Stefan Molyneux
  • 2 days ago
Friday Night Live 17 January 2025

In this episode, I analyze strategic financial discussions around potential Bitcoin investments, emphasizing caution when engaging with traditional board members. I also address recognizing narcissism in personal relationships, urging listeners to establish boundaries and self-awareness.

The conversation shifts to the dynamics of praise, warning against excessive admiration that may conceal ulterior motives. We explore anxiety-driven productivity and the importance of authentic motivation to prevent burnout. Finally, I highlight emotional intelligence in romantic partnerships, encouraging self-protection and mindful decision-making to foster genuine fulfillment.

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Transcript
00:00:00Good evening, everybody. Stephen Molyneux from FreedomAid, 17th of January
00:00:042025 and we have great questions and comments from people. Let's start off right away from
00:00:12Jeffem, Jeffem. Good evening, Steph. Hope all is well with you, sir.
00:00:16I expect a salute, but that I have been invited to attend a strategic planning meeting by the board at my company.
00:00:22Do you think it would be a good idea to suggest that they allocate 1 to 5% of funds towards Bitcoin?
00:00:27It's a no-brainer to me, but these are boomer no-coiners we're dealing with here.
00:00:33Are you asking me for
00:00:36business advice in a financial matter, which I have no understanding of? Thank you, Darvins.
00:00:42I can't possibly give you advice as to whether or not
00:00:46you should have your business allocate 1 to 5% of funds towards Bitcoin. That would be
00:00:53that would be to give you financial advice, which I will not do.
00:01:01They'd probably rather invest in some kind of infrastructure they can tangibly use, yeah?
00:01:08Yes, for sure.
00:01:10For sure.
00:01:12For sure.
00:01:14All right, hit me with the why. If you've ever dealt with, we're just going to use the word
00:01:18narcissist here in obviously a pretty amateur or totally amateur fashion,
00:01:23have you dealt with somebody really
00:01:26selfish? You know the, but enough about me. Why don't you tell me what you think of me, right?
00:01:35Have you dealt with people like that? Has this been an issue for you?
00:01:44Hit me with a why. If you have,
00:01:47yes, you have. Yes, says Claire. Yes, says Hopes Hifter.
00:01:55Sorry, I had I had a long private call-in show this afternoon,
00:01:58which ended slightly before this show, and I managed to grab two bites of salmon, and now I like the taste of salmon.
00:02:04I don't necessarily like the taste of salmon forever and ever, amen, which is what seems to
00:02:09happen when you have a bite of salmon. It's like, you know, when I have my cod liver in the morning,
00:02:13it's like, hmm, that doesn't taste too bad, except for the next three hours when I'm burping the entire contents of
00:02:2131980 Newfoundland Oceans.
00:02:24Boy, there's a fairly obscure reference. I did an article so long, and thanks for all the fish, about the government mismanagement of the cod industry
00:02:32in Canada, a 400-year industry destroyed by the greed of just a few politicians.
00:02:37I
00:02:41thought about writing to you about my ex-wife.
00:02:45If I did to her what she did to me, I'd be in prison. Now, by ex-wife, I
00:02:49assume just mean your former wife, not your wife who is now
00:02:53ex-ex.
00:02:56Finally, I can catch a live stream.
00:02:58Catch a falling star and put it in your jumper, save it for a rainy day.
00:03:05That's not even close to the song. I vaguely remember the lyrics. I do not remember the tune at all.
00:03:11But if I have to suffer with it in my mind, sometimes you have to suffer with it in your ears.
00:03:15Well, you don't have to.
00:03:17But you have, if you're still here. All right.
00:03:20So, let's get back. So, you have dealt with this kind of stuff, right? All right.
00:03:24Now, from 1 to 10, if you've dealt with a narcissist or a selfish person,
00:03:29from 1 to 10,
00:03:31how bad was it?
00:03:34From 1 to 10, how bad was it?
00:03:42Tell me.
00:03:491 to 10, how bad was it? Because I want to know what kind of pain points I'm dealing with here.
