Thursday, November 10, 2011

Verisimilitude


"That's my story and I'm sticking to it, 'cause I got no reason to lie..."

- lyric from the Black Sabbath song, The Thrill of it All


The word for today is Verisimilitude.

In a recent discussion I was in with The Bombastic Bardamu , he made a point that resonated with me regarding blogging:

Verisimilitude and ethos are nearly impossible to fake. Indeed, verisimilitude is practically the coin of the realm in the blogosphere - without knowing who each other are, we have to judge each other based on the truthfulness (intentional and/or inadvertent) in each other's writing...

...indeed, the best writers in the manosphere - has this verisimilitude.

I agree, not only is it the coin of the realm...it is the defining trait of any blogger in any sphere of teh interwebz. As I wrote in A Salute to Conventional Wisdom:

I learned far more about the world as it really is, and about myself and my place in the real world, from the influences and insights gained from blogs, message boards and websites that inspired true introspection and productive ruminations…than I ever did watching tell-a-vision, the movies, or from the approximately 13 wasted years I spent in the State of Hawaii’s institutionalized public schooling system.

I discovered that everything I thought was real and true, were nothing but lies, misconceptions, misdirections and misinformation designed precisely to capitalize on, and exploit my health and my productive capacity, all for the benefit of the system…at the expense of my mental, spiritual and physical well-being.

It was never a case of simply falling for any old story found anywhere on the world wide web. Like everything else in so-called civilization, it’s full of bullshit and lies as well.

But the difference is, you can actually read something that may sound crazy on the internet…

…but ruminate on it…and observe various manifestations of those ideas in real life…or even experiment on yourself…

…and eventually discern which virtual tirades, manifestos, declarations or diatribes are justifiable and based on truths…and which ones are crackpot lunacies and monomaniacal mental disorders vomiting their mental wastes into the virtual ether.

There is nothing more convincing than experiences and anecdotes from anonymous authors who may be writing thousands of miles away from wherever you are logged on…who can describe behaviors, results or phenomena exactly the way you perceive or experience these things too. Similarities in human experiences that cut across cultural, socio-economic and religious differences are compelling anecdotes that can override the powerful influence and the illusory authority of so-called conventional wisdom.

Verisimilitude is the defining factor in determining the veracity of any particular writer's advice or observations that run counter to the conventional wisdom.

Before becoming an avid blog reader, I was an avid mass media consumer.

I used to read a variety of newspapers, magazines, and watch a lot of television "News" and "Journalist Investigation" type shows. I used to think I knew a lot about a whole range of topics. I did not realize just how much of what I thought I knew was nothing more than literal Mass Media PROGRAMMING.

When I first began reading anti-establishment blogs and alternative media articles, I often encountered a writer saying "everything you think you know is simply what has been told to you by those who control the mass media narrative." I used to have a knee jerk, defensive attitude towards that observation: "Whatever...I think for myself!"

Except that up until I discovered the vibrant underground of politically incorrect blogging (on a whole host of topics), my thoughts were completely influenced by the TV and all of the reinforcement of the mainstream narratives from the mainstream print media.

Thanks to the verisimilitude of many excellent bloggers, I've discovered just how extensive and pervasive this programming was. I now recognize so many lies and deceptions the moment I see them...on TV, in the movies, in advertising and in print.

Lies. Everywhere you look in our Brave New World Order.

It's why I no longer read newspapers, nor watch any kind of news shows or any other sort of TV programming that's supposedly "FACT BASED REPORTING."

Thanks to the verisimilitude of people who blog, I've embraced a radical, anti-establishment lifestyle.

By eschewing commodity crops and advocating the consumption of grass-fed meat, pastured eggs, and local produce, we are making several very, very powerful enemies.

The medical and nutritional establishments hate paleo, because we’re exposing the fact that they’ve been wrong for decades and have killed millions of people with their bad advice.

The agribusinesses and industrial food processors hate paleo, because we’re hurting their business by not buying their highly profitable grain - and soy-based products.

The mainstream media hates paleo, because they profit handsomely from advertising those grain- and soy-based products.

The government hates paleo, because they’re the enforcement arm of big agribusinesses, industrial food processors, and mainstream media—and because their subsidy programs create mountains of surplus grain that must be consumed somehow.

Is anyone surprised that a government which spends billions of dollars subsidizing the production of corn, soy, and wheat, would issue nutritional recommendations emphasizing the consumption of corn, soy, and wheat?

And this is why, despite all their rhetoric, the vegans end up on the same team as Monsanto and Pepsico: their interests are aligned. - J. Stanton

I used to minimize my consumption of animal foods, and try to avoid saturated fats as much as possible. And I kept steadily gaining weight and trending towards obesity in my late 20's and early 30's. Thanks to the verisimilitude of bloggers in the "paleosphere", I now eat a diet heavy in animal protein and saturated fat. I avoid processed convenience and fast foods, and I've lost all that excess weight and find myself trim and in better shape at 38 years old, than when I was 28 years old.

