“That’s why I love history so much—because once you find out that this world is a circle, you can never get lost. You can look at certain things and it’ll tell you what’s gonna happen later with amazing accuracy.”1
– Katt Williams, Joe Rogan Experience 2111
To celebrate the release of Herd Immunity: Societal Deprogramming and to commemorate four years since the unnecessary and draconian COVID-19 Lockdowns occurred, I wanted to write a small article noting some of the most important changes over the past four years. I’m omitting several key details and events for two major reasons. The first is space–this isn’t meant to be a long article. The second is recency bias. I’m 3 months into 2024 and launching the second half of a book whose manuscript resembled Atlas Shrugged or The Laws of Human Nature before it went to edits. I don’t need to discuss everything that happened since the 2020 election; we all lived it.
I want to reflect on the evolution of Herd Immunity, from a joke book, to 100 lessons I learned in the first 35 years of my life, to nearing 40, another nonsense presidential election, and a world whose populace chooses to divide themselves along any major dogmatic medium: political, religious, social, scientific, and even minutiae such as favorite beers and soft drinks. It’s petty, pedantic, and pointless. But so could be said is the human experience.
Make no mistake about it–I and a few others were right about COVID being non-fatal for the average person, about the lockdowns being pointless, about the needless closing of gyms, and that the vaccine and its yearly subscription service were also pointless and harmful. Many of us will never receive our “you were right” and our apologies. But I can be the bigger man, because even if I went to every person on the planet and said, “I told you so,” I know half of them would argue with me with their double-digit IQ n=1 sampling bias. Meanwhile, I’m still sitting here with my near-flawless immune system (which blood tests as recently as January 2024 can prove), my zero COVID-19 infections, my zero positive tests, and my zero COVID and flu shots. Surely, if any asshole was gonna catch this bitch, it would be me. Oh well. The only reason I even have to discuss COVID four years later with this book is because it was the impetus for the book. I sat at home for six weeks and needed a project. Four years later, two books have been published. I said I was gonna do it, and I did it.
I provided young men with a blueprint to free themselves from the dogma of any echo chamber or any act of human endeavor. From education, work, meeting women, navigating social events and societal standards. But first I chose to release a book about the internal locus of control, focusing on your boundaries, your health, your personal development (the real shit, not the shit you see Fake Gurus advertising on social media), and your leisure. The truth is, as much as I wanted to chew society a new asshole, I had to first lay the groundwork. I had to chew my own asshole? first. I had to make sure that I walked my talk before I could teach others. Then, and only then, could I call out society for its’ bullshit. Herd Immunity: Societal Deprogramming is my calling out society.
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The Year of Intellectual Curiosity
In his now-viral interview on Club Shay Shay, Katt Williams declared 2024 as “the year of reckoning.”2 In this interview, he proceeds to call out comedians such as Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, Kevin Hart, and Rickey Smiley for joke-stealing and other intellectual fraud. I love that he not only calls out fraud but has the receipts to back up his claims.
I wrote in my journal that 2024 is “The Year of Intellectual Curiosity.”
As a reformed pathological liar, not only is it important to call out fraud when you see it (Think back to Herd Immunity: Mental Firmware and tacit approval) but also to have the receipts to back it up. I spent much time reflecting upon this in 2023 and considered spending 2024 dedicated to calling out all these weirdos I see online lying: the fitness community, the red pill community, money Twitter, and various cults who do nothing for their followers other than take their money and leave them frustrated. However, I also decided that before I dedicated any headspace to seriously calling these frauds out and proving them wrong, I had to go out and get receipts.
When Katt Williams calls out comedians for joke theft, he can point to specific instances in his 12 stand-up specials, and point to a time and place where he not only performed the joke but where said joke thief saw him perform it and when this fraud began to pass off Katt’s work as his own. In addition to this, he also noted that he made it his mission to outwork all the other comedians so that they would become discouraged and quit comedy.3 It would be easy to dedicate hours every week to trolling, harassing, and calling out various content creators for lying to and misleading their audience. However, I don’t have the receipts to back it up. I don’t have as many books as some of these writers; I don’t have a shredded physique like some of these coaches; I don’t have the bank accounts of some of these fraudsters. It would be very easy to dismiss the veracity of my claims as jealousy or being a hater. It’s for this exact reason I’ve delayed writing an entire book about dating to expose PUA and Red Pill communities as frauds.
Herd Immunity means abandoning beliefs in favor of working hypotheses. It means abandoning processes in the face of new evidence. As such, I have to admit when I’m wrong about something and own up to it. In one such instance, the fake goo-roos were right and I was wrong. As an experiment, I deleted all social media from my phone. As a result, I became addicted to the peace and quiet of not being in the hyperrealities of the internet. Whether we want to believe it or not, the internet can make you autistic if you allow yourself to live online. The only social media I have on my phone now is Instagram for when I meet girls IRL. As much as I hate Meta, it’s a symptom of the times.
