Walter Rhein Podcast

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello Everyone!I really appreciate all the wonderful people I’ve gotten to meet on Substack. I first met A. Eevie Bateman because one of my readers recommended one of her articles. It was a thoughtful piece on how white women maintain the patriarchy, and I brought Natasha K. on to discuss it. Eevie’s been writing a lot of provocative pieces and she’s gaining a lot of followers. It’s been great to see.This was my first time meeting Derek of The Omission. He’s absolutely fantastic and he kept making me laugh (which is the best thing to do when confronted with the challenges we face today). This conversation went all over the place and I’m grateful for it. I am looking forward to more talks with these two wonderful people!Thank you LC - Silence is Complicity, Chris Resists, Rick Kohut, LeftieProf, Stuart Cohen, and many others for tuning into my live video with A. Eevie Bateman and The Omission! Join me for my next live video in the app.Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offLet me be clear. I denounce hate. I denounce racism. I denounce antisemitism. I denounce genocide. We are living through an era of intense stress. I’ve personally had to keep my children home from school at times because there were rumors we were going to be raided by the masked gestapo. Every day I’m terrified that armed men will knock down my door and murder my family. The threat is real.We’ve seen innocent people get shot in the streets. There have been reports of children being abducted and raped. The entire right wing of our political spectrum is enabling child abusers by violating the Epstein files transparency act.Yet, when I log into social media I keep seeing false accusations directed at the left. Absolutely nobody is talking about how neo-nazi groups have infiltrated law enforcement and our centrist politicians refuse to even discuss police reform. But when a lawyer says she wants to learn the facts of a crime before she settles on labels, she gets accused of antisemitism.True incidents of antisemitism are ignored by the media, while a disproportionate response is directed at the innocent. We are being manipulated. Do not allow yourself to be controlled by the well-funded masters of deceit.It’s especially distressing to me when former legacy media journalists engage in reckless accusations designed to launch a narrative of division. It’s so obvious. We’re not going to be safe until everyone can recognize the pattern.With every day that passes, it’s clear that the center of our political spectrum is just as corrupt as the right. They use the exact same tactics of division. It could be argued that the center is worse because they’re so calculating.Remember, every accusation is a confession. So, before you believe the lies and manipulation, take a moment to trace back the narrative to its origins. All roads lead to the Heritage Foundation. Neo nazis absolutely love it when the left starts infighting. They come into the room to stir up a conflict, then retreat out the back to steal our money and continue their cruel plotting.Do not be duped. Do not assume the worst of your allies when you KNOW who the enemy is.I realize that we’re all under enormous stress. Slowly, we’re all coming to realize that many of the people we trusted have been working against us this whole time. The right is going to use some extremely underhanded tactics. They are duplicitous. They are liars. They are schemers. We all need to take a deep breath and step back from the distractions. The right always knows that they can leverage fear, shame, and anger to get you to react to their lies. Above all else, they don’t want you thinking rationally. When you are reacting, they can provoke you to do their dirty work for them.Do not allow neo nazis to make you turn against your allies.This week, I had a wonderful phone conversation with a creator friend who was worried about the antisemitism narrative. We talked for about a half hour and assured each other of our allegiances. I repeatedly told him that I loved him (and I do). I also thanked him for just taking the time to talk with me. As long as the line of communication is open, we have a chance.When people hear a fraudulent accusation that makes them unwilling to listen, we become captured. That’s how we lose.The right is trying to divide us. They’re well-funded and they’re using every trick in the book. As we get closer and closer to the end, their tactics will only become more desperate. Remember who your friends are!Today, I woke up to a comment that left me deeply disturbed. I’d written the following note:Our opponents don’t want you listening to progressive voices so they’re accusing them of “antisemitism.” This predisposes the public to not even give progressives the benefit of the doubt. The right contains the neo nazis. The right actively plots genocide. Don’t let lies and right wing purity tests manipulate you into fighting with your allies. We need unity.I immediately received an accusatory response. It was a lengthy response where the writer declared his religious affiliation multiple times. The essence of the comment was, “Many of us don’t support the genocide, please don’t lump us all together. Do not attack us.”It’s such a malicious comment because I hadn’t made any attacks and I hadn’t lumped anyone together. The comment itself demonstrated a predisposition of mistrust. The writer, based entirely on his own misconceptions, assumed I’d harbored malicious beliefs, and scolded me. In times such as these, we have to be very precise in our language. We can’t let our assumptions about other people cloud our interpretation of their language.I deleted the response. When I came back twenty minutes later, I found the response had been reposted word for word. This suggests it wasn’t a spontaneously written response. Instead, it was something that was being cut and pasted all over the internet. This is bot behavior.The left is currently the target of a malicious hate campaign. This is a right wing campaign that’s designed to divide us. Do not fall for it. Remember, the RIGHT has an antisemitism problem. By definition, the left stands for diversity, equality, and basic humanity. Do not be tricked into doing the division work of neo nazi groups.Even as I type this, the right is actively engaged in genocide all over the world. The right is building concentration camps and funding a secret army right here at home. Do not equate that with the offense of misleading quotes taken out of context.They are not the same. We cannot allow ourselves to put insensitive language in the same category as deliberate and coordinated acts of violence. Remember that whenever the right makes accusations of “violence” or “racism” or “antisemitism,” it’s designed to distract attention from right wing crimes that are exponentially worse.Every accusation is a confession.As we continue to navigate these troubling times, I urge everyone to withhold their judgement until the facts are known. Neo nazis and other right wing groups love to manipulate your emotions. They come and whisper accusations in the hope of sparking the rage of betrayal.Why do we give neo nazis the benefit of the doubt even as we hold our close friends to an impossible standard?Do not be so predisposed by the lies of the center and the right that you don’t even give good people the opportunity to have their say. Above all else, both the center and the right want to suppress voices of integrity. The center and the right know that if the people actually listen to the new generation of candidates, the authoritarian movement will fail. Once you’ve listened to these candidates, you can’t be duped by the lies of our corrupt legacy media.For the last year, I’ve been interviewing people of integrity. Absolutely no major publication has helped me promote these interviews. In fact, many of the publications you trust are actively working to sow the seeds of division even as they suppress the new generation of candidates.This is because many of the failed celebrity journalists and “former” Republicans are losers who are desperate to hang on to the coattails of power. They’re telling lies and fearmongering as part of a grift. They do not have integrity, but they have traces of fame left over from their days of association with cruel oligarchs.Wake up!It is a simple, basic fact that the left stands for diversity, unity, and humanity. The people out there saying otherwise, knowingly or not, are propagating a division strategy of the neo nazis. Doesn’t anybody fear making a false accusation of antisemitism against somebody who is innocent? Based on the “journalism” and the arguments I’m seeing lately, it doesn’t seem like it.It’s challenging to see clearly when your enemy activates your emotions, but we have to allow ourselves to evaluate all accusations with a cool head. Guilty people seek out scapegoats. Right now the right is scapegoating the left.We are not going to win unless we are committed to reason. Don’t believe accusations without evidence. Take a moment to identify where the narrative originated and what the people who launched it have to gain.In 2024, we allowed our corrupt media to spread endless lies about Kamala Harris. Look at where that got us. In 2026, the media is still doing the same thing even if many of the culprits from 2024 have moved on to independently owned publications.Don’t listen to the lies of neo nazis who want to make you suspicious of your allies. The RIGHT has an antisemitism problem. They’re building concentration camps and plotting genocide. Every accusation is a confession.Don’t be driven by fear. Listen to your intuition. Keep the door open for conversations with good people. The right is plotting to come after us all, but first they want us isolated and confused. Do not fall for it. Do not allow them to trick you into surrendering your power.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello Everyone!A few weeks ago, Substack launched a sponsorship program. The idea is to allow organizations to support the newsletters they appreciate through traditional advertising. To learn more about this initiative, you can click here.Qualifying publications, like mine, saw a creator kit appear on their dashboards. I activated my kit, but I declined to send out the demographics survey to my subscribers. We’ve all felt too many intrusions upon our privacy lately. I felt a questionnaire about personal information might come across as off-putting. Also, I’m not really sure who would have access to that data, so I was reluctant to infringe upon the trust my readers have shown in me.As you can probably tell, I approach most things with a good degree of skepticism. Part of that is because I’m getting old. Part of it is that, in this day and age, skepticism is warranted.But that doesn’t mean that I’m against the possibility of advertising under the right circumstances. We have to be realistic, life costs money. Over the last year, I’ve been active in grassroots politics. We’re all sick and tired of being told what to do by the bought and paid for apologists of corporate entities. That being said, even grassroots candidates need financial support. We’re in a rather exciting era of independent candidates fueled by $50,000 in small donations. These campaigns are winning against establishment incumbents with multi-million dollar war chests.That’s what we have to do to get out of this mess we’re in, but it’s not really sustainable. At some point we’re going to have to figure out ways to fund more money to people of integrity. The whole problem we face right now is that public funds are being stolen and sent to hate groups rather than people of integrity. We have to change that.My whole career as a writer has consisted of scrounging around for table scraps. That’s been all fine and good in my 20s and 30s when I was young and strong. But the fact is, I’m getting older now. I don’t want to admit it, but I can feel it. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be. I end the day with aches and pains. I’ve fought the good fight for a long time and it would be nice if things got a little easier. However, I know that my readers are up against the wall economically. That’s been the threat of the Republican party for my whole life, and this current iteration is the worst of the lot.I’ve managed to get along based on the generosity of my wonderful readers, but I would sincerely love to ease their burden in whatever way I can. The problem with offering advertising on your platform is that you then become beholden to your sponsors. If somebody decides to support me with five thousand dollars, it compels you to look the other way if they do something nefarious. I’m not going to sit here and say I’m immune to that because nobody is. Nobody’s ever showed up at my door with a suitcase full of money. I’d like to think I wouldn’t take it but pressuring people with money takes many forms.At this point, I’m old enough and ornery enough that I’m unlikely to work with somebody who gives me a creepy feeling. But I don’t think we have to resign ourselves to the thought that all advertising is corrupt.The reality is that most of the rich people in our society aren’t living in luxury because of merit. Instead, they are able to afford the accountants and whatnot that allow them to fund themselves through means that aren’t available to regular people. They know about all the tax loopholes that make funding platforms like mine beneficial.The way I see it, substack’s advertising program turns sponsorship into a business expense. Talk to your accountant, but wouldn’t that make it tax deductible?The fact of the matter is that big media has been completely captured by nefarious entities. We are not going to get out of this mess until we make an effort to fund some cultural deprogramming initiatives.We have to overcome the trauma bond that compels the American people to constantly forgive former abusers. We have to recondition ourselves to disregard the redemption arc, and elevate women and men of integrity who haven’t enriched themselves through the abuse and oppression of their fellow human beings.In order to do that, we’re going to need a new and well-funded media.I activated the creator kit to make “I’d Rather Be Writing” available on Substack’s advertising page. I don’t really expect some soft drink or airline to decide it makes sense to sponsor me.However, if any of you have some kind of business that’s actually related to the kind of things I write about here, a sponsorship could make sense. I don’t really know how corporate tax works, but if you’re working on something that aligns with my values, then by all means let’s talk.A lot of times, advertising is nothing more than somebody saying, “You know what, I like what this guy is doing and I want to be affiliated with that.” If you personally don’t have a company with an advertising budget, but you know somebody who does, then pass the information along.I put the sponsorship number at $250 just because they required a space keeper number. It’s flexible. If you’ve got a product or business that would benefit from being featured on “I’d Rather Be Writing,” reach out! I like to earn my keep, and I’m always delighted to hear from all of you anyway!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

It has been a while since I talked to Zuri Stevens and I didn’t realize how much I needed this conversation. We walked through all the terrible things that are going on today, but we did it with the purpose of seeing where we can best apply our power.There are a lot of forces of deceit in the world. They try to distract us. They make it feel like our defeat is inevitable. They try to silence us. It can feel overwhelming until you stop, take a step back, and recognize that they wouldn’t be making such an effort if they weren’t scared of us.THEY. ARE. SCARED!Good, they should be scared. Because we’ve awakened, we’re working hard, we’re more organized than we’ve ever been in my lifetime, and we’re taking our country back!If you’ve been feeling worn out, listen to this interview. I think it will help you feel renewed. Be sure to subscribe to Zuri here:Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Mandy Ohman, Chris Resists, LeftieProf, Noble Blend, and many others for tuning into my live video with Zuri Stevens! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

