Integrity, Part 2
The Cultured Warrior Newsletter #069 | Lessons from Liver King and Bitcoin
Above all, do not lie to yourself.
~ Dostoyevsky
In case you missed it More Plates, More Dates released a video with leaked emails exposing Brian Johnson's (a.k.a. Liver King's) real diet and steroid stack (1). In other news:
Professional wrestling is fake,
Epstein didn't kill himself, and
Water is wet.
There are a few things I think we (myself included) can learn from this. But first, what I find more surprising than the leak is the amount of people coming out to apologize for Brian, including other heath / fitness influencers.
"He had the right message..."
... they quip. Yes, and pedophile priests read a Bible to their congregation, what's your point? Brian's "ancestral tenets" are agreeable. The problem is that he used that truth to exploit people for a nine-figure profit. Oh, and he didn't actually do those "right" things he was talking about either – (e.g. the diet he espoused).
One well known influencer said:
"It's not our right or privilege to know what he put's in his body (e.g. vaccine passports)."
This is true... and you conveniently neglected his intentional, deliberate, and planned exploitation of people en mase. Good job!
The videos above (by Aaron) and below (by Breaking Points) are a great introduction into why any of this matters. So, instead I want to highlight three things I've learned so far.
Lesson 1: Skepticism of anything "new" or unusual is now justified.
Every time the curtain is pulled back on one of these major scams (FTX and Belcampo come to mind) it is the public who pays the price. Yes, there are the literal ones who got bamboozled, and then there is the public at large.
Guys like Brian now leave a huge black eye on real health coaches or regular folks trying to spread the same "right" message; whether we're selling something or not. Thus, people's only information source, if not each other, is beholden to "The Science" (TM).
As we all know from the last 3 years, scientists can be bought and sold as easily as politicians; so we're left at the mercy of three-letter-agencies and their "independent" fact checkers.
There shouldn't be much debate that it's beneficial for people to:
Get more sun,
Spend time in nature,
Love each other,
Lift weights,
Sleep better,
Eat meat, etc.
However, that is a much harder "sell" when grifters (think Republican corporatism) have cashed in big time on people's good faith. When faith fails people turn to control (now que the leftists' justification for socialism). If you need a history lesson, that's basically the story of the entire 19th century of "total war" as forewarned by Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky.
Lesson 2: Don't Trust, Verify
This is a popular maxim in the Bitcoin community. It emphasizes why our rights to speak, write, and assemble are so powerfully important. It is the greatest fear of "thought police" and Disinformation Governance Boards (2).
While I'm affiliated with Heart & Soil Supplements, I haven't made a post for them in several months (3), which has nothing to do with this debacle. I simply haven't been using them as I source my organ meats fresh, and don't advertise things I don't use.
It's been even longer since I've received a sales commission from them – let's face it, I'm a lousy salesman especially with all this talk of integrity!
Admittedly I didn't know, or maybe care to look (?), who Paul Saladino's (typically anonymous) co-founder was for the company, though this slipped in an interview clip featured in the MPMD video.
This is pretty easy to look up (4, 5) so I immediately reached out to H&S, requesting a statement before Paul had made his (6) – a bit more on this below. What I got from them was a quaint and "sufficient", very "PR" response.
However, it wasn't until I was talking to another friend in the carnivore space that s/he sent me screenshots of H&S sending the same canned (literally copied and pasted) response both in comments and DMs.
As much as I do not believe in coincidences, I have to believe in people's ability to change. So, time will indeed tell if Paul / H&S care enough about that "right" / ancestral health message to separate their supply chain from Brain's Ancestral Supplements. Or, does the money matter more than your integrity?
Lesson 3: Desperation paints rose-colored glasses and makes noble intentions look foolish.
October 2019: Heart & Soil was founded.
March 2020: I applied for and became an affiliate of the company.
August 2021: "Liver King" launches on Instagram.
A lot of ethical conundrums come down to "either you knew or you should have known" something. So, how does Paul's willful ignorance of Brian's drug use set in? Certainly, when Brain was on Paul's podcast (7) the tone was much more of a naive apologist than "concerned and disappointed" friend.
I thought, to myself; "Paul is a smart guy. How can he not see the obvious?"
Organically, I stopped listening to Paul's podcast about a year ago. It was nothing personal, I just felt like it was getting "campaigny" and I didn't like the vibe shifting away from the "nuance" of the early days / episodes.
It wasn't until I was talking to the friend above that they pointed out that around the time Liver King launched, Paul's MO appeared to change – and possibly the butt load of carbs combined with a high fat diet inducing a "manic state."
That was their speculation, not mine. However, the point remains the same, that Mr. Saladino was not the same.
Controlling money and controlling food (in addition to information) are great ways to control people. Why? Because they get desperate.
So, either Paul Saladino is as guilty as Brain Johnson, or he was desperate ennough to sell (metaphorically) a message against government juggernauts (who might as well be thought of as "corporations") that he sold out (literally) to a privatized charlatan.
One of those things will take a few generations to "fix." The other might only cost you a cool $100,000,000 / year; or maybe you can come clean and do something else with the 12K / month (!) your company's president was spending on PEDs.
As usual, Saagar from Breaking points did a great job breaking this down (8). Brain has posted an apology on Instagram (9) that you can judge for yourself. It's convenient that said apology comes after a $100,000,000 profit and getting caught. Like I said though, I have to believe that people can change. Apologize with your actions because you've taught us to not trust your words Brian. We don't need to hear an apology, we will see the truth one way or another if we're willing to look.
New On YouTube:
Here's a recap of the "full length" videos that've been posted this month:
Nutrition News:
"We found weak evidence of association between unprocessed red meat consumption and colorectal cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes and ischemic heart disease. Moreover, we found no evidence of an association between unprocessed red meat and ischemic stroke or hemorrhagic stroke... While there is some evidence that eating unprocessed red meat is associated with increased risk of disease incidence and mortality, it is weak and insufficient to make stronger or more conclusive recommendations."
Members Only:
"More often than I'd like I see the same zealotry espoused by animal-based-advocates as they condemn in vegans... or cross-fitters, wokesters, etc... I see the same vindictive, wounded and resentful attitudes proliferate."
If you haven't read it already, I've had a salty axe to grind for a while now. The above is well worth reading to remind people to think for themselves "just like the influencers tell you to."
Misc.
Shout out to my friend Ryan (@ryanparkeur) on this publication he did to compelete his Master's Degree: