Why You Shouldn’t Care About “Karen.”

karencover

Lots of guys on the internet worrying about “Karen.” Why? Why do you care about what “Karen” does or doesn’t do? Karen is gonna Karen. Unless you married Karen, or are in a relationship with Karen, or thinking about marrying or being in a relationship with Karen, why do you care about Karen?

While we are talking about Karen, why are you so concerned with Murder Hornets? Remember Africanized bees from a few years ago? No? Yeah, no one else remembers them either, but apparently they were going to be the new scourge of the world and kill off all the honey bees and anyone else who got too close to them. The world didn’t come to an end then, and it isn’t going to come to an end with the Murder Hornets either.

I see so many guys “unplugging from the Matrix and taking the Red Pill,” finally starting to understand women’s behavior and whatnot, and while they are getting out of the Matrix, they are still stuck in the Web.

The Web of not only Mainstream Media, but also Social Media.

That article about Karen doing Karen stuff? Where did you see it? Who shared it with you? Why are you sharing it with me? Why do you think I care? Social media “news” is seldom newsworthy. It’s definitely not worth my time or attention, but why is it worth yours? Who is curating your news for you? What are you getting out of it?

Why are you choosing outrage over something else?

While everybody is “Karening” Karen, and thinking that the food supply is going to dry up because of hornets, and worrying about lines on photos, because guys are leaning in, I’ve been doing other things.

For one, I figured out how to get my microphone to sound like a high dollar professional microphone for free. I can not only record videos with great sound, I can live stream with great sound as well.

I’ve also figured out some cool edits that are really easy to do and they add a little more interest to my videos. They don’t take much time either, only a few seconds to do.

I’m also reading a couple of really good books, and while I’m at it, I’m having conversations with people that have nothing to do with Karen, COVID, or Murder Hornets. I’m even talking about lighting arrangements with a couple of guys.

Karen, COVID-19, leaning in, and Murder Hornets. This is what the internet has become. What a waste of time. Guys unplugging and yet still sucking down the outrage like it’s going out of style. I guess you guys can’t let go of your mental masturbation.

What do you get from it? A dopamine hit? Do you feel like you’ve done something useful or productive with your time? Are you looking for “brownie points?”

I’ve said it before and I’m saying it yet again:

Vote With Your Attention, Vote With Your Wallet.

When you click on that link and read that article that Karen wrote, what are you doing? You’re doing exactly what she wants you to do. You’re giving her attention. Same with the YouTube videos about her. Why are you giving any of it a moment of your time? Is your life really that good (or dull) that you have nothing else to do?

Who cares what Karen does? Who cares what she thinks? Same with Murder Hornets. What are you going to do about them? Start carrying cans of RAID around and nuke every flying insect you see? Why are you reading and watching stuff that tells you what to be afraid of? Why are you reading and/or watching stuff that tells you what to be outraged about?

You don’t watch Mainstream Media anymore right? Haven’t done it for years? And yet your reading, sharing, retweeting, and commenting on things that are even more absurd and trivial than what the Mainstream Media is showing these days.

When you have to talk about Karen, guess what that makes you? A Karen.

You’ve “unplugged” right? Now get out of the Web of Social and Mainstream Media. Decide what is actually worth your time and energy. Outrage isn’t it.

Those links to articles and videos that you want to share with me? I’ve already seen them. I saw them over two years ago. Nothing has changed. Do me a favor and don’t share them with me, because I don’t care.

Get out of the Web of Outrage and do something more creative and productive with your time. Or stay stuck in it and burn. Either way I don’t care. Just don’t share that nonsense with me. I’m done with it.

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Why Is The Old Man Always On A Mountain?

man standing on cliff

Because he can be.

You have read or heard a tale somewhere, at some time about a young man or woman (usually a man) seeking the knowledge from the town or village guru who happens to live in a cave near the summit of a mountain, or he lives on the summit itself.

Why does that grizzled, old, sometimes pleasant, sometimes nasty, guru of a guy always live on or near the top of a mountain? Because he can.

While I’m not “old” in the sense of what modern medicine and lifestyles of today can bring, I am old in other ways. I may not be collecting social security and facing mandatory retirement any time soon, but in many ways I’m definitely “old.”