A lot has happened since I conducted this interview back in May! Melat Kiros has gone on to win her primary, and I wish all the best for Ericka Kopp for VA-01. I’ve seen a lot of stories about Melat in legacy media over the last few days, but almost none of them have taken the time to schedule an interview with her.That’s odd because Melat and Ericka are two of the most brilliant and compassionate people I’ve ever met. But don’t take my word for it, watch this interview and see for yourself. More importantly, keep this interview in mind when you read the poorly supported hot takes that come out of the legacy media. Once you’ve gotten to know these candidates, you’ll realize that many of the things our celebrity journalists say are complete and utter fabrications.Over the last year, I’ve interviewed over thirty candidates. The legacy media absolutely refuses to share or promote these interviews. The reason is exactly the same as what I stated above: establishment power doesn’t want you to know how great these candidates are!The legacy media is lying to us! They aren’t interested in discovering the truth, instead they only want to perpetuate a corporate narrative. That’s why they only publish the slanderous hearsay and quotes from the donor class opposition. It’s time to stand up and demand to hear from both sides. If the media refuses to provide that information then you should turn away and support publications like mine that are actually committed to the truth.When Melat and Ericka are sworn in, I hope they don’t feel they owe the legacy media anything. They can make their statements to me at their convenience, and then direct the members of the corporate media as to where to find them.It has become abundantly clear that we need a new media mechanism in this country. The one we have now is little more than a propaganda machine designed to enable abusers and censor people of integrity. We deserve better and we’re going to have to build it ourselves!Please watch this interview. It will inspire you, and it will reveal how much propaganda is shoved into our faces every day. Ericka and Melat are fantastic, and my heart sings at the thought of these wonderful women guiding us into a future based on compassion and basic human decency.Here are my original comments from when this interview was first published:What a great talk! It’s always such a pleasure to be surrounded by absolute brilliance. I’ve talked with Ericka Kopp for VA-01 several times and this was my first time meeting Melat Kiros. I’m so proud to be able to assist these women in getting the visibility they rightfully deserve.As you watch this video, I want you all to stop and imagine what our reality would look like if we were led by competent, capable, and compassionate people like these. Just that thought alone makes my heart overflow with hope! We all know that earning a congressional seat is simply the first step. These women have ambitious ideas that will take a collective effort to implement.But frankly, we’re all getting pretty sick and tired of the alternative. Please do what you can to share this video. Likes and comments help too. The reason you don’t get to see talks like this anywhere else because this is the type of thing that’s actively suppressed (to the detriment of all humanity). So, it’s up to you! Please help ensure as many people watch this video as possible. Also, reach out to both of these wonderful candidates about scheduling future appearances. They deserve it. Here’s how to reach them:Melat Kiros for CongressEricka Kopp for CongressThanks everyone! Stay strong, keep resisting, keep showing up, and stay hopeful! We’re winning this! We’re going to usher humanity into a golden age and finally leave the cruelty of the past behind!Thank you Courtney, PaulM, Acejonesz, Angel, Niki~Niki ©️®️™️🖤🇨🇱, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ericka Kopp for VA-01 and Melat Kiros! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

It’s all thanks to you!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offJustice is an elusive concept. Part of the reason is that crimes are committed in darkness, while justice needs to come out into the light. The problem is that within the arena of accountability, it can be easy to overlook the true scope of the atrocities.The judge sitting secure and protected in his cozy courtroom does not know the pain of the survivor. Instead, he sees the accused standing before him doing his very best to appear contrite.“Your honor, I now see the error of my ways and I promise I am reformed.”“I’m sure he learned his lesson.”We’ve seen this miscarriage of justice play out again and again. In fact, the entire ideological structure of this country is designed to pardon abusers and force the general public to believe in the lie of a false redemption arc. That’s the fundamental impulse we have to change.It’s time to stop making apologies for the people who torment us.Instead, we have to start giving power to survivors.The current corruption we’re enduring as a nation will pass. It has to pass because the people currently in power are only occupying themselves with planting the seeds of collapse. These are men without vision who insist on living in an eternal present. They deny the evidence of their eyes and ears because accepting reality would force them to confront their delusion of superiority.Men derive their cruelty from a subconscious acknowledgement of their own lack of self-worth. Granting them power is their worst possible outcome. Anyone who is dropped into a situation he is not equipped to handle will suffer for it.The problem is, the innocent, too, shall suffer.The fact that we will all have to force into a position of prominence in our mind is that enablers bear arguably more guilt than the men who actually commit evil acts. Enablers are those with the power to prevent tragedy, who can’t find the motivation to rouse themselves to meet their duty.Essentially, the greatest criminals of our age are those that consider themselves “moderates” or “centrists.” These are the ones who have sat passively and allowed monsters to have their way. They argue, “Let’s give them a chance,” even though anyone with an ounce of common sense knows how the story will play out. You don’t allow a fox into the chicken coup with the hope that maybe he’ll behave against his fundamental nature. When people show you who they are, believe them. When they show themselves to be criminals, you must oppose them.Our centrists and moderates have failed, failed, failed.In our hearts we know this to be true, but few people have found the courage to speak it openly. Too many prominent voices sitting on huge platforms still maintain an allegiance to an outdated status quo. They fear that if they say what needs to be said they’ll lose whatever power, luxury, and influence they possess.I say that if you are afraid to speak the truth, you don’t have a platform anyway. You haven’t earned anything. You’re a plaything of a greater power of cruelty.As hard as things can seem in our day to day existence, it’s important to remember that this regime cannot succeed. It’s impossible to run a country when men without merit are appointed to every position of power. We can’t simply assign a white supremacist to perform a complex task. Their racism does not make them more equipped to fly a plane or deliver a baby or negotiate a peace deal. Once they face a challenge of consequence, as they inevitably must, they will fail. The people will suffer for it.But the crime is not theirs. The crime belongs to the silent masses that placed them there.If a superintendent puts a rapist in your child’s classroom and your child is raped, there are two criminals. Both the rapist and the superintendent have committed crimes against humanity. Both must be punished.That’s what we have to remember.As the foundations crumble on this era of false strength and cowardly bullying, we have to keep that lesson in mind. Everyone who allowed this must be held accountable. Again, those men and women (but mostly men), will come into the light of justice and cry and wring their hands and try to evoke our sympathies. “I didn’t know the consequences of my actions.”That’s a lie. They knew exactly what would happen. If they are ignorant, that’s no defense. They shouldn’t have been placed in a position to make important decisions, and they must never be allowed that position again.We can’t be content to only put in jail the man who pulls the trigger. We must also arrest those that manufactured and sold the gun. Only by pulling the rot out by the roots can we provide any protection for our kids.These awful people who have tormented us are going to cry. They’re going to beg. They’re going to insist that they’ve changed.Don’t believe them. Don’t pardon them. They must never be allowed behind the levers of power again.They’re going to call us cruel. They’re going to say that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. But they’re depending on us forgetting how much pain we had to endure by their actions.The abuser is never aware how much pain he inflicts. He’s always delivering the agony. We are the ones who receive it. So, he can be convincing when he tries to trivialize his torments. You have to constantly remind yourself that he didn’t endure them. He doesn’t know.The time has come to assist survivors in inheriting their rightful power. We need to elevate people who knows what it feels like to not have money for rent. We need people in power who have experienced hunger, and crime, and abuse.For some reason we defer to the lie of the redemption arc and we elect monsters to power. We’ve accumulated enough evidence to compel us to stop placing our faith in the reformed.Instead, let’s turn our focus to evidence of decency. Let’s elevate people who have demonstrated a pattern of compassion instead of corruption. Let’s respect people of merit and achievement. Let’s allow for leaders who know the consequences of cruelty and understand how to steer humanity towards prosperity.The crocodile tears are not sincere. Listening to them makes us enablers. They try to leverage our best qualities against us. But we need to stop having excess compassion for the abusers. It’s long past time that we placed our focus on the needs of the survivors.The survivors speak for everyone.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

This was such a fun live! We needed to cut loose and laugh a little bit and we achieved our goal. Eevie started us off with some funny stories about her childhood, Derek is just hilarious as always, and I was like a timid little bird who didn’t have much to say 🤣.There is such a nice community of people here on substack! I’m so appreciative for this group. It’s been so frustrating to see the overt effort of legacy media disrupt our efforts to create a better world. It’s time to change the channel. Support the new voices! Support new candidates. The era of entitlement has ended. We’re entering the era of the working class.That’s how we make a decent society… finally.Be sure to subscribe to Eevie and Derek here:Thank you Natasha K., LeftieProf, Stuart Cohen, Ms.Yuse, Bluesin’ Bob, and many others for tuning into my live video with A. Eevie Bateman and The Omission! Join me for my next live video in the app.I’m 100% grassroots and I need your support!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

I’m 100% grassroots and I need your support!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offAuthoritarian systems always require the control of information. You see that in narcissistic relationships when your abuser cuts you off from friends and family. Abusive people want to establish themselves as the only source of information.When somebody you trust comes up to you and offers a warning, it’s easy to take the words to heart. When they say, “that person is a racist,” or “that person is an antisemite,” it makes you predisposed to not give that individual a fair chance.We live in a media cycle where a lot of vague accusations are being printed as fact. We need to show more respect to powerful words like “racist” and “antisemite.” Above all else, we should have learned by now that we’re living in an era where transparency is required. It doesn’t matter who the information comes from, before you assign a label to somebody you know virtually nothing about, you should go and do the research.For the last year, I’ve been interviewing progressive candidates. I wanted to give voters the opportunity to see candidates speak for themselves and make their own decisions. What I’ve found is that these interviews are deliberately suppressed.Stop for a moment and consider the candidates that you’ve heard bad things about. Now, reflect on whether you saw a video of those candidates speaking the words that were attributed to them, or was it some sort of an interpretation of their stance that was published by legacy media?In this era of constant lies and propaganda, you have to be deliberate about checking the source of everything you hear. We’re still living in the backlash of the earthquake that just struck our political system. In two straight primaries, grassroots candidates have defeated corporate owned incumbents. There has been more outrage about these two primaries in the last week than we’ve seen in a year of cover-ups for men accused of sex crimes against children.There’s been a lot of name calling in the media. They’ve been making terrible accusations that need to be taken seriously. But it’s also important to recognize that the legacy media can find nothing wrong with corporate owned candidates.Please connect the dots. It really feels as if taking PAC money is a license to be free of internet smear campaigns.A few days ago, I received an email from a PR firm that made unfounded accusations against Melat Kiros. Again, the legacy media is not publishing interviews of Melat. But I interviewed her a few months ago and found her to be brilliant, compassionate, and a fierce advocate for human rights. In this clip, she denounces the antisemitism of Marjorie Taylor Green:This video shows why the media deliberately suppresses video of non-corporate candidates. The moment you see them speak, you recognize the smear campaign for what it is.The legacy media wants to control all narratives. They want to predispose the voting public to not even give these wonderful candidates a chance. We saw the same thing with the Islamophobic slurs that were directed at Mamdani.The legacy media wants you scared and angry and fighting with your friends. They want you to say, “I don’t care what that person has to say because I already know everything I need to know.”What’s become clear to me over the last 2 years is the extent to which the legacy media is completely corrupt. To be clear, I’m not talking about my group of independent creator friends who I love dearly. That group is the resistance and I appreciate the work they do.What concerns me are all these seemingly powerful, celebrity journalists who have millions of subscribers and more money than they can ever spend, but who never seem to have enough money to pay the people who work for them.Writers are constantly exploited. I too have fallen for this scam. It’s easy to be dazzled by the celebrity and power of an industry gatekeeper. They come to you and take you on as an apprentice. They promise to teach you everything you need to know. All you have to do is work for them for free for years and years and years.You trust them because you assume they achieved their position through hard work and ability. But in this era of transparency, we should always remember not to trust anyone.Then, one day, when they’ve earned your trust, they tell you that some independent candidate that refuses to take PAC money is guilty of something. They take advantage of the trust in order to manipulate you.I’ve seen this again and again too.There is a major difference between both politicians and writers that are truly grassroots, and those that are corporate owned. It’s the difference between the flashy ships of the empire in Star Wars, and Yoda’s mud hut.I get it. We’re all the targets of economic terrorism. That’s by design. The forces that manipulate us want us to be so desperate and busy that we don’t have time to second guess the various ways we’re being exploited. They dangle the promise of reward and insist all you have to do is turn over all your labor for free.Friends, I need you to understand that the reward will never come. You can listen to these big creators all you want and you’ll never be as rich or as influential as they are. The reason is that their power and influence didn’t come to them through merit. Instead, they were anointed by the same money that brings us corporate owned candidates.In order to take over a society, you must first take over the media. The more we are forced to endure economic hardship, the cheaper the takeover becomes.Naturally I’m not saying it’s everybody, but there are plenty of publications that do not need your support. They’re already the beneficiaries of dark money that comes to them through a variety of venues. It’s important to prioritize publications like mine that truly only survive on small donations. That allows me to maintain my loyalty to truth over the influence of corporate sponsors that don’t want to see interviews with compassionate people published anywhere. Please consider subscribing if you can, the corporate money really, really, really wants me to go away. Will you help me resist that?For the last year, I’ve been pleading with big publications to interview the new generation of candidates, or to at least share the interviews I’ve done already. They ignore me. The reason is that offering the general public the truth about these candidates threatens the corporate stranglehold on our media and political systems.We are experiencing a seismic shift in our country. The radical right and the corporate democrats are in full-on panic mode. They did everything they could to prevent the rise of Mamdani because they knew that if a candidate of integrity was allowed behind the levers of power he’d set an example that would turn into a trend.It’s happening.All across the country, grassroots candidates are winning elections. These candidates are a threat to corporate power. Naturally corporate donors aren’t going to sit back and watch their power evaporate. They’re going on the offensive and launching smear campaigns against good people.Stop for a moment and ask yourself why the scandals the legacy media reports are always directed at new candidates? Ask yourself why these scandals never contain videos of the candidate, and are instead interpretations of something they said which was paraphrased or taken out of context?Are you seriously telling me that the corporate sponsored candidates are all “perfect” and there’s nothing in their past to warrant investigation? The media is currently attacking Melat Kiros and completely ignoring Ken Paxton? Why isn’t there any coverage of the congressional investigation into the crimes of Matt Gaetz? Why aren’t we talking about how our corporate democrats refuse to discuss police reform even though there’s evidence neo-nazi groups have infiltrated law enforcement?Isn’t it obvious that we’re being manipulated and coerced into dismissing new voices before we even give them a chance? Why are we so willing to listen to an accusation and take it at face value instead of even considering giving somebody the benefit of the doubt?The legacy media is attempting to condition us to reject grassroots candidates while also hiding them from us. That’s corruption in action.Over the next few months, every citizen of this country is going to have to take a hard look in the mirror and determine what kind of a future we want. Over the last ten years, I’ve been cutting off contact with a lot of people I used to trust but who revealed themselves as false.Look at the legacy media. They never hold republicans to any standard at all. They never hold corporate democrats to any standard either. But when a young woman stands up and makes a courageous speech about basic humanity, the legacy media attempts to bury her in lies and false accusations.The legacy media is corrupt, and that includes many of the big publications with millions of “sponsors” with no name, profile picture, posts, or followers of their own.Please connect the dots for yourself.All I’m asking is that everyone keep an open mind. I have video of Melat Kiros denouncing antisemitism. I shared it above. Remember that the next time you come across some vague article with a vague headline written by somebody you have been conditioned by celebrity worship to admire.Many of the former big media journalists that are reaching out to us now are not our friends. They could very easily interview Melat and ask her these questions directly. Instead, they’re content to publish poorly supported innuendo. They should know better. They do know better. The reason they’re doing this is because their allegiance is to their corporate support and not the truth.It breaks my heart when these entities manipulate the great, hardworking people who are sincerely trying to do good. The most terrible weapon of our enemy is their ability to divide us. We always have to maintain our first loyalty to the friends and allies within our sphere. Rich people pretend to be your friend, but at the end of the day they’re just going to use you and cast you aside.I absolutely and without question trust Melat Kiros to work to end racism and antisemitism. I trust her to bring powerful men who are guilty of child abuse to justice. I do not trust the legacy media or our current generation of politicians (with a few exceptions) to do the same. The people in office are the ones that need to be held accountable for the injustices of our time. Don’t believe the smear campaigns of the corrupt entities that feel their power slipping away. They’re lying to us. They’re manipulating us. They’re trying to turn us against each other.Our strength is in truth. Our strength is in community. Remember who your allies are. Above all else, listen to the words of the candidates directly and make up your own mind. Don’t let an unfounded accusation prevent you from giving a good person the benefit of the doubt.Here’s my list of candidates the legacy media doesn’t want you to see because it will expose their lies:Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

