Malcolm Gladwell's Sad Apology

This isn't a full blog post; it's more a response to the recent The Science of Sport podcast episode, hosted by Ross Tucker and Mike Finch, featuring Malcolm Gladwell. I can't top Sarah Barker's take or J.K. Rowling's response on Twitter (X), but below are some thoughts I've had. I really hope people take the time to click on the two previous links and absorb what Rowling and Barker are saying. 

Immediately after Gladwell, with all the panache of Alvy Singer, confessed that he was cowed --as others pointed out, he should have said "I was a coward" instead -- into supporting trans athletes in women's sport, Tucker went on social media in an effort to defend Gladwell and call him an ally. Tucker is usually a most reasonable, level-headed, fair, and considerate individual, and he wanted people to move beyond Gladwell's comment and listen to the rest of the interview. He felt, controversy aside, Gladwell made some interesting points during their conversation. I can't say I agree that Gladwell's ideas about scoring for cross country are among them, but Tucker seemed to think this and other topics of discussion were worth a listen. 

It's probably hard for men or those who favor inclusion over fairness to understand how angry some of us are for being abandoned, criticized, called bigots and other names, and penalized for standing up for women. Again, Sarah Barker and J.K. Rowling summed everything up very concisely, so I won't beat a dead horse too much more. I agree with Sarah, though, that when Tucker compared his evolution on the topic to Gladwell's, he was wrong. 

The major difference is that while Tucker has always voiced his opinion based on his knowledge at the time (as many of us have), Gladwell knowingly lied and omitted the truth. And he is considered a journalist, a prominent cultural thinker and such. Tucker changed his stance after conducting further research and after more information became available. Gladwell admitted that he knew there was a male advantage at the time he was supporting the idea of inclusion in the female category.

Several people have brought up other ways in which Gladwell either outright lied or distorted the truth. Those of you familiar with the Munk Debates may remember back in 2022 when Gladwell and Michelle Goldberg attempted to debate Matt Taibbi and Douglas Murray on the topic of trusting the mainstream media. Perhaps if Gladwell hadn't been so busy trying to come up with cringy zingers to hurl at his opposition, he could have focused on the debate itself; however, not only did he fail miserably to sway the audience, he lied and got called out on previous lies as well. He has admitted bias regarding his book The Tipping Point and wrote inaccurately about Northern Ireland in his book David and Goliath. The guy is just not trustworthy. 

Taibbi addressed what happened during the Munk Debate in a Substack post and on X (Twitter). Gladwell is really good at twisting the facts, yet, at the time, he wanted to assure everyone that it's OK to trust the media. It's good to trust the media. You can trust the media. During the debate, Gladwell suggested Taibbi was longing for the days of Jim Crow because Taibbi made reference to a respected reporter, Walter Cronkite. It was so off base that I was actually surprised Gladwell had the balls to lie so blatantly in public. Why he didn't immediately apologize is beyond me, but Gladwell only seems interested in apologizing if it serves him in some way. 

Since the tide is turning and public opinion overwhelmingly supports the extreme notion that women actually just might deserve sex-based rights, Gladwell is suddenly "brave" enough to come forward and admit he was a wanker. But as a cherry on top for those of us who see who Gladwell is, think what you will about Douglas Murray, his response to Gladwell's continual disrespect during the debate was fucking brilliant. 

In The Science of Sport podcast, Gladwell also suggested that he's an authoritarian when it comes to dopers in sport, but then went on to suggest that we should welcome those who have served bans back into the sport with open arms. This is pretty much the opposite of being an authoritarian. I've stated plenty of times that I'm for lifetime bans. I realize, and Tucker also pointed out on social media, that lifetime bans wouldn't be feasible because of legal factors, but there needs to be some sort of zero-tolerance policy put into place, not just for the athletes but for everyone involved. 

The whole system is so completely fucked right now that it's almost pointless to debate the topic. More money put toward testing, better testing methods, fewer corrupt officials and athletes, and stricter punishments could possibly improve the situation slightly. I'm afraid professional and even amateur sport is so dirty that it's beyond repair. 

The way testing works now is that, as ridiculous as an excuse might be (burrito contamination), we are forced to accept the possibility that the explanation for why the athlete tested positive could be accurate and not assume the person knowingly used performance enhancers. 

It would be like watching someone in a wig and big sunglasses carrying a large bag around a store looking suspicious, and then getting stopped by employees right outside of the store. When a search of her bag reveals unpaid items from the shelves inside, we must assume that they could have accidentally fallen into her zipped-up sack. Or maybe someone else put them there! 

