A Little Mercy
I’m not sure I would consider mercy anywhere near a top virtue, maybe not even a virtue at all. A value, sure, but in the right context, and that swings both ways. It can be just as inappropriate to grant mercy in some situations as it is appropriate to grant it in others.
But certainly, I’ve never been a fan of mercy for mercy’s sake.
So the back story, for those who don’t know is that I just removed a hit piece I did last night focussing on an individual self-described as a vegetarian and a journalist. This person said some silly things in comments on another post, was rebuffed by another commenter and ultimately emailed me threatening legal action.
So I did my hit piece with lots of my typical invective and there were lots of comments. 90%+ positive here, but three or so highly negative comments on the FTA Facebook page (I deleted the post there, too). These were your typical, "I’m not going to read you any more" and, "I wish your wife well," the latter being of the form that always cracks me up — like my wife is some prisoner who would otherwise bolt if I didn’t have her chained down, or something.
Funny shit.
The comments I like the best are those who recognize that I’m not and am never going to be the paleo / primal blog that attempts to appeal to everyone all the time, never offend anyone, never ruffle feathers, play paleo politics… Screw that.
And as for the "you’re giving the paleo community a bad name" sort of stuff, listen: if I can give the paleo community a bad name, then it’s definitely not worth a shit anyway.
So I suppose you want to know why I removed the post. Well, I got an email from the individual. Then another and another, all very open, all contrite, all apologetic; all demonstrating a sort of anguish over the whole thing.
I’m direct and I can be an asshole, but I’m not going to be cruel. So I removed it.
Join Over 5,000 Subscribers!
Get exclusive content sent directly to your inbox.
89 Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
It’s ok, Richard N, we know your rants are due to being insecure about your meat-loving ways.
With the news coming out more and more these days that low carb diets are fads that will be relegated to the scrap heap, your foul language and attitude towards others is understandable. A bigger person would have it under control, but at least we can understand you.
“There really should not be any controversy anymore about the health effects of low-carb, high-protein diets. This study (among others) confirms that the current amount of animal-source foods within the American diet should be reduced, not increased, and that meat-centered diets promote premature death; and that diets based predominantly on whole plant foods are lifespan-enhancing.”
😐
Guess what, dumb fuck?
I’m not an exclusively low carb advocate.
If you were anything but a woefully worthless troll, you’d know that.
Now go fuck off.
… Q.E.D.
By the way, does not being an “exclusively low carb advocate” mean that you also advocate high carb at the same time? Or is it low carb on the weekends, high carb during the week (when one needs energy?)
He advocates personalization. That’s it for you.
That’s it JP. Golden Helmet all the way.
http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/09/08/brand-spankin-new-study-are-low-carb-meat-eaters-in-trouble/
“A long-term observational study of low-carbohydrate diets has finally been published”
We all know how “valuable” those observational studies are. *cough* (T. Colin Campbell) *cough*
Here’s the problem: “The article details data from a prospective study in which 130,000 total participants provided information about their eating habits.” How can anything scientific, or conclusive, come from a study when they require 130,000 people to report everything they ate? I can’t even imagine the margin of error. What else were they eating? What were the sources of carbohydrates and fats? Was it Twinkies and Canola oil? How much alcohol did they drink? How many were smokers? Drug users? Without tracking this stuff, the whole 20 years was wasted.
If you’re into the self reported studies, you should check out Christopher Gardner’s study that compared 4 diets – Ornish, LEARN, The Zone and Atkins. After a year those on the Atkins diet had better blood test results, and lost more weight than all other groups. Here, you don’t even have to read, you can sit back and watch. (He’s actually a good lecturer, it’s entertaining).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eREuZEdMAVo
Besides, eating Paleo isn’t necessarily low carb and high protein.
Watching it now. It’s great so far (30 min. in). Thanks for the reference!
One junk study does not a fact make regardless of how many “news” organizations sloppily report it as the last word on the subject.
Oh goodness! Another study to shore up vegetarian beliefs and ideals…so what? If you understood that plants have their own teeth and do not sit idly by while animals fill their guts full of them, you’d think a little longer about the insulting tone you lend to flesh-eaters. I’m getting so that I hate studies- on both sides of the aisle- for the obvious reason that they have a strong tendency toward bias and manipulation.
