The Silent Mutiny Discussion

1. Have you ever heard your family squabble over money?

2. What are some things you think these people might have to give up for the good of your family’s finances: dad, mom, you, your brother or sister?
3. It is said that the average family does not have an extra $400 in reserve for medical emergencies. Do you think yours does?

4. What does the phrase ‘living pay check to pay check’ mean? Does it apply to your life or the lives of people you know?

1. How much would a man with a billion dollars have left over if he paid 90% taxes?

2. Could his family live well on that?

3. How many families needing 150,000 a year could live on that?
4. How many families would his 90% support?

5. Can you see where the greatness back in the 50’s and 60’s came from now?

1. Should young people have the right to protest a war they were being drafted to fight if the war is unfair?

2. Should the government shoot them down to shut them up?

3. Is it right for students in other universities to protest these shootings?

4. It is right for young people to understand global affairs and foreign policy and to know the facts about who they are being asked to go to war with?

5. What do you think of a government that seeks to de-educate its young people to keep them ignorant and quiet?

1.     How much would a man making 100,000,000 a year have left over if he paid 90% taxes? Can his family live on that? How many families needing 150,000 a year could live on that? Does he need a tax break?

2. How much would a man making 10,000,000 a year have left over if he paid 90% taxes? Can his family live on that? How many families needing 150,000 a year can live on that? Does he need a tax break?

1. In the 1960’s, one worker could support a family of three, make his mortgage and car payments, have health insurance for the entire family, and take a two-week annual vacation, and be paid overtime for his work. Is your family getting this?

2. Can your whole family survive on one of your parent’s salaries alone?

3. Who’s paying for your family’s health insurance?

4. Is your family going to take a two-week holiday this year?

No questions, sorry. Do you think you can do it all by yourself?

1. You saw above what the top 3% of the country is making. They are truly wealthy, aren’t they?

2. How many years would you have to work to make 10,000,000 if you were making 2000 a month?

3. Have you known of an old man or old woman who had to sell her house to pay for her nursing home?

4. Don’t you think it is kind of crazy to have to use Go Fund Me to pay for your surgery or funeral living in the richest country on the planet?

1. Go to https://ballotpedia.org/Personal_Gain_Index_(U.S._Congress)

Who has made the most money while in office? How did they get it?

2. Listen to the 7-minute talk here: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/10/1193223731/filthy-rich-politicians-scrutinizes-the-wealth-of-elected-officials

What did you find out?

3. Go to https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grant-cardone-asks-politicians-become-205942270.html  

What did you find out?

4. Look at how they told your family COVID-19 was not a problem, while making a fortune off it. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/investigate-these-senators-profiting-off-of-a-pandemic/?source=twitter

5. Look at this: https://www.businessinsider.com/congress-stock-act-violations-senate-house-trading-2021-9  

What did you find out?

6. Lobbyists a people who givemoney to politicians for their political campaigns for favors later.

https://www.investopedia.com/investing/which-industry-spends-most-lobbying-antm-so/

Look here who’s buying your lawmakers?

1. As citizens, people often think they only have one vote. In fact, how many candidates do people vote for on average at each election in the USA? Ask Chat GPT.

2. Where do the lobbyists in pharmaceutical and insurance companies get their money to lobby the lawmakers? So, why don’t you in the USA have universal healthcare insurance like most countries in the world?

 1. What do they dangle in front of you to get you to buy shampoo? What scary things are being put behind you to
push you to buy it?

2. What do they dangle in front of you to get to buy a loan? What scary things are they putting behind you to push you to get the loan?

3. What do they dangle in front of you to join the military? What things are they scaring you with to get you to join up?

4. What is more enticing to you, a video game or algebra?

5. What is more exciting to you, TikTok/IG scrolling or cleaning your room?

1.     What do you use to avoid doing something you don’t want to do at home?

2.    How long does a Netflix series episode keep you from your chores? Does it end in a way just to keep you going, or does it end with usual winners?

3.    When you have a cold, what feels better lying in bed waiting to get well or watching You Tube shorts until you get well?

1. What are some subtle ways your parents make you feel guilty or not good enough? What do they want from you?

2. What are some subtle ways that your teachers make you feel guilty or not good enough? What do they want from you?

3. What are some ways different groups of people make others feel not good enough?

1. How do churches make you feel guilty? What do you think they want from you? If they say they will save you, save you from what? Isn't that extortion?

2. Ask ChatGPT what the word “penance” means and how it is used. Then, ask yourself “What do I get out of penance?” and “What does the church get out of my penance?”

1. Do you think you ever got a girlfriend or boyfriend with a cool pair of running shoes? Do you know anyone who won a race because his running shoes were famous?

2. Do you know of any celebrities who got so much plastic surgery that they ruined their looks? What did they want to achieve? Did they achieve it?

