[SOC]

I have been giving some thought to my popularity. When I talk about this, people think I am referring to blog traffic or number of Facebook friends. The truth is that my blog traffic is rather scant compared to so many other blogs out there. I do have a lot of Facebook friends, but they defriend me at the rate of ten a week as well. This popularity exists in the real world. My interactions with people are on par with my interactions here at the C-blog or on Facebook.

I like to think the reason people like me so much is my sunny personality and cheery disposition. But I'm not like this. I like to think it is diplomacy, but that definitely isn't it. I say what I think. The irony is that the people who seem most taken with me are ones who actually disagree with me the most.

The reason I am interested in this phenomenon is because it was not always this way. This changed for me only about five years ago. What changed in my life at age 35? Basically, my worldview changed. My worldview is what I call "secular individualism" which is basically that I am a freethinking atheist libertarian. Throughout my teens and twenties, I was a right wing Calvinist. I was very unpopular then. Hated is a more precise term. By the time I was 30, I had dropped all that shit seeing it for what it was--delusion. By 35, I started feeling like a rock star as I jettisoned religion and statism and developed a great deal of humility. I think this was key to my popularity.

My worldview makes me nonaggressive. I can be critical of other people. I am definitely opinionated. But I suspect people find in me a certain freedom and acceptance they don't encounter with other people. I believe this because this is what makes statists and religionists so damn nauseating. They are either judging you or telling you what to do or denigrating you. It comes out in their speech and everything they do. When you are around these people, they are either trying to make you feel guilty or look stupid. Naturally, these people piss me off, and I take special glee in cussing them the fuck out. You would think these reactions would make me unpopular, but they seem to make me even more popular.

I am a one man revolution. My worldview is what people want and need. They may not embrace it since the change is more than they can bear. But they recognize in me what they want in their lives. The sad thing is they all want my approval. They all want my love. I don't know why people are like this. I just know that I can't give my blessing to anyone or anything because it runs totally counter to what I believe. There are no popes in secular individualism. You are on your own. I'd rather be flipped the bird than have someone ask to kiss my ring.

My personality is about the same. I look the same and generally act the same. But I am definitely happier today than I was then. I got my mind right. That is the only thing that changed with me. I changed my thinking. My life was a search, but I found what I was looking for. It is the same thing everybody else is looking for. I think this is why I am so popular now. They want what I have.

It is fairly easy to have what I have. I give it away free on this blog. I don't have any secrets. A secret is where some guru charges you cash for knowledge you find later to be bullshit. But I can sum it all up in one word--freedom. People want freedom. They see me as being free, and this is what they want. They want to be free. I suspect this is the reason people idolize the rich, the famous, and the powerful. But I don't have money, fame, or power. If anything, I show that you can be free without those things. Freedom is the real prize.

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