I love Egberto and Liza! They’re both located in Texas and it was my privilege to bring them together. Things are changing throughout the country but especially in Texas. State Democratic party Chairman Kendall Scudder is bringing a new progressive energy to the state, and for the first time in many years Democrats are challenging in every single race.That’s big.In this conversation, we discuss ways to keep building our momentum. We have to resist the nefarious efforts of the right to sow the seeds of division. We are allies. We are working to defend human dignity! I love the energy of talking with these two. We’re going to win our country back. I hope you all feel inspired!Thank you A. Eevie Bateman, Mandy Ohman, Jason Gael, Diana Chapman, MLR, and many others for tuning into my live video with Liza Hameline and Egberto Willies! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI’m so happy you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offWe need to be clear about what’s happening. The status quo Democratic party that failed to prevent the rise of fascism in the United States is feeling very threatened by progressive wins.This is the same group that always finds enough members to defect to the Republicans to fund their cruel and authoritarian initiatives. This is the same group that votes to confirm people like Markwayne Mullin and Brett Kavanaugh with the argument that we “should give them a chance.” This is what they say even as they suggest we should expel Democratic socialists who win primaries from the party. Corporate Democrats were willing to risk an election by running an independent candidate in New York because they were so afraid of Mamdani.Corporate Democrats are why we lose. Corporate Democrats have done nothing to stop the rise of authoritarianism in the USA. Unfortunately, they have access to corruption money and they’ve bought up plenty of publications to spew their propaganda.For the last 10 years, the MAGA movement has made a misery out of our lives. At every turn, the establishment Democrats have refused to take appropriate action to hold the criminals and lawbreakers of the right accountable. Remember that the Biden administration sat on the Epstein files for four years. A little bit of accountability there would have saved countless lives.But now, the people are fed up. Progressives and Democratic socialists are winning elections all across the country. We’re seeing campaigns that are funded with just a few thousand dollars take down candidates with multi-million dollar war chests.It’s happening, and the do-nothing center is not happy about it.So what’s their response? Naturally, they’re going to use the same tactics of misinformation, denial, and division to attempt to steal the momentum of their progressive challengers.Last night, one of the candidates I interviewed, Melat Kiros, won her primary in Colorado. She’s an absolutely fantastic person. She’s brilliant. She is compassionate. Most importantly, she will work for the people and not the corporations.This morning I expected to find people celebrating this win. Instead, I was blindsided by how many people are fretting this development. There is also a lot of panic and name calling going on.I only ask that everyone take a deep breath and assess the facts rather than the establishment narrative. In your hearts you know that the establishment is lying to you. Our politicians lie. The media members who are loyal to our sitting representatives never challenge those politicians when they spew their corporate talking points.There are multiple campaigns going on right now from both the center and the right to besmirch the candidates of integrity. False accusations are flying, and the way our corporate media is structured, many good people are unknowingly adding fuel to that fire.There’s a reason that I made the deliberate decision to detach myself from so many corporate media entities. I don’t sit here doing reaction pieces to awful things MAGA has done. We know they’re bad. I don’t platform white supremacists.Instead, I use my small platform to elevate candidates of integrity like Melat Kiros.For the last year, it was most efficient to just ignore me. But now that Melat has actually flexed her power by unseating an incumbent Democrat, I guess I’m being seen as a threat.Here come the attacks.I recognize that the corrupt center uses effective tactics, but I just hope that people who I’ve known for years stop for a second and recognize how we’re looking at another manifestation of this country’s abuse mechanism.Here is an absolute: genocide is an ideology of the political right.The left is opposed to genocide.The left is opposed to antisemitism.The left is opposed to racism.That’s by definition. I find it offensive when quality candidates who radiate integrity are falsely accused of racism and antisemitism. These are messages that are being deployed by the panicking center, and they’re being distributed by centrist media.This is the same media that has refused my frequent appeals to elevate progressive candidates. THEY ARE NOT ON OUR SIDE!These huge media entities are the grifters who have no interest in establishing a functional government. These are people who live in gated communities who see access to power as a means of getting paid. They’re waking up to the fact that our current political movement is a rejection of corporate capitalism, and they’re panicking.First they ignored me. Now they’re attacking me. Their last step will be to attempt to join me and then take credit for all the ideas the people of integrity have been working for this whole time.Don’t let them.We all have to keep in mind that it’s the corporate Democrats that have failed to hold neo nazi groups accountable. They’re the same ones that refused to codify Roe. They had all the power they needed to stop MAGA in 2020, and they did nothing.Now they’re launching a smear campaign against the new progressive candidates who actually listen to voters and treat them with respect.The panic is full on. I just hope that people will finally realize they should withdraw their support from publications that are printing false accusations, and instead offer their support to people who have always stood for integrity and decency.We need to stop antisemitism in the USA. We need to stop racism. Corporate Democrats have had the power to do that and they’ve failed over and over again. Now they’re making false accusations against the new generation of representatives that has actually shown the resolve to act with integrity.Please, do not allow the lies of our propaganda media mechanism to destroy the relationships you’ve built up. The false actors are revealing themselves. The people you can trust are those that are attempting to help women and men of integrity rise to power.Do not be fooled. Go forward confidently in the direction of your values. Don’t listen to the lies and the accusations of the grifters who are truly only interested in maintaining their own power.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

What a wonderful conversation! Decent people all across the world are still reeling from the atrocities of the “rape academy.” As far as I know, no arrests have been made in relationship to that. That’s unacceptable.I appreciate people expressing their support online, but we need to do more. The fact is that our elected representatives are not helping us. The police are not helping us. We need to clean house and put people in charge who are willing to use the power of their office to protect the innocent and hold abusers accountable.Shelby Campbell is running for Congress in Michigan. She’s been out knocking on doors and getting signatures. She’s got a legal background, but more importantly, she’s willing to fight and to call people out.That’s what we need.We have to stop being content to allow decisions to be made behind closed doors. We have to stop covering up for awful people, who become enraged when we reveal their actions to the world.If they’re proud of their actions, then why do they get so angry when we talk about them.I do apologize because there appears to be some kind of voice interference in this recording. Who knows, maybe I’m being targeted because the powers that be are becoming afraid of me.Good.Here’s Shelby’s webpage.Please support me if you can to make sure we can keep doing this good work. Also, you can support Shelby and Eevie here:Thank you Ms.Yuse, Mama K, Lynette, THE TRAJECTORY, Elizabeth Van Alstine, and many others for tuning into my live video with Shelby Campbell and A. Eevie Bateman! Join me for my next live video in the app.Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

You guys, I keep telling ‘ya. Things aren’t going to change until you start supporting change. Stop listening to big media. Stop listening to celebrities. Stop listening to ancient politicians. Above all, stop proliferating their lies and excuses.Sitting representatives have the power to fix things. They are the problem. It’s not the young people. It’s not Democratic socialists. Everything wrong with our society is because of conservative Republicans and conservative Democrats.Everything.Remember who your allies are. It’s not rich people. It’s not people telling lies. Don’t trade your beautiful future for a false promise. C’mon.Thank you Ellie Leonard, A. Eevie Bateman, Natasha K., Mandy Ohman, Jason Gael, and many others for tuning into my live video with Frederic Poag! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Will Fullwood is my good friend and he’s one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. He’s dedicated to anti-racism activism. We’ve been doing regular talks for the last two years. His insights have been invaluable in helping me better understand the true rot the USA’s cruel cultural identity.This was the last conversation we had before Will moved permanently to France. He’s in a new place, but the job continues and I’ll be looking forward to scheduling more talks with him. I hope you enjoy this one, it’s the culmination of a lot of work!Thank you A. Eevie Bateman, Ben Ulansey, 💨Ashley Schmitt🫟™️, Mandy Ohman, Humanitarians Unite!, and many others for tuning into my live video with Will Fullwood! Join me for my next live video in the app.Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI’m sick and tired of watching blue MAGA attempt to browbeat us with the same dishonest tactics the Republicans have been using for more than a decade. It’s also pitiful that so many intelligent, highly-educated people fall right into the trap of allowing intellectually dishonest people to frame every narrative.I’ve gotten drawn into enough disingenuous attacks disguised as conversations to develop a few tactics to derail these assaults. The fact that our corporate owned representatives haven’t adopted these methods makes me inclined to think they’re often the ones funding and deploying the bots.There’s nothing MAGA likes more than to make false accusations of bigotry or racism. They have an advantage in this kind of argument because MAGA is utterly without scruples. They like to see us defensive.You see, decent people are troubled by even the suggestion that they might have said or done something inappropriate. Meanwhile, the joy MAGA derives from behaving boorishly is matched only by their delight in accusing others of the same.MAGA always accuses the innocent of the crimes they themselves commit.For more than a decade our AIPAC owned corporate Democrats have been befuddled by this tactic. This is because they’re a bunch of silver spoon jerks who were driven to a private school by a personal chauffer. They’ve never had to deal with bullies, but they steadfastly refuse to listen to anyone who has.The answer to dealing with bullies is to not “reach across the aisle” to them. You don’t make deals with them. You don’t try to see things from their point of view. You don’t engage in wishful thinking that they’ll stop being awful.Instead, you call them out on it.I’ve been doing this for years.When MAGA shows up and starts saying, “Well, actually it’s the left that’s racist…” I interrupt.“So, you agree that being racist is wrong?”At this point they begin to sputter, “Well, obviously, I…”You have to interrupt again or they’ll just talk and talk.“Good, then why don’t we join together and pass some laws that create consequences for being racist? Enough talk, let’s have some action.”That last sentence is the critical part. All the phonies in politics, big media, and social media want to waste all your time in circular discussions that never get anywhere. This is how the fake media gets paid. This is why so many of the big platforms everybody respects so much waste all their time talking about the reflecting pool rather than using their power to elevate progressive challengers to corrupt incumbents.Many of the big platforms people support are nothing more than a cog in the distraction mechanism. They’re not with us. The platforms that do nothing but scream insults at the occupant of the Oval Office rather than providing actionable information are just another form of distraction.They’re false. They’re doing the work of the regime. Stop supporting them.Lately, we’re seeing that the corporate Democrats are going on the offensive. They’re in a full on panic after the New York primaries where the voters came out and replaced worthless representatives with some good ones.Naturally, people are going on the news and complaining that this violates some “unwritten code” about not speaking out against incumbents. Excuse me? Since when were we ruled by “unwritten codes.” If a representative is worthless and corrupt, they need to be replaced. At the end of the day, the voters get to decide and it’s time for AIPAC bought Democrats to be reminded of that.But because they’re in a panic, AIPAC Democrats are using the most deceitful tactics available to them. They’re accusing everyone who doesn’t agree with them of “antisemitism.” The purpose of making a horrific accusation like that is to get us on our heels and take the wind out of the sails of our activism.They expect us to retreat and defend ourselves. Instead, we need to double down and push back.I personally think antisemitism is disgusting. I also think it’s disgusting that neo-nazi groups have been allowed to run roughshod over our whole country. They openly gather in the street with their racist chants and propaganda. They’re domestic terrorist groups and our AIPAC funded corporate Democrats have done NOTHING to stop them.That leads me to believe that it’s actually our AIPAC funded corporate Democrats that can be accused of antisemitism.What other explanation do we have for the fact that they’ve never used their political power to stop hate groups in our country? Neo-nazi groups commit crimes all the time. Many of them attacked the Capitol. Round them up, arrest them.It’s telling that our AIPAC funded corporate Democrats are more offended by people having discussions on social media than they are by domestic terrorist groups committing violence in the streets.It’s because our AIPAC funded corporate Democrats are not being truthful.They’re fixated on a distraction. They want an argument. They don’t want action. They currently have all the power. I would be overwhelmed with happiness if they actually took an initiative to stop antisemitism.But they haven’t done that for the decade they’ve been in power, and they sure aren’t going to start now.The corporate Democrats currently in office are only concerned with keeping their own power. In pursuit of this objective, they’re going to attempt to sow the seeds of division among groups that should be allies.Authoritarians always use division. They own the media. They own the legal system. They own politics. The antisemitism in the United States is THEIR fault. They could have stopped it years ago but they don’t want to. Why don’t they want to? It’s because it’s a convenient thing to trot out again every time it appears the general public is organizing enough to become a threat to their power.They do the same thing with racism. They’re always attempting to drive wedges into our unity.Do not fall for their trick.The simple fact is that the AIPAC owned corporate Democrats are just as much as complicit in the corruption of our government as the Republicans. All of the problems in our society are their fault. We are not going to see justice until we remove the majority of our sitting politicians and replace them with women and men of integrity.They own virtually all mechanisms of communication and they’re very well-funded. They’re going to try and brainwash us. But there’s a very easy response. Simply ask why they’ve never used their political power to do anything about the rise of antisemitism in the USA? Why have they been historically tolerant of neo-nazis? Why do they allow malicious groups to erode our educational system? I’m not defending the awful things people say on social media, but we don’t even know where those comments are coming from. For all we know, it’s just a bunch of noise spewed by AI bots the AIPAC owned corporate Democrats deployed to fabricate their argument.I’m much more concerned about violent, racist criminals committing acts of terrorism in our streets. Let’s do something about that group, and not fall for the distractions or division any longer. Let’s have some accountability for a change rather than feel compelled to bow down to a feckless group of cowards who has no talent other than to deflect suspicion that they might be the authors of all our pain.Let’s end antisemitism. Let’s arrest the neo-nazi domestic terrorist groups. Let’s DO something rather than stand around pointing the finger all the time. If you agree, then help me elevate some decent candidates of integrity. The old guard has done nothing for us. It’s time for a change.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Wow, Jessica Denson is a breath of fresh air. I’ve already invited her onto another show. In this interview, she told a story of how she got kicked off a larger platform for speaking her mind.Friends, I’m telling you that you have to stop supporting millionaire owned publications. They’re censoring us. They deplatform people. They maintain a cruel status quo.We need to support people of integrity. We need to support people of authenticity. We need to support people who take action and insist on accountability. Jessica is one of those people, you can support her here:Also, here’s her call to action:Folks, this is how you move the needle.You move it by forcing a vote, by putting people’s names on the record.And when they are the holdouts, you name and shame them and then you force a vote again.We need rule and it’s called rule nine.We need rule nine invoked on House Resolution 1155.You can go to removetheregime.com.You will find there the number for Congress, which you should all know well, 202-224-3121.You will also find the number for Rep. John Larson’s office, 202-225-2265.Call this man.Thank you NeuroDivergent Hodgepodge, Chris Resists, 🇨🇦 Natalie Woodn’t 🇨🇦, Rachel-We are Renee and Keith, Jeffry Weidner, and many others for tuning into my live video with Jessica Denson! Join me for my next live video in the app.Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI got my kids to sit down to watch the new ‘Star Trek’ movies. We’d been watching ‘Sherlock’ with Bennedict Cumberbatch, so that was the gateway.“Oh, that guy,” they said. Familiarity is how you provide motivation to try something new.Imagine referring to Star Trek as something new. It was new for them.“Why are they wearing red, blue and yellow?”“Science, engineering, and command.”My wife tried to remember the name of the Captain of the Enterprise. She got it wrong in a way that was almost perfectly right.“Chris Pine?” my eldest said with some skepticism.“Yeah, he’s Captain Dick,” my wife said.“Really? His name is Captain Dick?”“Kirk,” I replied. Then I thought for a moment. “But it might as well be Captain Dick.”“Who’s that guy with the big ears?”“That’s Cock,” said my wife.“Spock!” I replied.“I don’t understand old shows,” my youngest said.The movie played on. Kirk did his thing. Every time a young woman walked by, he turned around and smiled.“Come to think of it, Captain Dick would have been better,” I said.“Right?”At the end of the film, Spock screams, “Khaaan!” Then he gets energized down to the planet for a desperate footrace. Nobody asks why they didn’t just beam him directly to where he needed to go. Even in space you need a footrace. During the climactic scene, Spock and Khan engage in a fist fight on some sort of floating barge.There’s a moment when Spock grabs Khan’s shoulder and Khan grimaces in pain. I looked over at my children and they didn’t register any reaction. I realized, they knew nothing about the Vulcan neck pinch. They didn’t know that Vulcans are stronger than humans, that’s why Spock was a fair match for Khan. All this lore had been assumed by the film, but without it, the scene played as kind of ridiculous.I tried to explain the Vulcan neck pinch later on.“Yeah, Vulcans have some cool powers like the mind meld and the neck pinch.”“Uh-huh,” my teenage daughters replied. “It wasn’t that effective against Khan.”“Well, that just shows that Khan is tough, not that Vulcans are weak.”“Okay. Well what normally happens?”“If Spock does it to a human, he collapses unconscious.”“Wow.”I left it at that.The next day we watched the first Star Trek film. In the first few minutes, we get to meet Kirk’s father played by Chris Hemsworth.”“Wait a minute,” my eldest said, “they could have had Chris Hemsworth and they went with Chris Pine?”“Yeah...”“That’s a downgrade.”Later in the film, Spock grabs Kirk by the neck, rendering him unconscious. I looked over at my daughter, who gave me a delighted smirk.“Vulcan neck pinch!” she cried with triumph. It was the most ridiculous and glorious thing in the world.Later on a red shirt fell out a hole in the hull. He screamed and my daughter cried out, “Wilhelm!”They know the Wilhelm scream, they know the Vulcan neck pinch, they know his name is Kirk and not Dick. They know what it means when somebody screams, “Khaaaaaan!” I showed them the version from the 1982 film on YouTube. My daughter laughed when I typed in a line of 20 A’s and got the exact result I wanted. It popped right up. Shatner is epic.My kids are exploring new worlds and new civilizations. They’re still skeptical about the neck pinch, but they’ve learned to boldly go where no one has gone before. Or, in this case, where many have gone before.What else is there for a father to teach?That’s parenting done right.“Khaaaaaaan!”Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

The aftershocks of the New York primary are continuing to be felt. Corporate democrats who only show any loyalty to their big money donors are angry. The democratic party is showing once again that “blue no matter who” was always a lie. Statements by consultants such as James Carville encouraging the party to reject primary winners are further proof of what we already knew.The establishment democrats don’t work for us. They don’t want to protect us. It’s been my mantra since 2024. In 2020, we gave the establishment all the power they needed to stop the rise of authoritarianism and instead, they turned over the keys of our country to a convicted felon insurrectionist.A lot of people have died because of their failure. A lot of innocent children have been tortured and killed. We need a massive change in this country.We need new representatives. It makes no sense to think that we can put the same democrats into power in 2026 and get a different result that we got in 2020. We’ve seen representatives like Schumer and Jefferies who are more interested in their AIPAC money than in serving the American people.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offNaturally, the corporate democrats are not going to take these criticisms lying down. They’re rattled right now by the fact that the voters have spoken. They’ve been angry since Mamdani won his primary, and they tried to defeat him then by running Cuomo. This demonstrates a blatant disrespect for the will of the people. It’s become clear that the center is just as corrupt as the right.Now that they’re being pushed, the center is responding with some truly deplorable tactics. Lately I’ve been seeing an AIPAC funded smear campaign that attempts to accuse the left of antisemitism.We need to be clear about something. The political right is the ideology of genocide. The political right contains the nazis. The political right is currently engaged in building concentration camps, rounding up children, and protecting rich pedophiles.Our enemy is on the political right.All the left is doing is saying that we want the wars to end. We want the war to end in Iran, we want the war to end in Palestine, we also want to end the aggressions against Venezuela and Cuba.For the center to join with the right to say that the left is therefore showing signs of “antisemitism” is completely fraudulent.The worst part is the way they’ve been doing it. By now we know that our corporate media and even a large percentage of our independent media has been captured by nefarious forces. Our media is a propaganda mechanism. I’ve suspected this for a long time, but my suspicions were confirmed in the last year when I saw how reluctant publications are to promote progressive candidates.We have to be clear about something. Even many of the publications that claim to be anti-AIPAC, are actually working in the interests of that organization. Those publications waste time engaging in debates with white supremacists, or they write endless distraction articles about things like the reflecting pool, but they never use their power to elevate alternative candidates.The publications that keep you in a perpetual spin cycle are not your friends. They are distracting you to steal your power.These same publications are not taking on the debate of whether the left has shown signs of antisemitism (it hasn’t). Instead, they’re referring to it as if it’s already decided. I saw an article the other day with the title, “The Left Has an Antisemitism Problem” and I immediately blocked the author.It’s a lie.All the left wants is to spend public funds on the public good. We want to stop war. We want freedom of religion. We’re quite happy to allow people to practice whatever religion they want, we just don’t want that religion imposed on anyone who doesn’t want to listen.Right now, AIPAC is a cornered animal. I personally believe AIPAC had a lot to do with sabotaging the campaign of Kamala Harris. In the last two years, we’ve seen the extent of the corruption in the American political mechanism.It’s become more clear than ever before how critical it is to get money out of politics. We can’t have representatives who are only interested in using taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves.The people are seeing it, and they’re voting for change.But we can’t expect the corrupt figures in the center or on the right to accept the will of the people. Honor is not a characteristic of the right, and they’re going to lie, cheat, and steal to maintain their power.Many of my creator friends are Jewish and I’ve seen them express the importance of distinguishing AIPAC from Judaism. AIPAC isn’t a religion, it’s a corporate organization. A criticism of AIPAC is a criticism of corruption.Naturally dishonest and corrupt people would attempt to protect their position of power by accusing their opponents of antisemitism. This kind of mudslinging is exactly why we need to replace these corrupt incumbents with people of integrity.Antisemitism remains a scourge on humanity. The United States has been shamefully irresponsible in allowing antisemitic organizations to act with impunity within our borders. There are multiple neo-nazi groups that are never held to any standard of accountability.I would be among the first to go out and arrest the members of these hate groups. We have to obliterate antisemitism along with the toxic mind virus of white supremacy.In order to do that, we have to understand that these ideologies are rooted in the extreme right.For corrupt entities to attempt to retain their power by making false accusations against groups who demonstrate a commitment to decency is just the kind of underhanded tactic you’d expect from liars and crooks.Our corrupt media is equally complicit when they publish stories acting as if this is an established fact rather than a illicitly funded smear campaign.There is a growing movement in the United States to demand equality and prosperity for all. This is the opposite of antisemitism. The corrupt representatives that have allowed the rise of fascism are the first to point the finger and accuse their opposition of wrongdoing. But this, as has so often been the case, is yet another example of a confession disguised as an accusation.Malicious forces are being drawn out into the light like weeds being pulled from a garden. We’re discovering that when you yank the stem of white supremacy, you find centrists at the root.The centrists are exposing themselves now by attempting to expel democratically selected members from their own party. Democrats have always claimed they have a “big tent,” but while they’re quick to allow “former” klansmen and conservatives through the doors, they balk at permitting the passage of progressives.The center is as corrupt as the right. They do not respect democracy. When high ranking members of our party besmirch the characters of the candidates who win primaries, it causes division. It threatens our ability to win elections. It’s sabotage.Division has always been the primary tool of authoritarian movements. They want us infighting. They want us defending ourselves against fraudulent and malicious attacks. The media is complicit in this objective.In times like these, it’s important to take a deep, calming breath and make a clear declaration of what we stand for.We want public funds used for public good.We want prosperity for all.We want to defend the right of everyone to practice whatever religion they choose.We want to stop the senseless murder of innocent people.That’s what the left stands for.The right stands for lying, child rape, oligarchy, and genocide.The left stands for life. Make sure to denounce any writer, politician, or publication that says otherwise. They are not our friends.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful conversation. When I first met Andra I could instinctively tell that we had parallel experiences. This was a delightful conversation where we just unapologetically told the truth. Imagine if we lived in a society that embraced these values.Working on it!You can follow Andra here. I suggest you do!Also, here’s her author web page.Thanks for listening!Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Chris Resists, LeftieProf, Wendy E, Michael Catlett, and many others for tuning into my live video with Andra Watkins! Join me for my next live video in the app.Pay what you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