I’m glad for it.

I’m glad I’m at where I’m at, at my age. I don’t envy the young men and women of today’s world, both in economic and in dating/relating terms. In many ways I feel sorry for the upcoming generations. I wouldn’t trade places with you even if I could. Too much horseshit and bullshit. If you guys don’t figure it out, you’re fucked. Straight up. And not in a good way.

But here’s the fun part:

You’ll figure it out. Or you won’t. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. I remember struggling to figure out women and I still don’t fully understand them, but I’ve learned to accept them, warts and all for who they are, and I appreciate them. If you are fortunate enough to live as long as I have, and granted 48 isn’t all that old, hopefully you get some perspective.

That’s what I think wisdom is mostly. It’s perspective. I’ve been around long enough to see certain trends come and go only to come back around yet again, only with a different hairstyle or a different cut of cloth. It’s still the same old same old though. Different packaging, same contents. Get rich and get da gurlz.

Snake-oil used to be sold on a table or in a booth out on the street with the salesman hawking his goods to you face to face. In my time, the snake-oil was sold via television “infomercials” and via direct mailings and catalogs. Nowadays it’s done via the internet and on social media. Different medium, same message. A lot easier today to reach more suckers than before, but the contents in the bottle are still mostly snake-oil, pipe dreams, and empty promises. It is what it is. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

person sitting on mountain cliff

Recently Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has been making a comeback in the pickup circles. Yeah that was a thing back in 1995 when Ross Jefferies hit the scene with Speed Seduction. I remember that time frame. I still have the cassette course somewhere. The more things change the more they stay the same. It’s been roughly 25 years since Ross brought Speed Seduction to the world, the Mystery Method came out in the early 2000’s? I guess we still have a few more years before it’s “rediscovered” and repackaged with a whole new look and a whole new vocabulary, but I’m pretty sure that “neg’s” and “peacocking” will be in there somewhere. Maybe not under those names, but they’ll be there.

What has been refreshing for me though, is I have been reading through MJ’s blog about life as a middle-aged married man. I remember when I first started reading his blog a couple of years ago and he’s revamped it from that earlier time era. When I first found it, he was offering advice on how to make your marriage and/or relationship better if I recall correctly (and if I’m off, I apologize MJ) and now he’s simply talking about his own marriage, warts and all. It’s more a “day in the life of this here married guy,” and it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful because he’s in my age bracket. He could easily be me. It’s wonderful because he’s being honest and authentic, at least as far as I can tell. Most marriage and/or relationship advice that is on a more positive note is either coming from a “pre-1950’s model” where grandma and grandpa have been together since Christ was a journeyman carpenter, or it’s the sad unfortunate “divorce machine” that far too many guys have gone through, or it’s the young to mid twenty-something’s to early thirty somethings talking about being Power Dad’s and Mommy Bloggers with 31 flavors of TradCon and Religion to boot. Life hasn’t fully come around to kick them in the ass yet, but it will. Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.

person on mountain

MJ’s posts are authentic to me because when I read them, I know what he’s talking about. While I don’t have the years of marriage under my belt that he does, I can and do relate to what he is saying. It’s funny to me because I can take what he is saying and add it to my knowledge of what I already know based on my own successes and failures and it makes a pretty neat picture. MJ is definitely one of those guys that I would want to sit down and have a beer with. Two old men sitting on a mountain and talking shit. In this case though, MJ is far closer to a beach than a mountain, and I’ll take that any day of the week, for a variety of reasons.

The “Old Man on the Mountain” is there because he can be. He’s still close enough to civilization to come down once in a while and mingle with the masses, but he’s far enough away to keep away from all the noise and the chatter. And the smells. You fuckers need to shower more often than you do.

A lot of people have accused me of being cynical and negative, depressing even. That’s okay. If you ever got to meet me you would find that while yes, I can definitely be cynical, and that’s because of the shit I have seen and been through, at the same time I have come through it all as a better person as I have grown from all of it and I’m happier for it. I’m far more at peace with myself and with life in general than I was twenty five years ago.