I heart comment moderation. Keeps the assholes quiet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollice_verso
One advantage of sometimes being an asshole is that your fair-mindedness seems that little bit more admirable than had come from someone who was nice all the time 😉
Ha, good point, as though fair-mindedness is just another in the series of play nice for popularity’s sake. I’ll take it, Meth.
If we didn’t have assholes we wouldn’t know what nice is, both are needed and one could not exist without the other because they are mutually dependent on each other.
I was one of those people that had left the blog a while ago because I thought your tone was too harsh. Then I came back, and left, and came back. I can’t stay away. You’re just too much fun.
The turning point for me was your video content. I saw the smirk on your face as you released a string of obscenities, and realized the tone was mostly in my mind and not necessarily your personality. When I watch your Bullshit videos and other fun talks, I feel I’m seeing more of the real you, and I read your content with a different perspective.
Yes, you can be heavy with the language and very opinionated, but I wouldn’t come here otherwise. If I want bland, regurgitated content, I have the entire internet. If I want fun and informative, I have a small list of sites, one of which is yours.
Thanks much, Mike. Hmm, I have sensed that with the videos people get a whole other side of the invective. What many don’t realize, I guess is that they think I’m red faced & angry, enraged when I write some of this stuff, but more often than not I’m smirking, or even laughing. Then I read it over and over to make sure it flows, at least for me.
It’s more of elements of style than real rage.
Weren’t you in the Navy Richard? Shouldn’t people expect as much from a sailor?
They should probably expect as much from this one.
I’m glad my RSS reader saved the post you deleted. I found it entertaining to read. The individual said more that was damning than you did. 🙂
I saw the “original” piece earlier this a m and tuned in to read extra comments.
Portia:
The quality of mercy is not strained.
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon the place beneath.
It is twice blessed.
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
It is mightiest in the mightiest,
It becomes the throned monarch better than his throne.
Well done, Sir
(not like yr steak! – or was it stake ……?)
Must of been the google search that got her.
I can’t believe people think you have your wife chained so she won’t escape.
You got that bank vault door installed *specifically* so she could roam freely throughout the old wine cellar.
I like your hustle. I enjoy a good rant myself (although I am not sure I have been pushed to dropping the ‘C’-word on my blog…yet!).
But anyway, your actions will have once again raised your profile/gained you notoriety amongst veg*ans. So when they next decide to jump in to your sandpit and try to kick over your sandcastle, they will be aware that neither you nor your readers are scared to stand up to them with robust scientific argument (with perhaps a small sprinkling of invective).
Be sure that you are in th veg*ans sights. We can only hope the next vegetarian to turn up here has the scientific chops to take down the paleo message rather than ill-conceived ideas about what was in John Wayne’s lower intestine and the green credentials of growing wheat/tofu.
I read it all this morning, i thought it was excellent.
but your reasons for taking it down are also excellent.
So, is she banned from commenting here? Or, is there the possibility of her returning and trying to convince us that utterly bogus urban legends are actually true?
For reasons I can’t discuss publicly due to a trust I granted, I’ll treat her tenderly if she does show up, which I doubt.
I, too, was able to read the original post from my RSS reader before it got taken down.
Who knows what else may have been going on in her life that caused her to react “injudiciously” (my 50-cent word for the day – grin). The fact that she had the guts to contact you in a less “confrontational” frame of mind was a courageous thing to do and your response has renewed my faith that you are a good guy at heart under all the gruff stuff.
(FYI – cussing doesn’t generally bother me, but I have to admit even I was a little put off by the use of the c-word – seemed a little harsh in this context.)
Who asked you to remove it? Le Corre or the Paleo Solution guy? People who have some minor stake in this “niche”? Do you have the pre-req for his expansion course or the steak/eggs breakfast is becoming an obstacle for doing 10 pull-ups? Au revoir
Troll:
I made it very clear why I removed it. But you’re welcome to imagine any backroom conspiracy your little mind can conjure.
Suppose I’ll chime in now, though I’m disappointed to have missed the article in question.
I’ve been following FTA for about a year now and even emailed Richard a couple times. I support and PROMOTE FTA and I have certainly modified many aspects of my own nutrition, training and most recently footwear based on Paleo and Richard’s best practices. Now for the reveal? I’m a life long vegetarian and I mean, LIFE long. No one who raised me was vegetarian – go figure.