It’s getting to be a long time since I met Elizabeth Silleck La Rue, Esq.. She’s one of my favorite people and she is always a strong advocate for justice. You can find her at the Conscientious Emigrant, where she helps people relocate from the United States.In this conversation we explored Elizabeth’s background in environmental work. Naturally, the same structures of misogyny, shortsightedness, and cruelty existed there as they do in the rest of our society. Recently, the Republicans decided to allow a mining company to begin work upstream from the Boundary Waters. Mining can’t be done cleanly, so toxic chemicals are likely to destroy that absolutely pristine environment. You know, the Republicans just refuse to allow our kids to have drinking water or a nice place to play. It’s so infuriating. The cost of restoring the Boundary Waters will be higher than whatever metals they manage to pull out of the ground.The fight continues.I hope you enjoy this conversation! Make sure to subscribe to Elizabeth!Thank you Robert Danna, learnercurious1, Lynn, PaulM, Kim Meldahl, and many others for tuning into my live video with Elizabeth Silleck La Rue, Esq.! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello Friends!I recorded this video a while ago with my good friends Peter W. Murphy and Ben Ulansey. It’s some good, lighthearted banter. I hope it helps you relax a little bit!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offThank you LeftieProf, Jack (he/him), Sandra, Jason Gael, Pam Wade, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ben Ulansey and Murphy! Join me for my next live video in the app.I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

I always have a lovely time talking to Ginger Murray for US! She is one of three candidates running a cooperative campaign. By that I mean that the three Democratic candidates are all friends. They support each other. They know what’s at stake.We cover everything in this talk from surveillance centers to election integrity. Ginger is a lawyer and she’s a fierce advocate for the rights of women and children (which is exactly what we need). You can find out more about her on her web page here:Gingerforus.comOn Wisconsin! We’re going to win! Please don’t forget to support me if you can: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% off. See you next time!Thank you A. Eevie Bateman, Jason Gael, Mandy Ohman, Joanna, PaulM, and many others for tuning into my live video with Ginger Murray for US! Join me for my next live video in the app.I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offMany politicians try to politicize the deaths of innocent children by claiming our country needs a return to traditional values. I believe the opposite is true. We need modern values that reflect our ever-developing understanding of the human experience.There’s plenty of evidence that so-called traditional values are the toxic influence that is destroying our country.Contrary to popular belief, traditional values haven’t gone anywhere. They can be seen in the blatant bigotry towards the LGBTQ+ community. They can be seen in the ever-present misogyny and toxic masculinity that manifests in an ongoing attack on a woman’s right to reproductive health care.Our country has many problems, and rigid adherence to traditional values has largely helped create these problems. Mass shootings are not a new thing, they’ve been going on for decades. The only thing that’s different now is that shooters have easy access to military-grade weapons.The obvious truth is that the world is in a constant state of change. Tactics that worked in the past are no longer relevant in our new reality. Many of the problems in our society are a direct result of attempting to force an outdated solution on a modern problem.American society always goes into the future kicking and screaming. It’s embarrassing that the country that was the first to get to the moon resists progress like a child throwing a temper tantrum. The only responsible action is to understand that traditional values are no longer relevant.We can no longer accept non-solutions that are disguised as traditional wisdom. We can’t take the lazy intellectual approach of assuming that the past was somehow a better age. That’s a fantasy. It’s time to adopt a philosophy that actually has a chance of correcting the problems we face today.Religious leaders make calls for mass violenceThe dirty secret hidden in plain sight in the United States is that there are many individuals with massive platforms that regularly make calls for violence. Take, for example, the case of the extremist pastor who called for people to be shot in the head.When a pastor can stand at a pulpit and call for citizens to be shot in the back of the head, you have a clear source of the violence that plagues our whole country.Words matter, people listen to pastors. Some people see pastors as sources of authority that go beyond our law.Our media needs to be more honest about the influence American Christianity has in inciting people to violence. Whenever there is a mass shooting, everyone is quick to turn the blame on things like video games. Why is it that we fail to criticize pastors and politicians who routinely make calls for violence in their sermons, speeches, and political propaganda?Even pastors who don’t make such extreme statements as the one quoted above contribute to an anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment.Hate speech is handed down to children and normalized through traditional valuesIt’s shameful that you can’t escape hate speech even if you are attending a high school graduation. A recent speech earned criticism for invoking homophobia under the guise of biblical principles.American society is extremely tolerant of these backhanded insults. For some reason, when people talk about traditional values, they always forget to mention showing a little bit of respect for the other people in your community.Instead, it’s considered a traditional value to berate innocent bystanders for their sexuality. People do things like that on a regular basis, and there are organizations in our country that applaud them for their offensive behavior.The worst part is that when a high school graduate makes ignorant statements like this, they represent something that has been handed down from the parents and the community. The child has been conditioned with hate beliefs that are delivered under the guise of traditional values.Traditional values connected to mass shootingsI’ve been reading a memoir about a family that suffered an unspeakable tragedy. The book is titled Sins of the System: Trauma, Guns, Tragedy, and the Betrayal of Our Children.This book explores the years of anguish that come with an incomprehensible act of violence. The American media only covers shootings for a couple of weeks before moving on to the next shooting or another big news event. Our country almost never takes time to responsibly explore the true pain of these tragedies.A little over a month ago, my community lost a 10-year-old girl who was murdered and raped. That, too, was national news for a few days. The reporters are gone now and the pain is still here. What I’ve had to endure from that experience allowed me to recognize the truth written in the pages of Sins of the System.The book is heartbreaking because it reveals the shooter was exposed to systemic abuse that included what I interpreted as both physical and psychological torture. Some of these deplorable acts had their roots in strict adherence to traditional values.What makes this scenario tragic is that our society has advanced to the point where a child should have access to proper medical treatment. Our science knows how to correct these debilitating problems and avoid tragedy.Traditional values prevent our society from listening to the answers! We are then condemned to endure unbearable tragedies again and again and again.A massive percentage of our population reveres the concept of traditional values to such an extent that they are conditioned to disdain scientific advancement. We saw this play out during the pandemic when the ignorant masses defiantly refused to wear a mask even to save the lives of vulnerable friends and relatives.Reverence for traditional values is killing our childrenThe absurd reverence we show to the concept of traditional values literally leads to people getting killed. It’s become normalized in our society to disregard the opinions of disciplined individuals who have actually made amazing intellectual achievements in their field.Instead of heeding the advice of a legitimate expert, our society is more inclined to listen to the ignorant words of a pastor who compares mass shootings to drunk driving. A pastor is a traditional authority figure, but there’s nothing in the Bible about AR-15s. Pastors aren’t equipped to provide us with an answer on this issue. The continuing fixation on traditional values is holding our whole society back.The United States has become a nation of entitled ignorance. Our media has been weaponized to program the population to accept ineffective solutions to a wide swath of problems. Too often, the phrase “traditional values” is just a code word for a return to a time of ignorance, bigotry, and hatred.Traditional values were conceived in an era that has passed. Many of them are no longer relevant, and the ones that still are relevant are rarely mentioned. Think about this the next time a politician tries to politicize the mass murder of children by making a call for “traditional values.”Traditional values are not the solution. Traditional values created the mess.Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

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Hey Everyone!I had a great time chatting With Dash of The Halfway Cafe. I see his notes and they always make me laugh. He has the remarkable gift of being able to write satire that can be distinguished as satire even in these dystopian times.You can follow him here:Thank you PJ Schuster, Lisa | We Are The Third Estate, Ms. H, Ms.Yuse, Jason Gael, and many others for tuning into my live video with The Halfway Cafe! Join me for my next live video in the app.Please support me if you can!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

I’ve had the privilege of talking with Tony a couple of times and I really appreciate him. He’s new to Substack, but you can see that he’s exactly the kind of positive force of decency we need in this world. I am looking forward to featuring him in more conversations and introducing him to my creator friends. You can follow Tony here:And, as always, it’s my pleasure to talk to Will Fullwood.Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, julie elder, Robert Danna, Ms. H, PaulM, and many others for tuning into my live video with Will Fullwood and A BLACK EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI’d Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everyone!I loved this interview! A. Eevie Bateman is never afraid to ask the hard questions and Rachel Peace For Congress is exactly the kind of decent and hard-working representative we deserve. With progressive wins mounting across the country, we’re seeing that the general public has had enough of the status quo. Naturally, the status quo is terrified of this, so they’re starting their smear campaigns early.It’s never been more important to be deliberate in choosing where you get your information. The passive moderates present themselves as reasonable, but if you can’t pick a side between decency and child abuse, then I have serious doubts. Frankly, I think it’s time that we claimed some representation for people of integrity. Lord knows we’ve seen what happens when we get stuck with the opposite.If you want to learn more about Rachel, or help with her campaign, you can find her here:Rachel Peace for CongressAs always, the likes, comments, restacks and shares (to other social media platforms), make all the difference. Keep resisting folks! We’re winning. The oligarchs can’t hide the truth forever!Thank you LeftieProf, Stuart Cohen, Joanna, Patricia Wren, MLR, and many others for tuning into my live video with Rachel Peace For Congress and A. Eevie Bateman! Join me for my next live video in the app.This newsletter is free now and forever thanks to you. It’s also OF HUMAN ORIGIN (no AI). I worked too hard for too long to start cheating now. 🤣🤣Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