I don’t have the patience or the time to be “fluffy” and blow sunshine up your ass because sometimes life just plain sucks and there’s nothing you can do about it but hang on and ride it out. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either naive or is trying to sell you something.

That’s wisdom for you. That’s perspective. And it didn’t cost you anything but the time it took to read this.

“Old Men On Mountains” just plain old don’t give a fuck. They did what their friends, families, jobs, and societies told them to do, and they probably did it for years. They’ve just realized that none of that shit truly matters and that time is short and so they might as well do the shit they always wanted to do and to hell with everyone else if they don’t like it.

See you on the mountain.

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Moment Of Clarity

white and brown ceramic vase

A week or so ago, I did a Salt Lake Sit-Down show. It was “on the fly” and mostly “seat of the pants.” It went off really well considering that we were literally setting things up and testing them out, working out the bugs literally moments before it was time to go live.

Then I decided to drink. A lot. The alcohol really went to my head by the time it was time to go live on Masculine Geek. I only vaguely remember what I said for that first episode of the day, and the last time I’ve been that intoxicated, I blacked out. That was a long, long time ago when that one happened and blacking out hasn’t happened since. But that afternoon was a close second.

It was so bad that I remember muting the microphone for the majority of that episode because I honestly didn’t know what random bullshit was going to fall out of my mouth. That’s how intoxicated I was. I definitely didn’t want to be “that guy.”

The guy where it’s like you think you are being profound and “heavy.” That you think you’re dropping “serious truths,” and that everybody is watching and listening raptly, hanging on your every word.

Only to find out later once you’ve sobered up, everybody was quiet, but not for the reasons that you thought. They weren’t in awe with your profundity, they were shocked and made uncomfortable into an awkward silence. It wasn’t rapt attention, it was, “Oh my god, watch this slow moving trainwreck as it goes up in a ball of fire.”

I hate being made a fool of, especially when I’m the jackass doing it. I got to burn. I set myself on fire. Look at me go.

Now, was it as bad as I think and imagine it was? Honestly I don’t know. In a way, I don’t want to know. I’m still embarrassed at myself for losing it that bad.

I woke up the next day, fully sober and finally fully hydrated and with a clear mind. I’m done doing that shit. That doesn’t mean that I’m giving up booze and going on the wagon, but I’m not drinking to that level of excess again. You’re not 21 anymore Rob, get your shit together.

Besides being embarrassed at myself for my behavior that afternoon, I had another revelation. This is why I don’t hang out with people that do a bunch of drugs. Weed was never my thing and the majority of the people that I used to hang around with, when they would get stoned, they would think that whatever thought came to their drug altered minds was some profound, sacred truth.

The reality was a lot different.

It was more like, “Dude, you’re high and you aren’t making any sense whatsoever. You need to shut up.”

And babysitting.

At least people doing weed were generally happy-go-lucky compared to someone who gets drunk and you don’t know what you’re going to get with that. Happy drunk? Sad drunk? Angry drunk? Pick a fight with the biggest guy in the room drunk? Puke on your shoes drunk? Suicidal drunk? Keep an eye on them so that they don’t pass out and choke to death on their own vomit drunk? I’ve been around all of these type of drunks. I’m too old for that shit. At least I’m usually a happy or quiet drunk when I get there, my anger is gone for the most part.

So I’m still going to enjoy my booze, but I’m not getting hammered and going live with it anymore. I want to put out a good quality show with good quality content, not a frat party “look at me getting drunk and making an ass of myself” show.

Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than open it up and remove all doubt.

I’m still going to entertain and have a bunch of laughs and hopefully make others laugh and forget their bullshit for the time that they are watching my shows or videos. Hopefully besides just the pure entertainment side of it, hopefully they get more from what I’ll be saying as well. Hopefully it will be something that they’ll be able to take home with them and put it into their own lives and get something positive out of it.

So that’s it.

To anyone including Vince, TJ, and Aaron, that watched and thought, “Oh my god..WTF? It’s a trainwreck.” I offer my sincerest apologies. You all deserve better than that from me. I’m sorry if I disappointed or let any of you down. Most of all though, I let myself down. I’m done doing that.

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