00:03:597, says Tom.
00:04:04You
00:04:129.5 10 it felt like it didn't even exist 5
00:04:1710 8 8 recurring theme in my life says Claire unfortunately 10 with a friendship of more than 10 years done with that now
00:04:30Sorry about this
00:04:34God I remember when I could type that was cool
00:04:42All right led to so many wrong decisions in my life 8 8 8 8
00:04:50All right, well it sounds like we've got some pain points to deal with
00:04:59Got some pain points to deal with
00:05:02All right, so
00:05:05Hit me with a why if it would be helpful for me to be brutally frank with how to deal with narcissists I
00:05:15Want to make sure that it's gonna maybe this is all deep in the rear view
00:05:21For you and you've dealt with it all and it's distant in the past
00:05:25You
00:05:30Yes, okay, yes
00:05:36All right, you're loving the year of the blunt you're the blunt man Tommy Chong style, all right
00:05:45So
00:05:47People who show significant interest in you when you first meet are dangerous
00:05:52People who show significant interest in you
00:05:57When you first meet, you know
00:05:58The people who just look at you and they're very intent and they don't blink very much and they ask you to phone your house
00:06:06When they're at the house and also standing right in front of you Robert Blake style, right?
00:06:09So the people who just they lock in they lock in and they're focusing on you and they're listening to you and they're asking questions
00:06:16And they're just absorbing right very dangerous
00:06:19Very dangerous because what they're doing is they're scanning for vulnerabilities and
00:06:24They are probing for weaknesses and they are probing for a lack of defenses
00:06:31Right. What do they always do in Star Trek, you know scanning the enemy vessel?
00:06:35Well, their shields are up here and they're down here, right? That's what they're doing. They're scanning you
00:06:40So when they appear to have no particular ego of their own, but they're just
00:06:44absorbing
00:06:46You and asking questions of you they are
00:06:53Scanning for holes in the armor
00:07:00So that's important now
00:07:02Do you want people to be interested in you? Sure, of course, right but to a moderate amount and based upon reciprocity, right?
00:07:08So, oh, what do you do? Oh, I do x y & z
00:07:11I say I'm just an ex-murderer because that's better. So
00:07:15Then you ask them what they do. This is a bit of back and forth, right?
00:07:19But somebody who's like I'm putting my ego aside and I'm focusing solely on you and I'm intently focused and solely
00:07:25Examining and understanding you and they're gonna ask you lots of questions and you're not really gonna get to ask me any questions
00:07:30I'm just
00:07:31Scanning scanning right be wary of those
00:07:35kinds of people
00:07:37Right be wary of those
00:07:40kinds of people
00:07:42people who ask you
00:07:44Outside of call-and-shows. It's a situation right people who ask you
00:07:51Very personal questions very early on
00:07:56What would you say your biggest weakness is
00:07:59Okay. Thank you for scanning me you sociopath, right? So people who ask you really
00:08:05deep questions
00:08:07Really early on they're looking again if they say oh, what was your childhood like?
00:08:12Oh, did you have a good relationship with your mother at least they're looking they're just scanning for habits
00:08:16Simon the marks of repetition compulsions things that they can
00:08:20exploit
00:08:21It's okay
00:08:23To not unpack your heart like an exploding a suitcase with everyone you meet
00:08:28But of course so many people go through life. Honestly, I think majority people go through life with nobody taking any particular interest in them
00:08:34You
00:08:37Which is why people tend to be
00:08:39So susceptible to this kind of like lazy. Oh, finally. I see somebody's really taking interest in me. Somebody really cares about me
00:08:46Right, they're just they're looking for who they can exploit
00:08:54Or somebody who pushes through boundaries in early conversations
00:08:59right, like if you say
00:09:00I don't really want to talk about that or that's not a big topic for me
00:09:03Or I don't really feel comfortable about that and they just ask again
00:09:07they're probing for
00:09:10Are your boundaries real?
00:09:12Right, are your boundaries real or are you just saying stuff? Do you actually have
00:09:17boundaries
00:09:18People who ask you about your social circle, right?
