I’ve read and watched and listened to a lot of creepy pickup artist crap over the past few years while writing this blog, but in some ways this little video, from PUA “coach” Julian of Real Social Dynamics, one of the bigger and better known of the commercial “game” marketers, may well be the creepiest. Essentially, Julian provides tips to young men on how to “get” the girl of their dreams by temporarily driving her out of her mind.
No, really: he recommends that men overwhelm their female targets with confusing and contradictory stimuli to throw them so off-balance they’ll reflexively turn to their mental tormenters for support (and, maybe later, reward them with sex). This isn’t pick-up artistry so much as freak-out artistry.
The one thing about this video that is vaguely reassuring is that Julian’s examples of his technique in action are so crude and hamhanded I seriously doubt they’d actually work on anyone “in field,” as the PUAs like to say. What’s not so reassuring is that anyone would actually come up with something this predatory and perverse in the first place. Also, you know that at least a few of the video’s 32,000 viewers have actually tried out this technique on annoyed and bewildered women around the world. The world doesn’t really need any new ways for dudes to be assholes in clubs.
RE: avocados – I remember as a kid I didn’t really like avocados. My mother would just cut open an avocado and sprinkle some sugar on top. Didn’t think it tasted that great.
Then one day my mother made avocado smoothies. I AM A LOVER OF AVOCADO SMOOTHIES. O_O
My best friend (well, one of them) is Brazilian, and he treats avocados as a fruit and eats them with sugar! He is horrified when they are treated as a savory, rather than a sweet, food.
Avocado is a nut pecunium informed me when I said it was a disgusting fruit. Either way, ewwwww
And calling pecunium ageist would be equally funny, since if he’s closer in age to me than Good, Good needs parental permission to be here (literally, in the FBI care sense)
You’ll have to fight me for ’em!
Speaking of food, I looked up to see how Melbourne’s served for Persian cuisine – the answer is “badly”, there aren’t many places at all. But we’re a lot better off for Turkish cafes/restaurants, so the next question is: is Turkish food much like Persian in having choices that are seasoned rather than spicy? I’ve read that it’s much less hot than Indian or Mexican, f’rinst, but those two are so far out of my tolerance range that the comparison doesn’t help all that much.
It looks like Brave made the Mr of the Shakeville house, the Scot, grumble, ergo it’s stereotyping.
And we’ve now all violated their comment policy by not reading the many thousand words required reading to dare say that maybe this isn’t racism.
The Turkish I got in Pittsburgh was about as seasoned as Italian. Maybe less, but I’m recalling my Italian grandmother’s cooking, not market Italian.
FWIW, Good definitely doesn’t read as old enough to have had a wife for many years to me.
Good,
You did not respond to my previous post, so let me repeat it.
You said, “PUAs acknowledge who they are and what they do.” But this is only true to their friends or online audiences. They DO NOT inform the women they’re trying to “pick up.” If anyone should be informed about the goal of a PUA, it’s the woman he’s trying to sleep with!
If I post instructions online on how to trick a man into giving me his phone and wallet, then promptly use this technique to involuntarily remove your phone and wallet, did I steal them? If you think this sounds ridiculous, here is a real life example:
Of course Darren returned the man’s items, but suppose he hadn’t. Would you consider using this technique stealing? Yes or no.
Kittehs, you can have Argenti’s rejected avocados.
Turkish food isn’t usually spicy, but it often has garlic — can’t remember if you were one of the garlic haters. Here’s a famous Turkish dish.
Yeah, I can’t tell the difference with bay leaves, but Dr. Husbutt swears by them, so in they go. Then again, my family leans more toward the “hella garlic, cayenne, red pepper flakes, cilantro, and cumin” side of the spice cabinet, so… yeah, possibly I just burnt out my tastebuds to the point where parsley and bay and whatnot are all but pointless in regular quantities.
That said, the pesto Dr. Husbutt whipped up tonight was divine 😀
RE: CassandraSays
That’d be heartening. If he’s young, he has better odds of not being an ass in the future.
Argenti – did your grandmother use pepper heavily or lightly? I love Italian (well, pasta) but not if it’s peppery, and even frozen lasagne can be a bit peppery for me. 😛
I must say I like the descriptions of Turkish food, with all those nuts added.
Hubby swears by hot harissa and herbs de Provence. After eating his couscous with veg and those herbs, I have to concur.
Oi fucking vey (pecunium, what was that version you should’ve taught me instead of mentioning in passing?)
Apparently this little “it isn’t racism” thing we’re doing? We’re giving cover to people who go “yob’re just too sensitive” when indigenous people are offended.
Cassandra, let me know when you find your eyeballs, if you see a hazel pair nearby, grab ’em for me, mine just rolled off.
Turkish cuisine also includes a variety of delicious fritters, and savory pastries with cheese. I think it’s worth a try.
The worst bit of the Brave thing is that there’s a reasonable point buried in there somewhere: Exotification of red hair and Scottish accents being portrayed as funny could be examples of othering. Not examples that add up to anything terribly significant, but examples.
But they couldn’t just say that; no, it has to be racism against Scottish people and how that’s the worst thing ever.
*spits on black pepper* no
I’m not sure if she ever used any. I think there may be small amounts in some of her recipes, but no. I was thinking more…rosemary, basil, actual honest to goodness oregano, not the dried to shit leaves you buy in most stores (that shit has a flavor before it dries out!)
LBT and others: Does anyone here have anything good recipes I should try? I’m a somewhat poor college student who’s basically learning how to cook numerous different things, and I want to have something that I can carry in a lunch box to eat after a few hours of class. After all, restaurant food’s expensive. 😛
cloudiah – I don’t mind garlic (except the smell on other people YES BOSS I’M LOOKING AT YOU) but I’d back off from the onions in that dish. I don’t care for ’em except when they’re beaten into submission in an Irish stew or something. 😛
kittehs, you’d love my mother-in-law’s cooking then! She basically hates pretty much all spices, as far as I’ve gathered. I personally find it very bland, but hey, who can argue with focaccia and apricot croissants fresh from the bakery every morning? Also, great espresso!
That’s the thing, the idea that the accents are hilarious is a bit othering, and Scottish people do notice it. But calling it racism…nope, that isn’t quite right. And referring to the old British idea that gingers are somehow evil as racist is even sketchier (they do have gingers in England too, you know).
::high fives dustydeste’s MiL:: 🙂
Argenti – excellent! ::also high fives Argenti’s grandmother::
cloudiah – “Turkish cuisine also includes a variety of delicious fritters, and savory pastries with cheese. I think it’s worth a try.”
::drools::
I love cheesy pastries.
Yeah, all Scots have red hair and wear kilts is, uh, just a wee bit off, to say the least (and hey wait, fairly sure my favorite red headed kilt wearer isn’t a Scot!)
But to claim that saying that isn’t racism is the same as telling indigenous people they’re just to sensitive? You’ve just gone from reasonable to “please locate my eyes”.
The one thing I’d add about Turkish food is that if it’s authentic it may be a bit disconcertingly sweet for some people (Moroccan food too).
Extra-sweet I can handle. 🙂