Post: #1

Gents,

John McAfee, "the real most interesting man in the world", has 7 tips for 2014. His 5th tip, "level the ego", is a particularly interesting treatise on trolling, and therefore I post it below:

Quote:Since many of our lives appear empty we try to fill them with our own ego. It is an awkward way to live. We consider ourselves to be huge and the universe and everything else to be tiny in comparison. A casual observer could see that this is incorrect. The ego is difficult to shrink. I have found that one sure way of doing it is to make ourselves appear foolish or insignificant on as many occasions as we can. My ego has always been out of control and, for me, only extreme measures had any noticeable effect. I’ll tell you about my own efforts to contain my ego and perhaps these examples will give rise to more appropriate examples for yourselves.

Dressed as a well weathered derelict, I would panhandle on a busy street. I have done this in nearly every large city in the States. It is one of the most illuminating activities a person can engage in. If you do this seriously, you will begin to look at your fellow man with an entirely different eye. I have discovered that if you are of no importance whatsoever to another human being, then that human being tends to open his or her true self up more readily. People who are, in the normal course of business, polite, kind and gracious, sometimes turn rude and petty when they are speaking to a person who is not really a person to them. Other people who are generally attentive to their neighbors and even random strangers, will not look at you or even acknowledge your existence when you speak to them if you are below a certain status. Homelessness appears to be at the very bottom of this unwritten caste system.

Panhandling never failed to amuse and educate me. My most memorable time was in Ventura California in the late Fall of 2004. I went into a Goodwill store and purchased an old ragged hat and an old worn overcoat. I waited until 6 o’clock in the evening and set up shop in the alcove of closed jewelry store on the main street downtown. I made a cardboard sign on which I wrote “broke and stupid” and held it in front of me while I sat cross-legged on the ground. I placed a small box in front of me in which I tossed a few crumpled dollar bills and some random change. I placed 5 new 100 dollar bills in front of the box, side by side.

My first customers were four Hispanic gang members who nearly passed me by. One of them noticed the hundreds and made as if to come over and scoop them up. He was grabbed by the arm by the tallest member, who whispered something in his ear, at which they all turned and went on their way. I can only assume that the tall one thought I was a cop and the whole scene was a set up.



I plaintively asked each and every passerby for spare change, 99% of whom ignored me as if I did not exist.

After 5 or ten minutes, two elderly ladies, looking much like regular churchgoers, dropped a dollar in my box and admonished me not to spend it on drink. I promised I would not.

A few minutes and a dozen or more people later (to whom I was invisible), a dark blue, brand new Porsche parked about four spaces up the street from me and out stepped a man and a woman, dressed to the hilt and wearing conspicuous, expensive looking jewelry. As they approached I asked “can you spare a dollar?” To which the man immediately replied, indicating he had nothing to spare. I quickly grabbed one of the hundreds and held it out to him saying “I’m so very sorry for you. Here then, take this.” He looked dumbfounded and stopped in his tracks, but the woman, without hesitation, took the hundred and put it in her purse. (That was a first for me, by the way).

The man wanted to know what was going on. I explained that since he had no money, and I did, it was only right that I should share my good fortune with his misfortune. He was unable to help me, so he claimed, but I was able to help him, so I did. The conversation quickly settled on the fact that they gave generously to the poor through contributions to United Way. I asked why it was easy to give large sums through an intermediary but when an apparently small, but real need spoke up from the street, they were able to decline it.



The talk went on in from there in great depth. At some point the woman began to cry. Eventually, the woman asked if they could have a second chance. I said “of course”. She took her husband by the arm and walked back toward their car. She turned and they again walked towards me. ”Can you spare a dollar?” I plaintively asked. The woman reached in her purse, gave me back my hundred, plus a dollar, and they walked on by.

Two of my current readers were observers of this event as it happened. I hope I remembered it correctly. Please correct me if I misrepresented anything.

You don’t have to panhandle, of course, in order to shrink down the ego. I’ve done hundreds of similarly belittling things that have worked equally as well. Some of my favorites include:

• Taking a new date to a very fancy restaurant wearing absurdly out of fashion attire, then purposely mispronouncing everything on the menu, and acting awkward and out of place regarding the use of utensils and other unfamiliar objects, such as butter knives, tea strainers, etc.
  

• Renting an electric wheelchair from a medical supply house and spending the day pretending to be paraplegia in some public place. There is nothing that brings the ego down quicker than thousands of pairs of eyes staring at you in pity throughout the day.
  

