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Neil Strauss, author of “The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists” has decided that he needs to absolve himself of the “sins” he committed against womankind by conducting an interview with The Guardian and advertising his Beta Bux status, throwing other would-be PUAs under the bus, and trying to write off natural attraction as “sex addiction”.
Neil’s interview with The Guardian confirms what many of us knew about him and pick-up artists for the longest time – the man, despite being able to bed women, is firmly ensconced within a blue-pill point of view. He needs their approval, and without it, is unable to value himself.
The story starts off with how he has tried to distance himself from the days of his book which sold 2.5m copies, and pseudo-glorifies how before writing it he was a kissless virgin (“he’s a husband, and a father, and stupidly in love on both fronts”).
We then shift to how he doesn’t hit on an attractive young woman in her 20s and how reformed he is because now only “interesting” people grab his attention.
The Guardian’s next step is to emasculate him and imply that he was mentally ill for being a Beta attracted to women presumably out of his league as he is “no switchboard-illuminating beauty himself. ‘Shorter than I’d like to be,’ he wrote in The Game. ‘My eyes are small and beady… To say my hair is thinning would be an understatement.'” and also that “ten years on, it is difficult to read this without anxiety. In an age of consent lessons on campus and school education on the harmful effects of pornography, the conversation has changed. So has Strauss. He tells me that, without knowing it at the time, he was a pretty troubled man when he wrote The Game”
Strauss now begins his apology in earnest by claiming that he feels “a healthy sort of shame” at publishing his book a decade ago and admitting that he “would sometimes browse mail-order-bride catalogues” (See how much of a loser I am?! See?! See?!). Next, he admits to banging his girlfriend’s best friend in a parking lot and thereby allowing his bitch to bully him into treatment for “sex addiction”. He goes into rehab and “discovers” that he has “anxiety syndrome, depressive disorder, two forms of sexual disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (cough bullshit). How was it decided that he has sex addiction? Well he masturbates and looks at porn you see….
Strauss and the girlfriend who forced him into rehab are now married. He’s her Beta Bux as she’s well past her expiration date, and needed to get him nailed down. He spends most of his time apologizing apparently. To whit – “I think that a lot of guys who read The Game, they think that they’re fooling or tricking women. But most women are smart enough to know exactly what you’re doing. They just might like you enough to go along with it. I think one of the misconceptions is that someone else can be tricked into doing something they don’t want to.” We here at TRP know that that’s the salve he applies to his sense of Beta Pride in order to convince himself that NAWALT.
Conclusion
Neil Strauss never swallowed The Red Pill, but instead did what Betas do and developed a “formula”. In this case, his simulates Alpha-ness. Women flocked to him, and, disgusted and unable to deal with the true nature of “woman”, he retreated into apology and prostration. Now he is married and has a kid and presumably expects not to be fed into the grinder when his usefulness expires.
Pick-up artistry is fundamentally Blue Pill, because you are staking your self-worth on female approval. Strauss never moved past that mindset and now feels like men discovering how to be attractive for women are horrible people for “tricking women”.
Take the Red Pill and you won’t spend your life apologizing for wanting to have sex.
COMMENTS FROM THE THREAD:
* Strauss never fixed himself. Sex with women is not a panacea. If you have fundamental issues within your self image, and you do not take steps to address them, no amount of sex will fix you. You’ll just be a neurotic sexual machine full of shame. To be a man, you have to embrace and understand the totality of your loneliness. You must become intimate with your fears and failures. You must uninvest your perception of self from your sexual conquests. Guys have been well trained to be shamed by their sexual failures, it keeps them timid and afraid. It keeps the shame alive. A man needs to be able to prosper in famine to find abundance. Strauss seems like a man who could never suffer famine shamelessly. Better to carry your scars with you and cry about them than embrace your entire masculinity.
* The majority of dudes who get into PUA suffer from mental issues, this isn’t a big surprise. If you’ve ever taken the time to hang out with “lair” types you’d know it rather quickly.
A lot of the guys I know who were running PUA companies changed over to making better men, albeit not nessecarily the TRP way, or more interesting men. A lot of them caught on to the creepy mental factor and felt their money was tainted and they didn’t want to be associated with it.
At the end of the day, its a starting point for a lot of men. Not everyone can find the TRP or other….alternative….resources. Don’t be so quick to judge. A real man will hold judgement and choose to lead or mentor.
* pua is like lifting.
it teaches you social skills and how to get laid. the gym teaches you how to get muscly and fit.
if you have body dysmorphia lifting will not fix the fundamental underlying mental issues. pua will not fix your insecurities and anxieties and need for validation and feelings of inadequacy if you’re not self aware of these problems.
pick up is a supremely useful tool. when like mystery you think it’s the ultimate solution in life you can be very dissapointmented by the end game.
just look at how miserable women and gays are. two groups who can have sex at the click of an app.
it’s a fix to a problem. not to life.
* I have a very funny anecdote about this.
A few years ago when I was in the Amazon jungle drinking ayahuasca (Google it if you don’t know what it is) I actually came across these 2 PUAs. I had seen their videos before. One of them was Sacha something, funny dude. Does all these silly wacky approaches but rocked it. The other guy was this aussie fella James something. Sort of more refined elegant type, very stylish, put lots of work in his appearance, more of an ice cold too-cool-for you attitude.
Well back then I was relatively naive and thought wow man these guys are boss, they really know what they’re doing, they travel the world teaching this shit.
