, each of us bringing what we have to others to improve their lot and our own at the same time.
Former CDC Director Believes in ‘Early Spread’ By Bill Rice. Dr. (Robert) Redfield should be commended for speaking with more candor, but I wish he had made these points or shared these views four years ago. If he had, the origin narrative might have been starkly different.
The CDC Needed a Thorough Housecleaning By Joseph Varon. The CDC’s failures during the Covid-19 pandemic were not just bureaucratic errors. Unless we act now, the next public health crisis will expose an even weaker, more distrusted CDC — one that Americans may simply ignore from the outset.
Toby Rogers’ Statement to the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations By Toby Rogers. I changed my doctoral thesis topic to “The Political Economy of Autism” and spent the next four years reading and analyzing nearly everything that has been written on autism prevalence, causation, and cost.
“Safe and Effective” Is Not Rooted in Science By Jennifer Smith. Over the last 4+ years, we have heard the slogan “safe and effective” ad nauseum in relation to vaccines — repeated by health agencies, media, and pharmaceutical companies. But what does “safe” really mean?
Pharma’s Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card By Yaakov Ophir and Yaffa Shir-Raz. The Nobel Prize narrative is not a harmless compliment. It is a calculated effort to sanctify one remaining pillar, while the others collapse beneath the evidence. If the vaccines “saved millions,” then all else can be forgiven or forgotten.
Charlie Kirk: May He Rest in Peace By Brownstone Institute. Charlie Kirk had a gift for embracing his critics, for refuting their arguments, for harnessing their hatred. He loved debate and he loved ideas. He believed in discussion and openness, and urged this country to open it up.
AI, Inevitability, and Human Sovereignty By Josh Stylman. I didn’t want to feed my soul into a machine. That was my instinct when AI tools started appearing everywhere – not concern about jobs, but something deeper. These tools promise to make us smarter while making us more dependent.
The Spirit of Work By Jeffrey Tucker. Hard work is a virtue. There is no line between work and life; they are the same. We used to know that. That’s how this country was built: with blood, sweat, tears, and heavy tools and long hours.
Has the Political Risk-Benefit Analysis on Vaccines Changed? By Bill Rice. Every significant decision comes down to a cost-benefit analysis. For almost 6 years, politicians concluded the risk of questioning the “vaccines” was greater than any benefit. But this risk-benefit calculation could change faster than most might think.
Savages in the Senate: Kennedy Ambushed in a Game of Dirty Politics By Maryanne Demasi. What the hearing revealed was not Kennedy’s weakness but the desperation of his critics — Senators clinging to captured institutions, hurling insults and posturing for the cameras. For all the talk of “science,” what unfolded was politics at its dirtiest.
Response to Save HHS Letter: In Defense of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. By Jennifer Smith. I respectfully disagree with the Save HHS letter calling for Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s resignation. While concerns have been raised, these must be balanced against the urgent need for bold reform and restoration of public trust in health institutions.
The Only Medical Specialty That Survives on Lies By Peter Gotzsche. My advice to patients is: If you have a mental health issue, don’t see a psychiatrist. It is too dangerous and might turn out to be the biggest error you make in your entire life. Don’t look up a family doctor either, as they are also programmed to make psychiatric diagnoses and hand out psychiatric pills.