• Attending at least 10 AA meetings. Get genuinely into the spirit of things. Stand up in front of dozens of people and fearlessly and completely tell them who you really are. It’s OK. It’s safe.
  

• Doing some little foolishness every day. Sing your favorite song standing in the checkout line at Safeway or some similar place (as Janice can tell you, I do this multiple times a day). Or dance a jig while walking down the street. Or wear a Clown Wig for no apparent purpose.
  

As Shakespeare (or possibly Baby Ruth) so beautifully said: ”To become wise, we must first become a fool”.

Post: #2

Brilliant, brilliant man!

Post: #3

Isn't he accused of shooting his neighbor and has like 45 kids. I thought there was another thread on the forum which showed he was insane or something. Not saying his thoughts are way off, but he is a bit off.

Edit: /thread-24994-...72617.html

Post: #4

This article hits home having been a panhandler and homeless myself. However, I don't necessarily agree with #1 as it falls under trolling which is ego defense. Parts of #4 fall under the same. Wearing a clown wig can even fall under peacocking if you have the game to pull it off. If I were to add something to the list it would be go to a mission to eat dinner everyday for a month. In my experience, soup kitchens treat you with a modicum of dignity. Going to a mission will make you feel like a grade A piece of shit.

From a game perspective this is intriguing to me. The hottest girls I banged came during a time I was either unemployed, homeless, or both. It's been a long winter in the northeast and I have some thinking to do as the weather warms up.

Post: #5

(03-12-2014 08:38 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  Isn't he accused of shooting his neighbor (...) Not saying his thoughts are way off, but he is a bit off.

Yes, he's accused of murdering his neighbor. The man is clearly a sociopath, a bullshit artist, a pathological liar... and he does not even try to hide it, which is why many love him.

Murder Suspect John McAfee: I’m Innocent (2012)

Post: #6

Don't mind the interesting advice... it definitely has some value. But the man is out of his mind.

Post: #7

The more I see, the more I like the guy. He is crazy but entertaining with it.

Here's a profile from "The Setup", a site where IT guys talk about the computers they use. He takes it completely off the rails:

Quote:What hardware do you use?
My tools for national security consulting are primarily a semi-auto .22 rifle with a silencer. They are virtually completely silent and can pierce car doors and other light armor. They are perfect for urban environments.

My accessory tools are mostly extremely strong espresso and research chemicals from China that are classed as "Smart Drugs". They allow me to solve 2nd order partial differential equations in my head and to spontaneously create 4 dimensional images of software structures that I can mentally manipulate.

I also do my most productive security designs while having extended sex. I apologize if you think I am pulling your legs but, God's truth, these are the facts.
...
And what software?
My favorite real-time software is the XM153 remote control software that comes standard with the XM153 50 caliber machine gun.

It is solid, never crashes, easy to use and easy to install.

"I'd hate myself if I had that kind of attitude, if I were that weak." - Arnold

Post: #8

So this is pretty funny.

McAfee Tweets that women like to fuck rich guys.

Woman Tweets back that he looks like a scrotum.

He says yeah, but I'm John Fucking McAfee, leaves the thread, and an endless stream of women keep the thread going trying to convince the absent McAfee that they have never heard of him and would never sleep with him.

Post: #9

In that documentary about him they really made him look like a murderer and also he allegedly hires girls to shit in his mouth. He denies the murdering part, and may deny the shit-eating, but what he can't deny is he married a street-walking prostitute, and an ugly one at that. I take a much of what he says with a grain of salt.

Post: #10

So what you're all saying is; John McAfee is definitely not an NPC?

Post: #11

(11-15-2018 04:13 PM)Thot Leader Wrote:  In that documentary about him they really made him look like a murderer and also he allegedly hires girls to shit in his mouth. He denies the murdering part, and may deny the shit-eating, but what he can't deny is he married a street-walking prostitute, and an ugly one at that. I take a much of what he says with a grain of salt.

I saw that documentary and I'm pretty sure that he told those girls to say that to troll which is hilarious in itself.

Post: #12

Nevertheless, he is/was also one of the most brilliant tech entrepreneurs. He invented the concept of modern anti-virus. Or to put it more accurately, he invented the idea of freeware. He literally was the first person ever in history to give away a free version of a mass market computer product, and then later, make money by selling satisfied customers a moderately priced upgrade. He sold out his company and retired with hundreds of millions of dollars, which he proceeded to squander on high living of the most extreme kind. Nobody knows how much money he has now but it's still a lot. Maybe the streetwalker he married is a great woman? Certainly she's not an uptight feminist asshole.