I understand that FTA is not intended as a Vegetarian out-reach / recovery program and that we aren’t here to make friends. So falling short of the “can’t we all get along speech” I’d like to give can I suggest this – Stop demonizing people simply for being a vegetarian and making sweeping statements about all vegetarians? We aren’t all self righteous evangelists. Despite apparent glamorization in the media we are still marginalized and scoffed. It is our choice to follow an alternative diet but when forced to defend a personal choice constantly a sense of pride is understandable – I’m sure you know how that feels.
I think eating meat is great and probably quite healthy when done right. My girlfriend is a ferocious carnivore – I’d even cook for her if I knew how. But eating meat isn’t for me. I don’t need to cite nutritional studies or global conspiracies, that is really just an arms race of cooked up data and reports (both sides) – I don’t feel the need to justify a personal choice like that. I think a lot of vegetarians may have personal reasons that transcend those debates.
It occurs to me that every cause needs a champion and every champion needs an enemy and that is why we draw the demon horns on vegetarians here? I think there are better enemies.
Ultimately I think that the biggest threat to public health are the “Frankenfoods” that you deride – is there really much difference between those disgusting McDonalds Hambugers and those disgusting Veggie Burgers? But I digress – I understand you aren’t looking for allies.
-You biggest vegetarian fan, but possibly one of many – like it or not!
Hey man, you make sense
– Troll
Yeah I’ve had a vegetarian boyfriend and still have some vegetarian friends. Some of them are Hindu, others sentimental about animals, a few just don’t like meat. I think many of the paleo messages are applicable for them too: ditching processed carbs and sugars, eating whole foods, balancing fatty acid intake, and eliminating wheat are a few lessons.
Exactly! All that great advice – I heard it here first.
Josh:
I’m cool with any and all honest, straight shooter people, and commenters, such as yourself.
Honesty is fucking obvious. If it isn’t, it’s probably just clever.
I really don’t concern myself with the particular values of others. I don’t need them to value what I value.
But I very strongly advocate for my own.
“I really don’t concern myself with the particular values of others. I don’t need them to value what I value.
But I very strongly advocate for my own.”
So if someone shared your values they’d be unconcerned with your values.
Anon c
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
well said man. you being a vegetarian doesn’t negatively affect anyone else, so I don’t see why anyone should hate you for it. if you don’t feel comfortable eating meat, that’s your own choice and it takes balls to stick to it despite a lot of crap that you get from some of the assholes out there. i think it’s certainly justified to hate on The China Study and crap like that, but hating on an individual for what they choose or choose not to eat is a dick thing to do
I assume the study mentioned above is the one that Denise tore apart.
http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/09/08/brand-spankin-new-study-are-low-carb-meat-eaters-in-trouble/#comments
How can I not trust an objective source like rawfoodsos.com? LOL
I wish I could of read the post that got deleted..im all in a tizzy now.
Keep doing what your doing Richard, your a hoot and I like your honesty. The world needs more people who actually say what they mean, rather than ‘sugar coat’ it. Thats likely why we have a diabetes epidemic, everyone’s opinions are soft, gooey and sugar coated
I just read Denise’s interp, i thought she was the site with the study on it! She did a nice job pulling it apart!
I don’t care if anyone else believes in a primal lifestyle. It’s a tremendous leap that I don’t expect many to make, for a host of reasons.
I do care about others believing in things that turn out to be utter crap. These are studies that shouldn’t get 3rd place in a grade school science fair. Part of the “Vegetable Group” eating more meat than a comparable part of the “Animal Group” & calling 60% carb diet low carb — it makes me want to puke.
I agree, most of these studies are crap. The fact of the matter is, Paleo makes sense. You think the fact that its just common sense would have people nodding their heads, but alas….the truth of the world is cold and grim.
Hm. I think you just need some glazed donuts to feel good and not be so emotional and aggressive all the time. XD
Yea, exactly what I need. Fucking glazed donuts.
Better stupid than “aggressive.”
Stupid cunt.
If there was ever a time when the word applied, this would be it.
Glazed donuts indeed.
I just spit my water all over my keyboard. Felix you deserved that. I’ll bet she voted for obama.
Heh. Looks like I’ve hit a nerve. Hell, this was meant as a light-hearted joke. Really, glazed donuts? I’m a guy, btw. You should google names more often before calling others cunts – or stupid. 😉
But keep up the bravado – it’s entertaining.
Felix:
Actually I suspected it might be a joke, which is why I used “the c-word.” That was tongue in cheek.
Very little time to read blogs as of recently – yours is one of the few I have to check on a daily basis. Love the delivery and quality of the information. You just do it…right. Keep fightin’ the good fight.
