Interesting debate thread over at
PMAFT's discussing Alek Novy's activities on teh interwebz. (Hat tip to Chuck at GLP for bringing it to my attention.)
Novy once wrote a very good post about why he links to blogs that other people may find objectionable.
I agreed with his premise, and like I do with any blogger who writes something I find interesting and/or compelling, I added him to my blogroll.
In 5 years of blogging, he remains the sole person I've ever bothered to remove from my blogroll.
His hysterical, over-the-top, ALL CAPS rantings against "gamers" and "paleo diet cult members" annoyed me to the point that I actually got off my ass and actually bothered to log in to my blogger control panel and delete him.
When it comes to "game" I really no longer give a shit about the entire "game" vs. "anti-game" arguments.
I have always supported, linked to, and regularly read MRA/MGTOW bloggers like
Fidelbogen and
Paul Elam, even if I disagree with their stated positions on game. Game is a personal, individual thing. A tool. Use it or not, YMMV.
If you read about the concept of game, and ruminate on it and reflect on your personal experiences...you either get it, or you don't.
Some folks are simply incapable of wrapping their mind about what Game theory actually represents. Because anyone who has an ounce of logic and critical thinking skills, can find the basic fundamentals of game theory for free on teh interwebz, and figure out how it applies to their own lives, their own history and experiences.
That's what I did. Hell, I did not pay a single dime to anyone for a damn thing related to game. The only game books I've ever read where Roosh's books...and I got those for free from some generous IP pirate that emailed me .pdf versions of Bang and Dead Bat in Paraquay. (Sorry Roosh...I'll at least say they were both good books and advise others that it would be worth their time and money to buy them!)
Other than that, everything I learned about this thing called "game" was from blogs and forums I found on the internet for free...before I ever heard of Roissy and his now infamous blog. (That's not to detract from Roissy at all...but Novy and his crew seem to think anyone that enjoys Roissy's blog is a cult member mindlessly worshiping him and incapable of thinking for themselves).
Gee, what a scam and conspiracy theory, eh? Reading some advice for free on teh interwebz, experimenting with it on my own to see if it works or not, than sharing my own results with others (for free) and comparing notes with others who tried the same sort of experiments.
My, how cultish, diabolical and conspiratorial.
But when it comes to Novy's unhinged diatribes against PUA community "gurus" and "masters," I actually agree with about half of his criticisms. There most certainly does exist a subset of slick marketers, fraudsters and charlatans out to make a quick buck off of sexually frustrated men who are simply clueless about how to attract and seduce women. You don't need seminars, DVD sets, books, or e-newsletter subscriptions from so-called gurus. Just some self-awareness and critical thinking skills to digest and comprehend what so many other folks are discussing - for free - on blogs and forums throughout the manosphere.
But Novy's anti-game jihad is not why I'm writing this post. He really goes off the rails when he shoots off about the paleo diet being a "cult" and just another "fad diet."
Here's what Novy wrote about the "Paleo cult" -
“You end up eating less calories while believing calories don’t matter, and lose weight, and then attribute it to a conspiracy theory that tricked you into eating less.”
I responded over at PMAFT's:
How about I eat 3000 calories of meat, egg, cheese and veggies sauteed in butter every day for a month.
You eat 2500 calories of twinkies, cookies, crackers, cake, soda, ice cream and candy every day for a month.
We can both follow the exact same exercise regimen, with you eating 500 calories less than I.
What does logic and scientific inquiry lead you to understand what would happen where we to conduct such an experiment?
No response yet.
The more I think about it, the more I've come to revile this simplistic, idiotic notion that the be-all-end-all consideration when it comes to diet, is based on counting calories, and burning more calories via exercise than you eat.
See, the Paleo "cult" is not concerned with WEIGHT LOSS as it's ultimate goal. This is why it is not a "fad diet." The primary concern is eating
real food that is nutrient dense. Nutrient dense foods allow the body to function the way it was designed/evolved to. Weight loss is just one aspect of the health results one gets when they remove modern, processed junk food from their diet.