This newsletter is free now and forever thanks to you. It’s also OF HUMAN ORIGIN (no AI). I worked too hard for too long to start cheating now. 🤣🤣Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offThough the teachers came in professional attire, it was obvious they longed to wear their klan robes. Every day, you could see the shadow of their hate garments surrounding them like an aura. Even though the robes were white, they cast a shadow that threatened to block out all the light and color in the world.I didn’t know what I was in for when I first stepped into that ancient brick asbestos ridden building. Or I should say my waking mind didn’t know.That was the part of my being that focused on Saturday morning cartoons, toys at the dime store, and chocolate bars.But the unconscious part of me started sounding the alarm the moment the building appeared on the horizon. This was the primordial part of me. The knot of nerves going from my neck to my bowels. This is the part of you that has been programmed through the trauma of centuries. It remembers the moments where the light of your ancestors was nearly extinguished and it sends warnings.“Danger!”“Go no further!”“Do not trust!”“Run!”The thing about those teachers with their camouflaged white robes was that they knew the incantations to make children ignore their second mind.“You’re being ridiculous!”“This is the way it’s always been!”“You have to obey authority!”Then came the very worst lie of all, “You should be grateful.”Our daily punishment came in the ritualistic performance of gratitude. First we were expected to offer thanks for the chance circumstance of our birth.“Just think, if you’d been born in some other country, they would have tortured you every day.”We were just kids. We didn’t know what torture was. All we knew was that we were hungry and that we were scared and we relied on powers greater than ourselves for our very survival.The teachers could have taught us about love and compassion and decency. They could have modeled it with their actions. But they were loyal only to hate and punishment.Their lessons revolved around fear, obedience, and sin.“You’re bad little children. You were born bad. You were born imperfect. Fortunately you have us to set you straight. I’ll say it again, you should be thankful. You should thank us every day.”They didn’t like it when we asked questions.“Isn’t god all powerful?”“Yes!”“Then why would god make an imperfect child and require other imperfect people to fix those children.”“Why you impertinent little brat!”Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offOne of the first assessments of my conscious mind was that the purpose of school was to make children disinclined to ask any questions. I learned to absorb an endless wave of contradictions. They drilled me with lessons on how to read, but then when I picked books to read myself, they became enraged. They drilled me with lessons on how to do sums. But when I made my own calculations, the fury came.As we grew older, it became more commonplace for the teachers to lead their preferred students away. They’d come back changed, silent, and withdrawn. We were always the ones who were made to feel shame. They insisted we were the ones who had done something wrong.Early on, I realized that the whole operation only provided the premise of an education. Some part of me, the sleeping mind, recognized that there was value in the lessons that they provided. But those lessons were disguised in a way to make them seem absurd and meaningless. They were delivered in a way that felt spiteful and dismissive.“Sums are for losers, the way you gain status is through athletics.”I was new to the world. I hadn’t yet figured out how to sort groups into good and evil. I was confronted with a chaotic mass where everything I’d ever experience in life came at me in unexpected flashes without any warning.My instinctive self knew the warnings. It sent me signals through, nausea, fear, and panic. Little by little, I learned how to listen.The first days in my rural, public, white supremacy school were pure misery. I lost weight. I developed asthma. Yet day after day I was loaded onto a miserable bus filled with predators and sent to an institution that did its best to crush my inner spark of decency.We weren’t a church family, so that meant I didn’t know anybody. The churches in our town had all been trained to believe that they were the one true belief. They’d stand at the podium in their white robes and preach that anyone who didn’t believe as they did was somehow less than human.All the churches provided this lesson and all the children who went to those churches were uniquely tainted. They gathered together in the shadows in the corners and peered out at the unaffiliated with ravenous eyes dripping with judgment.Even without the benefit of experience, I recognized there was something odd about their expressions.When they spoke they claimed they stood for love and compassion and humanity. But when they looked at you their eyes twinkled like those of a predator.They didn’t resent that you weren’t of their group, they loved it. Knowing you were of a belief different than their own gave them permission to perceive you as a toy.They’d lurk then pounce and they’d each grab a limb. Then they’d pull and cackle and laugh as if delighting in the funny noises of a plaything rather than perceiving the cries of distress from a human being.Some of the bullies made you scream just to alleviate their boredom. Then they moved away with dull and glossy eyes that had already had the light of humanity snuffed out.One cold November morning, I found myself walking through the asphalt playground. The playground had once been grass and that had been one of my few points of comfort at the school. But I returned the next fall to find it had all been obliterated by the combination of stone and tar.Everything had been covered. The small tree in the corner where I’d been able to go to be alone and recharge had been torn up. The roots had been paved over. It was all gone. It smelled bad, and when the bullies threw you down it was hard and unforgiving.I endured it for a few days, unable to eat at lunch as always. I moved through the halls with my head bowed as was expected of me, attempting desperately not to draw attention. But there came a day, standing alone on a cold morning, where the burden felt too much. I felt hopeless. I felt despair. I almost cried, but I knew that if I cried I would be lost. The monsters would smell the blood of a wounded animal, come running, and pounce.A few days later, I got punched in the mouth. He threw me down, said, “I’ve always wanted to punch you in the mouth,” an then he punched me.That was the first time I ever experienced that kind of assault. Before the blow hit, I remember being paralyzed with terror. Was he going to destroy my teeth? Was he going to make my nose bleed? Would I be permanently disfigured?Then his fist hit my face. I was surprised that it didn’t hurt that much. He was a weak little piss-ant. The blow landed, there was a kind of hot flash. The bully, who had been sitting on me, got up and walked away as if he’d satisfied himself. It was odd watching him retreat. It was almost like he could have at least thanked me for that intimate moment we’d just shared against my will and without my consent.He walked off, almost hurrying as I was left to consider my feelings. I gingerly touched my lips with my fingers. I touched them with my tongue from the inside. There was maybe a slight taste of blood, but all the teeth seemed okay.That’s when I learned that the humiliation is probably worse than the physical pain. This is an important lesson because the majority of the bullies I’d encounter in my life were much more well versed in humiliation than physical torture.Physical torture is terrible. It crushes your body. The bullies that use physical torture might one day take your life.As a society, our focus tends to be more on physical assaults. They are easier to identify, even though we all know the aggressors usually go unpunished. Physical assaults leave visible marks, blood, bruises, and broken bones.That’s why the cruelest of tormentors turn to humiliation instead.A physical bully might kill you.An emotional bully might compel you to kill yourself. They turn your own conscious mind against you.But growing up in the white supremacy school, I learned their weakness. They can tell you lies. Then can seize control of your thoughts. But they can never reach your unconscious mind. The primordial part of you that remembers the trauma of generations can never be fooled. It always screams the truth.The power of the most dangerous bullies is that they know how to trick you into dismissing all the alarms.“Go into the dark alley.”“You can trust me.”“You’re being emotional.”“This is the way it has to be.”“Life isn’t fair, it’s not me.”My teachers were emotional bullies. My father was too. This was the tempest I was born into. Me a happy little child who only wanted to please. I was innocent and soft and simply wanted to do what was expected of me.Unfortunately, all my mentors made it clear that I was inadequate to please them. That was really the first and foundational lesson of the white supremacy school. They told us that we were inadequate. They told us we were flawed. They told us we were sinners. They called us slackers and losers and embarrassments. Everything they said and did was designed to fortify their deeply held personal belief that we were all less than human. We were expected to endure this treatment on the false promise that one day we’d grow into our status as people and be recognized, though there was little evidence that ever happened.Early on I learned it was worthless to appeal to the teachers at the white supremacy school to stop the torment.“He hit me.”“What did you do to deserve it?”There was never any question that I was somehow in the wrong even though I was the one who had endured the assault. I sat with that for a few days. I went through every sequence I was supposed to follow. No cavalry was coming. That process is what culminated in the day of despair.Then, something clicked.I decided to reject the paradigm. The moment the thought came, I felt a warm sense of approval from my second mind.“Yes,” it seemed to say. “You too have a right to survival. You are part of this world. It’s nobody’s truth to say you don’t belong here, no matter what absurd authority they claim. Fight back!”“But who will give me permission?”“I do, damn it! I do!”That same day, as always, some other pack of bullies approached me on the playground, but this time I decided not to run. They came at a full-on sprint and they expected me to flee so they were put off balance by my defiance.I kicked the first one in the groin. I’d learned from my experience with the face punching bully that I wasn’t strong enough to cause any real damage. Yet it was enough, down he went howling.The others stopped and looked and then something unexpected happened.They flagged down the same teacher that had ignored me before.“Mrs. Butterball! Look what Walter did!”I waited, expecting Mrs. Butterball to put them to the same question. “Well, what did you do to provoke him?” Instead, her permed hair and painted tan contorted into a face of rage. All the fury she’d absorbed from the pulpit emanated out of her as she charged me like a runaway planet. Only then did I notice the slight darkness around her eyes that came as a consequence of the holes in her klan garment.“How dare you attack this innocent child! Don’t you know that violence is evil? Why, I should beat you within an inch of your life to teach you!” she screamed. “You’re a bad boy, you’re a sinner, you’re a cheater, you’re an immoral monster!”Naturally it was all part of the programming, but I’d already figured her out. Even on that early day her response wasn’t as much of a surprise as you might have expected it to be. I turned for guidance from my sleeping mind.“Don’t listen to her. You did what they told you to do and they didn’t fulfill the promised contract. These people are false. Do not take her words into your heart.”So I stood and I listened to her screams. The lies fell like rain upon a stone.I sat through the meeting with the principal where they explained to me how dangerous it was to kick another boy in the groin.I sat as my parents nodded at me and told me not to do that ever again.Then, the very next day on the playground, when the bullies attacked, I kicked even harder. But this time I pounced on the prone and writhing body. I put my hand on his throat, looked into his eyes, and when I spoke I allowed my sleeping mind to choose the words.“Shut up and listen. I don’t care who you tell. I don’t care if I’m punished. If I see you coming after me I’m going to put you on your back. Next time I won’t stop kicking until you’re dead. Do you hear me? I’ll put you down. If you complain, if they punish me, I’ll give you anything they do to me a thousandfold. Do you get it yet? I’m not your plaything. I’m not your toy. I have a right to be here. Leave me the f**k alone. I swear to god.”Then, heart pumping, I got up and walked away indifferent to the rest of the pack that looked at me with astonishment. They were all cowards. I knew that already. My sleeping mind knew.They didn’t tell.They didn’t bother me anymore. But they bothered others. They still do.I’d discovered the whole damn system was a lie. The teachers with their invisible klan hoods spewed nonsense. They claimed to want to protect us, then they raped us and abused us. They claimed to care about justice, but they demonstrated they cared only about impunity.They didn’t care at all for the abused.But I also learned I had an ally in my instinctive self. We’re parts of the universe whether those that falsely claim dominion recognize it or not. The universe knows the truth.All I had to do was listen.I listened.Little by little, the primordial knowledge became easier to perceive.Oppressors shout lies and insults and attempt to deceive.The universe sings glorious truth with such pristine, pure and eternal beauty that it fills your heart with joy.Eventually, I recognized that the teachers at the white supremacy school were angry exactly because they’d rejected that cosmic symphony. Without it, they couldn’t practice self-love and they resented the evidence of self-love in any other.They targeted children. That’s the world I was born into. That’s the world that still exists. That’s the world it would become my destiny to dismantle.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