This brings me to another working hypothesis: autism will be the downfall of our species. Now, before you get into a tizzy and report me to the APA, I want to say that I’m stating this in the least Hitleresque way possible. I don’t believe people on the spectrum should be rounded up and forced into camps. I mean the average person could mitigate exposure to it by getting off the internet and living in the real world. The two ‘A’s of the internet are ‘anger’ and ‘autism’ and prolonged exposure to either is mentally taxing. If you spend enough time arguing with (or even reading) nonsense on Twitter or Reddit, don’t be surprised when these cretins drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Two ‘A’s and a ‘D’
When I type Two ‘A’s and a ‘D’ I’m not referring to the cup sizes of my last three girlfriends. Rather, I mean ‘anger,’ ‘autism’ and ‘disingenuous.’ Since 2024 is the Year of Intellectual Curiosity, it would be disingenuous of me to not call out the latest disingenuous trend of fitness influencers. As I’m wont to say, the most disingenuous influenza is no longer COVID, it’s the fitness ‘influenza.’
It seems as though the top five female fitness influencers all woke up in 2024, heard the Katt Williams Club Shay Shay interview, and decided they were gonna be “honest” about eating disorders, and photography tricks, and put their own attempt on owning body dysmorphia. As soon as I began seeing this infestation of like-minded posts popping up in my Explore feed, I smelled bullshit and began to call it out.
Never forget that these girls, in an attempt to become fitness influencers, spent the better part of a decade using every camera, lighting, posing, angle-maxxing, and Photoshop/Facetune trick in the book to hide their flaws and imperfections. Never mind the fact that while claiming they care about their audiences’ dysmorphia, they’re selling you gear, supplements, workout plans, protein, coaching services, and other fitness regalia in their posts and Linktrees. Never forget that fitness, like supplementation, is a business, and these businesses prey on your FOMO and insecurities.
I remember when I went to the gym and every high-school and college-aged girl was wearing high-waisted bottoms. When I was younger, everyone used to clown Steve Urkel for pulling his pants over his belly button. Now every fitness influencer does it to hide her FUPA. Then she lies to herself (and her audience) and pretends to be a powerlifter, or “bulking,” and tries to get bigger muscles than the guy who dumped her.
Modern men have become so thirsty, that they’re even humoring fat girls into being fitness models and influencers! When I was 70 lbs. overweight and beginning my lifting journey, I was in NO place to coach anyone or pretend I had it all figured out. But, if you’re a fat girl, you can get 500k followers, and Gymshark and Ryze will sponsor you and give you coupon codes to spam your posts with. Say what you want about Brittany Dawn and VShred—at least they had the decency to be fit while lying to you and scamming you.
I’m paraphrasing because I can’t find the exact source, but I once heard a man say something along the lines of, “When you put a woman on a pedestal, you place her at the perfect height to kick you in the face.” The internet and male thirst has given mediocre women too much attention. Kick them off that pedestal (I go into greater detail regarding male thirst, leagues, and female attention in Herd Immunity: Societal Deprogramming). As Katt Williams told Shannon Sharpe, “Winners are not allowed to allow losers to rewrite history.”5 Stop allowing losers to rewrite history, athletics, academia, and every other medium.
One final note about women and dating: A relatively unknown upstart named Thomas Bayne has exploded on the scenes and began calling out all the Tate clones, money Twitter frauds, ‘alpha males,’ and dating gurus. These same dudes drive rented supercars and flex ugly Columbian prostitutes, and when they are called out on it, try to act like James Bond and send goons to attack you. You can follow his latest exploits on Twitter.
The reason I mention him is he dropped arguably the best book I’ve ever read on cold-approaching women. It’s not only an excellent book on talking to women, it’s also about challenging all your previously-held mental precepts. What I call “dogma,” he calls “layers,” but it’s the same concept: unchallenged mental precepts. Even if you’re already drowning in pussy, I can’t recommend his book enough as a self-actualization tool. [Not an affiliate ad]
As I wrote above, the process of writing a book of this magnitude changed everything about me. I’ve already gone through his book three times and began to tear down every facet of dating and relationships I’ve held. It might make Part VIII of Societal Deprogramming obsolete in 2-3 years, but that’s a risk I welcome when it pertains to self-actualization. That’s the beauty of Herd Immunity—I walk my talk. Every working hypothesis in my life can be here today; in the trash tomorrow. Speaking of trash, here’s a brief word on politics…
The Propaganda Wagon
I hate discussing politics, but since it’s an election year, I have two quick points to make before my wrap-up. Over the past four years, the propaganda wagon never stopped rolling. In some aspects, it only seemed to pick up steam. I dedicated an entire Chapter in Societal Deprogramming to media and propaganda. People still argue with me on social media when I exclaim that ALL media is propaganda (even the media you like and agree with).