3. After you eat that quart of ice cream, how does it taste? How do you feel afterwards? How long do you feel it until desire something else?

1. Have you ever known someone to every fight over the last piece of candy, the last beer?

2. Have you ever overspent your money to buy something you regretted?

3. Have you ever looked excitedly forward to a holiday that turned out to be not so hot?

1. Haveyou ever asked for help because you didn’t trust yourself to do something right?

2. Have you ever bought an umbrella because you fear it was going to rain?

3. Have your parents ever voted against letting foreigners in the country because they were afraid of being harmed?

4. Have you ever rushed to buy something before it runs out?

1. How do they keep us undereducated? Why do they do it?

2. How is the church contributing to this undereducation?

3. How do they keep us poorly informed and misinformed?

4. Considering it in the conservatives who are wanting all the private schools, church run school, and home schooling, do you think that is for better education or under education or indoctrination?

5. When people don’t like to read too much, where do they get their information?

1. Ask AI Chat what the insect apocalypse is and why it is a problem. What did you find out?

2. What kind of apocalypse is going on under the sea? How can it affect you?

3. What will be the effect of melting of the glaciers around the North and South Pole? Will it affect you? How?

No questions. For you, how will you know you have enough?

1. AskChat AI how much land these people own: Bill Gates, Ted Turner, John Malone. Ask how much property the Catholic Church probably owns?

2. When all those wealthy people want to sell their land by the oceans and sell their land in hotter climates, in what areas of the country will they buy land and property, Minnesota? What will happen to the land prices there? What will the everyday people in that state do when they want to buy a property next door? Can they afford it?

1.     How can we get people to join the Silent Mutiny? Will they? How many do we need? How long will it take to achieve our goals?
2.    What are our goals? How will we know we achieved them?

1.     What is passive-aggressive behavior? Can you give us some examples of it?

2.    What does the Silent Mutiny mean by ‘passive-aggressive’ power? How is it passive? How is it aggressive? Is it against the law? Can people be arrested for not buying things, not having babies?

1. In the end, we as humans are caretakers of the earth. How can we take better care of the earth?

2. In the end, we as civilized humans take care of each other. How can we take better care of each other? In what ways, do our fellow inhabitants need better care?

1. Do you feel the Silent Mutiny has an important cause?

2. Do you agree with its methods?

3. Do you have the ability to say ‘no’ to unbridled consumption?

4. Have you ever feared being call to “cheap”?

5. Are you afraid of being laughed at?

1. Who are some famous renegades in history like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Galileo, Andy Wharhol? What did they do? Name some others.

2. Which celebritries do think are renegades?

3. In what ways are you already a renegade?

4. In what ways would like to be renegade?

5. What does it mean to march to beat of a different drummer? Do you know anyone who does?

1.     What is a vegan diet? Besides no meat, there are also no eggs or dairy products? If you can’t eat those things, what else can you eat? Where will you get your protein? Do you think it would be okay to eat eggs. Some people do.

2.    What is a low-carb diet? What is a carb? Where do you find carbs? What do carbs have to do with sugar?

3.    Have you heard that carbs and sugar are addictive? How are they addictive? If they are so addictive, then why start feeding them to us from the time we were very young? Was candy or ice cream ever used as a reward in your family?

4.    In this kind of diet, where can you get your proteins? Your vitamins? Your oil? Your fiber?

5. Are you a vegan? Do you know any vegans? Do you think you could be a vegan?

6.    Do you think you could cut carbs and sugar from your diet? Are there any restaurants catering to this diet?

7. Do you think giving up professional TV sports is going too far? Why or why not?

1. What kind of loans has your family taken out? Were they absolutely necessary?

2. Did you know that if you take out a $200,000 loan at 5% annual interest, making monthly payments of $1,500, you will pay
approximately $94,000 in interest over the life of the loan, which will be about 16.33 years. So that means your 200,000-dollar house actually cost you $294,000. Do you think it is worth spending 94,000 dollars to get the 200,000 dollar loan? Who gets the 94,000 dollars? Who gets the bank’s profits? How many loans do you think your family could pay at the same time?

3. Do you think you could pay a student loan, a car loan, and house loan at the same time with the average salary? What are some ways to avoid these headaches?

4. Compare living alone, living at home, and living with roommates. Which will be the most economical, the most
fun?

5. How does your family or you save on energy costs? What do you think of my suggestions?

6. What are mutual funds? Do you think it is crazy for a high school and college kid to invest 500 dollars a year for six years while they are in school? How much do you think that money would become by the time he was 66? 500X 6 = 3,000 X 88 = 264,000 at 66. Is that doable? So, where would you like to keep your money,in the bank or the mutual funds?

7. If you follow my investment plan, you yourself will be very well off by the time you are older. What will you do with it in the end? Donate it or leave to you children to grow their wealth?

1. What do you think would be some fun ways to ruin the displays of wealth?

2. What fast fashion brands could you avoid in your town?

3. How can you reduce the number of clothes you buy?

4. Think about things you buy daily that are produced by multinational conglomerates, what brands are you buying for toothpaste, laundry detergent, window cleaner? What could you use to replace these?

5. Have you ever repaired anything? Have you ever taken something to a repair shop? What is one thing that you would like to learn to repair?

1. The USA has a long ‘workethic” tradition, basically believing that working hard will get you to heaven. Do you believe it? How can someone who has this work ethic be comfortable with ‘quiet quitting’? How would a good renegade with a strong work ethic in the Silent Mutiny feel about that?

2. Is it possible to believe inGod or be spiritual without going to church? What do people achieve going to church? If you asked God for five things, how many to you think you might get? Let's pretend you want $1000. There are two plans for getting it: (A) one door and ask God to put it behind the door and (B) you have 20 doors and you know one of them will have the $1000. Do you choose A or B? Why?

3. Do you know any churches that discriminate against gay people? Is it right? Five percent of the people have green eyes, a genetic trait. Do you think it would be fair to prevent couples who have green eyes from getting married? If being gay is genetic, then what’s the difference? Is love love? How has giving gay people rights taken straight people's rights away?

4. Where do you think you would have a better chance of doubling your money, the church money-saving club or
Apple?

5. People enlisting in the military vow to protect the constitution. Who threatens your constitutional right to free speech, democracy, fair trials, or job opportunities, the Chinese
government or politicians and religious groups in the USA? Then, where should you be protecting the constitution? How do you do that?

6. The decision and the desire to give birth is an important decision. Religion and Capitalism values babies, the more the better. The more believers, the more the tithes. The more workers and consumers, the bigger the market, the more the profits and taxes. Thus, they have a vested interest in birth rates, not a sacred
interest. Is it your duty to produce more members, workers, and consumers for them? If so, then shouldn’t it be their duty to help you with maternity leave, pregnancy care, childcare, and children’s health issues? Do they? Probably not. How long do you think you could wait to have your first baby? Do you think you could adopt one child first before you decide to give birth? Do you think that postponing giving birth is a good way to reduce your future financial burdens and reduce consumption? Can you think of an easier way? Are you contributing to the earth or harming the earth by giving birth?

1. Until now, you can imagine assuming the roles of four kinds of renegades in the Silent Mutiny. If you have assumed these roles, you have contributed far more than you know to the betterment of mankind and the planet. Do you think it is important to get more people participating or important to recruit more renegades or is this book enough? If you do not think it is enough, what other ways can we get the word out?

2. What kinds of groups or organizations do you think might help either recruit and train recruits or help put forward the practice of our passive-aggressive mutinous activities? Do you consider yourself to have leadership, organizational, or business management skills that could help in this regard? Read this and tell me what you think. https://www.greenbiz.com/article/5-ways-make-reuse-mainstream

3. Go here. https://www.wxxinews.org/show/connections/2024-03-29/dont-throw-that-out-the-reuse-movement-and-environmental-sustainability 

What do you think?

4. How can repair and recycling centers help the cause? How might they get started? How might they be run? Where might they be located?

5. How can goodwill and share centers help the cause? How might they get started? How might they be run? Where might they be located?

6. How does bartering help thecause? What kinds of things can bebartered? Should bartering be taxed?

1.     Financing and funding is kind of boring “dirty work” but necessary work when it comes to managing groups and
group activities. Definitely not the fun part. What kind of people do we need to do this? What skills should they have? What kind of character should they have? How should the finances be controlled and allocated?

2.     Trusts are banking arrangements that people with money leave to support things after they have passed away. Often times they leave trust funds to their children and grandchildren that will pay them so much per month or per year. People can set up trust funds to benefit organizations and special causes. If you were to set up a trust fund to help others after you have died, who would you help? Remember if you are a Moneywise Renegade, you are going to end up with extra money, will you contribute to intergenerational wealth with your trust and leave to support society?

1. Pretend you want to become an overt progressive politician. Can you, starting from your final goal working backwards, plan your rise (the steps)?

2. How many steps do you think there would be? What would be the steps?

3. What personality traits and skills do you have that you think would make this possible?

4. What ones do you need to acquire? Where can you find them?

5. What would be a good first step for you today?

1. Is there a need for other renegades? If so, what kind?

2. Should there be protesting and rioting renegades? Is it worth it to get arrested?

3. Do you think you would like to be sabatoge renegade? If so, what kinds of organizations and people can be targeted? How?

4. What about assassin regegades? The goverment thinks nothing about taking out a "terrorist" to "protect people". What about taking out law makers and politicians that terrorize people with their laws and political shenanigans?

5. Or are you like Ghandi and Martin Luther King totally into passive resistance and believe it to be enough?