I use salt at nearly every meal. I eat eat fried foods all the time too. The difference is I use naturally derived, minimally processed sea salt and I deep fry with coconut oil and pan fry with saved bacon grease and lots of butter. According to mass media conventional "wisdom," I'm supposed to be fat and suffering from high blood pressure. My latest blood pressure measurement from a couple of days ago? 116/72. I've been eating like this for years now.

Verisimilitude. The mass media narrative doesn't have it. The problem is that it is so pervasive, and broadcast through so many various mediums that reinforce each other, that it induces the illusion of verisimilitude. It took extreme cognitive dissonance to finally face the ugly truths after a lifetime of being steeped in the pretty lies of mass media programming. In other words, after years of eating non-fat dairy, vegetarian meat substitute products, non-dairy creamers, non-fat/non-stick cooking sprays, and a daily diet of whole-grain products and 'cholesterol free' spreads, I hit the point where I could no longer close the top button of my pants because my belly was sticking out. BUT I'M EATING HEALTHY?!?!??!?! WTF?!?!? So I logged on to the internet and began googling diet and weight loss, and eventually discovered the Weston A. Price Foundation...which eventually lead me to the Paleo Blogosphere.

Other ways in which the verisimilitude of certain writers in the blogosphere have influenced my life:

~ I avoid fluoridated water and use fluoride-free toothpaste.

~ I avoid using sunscreen, and sunbathe at every possible opportunity during the window of time for which conventional wisdom deems most dangerous - 11:00am to 3:00pm.

~ I occasionally smoke tobacco.

~ I eat as much red meat as I can afford.

~ I quit chronic-cardio exercise in an attempt to control my weight, and focus solely on weight lifting and high-intensity/interval training exercise.

Oh, and of course, thanks to the verisimilitude of guys like John Ross and other anonymous bloggers, I figured out my former attitudes and beliefs about gender and relationships were a recipe for failure. I didn't even grasp how I put the female gender on a pedestal and followed the mass media's emasculation program.

Verisimilitude.

Recognize it when you see it. It just might change your life.


6 comments:

rycamor said...

Being 7 years older than you, It's especially ironic for me, because most of these things you mention were ways of life for me *before* marriage, but I did let myself get seduced away from them (to a lesser extent, but it was there). Until marriage, I did not even own a television. I was an avid libertarian, did not trust traditional media, knew that an Atkins-style diet was the way to go, although I didn't always follow it (paleo was not widely known in the 90s), and was implicitly aware of Game, even though the word was not in our lingo at the time. In fact, for older men, most of the concepts of Game (except for the more bizarre Player tricks) are just... common wisdom. Stuff that has been beat out of our culture for decades. Just look at any romantic movie from the 40s for a refresher.

The fact is I let my wife influence my habits. I was watching more TV, reading less, eating her kind of food, etc... It's not that I was a henpecked wimp, but I had just gradually changed habits out of laziness.

It wasn't too much stretch for me to regain ground, But when I thought about it, I was especially surprised at how my diet had changed over the years. I had let myself be talked out of Atkins, paying attention to the common wisdom, reducing fats, eating whole-grain bread and cereal with low-fat milk, and snacking on processed carbs all the time, wondering why I felt worn-out and tired, had headaches, acid reflux and joint pains, and was outgrowing my pants. I really thought it just went with the territory of being a man in his 40s. Then I went back to the way I used to eat and work out and within a few months I was 30 pounds lighter (modulo an extra 15 lbs of muscle), and feeling as energetic as I did in my 20s. Verisimilitude, supported by actual results.

Txomin said...

You've got guts. This is unusual. I have bookmarked your blog and will be stopping by. Thank you.

Leahn Novash said...

To be fair, I still read mainstream media for the hard facts. I mean, if this or that important person died or was fired, if the government is going to raise or lower taxes, if this company or that company is now under. These kinds of facts.

The reasons behind all those things may be all bunk, but those facts are hard facts that can't be faked.

MarkyMark said...

Good stuff, KG, good stuff...

Anonymous said...

You can make your own toothpaste by mixing baking soda and peroxide 3%(preferably food grade). I have been using it for a few years and it works great. Just remember to wipe the sides of your mouth after brushing. Way cheaper than regular toothpaste and it doesn't leave that tingly feeling in your mouth for a long time like either.

The Boar said...

Excellent post.

Lately I've brooding about how the blogosphere changed my life for the better; it’s incredible, really.

And since you were quoting Black Sabbath at the beginning, I can’t resist but to post this:

from Heaven&Hell by Black Sabbath

The world is full of Kings and Queens
Who blind your eyes then steal your dreams
...it's Heaven and Hell, oh well

And they'll tell you black is really white
The moon is just the sun at night
And when you walk in golden halls
You get to keep the gold that falls
It's Heaven and Hell.


It's interesting to note that many heavy metal bands carry these kind of thought provoking messages - probably of the main reasons that nobody listens to metal anyway.