I’ll never get a big 3 publishing contract because our literary community is just a propaganda empire owned by oligarchs. But YOU allow me to keep writing! THANK YOU!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offThere are none so blind as those that will not see and writers are among the very worst. When scholars look back on this era, I expect they will lament the complete lack of support for any sort of creative movement.I’ve been a writer all my life. It’s not a choice, it’s a calling. When I started off, I honestly believed that if I wrote something good and meaningful, it would find an audience.Today, I’m fifty years old. I’ve written articles that have been shared hundreds of thousands of times. I’ve developed huge followings on a number of platforms. There is an audience out there that hungers for a different narrative. But I never anticipated how much censorship and oppression I would encounter.This is supposed to be the “land of the free” and the “home of the brave.” It is neither.Instead, we live in a propaganda society that deliberately censors vitally important narratives. Our literary mechanism is run by powerful people who have no need of releasing quality products. They are of the class that prints their own money, and they’re part of an establishment that suppresses rather than elevates important voices.“Maybe your work is just terrible?”It’s astonishing to me how many writers are willing to believe the false narratives of our time. They fall for them hook, line, and sinker. It’s comical how many people who consider themselves “critical thinkers” are willing to repeat corporate narratives that passively justify oppression.Look around people!All you have to do is examine news stations, and movies, and public education and you see that white narratives are overrepresented at the expense of everyone else. When you are scanning the radio as you drive down the highway, you’ll hear thirty selections from today’s most overplayed pop stars, and not a single protest song.They are programming your mind into a passive state of obedience. Yet, when I talk about this, even with educated people, they tend to think that I’m the one at fault. They blame my work for not being good enough, rather than even entertain the possibility that there might be flaws in our system.These haughty comments come from people who themselves have not earned a major contract. How is it they can’t see that any insult they apply to me must also cast shade on them?Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% off“Where’s your contract then?”I’ve been working in this industry long enough to know the difference between bot swarms and the ill-conceived comments of otherwise intelligent people. It doesn’t escape my notice when somebody reads my title and then scrolls to the comments without even attempting to absorb the argument.I can detect that in three words. Dishonest interactions give themselves away. Most of the time they reference arguments I’ve already dismantled in my text. I don’t care how accomplished you think you are, don’t leave a comment without doing me the courtesy of reading first.That’s disrespectful.But for the life of me I can’t comprehend how the academic community can be so intentionally obtuse. It’s as if they think their compliance with the false standard of major publishing virtually guarantees them a contract. We have accomplished scholars in positions of power who are willing to self-censor themselves throughout their entire lives because they don’t want to risk their chances of landing a six figure deal.How can people be so smart and miss something that’s so obvious? You aren’t a “temporarily inconvenienced billionaire.” You’re the same working class schmuck as the rest of us.Deal with reality for a change.Don’t patronize industries that don’t care about youIt’s called a rat race for a reason. All we do is chase, chase, chase. Early on we do this because we’ve been deceived by false counselors who manipulate us for their own gain. I’m talking about abusive parents, abusive employers, and an abusive society.They always dangle the promise of reward. All you have to do is give a little more and work a little harder and wait a little longer, and all the riches will come. That’s what they say. But in reality, all you do is work hard all your life, give everything, and receive nothing in return.So many writers are so laser focused on a big three contract that they squander their own talent and time. These are individuals who point to other groups in our society and claim they’re “in a cult.” But they steadfastly refuse to recognize the ways they too have been trained to disregard the evidence of their own senses.It happens to writers all the time. In fact, I believe the proliferation of this unfortunate state of self-delusion is largely responsible for the rapid deterioration of our society.Intelligent people have learned not to say anything “too divisive” or “too ambitious” because they’ve been trained to think that will cut off their chances of some later reward.They’re afraid. Nobody who writes with fear instead of courage will ever write anything of significance.This is your time, don’t waste itI’ve been writing for fifty years not because it’s lucrative, but because I’m stubborn. I firmly believe that I know as much or more about writing than any editor or agent. A statement like that will have all the academics hoping for a big contract to gasp and clutch their pearls. It’s bizarre that otherwise intelligent people still believe that wealth equates to competence.We’ve had ample evidence to prove that’s not the case. Look around. The only thing the big publishers have is access to a distribution mechanism and virtually limitless funds. Yet their books continue to fail. The only absurdity is that capable people still delude themselves into thinking this system is legitimate.It’s time for our brilliant community of academics to recognize we are the victims of a oligarch owned propaganda mechanism. Any discerning look at what the big publishers offer will reveal an incomprehensible and unproductive knot of contradictions. Yet our best people blind themselves to this reality out of a sense of false and undeserved loyalty.We will never be free until we have a free press. That means we have to demand that works of merit are allowed to gather their rightful audiences rather than be censored and buried. The publishing industry chokes us with the language of ignorance and hate.Give yourself permission to recognize corruption. The path of truth is longer, but it’s the only one that offers any chance of success.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello!I really enjoyed this talk with Kait Justice! Her experience is so similar to my own. When I first messaged her, we started chatting about our various writing projects. Writing teaches you how to manufacture narratives, and when you study enough narratives you begin to perceive the influence of hostile forces on our reality.Malicious entities are good at hiding themselves, but they leave clues behind. Kait and I shared a common memory of sitting in a classroom asking questions about all the things that contradicted only to have the teacher become angry—yup, that pretty much sums up the modern world!Kait has been working on some truly astonishing articles. Everything I’ve read of hers contains so much information that you have to read it two or three times to absorb it all. Believe me, when you do, you become empowered. I hope you enjoy this talk as much as I did. You can follow Kait here:Thank you Cat: Poli-Psych, Mary Cumens, LeftieProf, Gina Stefanowicz, Rose, and many others for tuning into my live video with Kait Justice! Join me for my next live video in the app.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI’m so happy you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello Everyone!It’s always my great pleasure to talk with Stephanie G Wilson, PhD, Robert Danna, and Laci Loew. In this conversation, we tried to come up with a strategy for 2040 to match the corrupt industriousness of the right. However, even though that was our objective, I kept pulling the conversation back to the present (shame on me). Still, I feel that we covered a lot of ground and I felt hopeful after having this talk. I hope you will too!You can find out more about Bob’s plan on his page here:Thank you Beth Cruz, Soso's World, Chris Resists, Bre Phillips, Stuart Cohen, and many others for tuning into my live video with Stephanie G Wilson, PhD and Robert Danna! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Every single one of the candidates I’ve talked to has been fantastic. I love primary challengers because the American public deserves to have a choice when it comes to elections. That means elections at every level. The people always deserve to know who is running, what they stand for, and what they stand to gain with an alternative.The simple fact is that politics as usual in the United States isn’t working. We need a new generation of leadership. We need people who are ready to talk to regular human beings and hear their concerns.I really enjoyed talking with SugarRhi~ and Joseph Perez-Caputo! He’s an engaging man, and his story about his motivation for obtaining universal healthcare is extremely relatable. Let’s do the hard work of getting him on the ballot so that our voice gets some representation on the debate stage. The fight is today everyone!Find him here:* Instagram* BlueskyThank you Cat: Poli-Psych, Mandy Ohman, Donna Dupont, Lynn, Kim Meldahl, and many others for tuning into my live video with Joseph Perez-Caputo and SugarRhi~! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Today Anthony Christian joined me for this talk with Alex Rikleen. Alex is running for the Senate in Massachusetts. The thing I always want to emphasize with these talks is that primaries are healthy because they activate the voting base and they allow candidates to listen to diverse perspectives.Frankly, we’ve had enough of the undemocratic process that results in anointed DNC candidates who go on to lose. Primaries also allow name recognition, and we absolutely need more representatives like Alex at various levels of government.You can learn more about Alex here.It’s not particularly easy to get on the ballot in Massachusetts, so please check out Alex’s web page and do what you can to help. This is particularly important if you or somebody you know lives in Massachusetts.Friends, the situation in the United States is dire. We can’t wait for the midterms, we can’t even wait for the primaries. Getting involved in campaigns like what Alex is running is something we can do today. You’ll feel better. You’ll be heard. You’ll reconnect with the power our system has made us forget we possess.It’s a great feeling.You can follow Alex on substack here:Thank you LeftieProf, Under the Golden Boot, Rachel-We are Renee and Keith, Kevin, E West, and many others for tuning into my live video with Anthony Christian and Alex Rikleen! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for supporting the resistance! Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offAmerica is a nation of lies.It is not a “great” nation or a “free” nation or a “world leader.” This is a country built on slavery and bent on global domination. Every enterprise is meant to feed the rich and starve the poor.It’s a dog eat dog country and 99% of the population lives in perpetual terror of a very small pack of huge and ferocious beasts.We’re controlled by lies. For every lie we stand up to fight, ten more smaller lies slip through our defenses. Decent people find themselves constantly occupied with the labor of dismantling the endless false paradigms which spring up like weeds. We’re so busy in this pursuit that we have no time left over to indulge in productive action.The small lies are like a virus, and by the time we bring down one of the big ones, the smaller ones have grown large enough to occupy the vacant space. It’s a constant shell game of lies, and we’re the eternal losers.As a large lie expels its lingering death rattle, our opponents always try to coerce us into acknowledging, as if in concession, the inherent truth of a small lie. Exhausted from the fight, we capitulate. But we can’t afford to be generous in victory, that’s exactly what gives the small lies their strength.The big lieMost people are familiar with the concept of the big lie. As much as Americans profess to hate the nazis, they certainly have proven adept at applying the propaganda techniques employed by Joesph Goebbels. Indeed, modern American culture uses a complex system of social control that even the members of the third reich might find innovative.The big lie is alive and well in the United States, in fact, it’s thriving. Part of the reason is that radical right wing politicians have learned how to supplement and support their big lies with an endless series of little lies. In America, the truth isn’t struck down by a single blow. Instead, it’s death by a million cuts.Small lies are cultivated and become the basis of how the general population thinks. People who are too stupid to think for themselves are brainwashed into believing a steady stream of false soundbites. They arrange these soundbites to give themselves the approximation of an independent personality. These people are thereby coerced into acting as unknowing foot soldiers who propagate a message of blatantly false propaganda which can infiltrate areas the state cannot reach through the power of public broadcasting.They spread their lies over dinner tables and at social gatherings. They create a background static that becomes a fertile ground for the next mass brainwashing campaign. Here are some examples.It’s a lie to say the media is liberalThis is the kind of statement people make without any concern that it might be contested. They say that the media is liberal not as an opinion, but as an indisputable fact. However, the reality is that there is no actual evidence to support this absurd claim.The argument will often be made that the media is liberal because the majority of journalists lean liberal. However, even if the writers are liberal, in the end, the media outlets always get to decide what stories are published. In recent times, conservative groups have been consolidating media groups exactly for the purpose of controlling the news.Billionaires own our media, not liberals, and it’s billionaires who perpetuate the lie that the media is against them. People often find they don’t have the energy to fight the claim that the media is liberal, but it’s a foundational argument for further attacks on our freedoms.Establishing the small lie that the media is liberal, helps prop up the larger lie that the media can’t be trusted.It’s a lie to say that prayer is prohibited in schoolsThe radical right loves to perpetuate the false claim that their religion is somehow oppressed even though there is absolutely no evidence to make that case. You’ll often see people repeat the lie that prayer is prohibited in schools and use this as a basis for an argument that all of our social problems could be resolved if we’d only return to traditional values.However, the statement that prayer is prohibited at schools is blatantly untrue.There is nothing more offensive than when a bunch of entitled Christians throw themselves a pity party over some non-existent attack on their “rights.” The only thing that’s prohibited is forcing kids to participate in some prayer that has nothing to do with their own personal religion. The Supreme Court’s decision actually protects Christians along with the members of every other religion practiced in this country.The small lie that prayer is prohibited is used to prop up the larger lie that there is an ongoing war on Christianity. This lie is then leveraged to create the artificial impression of a massive effort to attack Constitutional rights and freedoms which is based on a complete fabrication.It’s a lie to say that wealthy people are job creatorsPeople assume that because wealthy people have the money, the whole economy starts and finishes with them. However, the truth about wealthy people is that they aren’t inclined to use their money. They just hoard it like a dragon and indifferently watch the people and society around them wither and die.This belief represents yet another way where uneducated, juvenile thought can be molded into a weapon which is then used to attack the middle class.The uncontested lie that rich people are somehow “necessary” is used to prop up the larger lies of massive tax breaks for the elites, and also leads to the massive taxpayer funded bail outs which seem to happen every decade or so.The bail outs themselves disprove the hypothesis. If rich people are such great job creators, why do they perpetually need bail outs and subsidies to stay in business?Don’t ever concede a lie out of exhaustion or convenienceIn any argument you have to examine the validity of every assumption. The problem with attempting to engage in honest philosophical discussion with members of the radical right is that they hit you with such a rapid succession of lies that it’s difficult to know where to respond.Decent people always attempt to be courteous, even in an argument. Indecent people always opt for a no holds barred, take no prisoners form of attack. If they can slip their lies into public record and have them go unchallenged, they take the moment as a victory even if they lose the debate in question.Good people have to be more willing to call out lies, both big and small, when they are carelessly tossed into public discourse. The more a small lie is repeated, the more the general population begins to accept it as true. Once a lie is widely believed, it becomes very difficult to dispel the notion.Our society has deteriorated to the point where we can no longer afford to be mindful of the feelings of the members of the radical right. They can’t be allowed to spew lie after lie and continue on making public statements unopposed. If challenging them on a lie humiliates them, then so be it. If it causes you to lose friends, that’s something you have to tolerate as well. Lies have no place in polite discourse, and failing to challenge small lies leaves you exposed to getting buried later as they are widely adopted and weaponized.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Anything helpsThanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offHello everyone!It was my great privilege to have this very important conversation with Dr. Yamicia Connor and A. Eevie Bateman. The simple fact is that our media and our government is absolutely failing us. Women and children are being forced to die in agony in the United States, even though we have the knowledge to prevent their suffering.It’s a crime against humanity. It’s a crime against our families. It’s a crime against every one of us.Abortion bans lead to a direct increase in loss of life, yet malicious forces bury the data for the sake of preserving the ideology of cruelty. This has to change. We’ve all been indoctrinated to allow people to have their “deeply held beliefs” but at some point we have to start shouting about the fact that tolerating those beliefs causes human beings to die in agony.Dr. Connor is a tremendous resource and it’s in times like these that I wish I had a bigger platform. She has all the information we need, and she has the receipts to back it all up. However, we are in an era of data suppression. There are forces at work deliberately impeding our data collection. The government doesn’t want us to know how much damage it’s inflicting upon us.So, it’s up to us to spread the word. For those of you who are creators, please consider talking with Dr. Connor. Check out her web page and write articles to help share the truth of what’s happening. The simple fact is that the American people are being decimated. This is as big a story as anything else (and there are plenty of terrible scandals going around).We won’t solve this through silence. Please restack this. Please tell people about it. Please speak out. You’ll save the life of somebody you know. It’s only a matter of time that our corrupt system will consume everyone.Check out Dr. Connor’s web page here:LaboraCollective.comAlso, follow these two brilliant women here:Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Ms.Yuse, Joanna, Kim Meldahl, MLR, and many others for tuning into my live video with Dr. Yamicia Connor and A. Eevie Bateman! Join me for my next live video in the app.Please support me if you can. I certainly need it because I’m not some millionaire, dark money sponsored phony who works for corrupt oligarchs.100% human writing. Zero AI.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

