Politics, the vice that intellectuals won't quit.
politics is basically just a WWE match for the slightly higher IQ
One of my mentors once told me: “Dan, politics is basically just a WWE match for the slightly higher IQ.”
“It’s all just one big show with really bad actors. The only difference is one group is just a little better at acting, and the other really enjoys their PEDs…”
He said this after I came off a really long rant at this restaurant called Ritwal in Medellin. I was going on about why liberals were the cause of all of Canada’s problems. How we should vote Conservative next time. How Justin Trudeau should be thrown in jail for his crimes against humanity—freezing the bank accounts and crypto assets of Canadians who donated money to the protestors during the Freedom Convoy in 2022.
As he patiently heard my passionate speech, he smiled and asked: “So how much money have you sent over to the freedom convoy yourself?”
I paused.
“Well… none. But I was well aware of it while I was living in Ecuador and was staying up to date with what was going on back home.”
“I even lost a few friends over this topic who were still riled up about Black Lives Matter. I was debating them on how that was a complete scam. I even pulled up FBI statistics in the group chat to prove my point. These vaccine mandates are a far more concerning matter—”
Then he cut me off: “Do you plan on going back to Canada to live there any time soon?”
I said: “Well… honestly, with how things are going… no.”
But to be completely honest, by this point, I had already been living in Latin America for almost four years—three years in Ecuador, and 1 year in Colombia. I had no intention of ever going back to live in Canada. Not because of the “political” situation, but because my quality of life was just so much better in South America. I couldn’t even imagine going back to paying 3–4x the rent, energy, and food prices only to be living somewhere with much shittier weather. LATAM was already my new home…
Then he said: “If you don’t live there now… and if you have no intention of living there again… why do you waste your time and energy looking into problems that are almost 6,000 km away from where you are?”
“Do you depend on Canada for your income?”
I replied: “No. I don’t generate any income from Canada. I have an Ecuadorian bank account and I have an LLC in the USA that I use to operate my online business.”
I paused for a moment to find a reason why I cared so much about it. Then I replied.
“Well… my family still lives there, and it is my home. So of course I’m going to care about what is going on back home for my friends and family.”
“Oh, how noble of you. Do you have people who are dependent on you in Canada?”
No.
“What political position does your family hold on all of this?”
Well… most of them were actually in support of Trudeau freezing the bank accounts of anyone who donated to the trucker convoy ... and they found his decision just—
“Oh… well. If they accept that the direction your country is heading is correct, why do you worry for them? Aren’t they all fully grown adults? Do you think they’re too stupid to not see the truth? Do you think you’ll be the one to enlighten them and set them straight?”
Probably not. They’re all adults and set in their ways—
“Okay. So why do you give it so much of your energy? Why do you also care about what is happening with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict or with Palestine and Israel? None of these matters directly affect you. Why do you put so much energy into this?”
Well… shouldn’t we care? Shouldn’t we know and stay up to date with what is happening in the world around us?
“Sure, you can do that. But what has that accomplished for you? Have you made any dent in changing the course of history in swaying public opinion to vote right or left?”
No.
“Do you ever intend on being a politician?”
FUCK NO.
“Would you staying up to date with every political event in the world be of any benefit to your family and loved ones?”
Probably not.
The Real Question That Changed Everything…
“Okay. So maybe—and hear me out here—would you focusing on your business and being as selfish as humanly possible with your time, energy, and attention to level up into someone that is completely anti-fragile geographically and financially… wouldn’t that do more to help your family and friends?”
…
“Being the dependable rock and patriarch that your family can turn to when shit hits the fan… or do you think taking your attention away every day to focus on events that you have zero control over is really the better move here?”
…
I knew he was right. I tried thinking of a clever comeback right before he slapped me with:
“Well, Dan… with all that being said. If you truly understood who runs the world and that most of these ‘politicians’ are just pawns in this big chess game that you couldn’t even fathom and are so insignificant in… and when you realize that it’s really just a few people at the top pulling all the strings… and if you were to read a bit of history and understand the cycles of civilizations and that all great empires inevitably go through what Polybius described as ‘Anacyclosis’—which is that all civilizations not just fail, but fail in the exact same way—then you would understand that this is all one big WWE match. One big reality TV show for this global stage. And you are the sucker that, unfortunately, instead of having a clear mind and using your creativity to build and create more value for the world… here you are, being pulled into this world of politics. Wasting what precious time and energy you have on something that has almost no effect on your life—while you have even less effect on changing even a fraction of the current situation."
I then pulled out my phone and asked Grok what the fuck is Anacyclosis and who is Polybius.
“There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.” — Harry S. Truman
The Algorithm Wants Us Distracted and Divided
Deep down, I've always known this was all a big waste of time.
The worst part? Every time I get a little “taste” of politics in my YouTube or X feed—one of these videos slipping through the cracks of my highly curated Explore & For You Page—and I click on the video, all of a sudden my timeline is filled with 3–5 more videos on more political matters. And then it SUCKS YOU IN AGAIN.
The algorithm WANTS us distracted and divided.
Since 2016 when Trump won the first elections—which I think for many was our “awakening moment”—I have been pulled into this bitter world of politics and have wasted countless hours thinking I was being productive. Only to find out almost 10 years later that I am being just as retarded as the average simpleton WWE viewer.
Nothing in my life has gotten better for knowing more about what is going on with the Left vs. the Right. Democrat vs. Republican. Liberal vs. Conservative.
I am just more divided and withdrawn from the general population now. When really, we should all be in arms together if we all truly understood what is going on and who is socially engineering us into eternal mediocrity and slavery.
Controlling our FOCUS
I realize that focusing my attention on things I have zero control over is one of the worst time wasters in life.
At least with wrestling—or hell, even vices like drinking or gaming—I can find some joy in the entertainment and community built around them. But with politics, your average circle of consumers are just more bitter, resentful, and nihilistic people thinking they’re being productive for staying up to date with world politics. These same people are typically tribalistic and hateful with anyone who doesn’t match or support their political stance.
3 years of rejecting politics…
It’s been almost three years since I’ve had that conversation with my mentor, and I still think about it to this day.
Every time I hear someone mentioning something current on the news like:
“Trump invaded Venezuela and got rid of Maduro 😱”
“Trump is talking about taking Greenland next 🛢️”
“The UK just lost their free speech rights and people are going to jail now over tweets they made 10 years ago 💂🏻♂️”
“Epsteins list just got weirder and now apparently they’re eating babies and Bill Gates gave his wife an STD from fucking a Russian Hooker 💊”
I have to now ask myself: does this directly affect my life?
If the answer is no, I go “okay”… shrug it off, and move on to the next action that does.
As Jim Rohn—or what I think Tony Robbins once said—“I don’t pay attention to the news. If something really is that big and important, then it will inevitably reach my ears just through the small talk going on around me”
So… are you one of these intellectuals that spends most of their day consuming content on geopolitics?
Or are you like me—waking up to the reality of the situation and now fighting to reclaim back your attention and energy towards more productive things?
Hopefully, to put yourself in a real position of power and freedom that you could actually positively affect those around you in case shit really hits the fan…
Footnotes:
[1] Polybius was a Greek historian who wrote about Anacyclosis—the theory that political systems naturally cycle through stages: monarchy to tyranny, aristocracy to oligarchy, democracy to mob rule, and back again.
[2] Up to 210 bank accounts holding about $7.8 million were frozen under the financial measures contained in the Emergencies Act CBC News