I don’t care who’s a V and who’s not. For me, I cured my blood sugar problem by getting rid sugar, hearthealthywholegrains and other junk food and eating more fat, cooking with tallow etc. My fastings went from 130’s and are now in the 70’s. I don’t ever see it over 100 at one hour post meal, and it’s generally in the 80’s at one hour post. And it’s not a short term thing. I’ve been cured for the past 3+ years now. Take that ADA.
A long time vegan I know just had his first heart attack last month. So now he’s trusting his heart to Lipitor. He’s still a V, so I guess he’s happy with his own personal outcome. I guess his daughter is also happy with that, since she’s still a V as well.
All that really counts is N=1. If you’re pleased with your personal outcomes, keep doing what your doing. If not, try something else.
Completely off subject, but I was just eating some 90% Lindt and it occurred to me that I don’t recall you ever talking about chocolate Richard. Do you stay away from it?
For the most part I do. I’ll grab a bar ever now and then and you can see how I use it in my chicken mole if you search that on the blog, but i really don’t buy into the health aspects claimed. It’s a treat, decent as treats go but it’s mostly meat, fish & veggies for me most of the time and that satisfies.
I’m impressed, this was a stand-up move. I didn’t have a strong opinion one way or the other on the piece that I read before you removed it, but it’s clear you have integrity.
And depending on your mood, you have FUCKING integrity. Cursing is a good way to just add some emphasis, right? 🙂
Keep charging.
Do you remember in Gladiator (only the best warrior movie on earth) when Marcus is asking his daughter (who will be ruler unbeknownst to all) ‘What a Caesar you would have made…
I think you would have been strong.
I wonder if you would have been
just?’
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Gladiator.html
You are a fair and just Caesar Richard… *haa ah* YOU PALEOKING.
-G
(edit: actually I dunno if she became a ‘ruler’ but she was the last one standing…)
FYI, this just in :
George Monbiot, one of the most vocal advocates of veganism for environmental reasons, now says “I was wrong about veganism. Let them eat meat – but farm it properly “.
John Durant has the scoop :
I am sure your mother is proud of your use of “cunt”. 🙁
Would you like someone calling Beatrice a cunt? Just wondering. She may be someone’s wife, mother etc. Again,:(
So stupid cunts can’t have children or be married? What has one to do with the other? Nothing.
Transport- Did someone in grade school call you a cunt? Let it go. Maybe I am being suckered, but your comment was so whiney I just had to say something.
Transport: fuck off, cunt.
Regarding Paleo: A=A!
Regarding Vegan: A=WTF?
A truly free and open minded individual would never be offended of another ones use of language. When you mind is capable of understanding the truth and reality, you are free to experience real life! Most people are tied to their emotions which are all made up in their minds! There is only one true emotion….all others are perceptions which our minds have made up over the years from past experiences! Free you mind!
Im ripped @ healthy easting just like you do Richard, ( replacing potatos with milk) so i share most of your points of view, but honestly i have zero respect for people swearing and name calling over the internet. So, even if you are right, you are wrong.
And you think I give a rip whether you “respect” me or not?
What imputent presumptuousness. Oh, and see Aaron’s comment right above mine. He’s right.
Freedom does begin in the mind.
so i see, you get off by playing tough guy behind a monitor, its so easy and has no consequences, i dont think youll act like this in real life. at least not in front of me.
Wrong again. I act exactly the same in “real life,” whatever the hell that even means. It saves time because people don’t fuck with or trifle with me.
Here’s what I don’t respect: people so shallow as to treat the rest of the world as their drinking buddies. I’m straight up and direct at all times and I say what I think and I mean what I say. And I do it with style.
I don’t lie my way through life blowing smoke up peoples’ asses, nor whispering sweet nothings to them.
But you go right on ahead and see if I care.
Y’ know, no-0ne would have called Transport a cunt in school, after all that would mean he had an implied use value.
Leon,
Ah, I love the misogyny. Leon, your ignorance is evident in your use of the “he” pronoun. Silly boy. 100% vegan, yes you are being suckered and my guess is it’s not the first time. Richard, perhaps your parents didn’t do a better job.
My parents raised four men who think for themselves, not bow to so-called “values” dictated by others.
again, i am sure your mother is proud richard.
Wanna call her, fuck head.
