How Stefan Molyneux Changed My Life
Life is a funny series of events! Today I reflect in gratitude to a man that impacted my life through his content.
You know you've found someone worthy of listening when you feel that your preconceived ideas are challenged almost every time that person talks...
That's, for me, the case with Stefan Molyneux.
This article is a simple token of gratitude I hope Stefan actually read this.
First time I've heard of Stefan Molyneux was in the hype days of Bitcoin. He was talking to an anarcho-capitalist crowd with Jeffrey Tucker. It was a fascinating presentation. Since then, I have listened to his podcast and videos on youtube a lot and still to this day get challenged by ideas and subject matter expert he brings forth.
Ideas Need to Be Challenged
Here is my personal playlist on video that "stretched" my mind:
It's not about agreeing with everything he says
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
-Aristotle
If it wasn't from Stefan, I would never have question some basic assumptions that I previously held. That's the funny thing with the mind. It's very hard to become conscious of our beliefs until they are challenged or have a light shed on them. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says but he pushes me to look at the fact rather than react emotionally to shocking and controversial ideas.
How someone you don't know can change your life
Life is a mystery. Not too long ago I was asking the government to do something about anything. Now I embrace personal responsibility and private charity. Because of this new paradigm of self-determination, personal responsability and a broader appreciation for western civilization, I find myself working from home and preparing myself to build a family where I can apply peaceful parenting.
Learn More About Stefan
Get more from Stefan Molyneux and Freedomain Radio including books, podcasts and other info at: http://www.freedomainradio.com
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I've heard of Stefan, but wow, these videos are fantastic. I wish I had more Steem Power to upvote.
I was a hardcore leftist. I read Noam Chomsky's stuff, I had the book "An Anarchist FAQ" (which was written to explain why Anarcho-Capitalism is BS. Although I had never heard of this "oxymoron")
I was against the State and against Capitalism. "Free Trade" agreements and "private" corporations were destroying the world and causing tremendous suffering. Pretty simple. Only zombies, drones and sheeple couldn't see it. I had it all figured out!
Then I started watching this guy's videos. I cheered him on as he trashed the iraq war and the government and the FED. Go baldy! But then he mentioned the market in a non-pejorative way.... WTF? This guy was smart and all of a sudden dumb?
Luckily Richard Dawkins got to me pretty young and I had developed good critical thinking skills, which, when added to my already pretty open mind was great when it came to ideas. So I heard him out and gave him a chance to explain himself. I watched everything I could of his on YouTube and downloaded his podcast. I think I listened to the first 400 (at 2x speed).
HOLY SHIT! I felt like neo waking up in a tub of pink jelly looking right and left.
This dude was my red pill. He really got to my leftist brain. That's what lead me to Austrian economics, then finance, then Bitcoin, then BitShares.
Without that guy I might still be seriously deficient in my worldview.
Kind of sound like me too!
Me three ;)
Fantastic post! His passion and deep sincerity never fails to move me and provoke analysis.....and i've only seen a tiny fraction of his material.
Feel free to retweet: https://twitter.com/cryptoctopus777/status/741256502887907335
Stefan has some amazing content and a huge knowledge about history. I just wish he wasn't so obsessed with hyping every alpha guy (including Trump) and with his belief (yes it' s a belief) that somehow the true free market solves all the society's problems better than any alternatives. I love this guy, but sometimes I also hate when I see him not being able to look past his own blind spots.
I agree, his economics is a bit dogmatic and fairly unsophisticated. If you haven't read the Global Minotaur I think you might like it (primarily because it's really good).
I don't think he's pro Trump at all. He simply points out that a lot of people dislike him because of the wrong reasons. His intention is to get people used to questioning the status quo.
Thanks for sharing. I'm a big fan of Stefan. While I don't always agree with the direction he takes, I appreciate his style and method. It's refreshing to hear his analysis in a world where most political commentary is dominated by the same regurgitated talking points of the mainstream media. Cheers.
Great post! I owe Stef a huge debt for his role in guiding me out of the last of my residual childhood insanity.
Stefan has also changed my life. I've since deviated away from many of his opinions, but overall he is doing great work in encouraging people to stop believing in the biased big media corporations. The biggest problem I have with him is the drama surrounding Joe Rogan calling him out on the defooing. I partially agree with him; defooing is reasonable in some cases, but it's not the same scenario as divorce, as many of his arguments ignored the basic biological fact that parents raise their children. Your genes came from your parents, not your wife/husband, so the dynamics are not the same. Also, his arguments against religion do not work against non-organized versions of Buddhism, Taoism, or Hinduism. However, he has gotten better recently in recognizing that in certain scenarios, even though the Christian God isn't real, it can still be a more positive ideology with more marginal benefits than certain branches of atheism. Also, the comments section of his Youtube videos are absolutely poisonous. There are tons of sophist arguments attempting to coerce people into agreeing with his ideologies. Anyone calling out his brainwashed followers are called "statists", "feminazis", etc. Scott Adams calls himself "libertarian without the crazy"; I suspect that Molyneux is what he considers "the crazy."