00:09:22Oh, do you know so-and-so? Oh, how long have you known so-and-so, right? You're at some party
00:09:25Oh, how do you know the host? Oh, how long have you known him?
00:09:28Right, so what they're doing is they're trying to figure out
00:09:32Often if you have friends around you who are looking out for you
00:09:37right
00:09:39so if the host of the party is some dysfunctional person
00:09:43and
00:09:44You have been friends with that person for a long time. They know that you have dysfunctional people around you
00:09:49And therefore you are unprotected. You are separated from the herd of moral and quality people and therefore you can be
00:09:56Taken down
00:09:59Far
00:10:01More easily
00:10:05Somebody who does a joke threat
00:10:10Early on in the conversation
00:10:14Right, so you say something and they say well that's totally racist i'm just kidding right they do a joke threat
00:10:21Right, in other words, that's a shot across the bows to see how you will respond
00:10:28To disapproval
00:10:30And if you respond strongly and deeply and in a submissive fashion to disapproval then
00:10:37They are locked in and they're pretty sure that they can manage you through disapproval
00:10:42So
00:10:48Hit me with a y if this makes sense so far, I don't want to over explain don't want to under explain want to
00:10:55Get the porridge just right
00:10:59Hit me with a y
00:11:02If this makes sense to you, yes, we're doing all right good
00:11:09Okay
00:11:17If somebody says a woman on a dating app first message to me was what's your deepest darkest secret i'm like no, right
00:11:22Yeah, that would be somebody who's looking for leverage and power over you for sure
00:11:31Now another way that you are dealing with
00:11:35a selfish person a narcissist in the amateur sense
00:11:39is
00:11:42When they provide to you excessive praise
00:11:48When first meeting you
00:11:50Oh, you're so funny. Oh, that's that's an amazing story
00:11:55Oh, what an incredible outfit. I think you're the best looking guy here, right?
00:11:59Whatever like if you get a lot of praise
00:12:01Early on in meeting and that is uh, somebody dangling the worm to see if you'll bite the hook
00:12:09Relationships
00:12:11That start at a very high level very quickly that accelerate to a very high level very quickly
00:12:16when they're asking for secrets and your childhood, uh, uh, uh trauma and
00:12:22What what's your favorite movie is like it's all just probing for things
00:12:27Like i'm telling you I have
00:12:31I've seen
00:12:34Guys asking
00:12:36Women who their favorite actor is
00:12:40And when the women say brad pitt
00:12:42The guys will start to act a tiny little bit like brad pitt
00:12:47You know that laconic, uh slow moving
00:12:50even the way he in moneyball he bites the top off the uh
00:12:55magic marker
00:12:57Like even the way he spits that is assertive. The man is just an assertiveness juice of dominance. And so
00:13:06If you say um, oh, uh
00:13:10What's your favorite movie? Oh, I love that movie, right?
00:13:12And if if they seem another thing if they seem to be in alignment with you
00:13:16About an improbable number of things now the more you're original the more you think for yourself
00:13:21The less likely it is that anyone's going to be in alignment with you about anything
00:13:25But if they seem to be oh, I love that band. Oh, that's a great movie
00:13:30Oh, he is a he's a fantastic comedian because he's not bill burr who just completely cucks. Oh god
00:13:36It's gross
00:13:37oh
00:13:38I think they're doing fantastic things out in california
00:13:42They didn't make any mistakes
00:13:45Repulsive anyway, um, it's even more repulsive to get mistaken for him and billy corgan and phil collins
00:13:52And a pink bowling ball and a giant thumb and an ostrich egg
00:13:58Not necessarily in that order
00:14:00Um
00:14:04Bill's burnishing the balls of those in power
00:14:11Um
00:14:13If there is a strange familiarity about someone
00:14:17when you first meet them if you feel that there's a deep connection and that
00:14:21This can happen romantically in particular, right?