When I "joined the cult" back in 2007, I was overweight and approaching the obesity point (despite a regular regimen of weight lifting, martial arts and other physical recreational activities like surfing, diving, hiking and hunting). I was certainly starting to transform into a "Hawaiian blob." I was trying for years to eat healthy according to the conventional wisdom - low-fat/whole grain/lots of fruits and vegetables. Didn't matter, still got fatter.
Just like "game," I discovered the Weston Price Foundation, and than later on the Paleo "cult" blogosphere. Again, I paid exactly $0.00 to read and apply the principles of the WAPF Nourishing Traditions & Paleo diet concepts. Within the first 3 months, I lost all the excess weight. My growing "beer belly" shrank to nothing. I went from 225 lbs. to 185.
That was over 4 years ago. When I stepped on the scale tonight, I was 186. At 38 years of age, I look, feel and perform in better shape now than when I was 28.
Must be the "placebo effect" of being a brainwashed cult member.
Since then, I've come to understand that "paleo" is about so much more than simply losing weight. It's not a "fad diet." It's simply about understanding the difference between real, wholesome foods and how they provide nutrition for the body....versus man-made, mass processed crap that makes you sick when you consume enough of it over a long enough period of time.
Aside from the weight loss, and keeping it off for 4 years and counting (gee...some fad diet there), I've experienced a number of other health benefits that come from eating a nutrient dense diet and avoiding the modern, manufactured, processed junk foods. But I'm sure those dramatic changes in health, stamina and strength are just more iterations of the placebo effects that only happened because I've been brainwashed by the paleo conspiracy cult!
I mean, why would I question the tenets of my cult?
Do you think 500 calories of fresh caught wild fish from the Pacific ocean, eaten raw, would have the exact same effects on your health as eating 500 calories of a factory farmed fish fillet, seasoned, breaded in white flour bread crumbs, flash-frozen, wrapped in plastic and shipped thousands of miles away...then deep fried in partially hydrogenated soybean oil typically used in most restaurant's deep fat friers? Do you really think there's no nutritional difference between the two?
500 calories is 500 calories!
How about 800 calories of grass fed beef steak, pan-fried in grass-fed butter...versus 800 calories of lean chicken breast fried in non-stick, non-fat (aka soybean oil) cooking spray? No difference? Really?
After all, calories are calories?!?!
Just eat less and exercise more!
Anything more than that means you're just a delusional cult member fooling yourself with the placebo effect!
Ah...but don't take it from me.
I'm just a "Hawaiian blob" and a "conspiracy theorist."
How about this recent article from the Vancouver Sun:
Trans fats linked to brain shrinkage
Some trans fats are found naturally, in small amounts, in dairy products, beef and lamb, but the trans fats in the study are hidden in cakes, flaky pastries, potato chips and other fried, frozen and processed food. Trans fatty acids increase inflammation, make arteries harder and decrease heart rhythm, increasing the risk of cardiac arrest.
Only a handful of studies have looked at the relationship between trans fats and brain function, Bowman said. "I think our study is one of the first to look at blood levels of trans fats related to brain health."
Evidence suggests that trans fats can replace good fats in cell membranes, "and when that occurs it changes the structure and chemical properties of the cell in an unfavourable way," Bowman said.
"Trans fats are known to be bad for cardiovascular health," he said. "It makes sense that they're probably bad for the brain, too."
He recommended avoiding processed foods that list "partially hydrogenated oils" on the ingredient list. "That's trans fat," Bowman said.
This article sums up the difference between us paleo cultists and regular, sane folks like Novy and his crew of pro-establishment sycophants.
See, it doesn't take a genius to understand that our distant ancestors would have never eaten something like trans-fats created in an industrial facility from rancid, oxidized vegetable oils.
But hey....taking Novy's expert pronouncements to it's logical conclusion, why ingesting 500 calories of partially hydrogenated soybean oil (aka margarine) is no different than 500 calories of Grade AA grass-fed butter! To believe otherwise is just the placebo effect caused by the delusions that come with joining a cult!
If that's the case, than I am happy to say that I'm a proud paleo-conspiracy cult member. Wouldn't you like to join the cult too?
Let me know and I'll set up your initiation ASAP.