I was genuinely excited to see an insurrection in January 2021. We almost got anarchy in Washington. Too bad it was all a façade and a poor one at that. However, the “we’ve got a country to save” TradCon LARPers took the bait and many of them now have criminal records and served prison time for pretending to overthrow the government. You’d think all these “politically savvy” knuckleheads would smell a rat and stay far away. Nope. I always argue I’ll take insurrection seriously when I see defenestration and the guillotines. Until then, you’re not saving anything—you’re just whining online.
As a result, two U.S. states tried to remove former President Trump from the 2024 ballot, citing the 14th Amendment.6 Months later, in a 9-0 landslide decision, The Supreme Court shut that shit down with the quickness.7 Womp womp. I don’t have a dog in the fight, but if I must suffer through another farce of a Presidential election, I want to see chaos. Love him or hate him, Trump knows how to work the media and get people talking.
As I wrote earlier, 2024 is gonna be all about politics. Between mail-in ballots, a potential measles outbreak, and contested swing states, I expect another long, drawn-out circus where the American people pretend that they play a role in the process, and the powers behind the scenes pretend politicians are in charge. Politics is the antithesis of Herd Immunity. Let everyone who thinks they play a role argue amongst themselves. It’s time for you to turn the page on that book.
Turn The Page
What does my future look like? It’s a great question and a bit of a multi-faceted answer…
I have three outlines for three separate books sitting on my hard drive. I may write any or all of them; I may write none of them. Now that Herd Immunity is published, I have several pet projects I wish to embark upon.
I’ve rekindled my love affair with the drums and once I find my forever home, I want to take lessons and release an instrumental album with many great musicians. I also want to get surgery to repair my nose, learn how to breathe properly, and begin taking voice lessons—both spoken word and voice acting. In addition to this, I also want to fix my handwriting and draw more. I’ll always be an artist at heart (which is doubly soul-crushing when I work corporate jobs; just clocking in feels like selling my soul) and I’ll always be involved in multiple mediums. It keeps me from getting bored. As Mike Mahler wrote in Live Life Aggressively:
Creation is dramatic and powerful, not passive and subtle. Creation arises from destruction and only by destroying your wrongfully lived life can you finally embrace the life you’ve always wanted. This is what it means to be reincarnated as a new person. There are no second chances when you’re keeping one foot in your old life; your anger and extreme dissatisfaction are the flames that burn the bridges to your past. Dramatic change isn’t always pretty, nor does it come from a pretty positive place.8
In short, the future of Herd Immunity is just that—turning the page. I’ll continue to deep-dive into finding my tribe and surrounding myself with like-minded renegades. I joke with my friends that the second half of my life involves moving to the desert and becoming a mystic. I’ve always had a fascination with witchcraft, mysticism, and the occult. Even when I gave Christianity a genuine chance as an adult, I was more fascinated with the Apocrypha and esoterica than the dogma and apologetics. Shocker. What self-respecting TOOL fan hasn’t gone down a 3 AM YouTube ‘Sacred Geometry’ rabbit hole, after all? I also keep feeling the pull to move to Tokyo. However, that may just be my internal clock telling me it’s time for my annual Lost in Translation viewing—more on that in this article.
If this article piqued your interest, I discuss these and other themes in-depth in my follow-up book Herd Immunity: Societal Deprogramming, releasing March 31, 2024. You can pre-order here (or order if you’re reading this after its release).
I know one thing is for sure: No matter what the future holds, I’ll be going on daily walks and talking to girls. I encourage you to do the same. Here’s to 2024 and intellectual curiosity! Cheers.
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1 PowerfulJRE. 2024. “Joe Rogan Experience #2111 – Katt Williams.” February 29, 2024. Accessed March 5, 2024. YouTube. Video, 3:05:26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zb2SuW-jug
2 Club Shay Shay. 2024. “Katt Williams Unleashed | CLUB SHAY SHAY.” January 3, 2024. Accessed March 6, 2024. YouTube. Video, 2:46:04. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oRRZiRQxTs
3 Ibid.
4 Wikipedia. 2024. “Wikipedia: Observer effect (physics).” Wikimedia Foundation. Last modified February 27, 2024, 19:54. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observer_effect_(physics)
5 Williams, “Katt Williams Unleashed | CLUB SHAY SHAY.”
6 Berman, Dan, Tori B. Powell, and Aditi Sangal. 2024. “2 states have removed Trump from the ballot based on the 14th Amendment and January 6 riot.” CNN. February 9, 2024. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/supreme-court-trump-ballot-colorado-02-08-24/h_d8d7b446dc00f2b082b771dc4dfb318f
7 Hurley, Lawrence. 2024. “Supreme Court rules states can’t kick Trump off the ballot. NBC News. March 4,2024. Accessed March 10,2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-trump-cannot-kicked-colorado-ballot-rcna132291
8 Mahler, Mike. 2011. Live Life Aggressively: What Self-Help Gurus Should Be Telling You. Las Vegas: Mahler’s Aggressive Strength LLC, 28.