War, for all its horror, has always had its admirers. The poets romanticise it. The generals study it. The bored and bitter sometimes root for it like it’s a football match with real casualties. Through the Nincompoop Lens, this isn’t surprising — it’s textbook human psychology doing what it does best: projecting, shortcutting, and backfilling […]
For most of history, mental health has been treated like a collection of strange, disconnected afflictions that happen to “other people.” The Nincompoop lens rejects this completely. There is no fundamental difference between the so-called “sick” mind and the “healthy” one.
Anxiety, in its purest form, is simply the brain’s natural warning system. It’s there to help us spot threats, anticipate problems, and stay alive. Without it, our ancestors would’ve strolled straight into predators or off cliffs while admiring the scenery. A bit of worry sharpens focus.
At its most basic level, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is simply the brain’s habit system trying to protect you — and completely overdoing it. The mind spots potential danger, feels a surge of discomfort, and attempts to neutralise that discomfort by performing a ritual or mental routine.
At its core, modern spirituality is meant to reconnect people with meaning outside of materialism, dogma, and institutions. It’s anti-rigid, anti-hierarchical, and highly personal. It borrows from ancient traditions — meditation, energy work, astrology, manifestation, chakras, crystals, and “universal consciousness” — all with the promise of self-discovery, healing, and inner peace.
Let’s take a step into the future — where Nincompoopism has grown legs, gained followers, splintered into factions, and inevitably become the very thing it warned you about.
Buddhism begins with a blunt truth: life is suffering — not in a doom-and-gloom way, but in the sense that attachment, craving, and ignorance keep us stuck in cycles of dissatisfaction (dukkha). The Four Noble Truths lay out the situation: suffering exists, it has causes (mainly craving and delusion), it can end, and there’s a path to ending it — the Eightfold Path.
At its root, wokeism — originally — was a call for awareness. Stay “woke” meant don’t sleepwalk through injustice. It was about staying alert to systems of discrimination, inequality, and abuse. The premise was simple: open your eyes to other people’s realities, especially if yours has been comfortable. Understand power. Understand privilege. Listen before you speak.
Narcissism isn’t, as many believe, simply about self-love. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s a defensive system built to protect the self from ever having to face feelings of inadequacy, shame, or vulnerability. At its root, narcissism is the brain saying:
At its core, depression is the brain’s shutdown mechanism. When life feels too overwhelming, too painful, or too pointless to engage with, the mind, in its backwards wisdom, pulls the emotional plug.