How I went from teen model to Ancap woman . . . Hi Steemit!
Hello Steemit! My name is Amanda, I am a single, 26-year-old professional woman, a native resident of the Pacific Northwestern region of the US.
Throughout my government school K-12 education and on into college and grad school I was subjected to the usual leftist indoctrination, but I just never adopted that orthodoxy. As a young girl I was greatly influence by my late Grandpa, a decorated WWII combat vet and passionate anti-authoritarian intellectual.
Grandpa was my hero, he lovingly taught me about the dangers of collectivism and to fear the same State he fought and suffered wounds for in WWII. (1923-2011) RIP.
As more and more of my peers succumbed to this, many becoming full-blown SJW’s (easy to do here in the PNW!), I pushed back. I questioned. I debated the TAs and profs and often felt the sting of institutional social ostracization. I never cared, though. To me, Truth was far more important. For years I would have described myself as a radical Libertarian, I was an ardent Ron Paul supporter back in college, but came to realize that there was a label for my ideology: Anarcho-Capitalist/Voluntaryist, aka Ancap. I would say my “eureka moment” came when a colleague sent me YouTube links to two thinkers/philosophers: specifically, Larken Rose and Stefan Molyneux. From there I went on to discover a myriad of Voluntaryist thinkers and ultimately became interested in related ideas like cryptos and that interest led here, to Steemit. So, here I am!
When I am not railing against the State I love travel and to spend as much time as possible with my cat and dog – off leash dog parks are a great place to think! – and other outdoor loves of mine are hiking, shooting, skiing (downhill and x-country) and SCUBA diving (Yes, even locally. I’m crazy, the water here is about 50-degrees F!) . As a teen I did a little bit of modeling here locally, but I discovered I was much more interested in the modeling process from BEHIND the camera, so I developed a passion for photography, especially people, animals and landscapes. I like to shoot my friends because too many are into the phone selfie – Instagram routine and I like to show them as I see them, rather than in the typical selfie poses. I also like to write about dating and relationship issues from the perspective of a pro-man, anti-Feminist, bisexual Millennial woman.
I am still trying to figure Steemit out, but if you follow and upvote me I will reciprocate!
A sample of my photography, one of my friends, Sloane (She is not yet quite Anarcho, but at least she is a Libertarian! Help me convince her to renounce the State!)
Hi Amanda. You have a beautiful smile. :-) Your grandfather looks like a boss.
Thank you! Yes, he sure was! I wish he was still around to see this platform and all of the liberty-minded people who post here. He passed during the Obama years and had become very worried about what he saw as an abandonment by the younger generations of the principles of liberty. This was a man who began speaking out as a teenager against the dangers Socialist policies of FDR, who was then the president.
I wish I'd made video of him. He saw things as they are. I audio recorded him sometimes, family oral history, and sometimes he'd talk about things of deeper importance. Here is something he said on one of those recordings that I transcribed:
"By December of '44 the average Wehrmacht soldier, that was a Kraut infantryman, we encountered was a cold, hungry conscript who just wanted the war to be over as bad as we did. They had no fire in their belly to defend National Socialism, they were not ideologues, they were mostly kids who just wanted to go home. The SS were a different story altogether. These monsters had been the cream of the crop in Hitler Youth during the 1930's and were brainwashed from a tender age to see themselves as appendages of their government. Hitler made sure they were the best outfitted, they always had the most food, ammo and fuel.
Most of them had a particular look in their eyes. I don't know how to describe it, exactly. What frightens me is that when you show me these videos of these weird leftist kids today on college campuses I see that same look . . . that same Goddamned look of a brainwashed SS soldier with his black uniform and lightning bolts and skulls on their collar tabs.
I know what these people are capable of, you should fear them gaining more political power."
Wow, that pic of your grandpa looks like it was taken prior to jumping into Normandy, the night of June 5/6, 1944. He is in full combat gear and has the much-hated M-36 musette bag, most of which blew off when they exited their C-47s. If this had been taken prior to jumping during Operation Market-Garden (Armhem, Holland) he likely would not have been carrying one of those.
What a bad-ass, no wonder you learned so much from him!
Yes, you are right, Matt, he jumped the night before D-Day. He said it was total confusion in the air above their target area and his unit was scattered all over the countryside.
hello.welcome
I upvoted u.
If you follow in steemit I will be happy
Thank you Julie! Funny coincidence--I actually saw your intro post yesterday and upvoted and followed you as well! In fact, after reading yours I got motivated to write and post mine, so thanks for inspiring me!
Hi Amanda! Welcome to Steem!
The Fresh Five is a new Steemian curation effort, geared toward rewarding new Steemians who deliver interesting, fun, thought provoking, or just plain silly introduction posts.
We invite you to come to our Engagement Post and join the comment thread where we hope to encourage engagement and interaction with your fellow Steemians.
Each week we go out and invite new Steemians to our weekly engagement post, where you can get to know some other new Steemians, and some more established folks who like to welcome new members of our community. We hope to see you there!
Looking forward to seeing you dig in to Steem and join the community!
Thank you so much, I have followed you over there, I appreciate the heads up!
hello @amanda-calkins welcome to steemit just upvoted and follwed you hope that you do the same in return and would love to hear more about world war 2 and your granpa sounds to b a great story
Thank you!!! I should do a post about him, he was an amazing man: Husband, Dad, Airborne Soldier, Entrepreneur, Intellectual and passionate defender of liberty.
ya i would definitely love to hear a story about him and the war i have no part in it since im from ireland but i really love all the war movies and the history and even reading about it
Big fan of Molyneux, too. My grandpa was in WWII as well. I'm a fan of Ron Paul, of smaller government. Love your photos here. Welcome.
Thank you, Joey!!!
Hey, welcome! My father was a Navy Chaplain for 20 years and then served as a VA chaplain for about 8 years. To me, our vets and military people are sacred. Much respect. Let me know if you have any questions about Steemit. I've just started taking it seriously about two weeks ago. Cheers.
Thank you so much! Yes, quite the learning curve here!
Hey, just wanted to say hi again here on Steemit. How've you been doing?
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