Post: #13

He is strikes me as a masochist. The evidence is piling up - everything from the hammock to pretend begging is telling me this guy enjoys humiliation. He frames it as an exercise in humility but a guy as smart as him could do without these irl exercises to achieve the same results. I still respect him for his achievements and being a voice of reason on many topics.

Post: #14

(11-16-2018 03:07 PM)[email protected] Wrote:  He is strikes me as a masochist. The evidence is piling up - everything from the hammock to pretend begging is telling me this guy enjoys humiliation. He frames it as an exercise in humility but a guy as smart as him could do without these irl exercises to achieve the same results. I still respect him for his achievements and being a voice of reason on many topics.

Not disagreeing, but how is anything he's doing even remotely masochistic? He's the ultimate narcissist if anything. No respect for anybody or anything. Begging on the street isn't humiliating at his level of ego. I could do the same thing in a heartbeat, just to fuck with people's perception.

Post: #15

(11-16-2018 03:07 PM)[email protected] Wrote:  He is strikes me as a masochist. The evidence is piling up - everything from the hammock to pretend begging is telling me this guy enjoys humiliation.

Suppose a person is incapable of feeling shame. Can that person feel humiliated?

Post: #16

There are reasons to give to a "panhandler" and there are more not to give to him. This kind of stuff is attention seeking tripe by McAfee to try to act like he has some real connection to humanity or expose how "shitty" most people are.

Just looking at him in this scope with those dumb tattoos makes me trust him even less.

Most of charity in the modern sense is completely disassociated from the people who receive it. This includes welfare state coercion/stealing from the government as well as appeals from international organizations and street corner hustlers, most of which are emotional exploitation. Apart from natural disasters, throwing money at people is flat out retarded. If you do, have a real connection with them or know others that do so that you can understand what is going on, what help is truly going for, and possibly even do it discreetly.

That's real philanthropy.

Post: #17

(03-12-2014 07:19 PM)Icarus Wrote:  

Quote:Since many of our lives appear empty we try to fill them with our own ego. It is an awkward way to live. We consider ourselves to be huge and the universe and everything else to be tiny in comparison. A casual observer could see that this is incorrect. The ego is difficult to shrink. I have found that one sure way of doing it is to make ourselves appear foolish or insignificant on as many occasions as we can. My ego has always been out of control and, for me, only extreme measures had any noticeable effect. I’ll tell you about my own efforts to contain my ego and perhaps these examples will give rise to more appropriate examples for yourselves.

Dressed as a well weathered derelict, I would panhandle on a busy street. I have done this in nearly every large city in the States. It is one of the most illuminating activities a person can engage in. If you do this seriously, you will begin to look at your fellow man with an entirely different eye. I have discovered that if you are of no importance whatsoever to another human being, then that human being tends to open his or her true self up more readily. People who are, in the normal course of business, polite, kind and gracious, sometimes turn rude and petty when they are speaking to a person who is not really a person to them. Other people who are generally attentive to their neighbors and even random strangers, will not look at you or even acknowledge your existence when you speak to them if you are below a certain status. Homelessness appears to be at the very bottom of this unwritten caste system.

Panhandling never failed to amuse and educate me. My most memorable time was in Ventura California in the late Fall of 2004. I went into a Goodwill store and purchased an old ragged hat and an old worn overcoat. I waited until 6 o’clock in the evening and set up shop in the alcove of closed jewelry store on the main street downtown. I made a cardboard sign on which I wrote “broke and stupid” and held it in front of me while I sat cross-legged on the ground. I placed a small box in front of me in which I tossed a few crumpled dollar bills and some random change. I placed 5 new 100 dollar bills in front of the box, side by side.

I'm surprised - but happy - you started this thread. I had thought even on this forum his advice would be seen as both too esoteric and too Machiavellian/manipulative.

It was hard to verbalize why at the time, but I took his advice to heart after reading those posts a long time ago, probably around 2015. At first, it was in small ways. His idea of ego played some role, but for me the essence of this piece of advice became challenging conventional ways of relating to the world, like the non-poor person who acts as a panhandler to see his environment on a different level.

Then some time (maybe a year) after that first reading of McAfee's lessons, I felt obliged to report sexual abuse to the police in Europe and a hitherto half-hearted feud between myself and some others over the matter became a full-blown one involving lawyers. In this day and age of mass outrage over nothing-burgers or plain made-up sexual "misconduct", it was sort of surreal to be reporting a legitimate case of childhood sexual abuse that I was made aware of over an extended period of time.