100% human writing. Zero AI.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offWill we rise to the occasion or succumb to the pressure of corruption? That is the essential question of this moment.Throughout much of our lives, we’re forced to navigate a formless void. We’re born without awareness into a world we must accept on its own terms. Our first challenge is merely to survive.Along the way, we’re all tempted to betray the people around us for the sake of our own benefit. Some embrace that choice easily. Others resist. Often, it feels as if the path of resistance is the one that never offers any reward.Yet many of us take it anyway.The people I respect are the ones that chose to live simple lives. My wife is an ELL teacher in a city that accommodates refugees. She helps children who have been removed from their culture, their continent, and their families.The rooms they grew up in are gone. The stuffed animals they used to hold to provide comfort have been burned. The embrace of their mother is a fading memory.The United States of America can be divided into two opposing ideologies. There are those who look at the meek and vulnerable and see them as an exploitable opportunity for personal enrichment. Then there are those like my wife who allows herself to be guided by compassion. Her instinct is to help. She doesn’t even consider any other option.The issue humanity faces is that the corrupt always end up inheriting all the power. They lie, they steal, they cheat. They amass great fortunes and weaponize that wealth to engage in further destruction.This is the world we’re born into as vulnerable children. We all know what it means to be the target of malicious men with insatiable appetites for cruelty.We’re surrounded by people who are so offended by the sight of happiness that they’ll launch an unprovoked attack on an innocent child who is only minding his business.As a consequence, we learn to suppress our joy so that bad people cannot see. In some ways that’s a victory. In others it is a defeat.Survival is our first challenge. As we meet that challenge, we navigate our world. The less inclined we are to exploit others, the more our power grows, but we cannot see it. Our strength is not to be found in external extravagance. Instead, it’s a fortification of the spirit. A hardening of the will that makes us deliberately choose decency even though we’re externally compelled again and again to make accommodations for evil.We would avoid the battle if it were up to us, but evil forces are industrious. They overextend themselves, and they seek us out.Eventually, we reach a point where conflict can no longer be avoided. They come together in a clash where the future of humanity will be decided. It is a manifestation of the eternal struggle between corrupt forces who are nothing without their frivolous, external, and anointed power, and the decent people who put the needs of others above their own.In these moments we discover where true power exists. It doesn’t come through flash and inheritance. It doesn’t come from artificial constructions and inventions.The foundation that endures is one that’s built on kindness. That’s the enduring truth even though it’s obfuscated through the illusion of our shared experience.We all watch the bully abuse a child and escape unscathed. We see awful men make cruel jokes to the delight of an uncouth mob. We see men without merit appointed to positions of reverence even though they’ve done nothing to earn the ascension.It’s enough to make even the most compassionate among us grow cynical.Cynicism is a survival response. Oftentimes, the most gruff and frustrated among us are the most committed in their persistence to the righteous cause.A poor person sleeps better on a slab of stone than a rich man sleeps on a featherbed. The poor person does not have the torment of his conscience to disturb his dreams.Those of us who are part of the resistance have been surprised to discover how prepared we are for this moment. The universe does not take chances. Today, it feels as if we were placed into situations of struggle to prepare us for this. Our whole lives have been a crucible. We’ve become fortified. If we didn’t break before, it’s not going to happen now in this time of greatest consequence.Above all else, that’s the lesson that has become clear to me. In a way, the internal conflict is easier now. I have spent decades determining which side I’m on. Long ago I determined I’d rather make a bad choice of my own than be forced to bear the burden of somebody else’s selfishness.We have guidance. We only have to listen. Anyone who insists on controlling your decisions does so because they’re too cowardly to endure the consequences of their compulsions.These are the times that put our essential spirit to the test.I didn’t sell out my classmates to satiate the cruelty of a bully. I didn’t betray my children. Above all us, I refuse to betray myself.Little by little we’re all beginning to perceive the essential weakness of authority. They have tasks for us not because they’re so powerful, but because they’re so weak. It’s up to we the laborers to assemble and operate the world. Soon it will be revealed that the cruel men who stand behind the levers of control got there because they have no skill to offer.Their threats are empty. Without us they crumble.Their wanton indulgence of luxury only represents a deferral of their condemnation. The rest of us have begun to pierce the illusion. All the noise and the flashing lights are but distractions.The truth is like a stone at the center of your eternal self. We must never exchange anything essential for a promise that will never be fulfilled.Another era of the charlatans and the liars is coming to an end. The people who made the wrong choice long ago, are crying out in desperation. But we need to be mindful that it wasn’t a single mistake. They made that choice again and again. They committed betrayal after betrayal, laughing all the while, hundreds of them, seemingly infinite...They plead for a chance at redemption, but they’re really only looking for another opportunity to dig their claws in. They ask for money and power based on the promise that a reward will be given.No reward is forthcoming.If these corrupt souls truly sought redemption, they would live as we do. They’d retreat from the spotlight. They’d eschew the artificial trappings of control. Instead, they’d work humbly to help the innocent who have been deprived of their footing and their families and their power.Our first challenge is survival, but you do not meet that challenge by insisting every companion is a rival.The time has come for the universe to determine if we have made good choices or not. It is beyond the scope of humanity to make the final judgement. You’ve put in the years. You’ve made your decisions. The only thing left is for the program to run out.I’m not afraid.The same can’t be said for those who currently claim all the accolades.Observe their fate and remember.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

If these options are too much, please DM me. I’d love to have you as a supporter!Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offMy father was the first to invoke the word “hate” when it came to describing our relationship. My girlfriend and I were in the car with him. He said something awful. I responded. He went into a typical, petulant, narcissistic huff and grumbled, “Great, now you hate me too.”Even in the heat of the moment, I thought it odd that he’d pick that word. It has taken me thirty years to recognize his choice was a consequence of the feelings he harbored for me.With narcissists, every accusation is a confession. We know that already, but that phrase has relevance on levels we haven’t yet given ourselves permission to explore.Looking back, I recognize that his hate began about the time I turned thirteen. As I grew into my power, he grew into his hate. Perhaps if I’d stayed a soft little boy all my life, we could have maintained a state of perpetual indifference. He could have gone on with his forgetting of my birthdays, and even my name. I could have gone on pretending I didn’t need recognition or affection from anybody.It was a dynamic of survival and I just barely survived.One of the main skills you learn from growing up with a narcissist is self-actualization. It’s not taught to you. You figure it out as you thrash around in the storm looking for a lifeline.But the self-actualization you learn under those circumstances is tainted. It consists of an understanding that expectations lead to disappointment. If you stop yourself from hoping, you can never be disappointed. If you stop yourself from feeling, you can never be hurt.You survive, but you die anyway.Really all you teach yourself is to not trust anyone. I know my dad was bullied terribly as a child. I pity him as a child. As an adult, he has a responsibility to process and overcome his pain.The trauma of the parent should never be seen as the child’s responsibility to fix. His job was to love me. He abdicated that duty.It took me a long time to overcome the liabilities of my indoctrinated worldview. I carried traces of that stunted emotional development into my marriage. My wife taught me that I could trust her. We learned to celebrate each other. When you teach yourself not to have expectations, you are cut off from recognizing the expectations of others. It’s a self-imposed blind spot that becomes a self-inflicted wound. That attitude sabotages any chance of ever cultivating any sincere and enduring affection.Today, I pay attention to my wife’s expectations and I aspire to meet them. Sometimes I fail, but I try. We forgive each other. We do better. We don’t fester in eternal frustration.No expectations, no disappointment, is no way to live.My dad could tolerate me when I was small and weak, but he started to get nervous as I grew. He was careful to keep me broken down. He emphasized my weaknesses and never celebrated my achievements. He humiliated me in public every time it seemed I might be feeling good about myself. I accepted his behavior as that of a normal, loving parent.I didn’t realize until much later that his behavior was an example of hate.Even now, he wouldn’t admit that’s what he felt. If i confronted him he’d likely go into a rage. Either that, or he’d go into his typical, petulant, narcissistic huff. “You’re so ungrateful,” he’d say. “Everything was fine until you went insane.”The tragedy of my father’s life is that it’s unexamined. At no point did he ever reflect on his behaviors and recognize how he pushed away anyone who truly cared. Their affection made him uncomfortable because he’d trained himself to think it impossible.He taught himself to hate anyone who loved him, and he made us suffer for it.“It’s not me that’s cruel, it’s the world,” he’d claim. “Why am I to blame? Why do you hate me? I’m just beating you to make you tougher so you can survive? Don’t you see? Everything good in your life is because of me!”He drove friends and loved ones away and had the nerve to feel grievance rather than remorse.The question he should have asked is whether or not his cruelty was truly necessary?Could he not have fortified those around him by another means? Perhaps a means that offered less brutality?“We’ve always done it this way? Look at me! That’s the way my parents raised me and I turned out okay!”Alone and angry and aggrieved is not okay.I think in my case I broke the cycle through a combination of fear and resentment. I grew stronger than he is. I earned better grades. I had beautiful girlfriends. I was better looking, funnier, more popular. I exceeded him in every way and he hated me for it.I now have children of my own. They, too, are better than me in every way possible. Their mother is from Peru and we live in Northern Wisconsin. They possess a beauty that renders people awkward and stunned. My children are better athletes than me. They’re smarter. They engage in astonishing flights of creativity. In every way possible they’ve exceeded me.I do not resent them for it.In fact, nothing could bring me more joy. I celebrate their power every day. I do my best to cultivate it. I see them on a trajectory that will lead to heights I could have never imagined.I’ve never once felt any resentment for them over their good fortune. I’m only relieved that they didn’t have to endure the same torments the universe had in store for me.The difference between me and my father is that I don’t hate my children. I don’t even hate my father. But he hates me. He’s always hated me, even if he’s never been able to admit it to himself.As I became stronger, he did his best to break me down. Again, I didn’t realize I was in a life or death struggle with an enemy. I thought this was simply the way growing up had to be. I tried to abide by the unspoken rules of our relationship, even though they didn’t make sense to me.My father’s rules were contradictory.He became mad if I got good grades and mad if I didn’t. I tried and tried but he couldn’t be pleased.I see now that confusion was his strategy. He wanted to overwhelm me into complacency. Cultivating impostor syndrome, accusations of moral depravity, calling me a deadbeat, all of this was leveraged to make me voluntarily abdicate my autonomy.“Why even try when you’ll never be as good as me?”Self-doubt and self-destruction are the two primary weapons of an authoritarian. They know they lose their power when challenged. When they recognize a potential enemy is growing in strength, they commit to a strategy of sabotage.In my early twenties, I was a broken person. I dropped out of college because of crippling anxiety. I couldn’t speak to my fellow classmates. Whenever I opened my mouth, I had to prepare for humiliation. I’d learned that humiliation was how people communicated with each other. My conscious mind had convinced itself that’s how they shared affection. But my second mind, my intuitive mind, knew better.It took me thirty years to consciously recognize that my father hated me, but some part knew right away. I began to distance myself from him. The longer the absences went, the more I was able to heal. I started running marathons and doing cross-country ski races. I stacked successes. I became more powerful. I achieved things impervious to the malicious robbery of his spiteful comments.Crossing the finish line of a thirty mile ski race in subfreezing conditions, I felt at peace. The volume was turned down. His influence was on the wane. I began to recognize I didn’t need him.Abusive people try to make you dependent. They ruin your self-esteem by claiming you’re worthless. Then they try to present themselves as the only relationship that you will ever need.“You aren’t smart enough to support yourself. You need me. Get over it. You should be more grateful.”How many times have I heard him say, “You should be more grateful?”Grateful for what? Your hate?The hardest part of getting away is coming upon a new challenge. Life is hard under the best of circumstances. You face obstacle after obstacle. You can get away from an abuser, things can be going fine, and then something hits that will drive you back to them.Because they hate you, they’ll leverage the moment for all its worth. “Only I can fix this problem. You see? You see? You need me. You can never escape me. Stop pretending that you’re something you’re not.”They are out there counting on the trauma bond to bring you back. To sever that, you must find a new support community. You must ask for help from the people he’s made you think will never offer any. That’s the last challenge you have to overcome before you’re finally free. That’s the last bit of grooming you have to expel.Understand your narcissistic abuser hates you. Never give them the benefit of the doubt. Any time they appear to be doing something kind, it’s only so that they can abuse you further.My father was the first person to invoke the word “hate” to describe our relationship. He accused me of having the feelings he harbored. It confused me when he used that word. I hadn’t realized then that he’d accidentally told the truth about himself. I had a long way to go to free myself of his influence.The tragedy in all this is that, at any point, he could have simply put his hate away. He could have made the choice to celebrate my victories rather than view them as a mirror for his shame. He could have resolved to become an ally rather than an adversary.He pressured me to choose between loving myself and loving him. He framed self-love as selfish. My wife taught me different. For decades, I tried to make myself see the world from his perspective, but in the end I chose myself, I chose my wife, I chose my kids.My narcissistic father hates me, but I still love him. It’s such a shame to consider all he was given that went to waste. Even now he refuses to recognize the truth, but his, not mine, was the life that became a sacrifice to hate.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe

Hello everyone!I really appreciated this conversation with Natasha K. and A. Eevie Bateman. I keep commenting on how the cruelty of our narcissistic Republican regime mirrors the cruelty of abusive relationships. The silver lining is that those of us who have endured abuse can use our knowledge to help educate others.The key piece of advice is this: trust your instincts! Your body knows when you’re being mistreated before your mind does.YOU DESERVE BETTER!I also have to say that I feel so privileged that these two brilliant women would allow me to have this conversation with them. Make sure to follow them here:Thank you Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Mandy Ohman, Kyra Faison-Gardner, Lynette, Acejonesz, and many others for tuning into my live video with Natasha K. and A. Eevie Bateman! Join me for my next live video in the app.Thanks for your support: 30% off 💙 40% off 💙 50% off 💙 60% offI'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe