Every once in a while, a story comes along that so perfectly encapsulates the absurdity of the radical Left that it almost seems like a gift from heaven. Such is the case with the hilarious demise of Mina’s World, described by the founder as Philadelphia’s first-ever “<a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/story/minas-world">QTPOC-owned and -operated</a>” coffee shop. For those of you who are blissfully unaware of the latest woke terminology, QTPOC stands for queer and trans person of color.
Mina’s World was the brainchild of two trans activists, Sonam Parikh and Kate Egghart, with the goal of offering folks (or should I say folx?) a <a href="https://philly.eater.com/22517795/minas-world-west-philly-sonam-parikh-kate-egghart">“community space”</a> where they can get “<a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/story/minas-world">an amazingly made cup of coffee that’s not whitewashed</a>.” Who knew whitewashed coffee, whatever that is, was such a problem in the cafe world? 
You have no doubt surmised by now that Egghart and Parikh are your prototypical leftist activists. One need only watch a handful of videos from <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok">Libs of TikTok</a> to get a sense for the kind of people we’re dealing with here. Think nose rings, pink hair, gaudy tattoos — you know the type. And like any good leftist activist, they felt called to a righteous mission — a mission to root out white supremacy, transphobia, and colonialism from Big Coffee.
“I have worked in coffee since I was 18,” Parikh told Bon Appétit. “Most of the workplaces were really toxic in the sense that the workers were not being paid well and the white ownership neglected to protect their black and trans employees.”
Isn’t it strange how the places most riddled with racism, sexism, transphobia, and every other manner of thought crime tend to be leftist-dominated institutions? Universities are a den of sexual assault, feminists will tell you. Hollywood is dripping with racism and misogyny (OK, that one might be true). And now I guess hipster coffee shops are transphobic. Why are so many bigots attracted to leftist-run institutions? That’s a question for another day; for now, back to the story.
With the financial backing of Egghart’s mother, who reportedly provided commercial space in one of the buildings she owns, Mina’s World opened its doors to its first customers in 2020. Finally! Queer Philadelphians of color and their cis white allies could enjoy a guilt-free cup of coffee, topped off with a splash of smug self-satisfaction.
To the outside observer, Mina’s World appeared to be quite successful, receiving glowing coverage in the local press. But that progressive facade was shattered this past June when an Instagram account, called <a href="https://www.instagram.com/mwworkers/?hl=en">Minas World Workers</a>, was launched.
In the account’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CezUOrlJEiz/">first Instagram post</a>, self-described employees accused Kate and Sonam of “exploitation, anti-blackness, ableism” and a whole host of other unpardonable sins. While offering very few specifics, the employees painted a picture of an oppressive workplace — the kind of white supremacist cafe that Egghart and Parikh sought to replace.
Of course, no list of grievances is complete without an accompanying list of demands. And those made by Mina&#8217;s World Workers were real doozies. In addition to a public confession by Egghart and Parikh admitting to their crimes, the Instagram post demanded that ownership of Mina’s World be turned over to its employees.
Let’s stop and reflect for a moment on just how insane that particular demand is. While I am loath to defend Egghart and Parikh, starting your own business is not easy. It takes an incredible amount of work, the assumption of great financial risk, and no promise of being rewarded for your labor. Hourly workers at Mina’s World likely know nothing of the pressures of running a business, yet they felt entitled to the fruits of other people’s labor. A sane employer would have laughed these bozos out of the room. But not Egghart and Parikh. To the contrary, the two woke business owners appeared all too quick to cave to their employees’ demands.
In an <a href="https://www.libsoftiktok.com/p/queer-owned-business-shut-down-by?sd=pf">Instagram Live</a> that resembles a cross between a hostage video and a Maoist struggle session, Egghart and Parikh confessed their sins to the world. “We’re complicit in the gentrification and anti-blackness of 52nd Street,” Egghart somberly acknowledged. After lamenting the “harm” and “exploitation” they have caused, the two cafe proprietors announced they would capitulate to the workers’ demands. Ownership of Mina’s World and its building would be handed over to the Bolshevik baristas.
There was just one little problem: the building was not actually owned by these two QTPOC entrepreneurs. It was reportedly owned by Egghart’s mother, who also held an 18% stake in the business, according to the discontents.
Egghart’s mother, Eunjoo, is an <a href="https://blog.yelp.com/businesses/serving-sweet-moments-for-all-at-minas-world/">immigrant from Korea</a>. As a single mother speaking little English, she worked multiple jobs to pay for night school. Through hard work, education, and grit, Eunjoo became a successful entrepreneur. By all accounts, her story is quintessentially American, which is perhaps why she wasn’t swayed by the demands of a bunch of entitled leftists.