00:14:23If you feel like there's this deep connection that they just kind of click together and they lock in
00:14:28It's like your jigsaw puzzle pieces that fit together. Uh, they're molding themselves to your personality in order to take control
00:14:34right, they're settling into the seat of your
00:14:37Soul in order to grab the joystick
00:14:40Sexual innuendos are not accidental. They're never accidental
00:14:44So be aware of that
00:14:50Saying bill bill burr is cactus and insults to people who are cut
00:14:53Is beyond cacti's pegged hey steve nice to see you tonight
00:15:03What else um when they inquire
00:15:08About finances
00:15:09Oh, you must be doing very well. Oh, when did you get into bitcoin?
00:15:12Oh, right when they start inquiring into finances or they are trying to very quickly establish
00:15:19Your status. Oh, what do you do for a living? Oh, where did you go to school? They're trying to establish
00:15:25Your status then you're certainly dealing with a status seeker
00:15:32You're certainly dealing with a status seeker
00:15:35they're always a little bit surprised because often I will I mean because it's kind of true I really
00:15:39um, I mean, I know I work for a living but if I was
00:15:43Uh
00:15:45Unemployed with infinite resources I would do this
00:15:47So I just say oh i'm you know
00:15:49And I did retire from my business career and I say oh i'm I took early retirement or i'm unemployed or something like that
00:15:55It's not totally false
00:15:58um, but you can see
00:16:00You can see for the status seekers
00:16:02you can see um
00:16:05You can see that if you say i'm unemployed
00:16:09Or i'm retired you can see that
00:16:11Well, maybe retired they think you know, he did really well or whatever right but you can see the look go down right
00:16:18Go down, right
00:16:23So there's that
00:16:27That is another issue when you're seeking somebody of of particular, uh status, right
00:16:34If
00:16:37They are very curious about yourself, but quite shielded about themselves
00:16:41Then they're looking to probe you and not give you the ability to probe them because remember a a narcissist
00:16:48Is usually scanning for victims. They sure as hell aren't scanning for another narcissist
00:16:53Because then they can't victimize them as much, right?
00:16:59The obvious ones are things like if somebody has um
00:17:04Let's say that somebody's in their early 30s and single
00:17:12Then you know, the basic question is why
00:17:17The basic question is why
00:17:25And if
00:17:27It's never their fault and and you know
00:17:29They just happen to run into some crazy people and can you believe it and so on they reveal themselves that way
00:17:36If a woman
00:17:39Significantly plays the victim
00:17:45That is an appeal to the vanity of the male and that is a form of
00:17:53Manipulation, right
00:17:55I
00:17:57Really appreciate the donation
00:17:59I don't know enough about you michael jones to have anything intelligent to say about this issue. Sorry about that
00:18:05I'd appreciate the support freedom.com slash donate to help out the show. Of course, I do appreciate that
00:18:13Uh, john says how should you go about asking questions early on in a relationship? I feel like after a deep connection
00:18:20one of you opens up
00:18:23So
00:18:26A quality person wants to see reasonable levels of caution from you a quality person
00:18:32Right wants to see reasonable levels of caution from you
00:18:35So for instance if you just met a woman and she's totally happy to take you back to her place
00:18:41then she has
00:18:44The self-defense capacities of your average
00:18:50Sea cucumber
00:18:53So that does not show a reasonable level of self-protection right so self-protection is self-respect
00:19:02So
00:19:05Anybody of quality is not going to expect you to open up about everything the moment that you meet them because then
00:19:13They're going to understand that you don't have rational levels of self-protection
00:19:17Now at the same time you don't want to be hoarding everything about yourself, you know
00:19:21Six months into a relationship because that's an excessive level of self-protection that actually turns into a kind of self asphyxiation
00:19:33But
00:19:38Having that level of caution without paranoia right caution without paranoia
00:19:47You know, there are there are there are people who oh, yeah, I I met I met these guys, uh
00:19:54I was talking to a woman not too long ago
00:19:55I I met these guys at a party and we went back and you know
00:20:00It's like you don't know these guys. What are you going to some party for?
00:20:04Street proof especially for women, right?