McAfee's advice certainly wasn't the only catalyst for how I went about things, but it influenced my perspective. In instances of real sexual abuse, as opposed to false rape allegations, you just cannot imagine how crazily desperate the side with things to hide becomes. They fight for survival in a way that's very hard to explain. Their resort to self-preservation is atavistic at its most extreme, albeit a different form of mental illness/rabidness to those who invent rape claims.

People overly concerned with instant ego and how they are perceived try and reason these things out calmly but quickly, presuming they can win through charm or strength of argument in a "fair" social system. They do not countenance the idea of their well-constructed arguments falling on deaf ears. As a result, I was belligerent and confrontational. Facts and proof obviously mattered and I paid lip service to a sometimes reasoned facade, yet I had to strike emotions into them. Reason by itself wouldn't work. If someone made a threat, I asked them when and where they wanted to say it in person to me. If I was called a liar, I would have someone distribute copies of sworn affidavits with evidence and then demand someone take it to a prosecutor and report me to the police if they wanted to insist I had been dishonest. No one ever went.

I would receive threats about my reporting and would retaliate in the best way I could. I had been accused by the parties afraid of the disclosure of fabricating the evidence (true desperation had set in for them), so I responded by insisting the lawyer on the other side take the matter to a court and the court would decide. Of course, they refused and totally turned around, acknowledging the abuse and asking me to keep the matter quiet.

In a sense, I was playing these people, putting up with short and medium-term slander, to play a longer game. And it worked. They had to admit to a number of people that the sexual abuse had indeed happened. Naturally, some neighbors would always believe the opposing parties were not lying, but that's life.

What you learn about tribalism in situations like this just cannot be taught in an academic class, whether in evolutionary psychology or delusions of the mind courses. Having abandoned conventional appearances and worries about them, I was freed up to learn a lot about fundamental human nature, even if a lot of it was merely confirmation of things I already "knew" but had not experienced much in the real world.

I remember on a few occasions comparing myself to McAfee and his panhandling. Instead of panhandling for money on a street, I was making something of a sales pitch about the truth. The truth is the truth, yes, but the market for people to receive it is sometimes like expanding Lamborghini sales during a Great Depression.

Some key takeaways I made:

- People fear determined people or those who don't flinch. I remember one time receiving a threat that I would be attacked. I called the guy up and left a message, "Good, a threat. I live for this. Where are you threatening me in person?" He changed his number.

- You never know your neighbors but think you do. It was amazing how folks claimed they "knew" there was no sexual abuse as they had known the people involved for years. Talk to someone for five minutes a month or less but live right by their house for years and suddenly you think you know every detail of their life.

- People know things won't work but do them anyway. Five minutes, hours or days of avoiding or denying the truth is too relieving, even when one knows the long-term penalties will far outstrip the pleasures of avoidance now.

Post: #18

The only thing levelibg will be McAfee's dick when his prediction for bitcoin doesn't come true.

Post: #19

By the way, Mcafee posted a video in which he refuted the Belize allegations, very interesting.

He said basically that he started donating a lot of money to the locals in the town he had built his compound, because he was so hurt seeing their poverty. He just started funding the town directly. This pissed off the government bureaucrats, who came to him and "politely" suggested he donate $2 million to their slush fund. In other words, he had to pay them bribes. He told them to fuck off, and they cooked up a fake murder charge.

Knowing South American governments like Belize, I believe every word.

Post: #20

delete

Post: #21

John McAfee is a biopic ala Wolf of Wallstreet or Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the making.

Post: #22

John McAfee has definitely seen things few men are meant to see. However, I think he needs to push back his Bitcoin prediction by a few years. Bitcoin will hit $1 million, but it will take some time.

Post: #23

So what if he killed or had one of his guys kill that neighbour, how fucking stupid is he to kill his dogs.

Suicide by stupidity.

Post: #24

(12-18-2018 10:54 PM)PharaohRa Wrote:  John McAfee has definitely seen things few men are meant to see. However, I think he needs to push back his Bitcoin prediction by a few years. Bitcoin will hit $1 million, but it will take some time.

Lol. If it doesn't by next year, he's promised to eat his own cock.

I think he gets kicks out of being humiliated. He may be the most interesting man on the planet. Clearly a genius. Definitely thinks out of the box. Marrying an ugly prostitute is something most of RVFers won't forgive though. He's had lots of women around, but most of whom arent' the prettiest.