Rather than hand the business over to the employees, Eunjoo decided that she had had enough of this proletariat uprising and <a href="https://philly.eater.com/2022/7/6/23196464/minas-world-west-philly-closed">placed the building up for sale</a>.
It is perhaps noteworthy that the only sane person involved in this saga is an immigrant who came to America in search of a better life. One can speculate that having grown up on a peninsula divided by socialist oppression, Eunjoo understands better than most Americans the dangers of collectivist movements. Regardless of her motives, her decision to sell the building rather than entertain the workers’ ludicrous demands makes her the undisputed hero of this story.
Following this brilliant capitalist power move, the disgruntled employees launched a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising enough money to buy the building from Eunjoo. Unfortunately, they were unable to convince enough of their socialist comrades to fork over their hard-earned money to buy the racist coffee shop. Last month, having run out of funds, Mina’s World <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cfe5u5qpnpB/?hl=en">announced</a> to their customers that they were closing up shop for good.
Sorry, Philadelphia. You’re stuck sipping on whitewashed coffee for the foreseeable future, at least until some other QTPOC entrepreneur steps forward to decolonize Big Coffee. When that day comes — and you can be certain that it will — I suspect the new venture will meet much the same fate.
Let the demise of Mina’s World serve as a cautionary tale to all. You can never be woke enough to appease the mob. As the French journalist Jacques Mallet du Pan observed more than two centuries ago, “Like Saturn, the Revolution devours its children.” That was true for the French Revolution, and it is true for our current woke revolution. The solution, therefore, is to refuse to play their game. Instead, just sit back and bask in the schadenfreude that comes from watching the woke eat their own.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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It was October 1965 and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIOysM1briU">Arthur King</a> was undergoing treatment for severe alcoholism at the Spring Grove Psychiatric Hospital in Maryland. Nothing seemed to alleviate his urge to drink, so his doctor decided to try something unconventional: he gave him a dose of lysergic acid diethylamide, more commonly known as the psychedelic drug LSD.
About half an hour after taking the drug, King started to experience vivid hallucinations of bright colors and complex geometric shapes. A single rose in a vase in the room seemed to come alive, opening and closing &#8211; even breathing. As King was staring at that rose, his doctor asked him if he felt like drinking. The moment King thought about alcohol, the rose appeared to turn black, whither, and die.
The 14-hour-long session was full of intense emotions, hallucinations, and epiphanies for the young father. He thought of his children and his wife and began to experience feelings of intense love for them. The things that troubled him before and caused him to drink seemed to slide into irrelevance. He realized that he was capable of accomplishing so much more with his life and that alcohol had been holding him back. By the end of the session, King had lost all desire to drink. He was cured of his addiction.
When CBS <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMm3SJeWDxQ">followed up</a> with King nearly three decades after the experiment took place, King was still sober. “I wouldn’t take a million dollars for the peace of mind I obtained from this therapy,” he told the reporters.
The so-called <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309477954_Thirty_Years_of_Psychedelic_Research_The_Spring_Grove_Experiment_and_Its_Sequels">Spring Grove Experiments</a> were part of a revolutionary effort in the 1950s and 60s to explore the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs &#8211; most notably LSD and psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic” mushrooms.
Researchers saw astonishing results from treating <a href="http://www.psychonautdocs.com/docs/dyck_hittinghighs.pdf">alcoholism</a>, depression, and a host of other mental illnesses with psychedelics. Many study participants saw more progress from a single “trip” on mushrooms or LSD than they did from years of psychotherapy alone. These mysterious compounds were poised to revolutionize the way we treat mental illnesses.
Then came the hippies.
Eventually, LSD escaped the lab. The head of the Harvard Psilocybin Project, Timothy Leary, began to recklessly <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/5/23/trip-down-memory-lane/">promote</a> the frequent and widespread use of psychedelics. Leary was eventually forced out of Harvard, but he continued to call on American youth to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/allinthemind/turn-on,-tune-in/10199310#:~:text=Most%20of%20us%20associate%20psychedelic,in%20the%20US%20by%201966">“turn on, tune in, and drop out”</a> with the help of psychedelic drugs.