I never expected to run into them in the fucking Amazon jungle doing extreme psychedelics but when I did I was stoked. I was sure that being so ‘brave’ and confident on video meant they really were like that in real life. Fucking grade A troopers that would crush ayahuasca sessions for breakfast.
But again, ayahuasca is nothing to fuck with or take lightly. It’s not a magic potion that turns you into superman while you speak with butterflies. While that might happen too, you will more likely experience potentially lethal amounts of emotional pressure and confusion and sickness. You will go in the basement alone with your darkest fears, and battle with everything your soul has. Maybe you’ll come out victorious.
I have met some of the bravest people I can recall, some of which I was HONORED of having shared sessions with and will remember them and their stories forever.
The 2 PUAs were none of that. One session was enough to absolutely shatter them and rob them of all the confidence they thought they had. Biggest pussies. After a week I ran into them in town, shells of their former video personas, thousand yard stared weak boys. Welcome to reality bitch! Ha.
In all seriousness I sincerely hope that experience taught them a lesson and they rebuilt themselves stronger going back to square one.
Amongst the things I understood that month is that there are no shortcuts. True confidence and strength is built with grit and humbleness. Never watched/read anything pua related since then.
People want an easy fix so they’re sold weird party tricks by smarter people, giving them the illusion they’re owning. It’s a market that needs to be catered for.
Personally I don’t care at all wether something is rp, pua, nba nfl or whatever. It either makes sense or it doesn’t. I could find great insights in a colouring playbook like in an ancient proverb or hitler’s gazette or a random internet blog. I don’t care for the messenger at all. Content.
( Even though when something like this Neil Strauss debacle happens I have a hard time giving his material credibility. But again, cunts probably just mentally ill, and a broken clock is still right twice a day)
Ayahuasca certainly helped me in coming out as a better person. There was years of ground work behind it though, and the right mindset for it. It helped in putting everything together in one picture.
I think it’s possible to get the same results without it. It might just take a little longer, and feel more bland as a consequence. A bit less memorable and crazy. But I know some people that are on the same wavelength if not wiser, that never even smoked pot.
Ayahuasca comes with a lot of risks though. The environment you’re in is quite lawless. LOTS of guns, real risk of getting robbed/killed, no phone reception obviously, closest police station 220km of swampy jungle away. And you’re a cashed up gringo. You really are at the mercy of other people’s kindness so BE NICE to them (which you should be regardless 🙂 )
Greedy shamans that are somehow able to put you into a permanently psychotic mindset or make you sick, and blackmail you (“heal you” with extra sessions $$$$) are out there. I’ve seen and heard some very, very spooky shit. TRUST your gut feelings, stay alert, calmly but firmly stand up in front of abuse or shady practices, be prepared to walk away if shit feels off. The risks are all part of the experience though. Just know what you’re getting into. It might be a very stupid choice according to where you’re at in life.
Also, I speak good Spanish. I would have never fucking dreamt of putting myself in that situation if I could not understand what was said around me and communicate effectively.
* One of the most illuminating aspects of his autobiography “The Rules of the Game” was how dysfunctional all the figureheads of PUA were. Mystery (the man initially portrayed as being the most in control and the most alpha) had multiple nervous breakdowns over the course of the book and got terminal oneitis several times. RSD Tyler is portrayed as a borderline psychopath (this one might be embellished by Strauss, he thought Tyler was sabotaging his work) and the older first gen proto-PUAs they all took inspiration from are all broken individuals.
Even the ending of the book has Strauss trying to LTR a rock star chick with red flags aplenty. Honestly after reading it he didn’t seem to have any sort of growth or revelation on the nature of women or our roles, it just sort of fizzled out when he realized he had no arc.
* Neil Strauss is the reason I even made it this far. When I saw his book somehow made its way onto my computer, I was compelled to read it. I was weak, unsuccessful, anxious. PUA had always been discussed in a derogatory tone, so I took the plunge and prepared to take everything in there with a grain of salt.
Reading his book is what lead me into the rabbit hole that is the manosphere. Reading this book is what prompted me to discover I want more for myself and society was feeding me lie after delicious lie on how to get it. I WOULD NOT HAVE TAKEN THE STEPS NECESSARY TO IMPROVE MYSELF IF I HADN’T SEEN AND READ WHAT LIES OUT THERE FOR THE MEN WHO DO.
He dismisses his work because it was written during a troubling time because he is successful now. He forgets that the work he and Mystery did set the stage for Owen and RSD. I’m still not the biggest fan of PUA arm, but I think it was a necessary stepping stone for myself and a lot of struggling young males who needed to make it to supportive communities like this where men can convene and troubleshoot their issues with women, fitness, careers, and other aspects of our lives.
It truly saddens me to see that even the trailblazers and the greatest in the game can fold. I feel heartbroken and disillusioned, like my favorite role model growing up turned out to be a rapist or a heroin addict. Keep you wits about you gentlemen, for we truly have no rock to rest our heads on.
* Strauss confused the means with the ends. His ends should have been self-actualization, and pickup should have been the means he used to get there. Instead, pickup became his end goal. Don’t get it twisted, sexual success is great after decades of failure. I enjoy spinning plates, but it doesn’t define who I am.
Truly, bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks. Strauss never got that, and one day, looked around and thought “this is all there is?”. Now he’s busy chasing domestic bliss, in the hope that a wife and a kid will give him those things that are missing from his life. In many ways, this is no different than some actor or rock star, who despite seemingly having everything, drinks or drugs himself to death. He’s chasing something that he doesn’t know how to get.