00:20:08You have to be cautious in life
00:20:10I mean sadly you have to be a lot more cautious now than you used to be. I mean I grew up in a ridiculously
00:20:15High-trust society and I had to kind of adjust to that going forward
00:20:20But a reasonable levels of caution
00:20:24Is very important and now obviously if somebody keeps offering you more to drink
00:20:28That's a warning flag that they're trying to get you because alcohol is a disinhibitor, right?
00:20:33It lowers defenses. And so if somebody is consistently saying to you
00:20:38Oh, let me get you another drink. Oh, let me freshen you up. Oh, you're getting thirsty there
00:20:42Oh stop nursing that drink and live a little have some fun, right?
00:20:45obviously if they offer you drugs and so on right they're just trying to
00:20:49lower your defenses, right? I mean, there's the
00:20:52the red pill the blue pill and then
00:20:56Anything Bill Cosby gives you right? So
00:21:02Watch out for that
00:21:08Uh people of course who have uh
00:21:12Status too young
00:21:14are usually pretty narcissistic
00:21:16so
00:21:17a man's priming earning years tend to be sort of
00:21:21Maybe mid late 40s to mid late 50s
00:21:23Like that's where all your hard work and your contacts and all of that
00:21:27That's where it all pays off for a lot of men, right? And so it's kind of funny to me
00:21:32Women who want young wealthy men are like men who want old fertile women
00:21:38Well, I want all of that wisdom and maturity
00:21:40That a woman has at 45 and I want four kids. It's like
00:21:45You get 45 you ain't getting any kids
00:21:47and if a woman wants
00:21:50A man to be young and wealthy
00:21:54She is dreaming she's dreaming
00:21:56The only way she's going to get that is if he's inheriting his money
00:22:00Which means he's got terrible parents
00:22:03Which means she's going to have a terrible relationship
00:22:11All right
00:22:13Let's get your questions and comments. So yeah, those would be some some of the tips i'm happy to do more if people
00:22:18Want but sometimes less is more I mean never on this show, but i've heard it occasionally from time to time
00:22:25All right, frank
00:22:29Right, my girlfriend grew up using anxiety as motivation to do everything
00:22:34Sorry, that was really it's a terrible line reading to do everything
00:22:38My girlfriend grew up using anxiety
00:22:40as motivation to do everything work
00:22:43Exercise studying etc. Since we've been dating things have calmed down and now she doesn't feel constantly anxious
00:22:50She's worried that without anxiety and a little chaos
00:22:54She doesn't know what will drive her what is behind that
00:22:58And what can she do to address that concern?
00:23:04Well
00:23:11I
00:23:13Was just sorry I get to that question
00:23:15So on wednesday, we had a woman who's like, well i'm the exception to the general rule
00:23:18This is like whenever you propose a general rule women are like, well, i'm an exception to the general rule and so
00:23:24And so this showed up on wednesday and now this woman is when I talked about
00:23:29in general, uh
00:23:31men
00:23:33Like a man's physical prime is like his early 20s and very few men
00:23:37in their early 20s
00:23:39legally unless they happen to be some sort of athlete or
00:23:43Entertainer or something like that or criminal right? Very few of them are gonna have
00:23:48any money, right so
00:23:50Uh, so this woman writes my husband is young and already owns a house and makes good money and is tall
00:23:56I suppose i'm dreaming right now
00:24:00Yeah
00:24:01It's not exactly about you. It's about a general trend and the humble brag is not particularly appealing
00:24:08Just just so you know
00:24:14You know like if if
00:24:16If you're in a room full of people in their 60s and they're all talking about their health issues, you're like well
00:24:20And they say yeah, most people over 60s have health issues. I'm in perfect health. I don't have any health issues whatsoever
00:24:26I don't know what's wrong with all you people
00:24:29I know steph. I just thought it was funny. Yeah
00:24:31Yeah
00:24:35I mean, obviously i'm happy for you. That's great. But I guarantee you your husband is not in his early 20s, right?
00:24:44So, yeah just the the women who want men