Here’s what you’ll find out. In 1993 I started a business in my bedroom. I did well enough in the first six months to take a trip back to France where I’d moved from a couple of years earlier. This was financial services for small businesses, working out debt problems, specifically, including negotiating settlements. I was a one man pop. Mom was doing back breaking daycare and at over 50 it was getting to her. She offered to man the phones and asked if she could have all the files and work on them.
She did so well she was my first employee and after 20 years knows the business better than anyone, including, at times, 30 other employees. She’s semi-retired now, but does sales from home for me pulling down about 60k. In her last couple of years full time 8 was paying her 100k
Now go fuck yourself right off. And if you doubt any of this, email me your cell and I’ll have her ring you up.
um, richard, why would you think that fiscal success has anything to do with this conversation? such does not buy happiness. she can make money, but too bad she did not raise her “men” to respect women and the nasty terms associated with them that you spew. you would not want your wife called a cunt. well maybe you would. that is really sad when one equates success with money and not acts of love and kindness. 🙁
LOL
Listen: just go fuck yourself. Do it now!
Now I suppose I have to have my wife up the shit head. Wait till you get a load of her. She flips me off regularly. I love it.
Honesty without puckered anus freedom is a wonderful way to jive life.
worst. troll. ever.
fuck off guy, you cunt.
Wahhh somebody on the interwebz used a curse word.
Matthew,
Again stupidity, I am not a guy, but thanks for playing.
Richard, “up the shithead” what a sad way to look at life, as upping someone. But then again you equate money with happiness. Again, I draw a 🙁
Well apparently you’re not clever enough to grok a goof. “Call,” and if you had any level of intelligent sophistication (do you have a blog with more than 6 readers, BTW?) you might have discered that from context given the previous exchange which, BTW, was about whether my mom was proud of me, or not.
I guess you don’t really want to find out, because you know what, getting paid a few million in total over 20 years and getting out of daycare that she hated and was causing health problems may just be shallow. But you chose the subject. Pride or not.
But you’re a dishonest cunt, so no surprise. You’re going to wiggle and post until I ban your cunt ass, and then claim some victory.
But Ill only ban you when I get tired of playing with toys.
Oh thank you so much for blessing me with your infinite fucking wisdom, because obviously there’s no way that “guy” could be a colloquialism for any stranger.
Let me just, on behalf of my mother, two sisters, and every other intelligent female in this world, give you a nice big “fuck you”, before I unsubscribe from this thread. Take your easily excited, world against me, feminem agenda else where.
Gotta say Richard… it’s way too easy to get used to this whole “unmoderated comments”, could get a kid in trouble 😉
And with that, time for some berries and cream.
and Richard, I am a little concerned at your cult following 🙁
Yea, I’m a cult leader. That’s probably why you don’t have a blog, or more than six people who’d get out of bed to listen to what you have to say.
Go project your failures and inadequacies on someone else. Cunt.
OK. Now I am offended. My girlfriend has a beautiful cunt and requests that I tell her that verbatim. Nothing wrong with the term. Something wrong with transport.
Richard- you have a cult following?
100%
Verbatim? Oh, now there you go. A guy who gets it, and he has to be a vegan. 🙂
Never thought I’d see you guys show up the so-called independent free thinking carnivore paleos. And that parts serious.
I clearly have more work to do. Had no idea there were so many abject fucking pussies calling themselves paleo. Fucking disgusting.
https://freetheanimal.com/2009/11/paleo-pussies.html
paleo is first, foremost and always a state of mind first. those are the principles from which individual specifics are worked out. I increasingly find that few really get it.
Just another “diet.”
“Fuck that noise,” as we used to say.
But hey, plenty of places to go get jerked off, I guess, so I’ll always be in the minority. Comfort and Victorian sensibilities rule.
From an evolutionary point of view, one of the most fundamental human traits, which is physiologically proven, is EMPATHY. Surely, during the paleolithic period that trait was the foundation for our survival and vitality. I think that primitive “mind set” is what many modern humans unfortunately lack. Much of the physiological component to empathy is related to “mirroring” tendencies which are typically stimulated by sight. Clearly, technology obscures our ability to literally and figuratively see each other.
Is cuntiness a word, because if it is, then I would say that cuntiness is as cuntiness does.
I don’t know Helen, but there’s a popular essay out there by one Kim du Toit entitled “The Pussification of the American Male.”
You removed one of your best posts ever. I was waiting for the legal battle to be waged in the comments section!