The widespread improper use of psychedelics, which has been <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0269881119827891?journalCode=jopa#:~:text=Psychedelic%20preferring%20users%20had%20significantly,significant%20difference%20in%20Openness%20score">found</a> to cause users to become more open to unconventional ideas, fueled the turbulent counterculture movement of the 1960s. Young psychedelic users began to reject the assumptions that underpinned our society, like the value of the nuclear family structure and the importance of organized religion in public and private life. The social fabric appeared to be tearing, prompting Richard Nixon to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/01/05/575392333/nixons-manhunt-for-the-high-priest-of-lsd-in-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america">call</a> Leary “the most dangerous man in America.” In 1968, LSD and a wide range of other drugs were <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/crime/history-of-lsd#:~:text=(The%20U.S.%20federal%20government%20didn,drugs%20on%20the%20students'%20consciousness">outlawed</a> as Schedule I substances, a category of drugs deemed dangerous and with no accepted medical uses.
From that moment on, funding for psychedelic research dried up, and the astonishing benefits documented in previous studies were largely forgotten or ignored.
That’s all changing now. An explosion of research on psychedelics has been taking place over the past two decades, and the findings thus far are even more impressive than what researchers documented half a century ago. In fact, many researchers believe FDA approval for the medical use of certain psychedelic drugs in a <a href="https://www.schatz.senate.gov/news/press-releases/schatz-booker-call-for-more-research-on-therapeutic-potential-of-psychedelic-drugs">clinical setting</a> is just around the corner. 
MDMA, more commonly known as ecstasy, is one of those drugs. Researchers are currently in Phase 3 <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-psychedelic-may-soon-go-to-the-fda-for-approval-to-treat-trauma/">clinical trials</a>, the final step before FDA approval, to test the safety and efficacy of using MDMA to treat PTSD. One recent <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01336-3">study</a> showed that three MDMA doses, in conjunction with 18 weeks of talk therapy, was far more effective at treating PTSD than any other FDA-approved treatment.
In a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02698811211073759">study</a> published earlier this year from Johns Hopkins University, which has been leading the current renaissance in the study of psychedelics, researchers gave psilocybin to patients suffering from long-term moderate to severe depression, along with eight weeks of therapy. 75% of study participants experienced a significant decrease in depression, and 58% saw their depression enter remission. Astonishingly, these results held up one year later without additional psilocybin treatments. Researchers also found that there were no negative side effects associated with the treatment.
Dr. Roland Griffiths, the director at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, <a href="https://maps.org/news-letters/v20n1/v20n1-22to25.pdf">believes</a> the benefits of psychedelics derive in part from the “mystical experience” they can induce. In one <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3050654/#:~:text=Even%20at%20the%2014%2Dmonth,indicating%20that%20it%20was%20the">study</a>, 67% of participants rated their experience on psilocybin as among the top five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives.
Interestingly, those who do not have this “mystical experience” during their therapy sessions are far less likely to see relief from depression as those who do. Perhaps this suggests that the benefits of psychedelics are brought on through the experience itself, rather than any biochemical reaction alone. 
If a single “mystical experience” brought on by magic mushrooms can cure long-term depression, as a growing number of studies have found, the implications are nothing short of revolutionary. Rather than being prescribed a daily regime of antidepressants &#8211; which only relieve depression for about <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK361016/#:~:text=Studies%20involving%20adults%20have%20shown,within%20one%20to%20two%20years.">20% of people</a> and can cause a host of <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/ssris/art-20044825">side effects</a>, ranging from weight gain to the loss of sexual desire &#8211; patients may soon be able to experience long-term relief from depression from just one full-blown psychedelic trip in a clinical setting.
Despite the promising results seen by researchers so far, great caution should be used by anyone seeking to treat mental illness with psychedelics. While most conventional psychedelic drugs &#8211; like LSD and magic mushrooms &#8211; are non-toxic, non-addicting, and among the <a href="https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/09/26/psilocybin-scheduling-magic-mushrooms/">safest</a> drugs available (both legal and illegal), they are not without <a href="https://hub.jhu.edu/2017/01/04/bad-trips-mushrooms/">risks</a>. If taken in an improper setting or without the appropriate preparation, psychedelics can elicit a “bad trip,” potentially aggravating any underlying mental health problems or causing new ones to emerge. Since psychedelics alter one’s perception of reality, the experience can also be disorienting, even frightening. As mentioned earlier, psychedelics can also result in a permanent change in personality, significantly increasing a person’s openness to new ideas and experiences. For many, this could be a good thing, but one need only look at the “free love” hippies of yesteryear to see that there is a point of diminishing returns to being open-minded. 
Given the powerful nature of these drugs and their illicit status, prudence demands that psychedelics only be used in a clinical setting under the guidance of trained professionals. It is under those conditions that study participants, like Arthur King, have been able to experience such profound relief from mental illness. 
There is still far more that needs to be learned about psychedelics and how they operate, but as our nation struggles with increasing rates of depression, anxiety, and addiction, psychedelics may end up being the miracle cure our country needs.
The opinions expressed in this piece are the author&#8217;s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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