While most everyone knows the items are stolen, several people will actually believe they're not and defend the thief. Other people will know they're stolen and still defend the thief. Very few will both know the truth and actually condemn the thief, and even those who do will be forced to admit that there's a possibility, no matter how small, that she could, in theory anyway, be innocent. Because that's the way the law works. In rare cases, lifetime bans have been handed out for certain classes of drugs after a certain number of violations have been reached in certain sports, or for gambling or other violations. 

I'm not saying we should take anyone's right to due process away, but the way things are being run now is a farce. Technology will never catch up to new methods of doping, and money will always be too much of a factor. Organizations don't want to bust big names that draw spectators, and improved testing costs too much money. Athletes want to win, so there's also their incentive to consider. And all of this isn't even touching on the more subtle ways of cheating, like using thyroid medication or other substances that can potentially improve performance but are not on any lists of banned drugs. 

On that bright and cheery note, I say adieu until the next time. Excuse any errors. I rushed through this and might need to go back and do some editing later..or not. 

Oprah Is At It Again And Other Disappointments

I've seen a lot of talk online lately about normalizing ideas and behaviors, mostly when it comes to mental health. It used to be that people equated normalizing with removing the stigma around a topic, and, in most cases, it’s beneficial to avoid negative stereotypes that tend to come up when this type of approach isn't used. Normalizing when it comes to talking about mental health is generally seen as beneficial. It helps people feel less ashamed and less alone for struggling with any kind of disorder or illness.

Because of the way social media and the media have evolved, normalizing now has both pros and cons but probably more cons than pros. It should be obvious that normalizing violence is not constructive while helping an individual who perceives emotions as negative or bad normalize his or her feelings can be helpful. 

The problem these days is that frauds, extremists, and insincere individuals attempt to gaslight others into thinking that certain actions they're engaging in are OK when these actions could be dangerous, deadly even. Trying to rationalize continuing a risky behavior under the guise of normalizing this particular conduct is despicable, yet influencers and actors do it all the time. There's a not-so-fine line between sharing struggles and promoting a soothing yet unsound coping strategy. More and more, individuals are crossing this line in order to rationalize their unhealthy obsessions.  

I see this type of conduct a lot in eating disorder communities. Allie Ostrander is a good example of someone crossing the line from sharing to self-indulgence. I have to preface this by admitting I lost any respect for her when she was outed as a liar and cheater. What a disappointment she turned out to be. 

For anyone who doesn't know, Allie is a runner who was busted and served a four-month ban for using canrenone. In her failed, "It's my acne medication! I didn't know!" defense, she admitted googling the drug to see if it had an effect on performance. It doesn’t, but sometimes it’s best to shut the fuck up if you want others to believe you. In trying to cover her tracks, Allie accidentally over-explained and outed herself as a liar. 

You see, when you google this drug in relation to performance or anything remotely sports-related, the very first thing that pops up is that it's a banned substance. There is no way she didn’t know about canrenone being on the banned list, absolutely no way. There’s a reason why she didn’t elect to get a therapeutic use exemption, and it’s not because this drug doesn’t improve performance. Canrenone is actually used as a masking agent, so god knows what else she was and probably still is taking. There’s no doubt in my mind that she’s a flat-out fraud, and any coach who would take her on as a client at this point is suspect, too.

Cheating in sports aside, Allie is also blasting her audience with questionable content under the facade of promoting eating disorder recovery. In one of her cringe-worthy videos that I won't link to because it truly is upsetting, her boyfriend suggests that the content she’s putting out might be triggering, but Allie doesn't give a fuck about other people. This is about HER. She's part of the ME ME ME ME ME! generation after all. 

I have to ask, though, what good does it do others if she mentions the crazy calorie totals she's consuming for a particular video take? Who, exactly, does it help when she shoves what she eats in a day in her viewers' faces, many of whom are struggling with eating disorders of their own, and what good comes of her posting videos of herself training hard while admitting she's not fully recovered from bulimia? The answer is that it benefits her. Her YouTube channel and social media accounts are for profit. She's creating content, and it doesn't matter who might be affected negatively as long as she gets paid. 

I'm all for honesty when it comes to recovery, but what Allie is doing isn't honest. This is narcissism on full display. And it helps no one. Anyone claiming the videos and posts she creates benefit others probably thinks other fads and online scams are helpful. There is a big difference, a huge one, between admitting you're struggling and going into the gory details that can traumatize and negatively influence others. If she wants to pretend she's edgy and post garbage like that without offering much, if anything, in terms of actual recovery, she should stop lying about promoting recovery. She’s posting content to continue her sponsorships and to attract rubberneckers and those who will be fans no matter what she does. She's posting for money at her followers' expense is what she's doing.

I’ve written about Oprah Winfrey being a huge disappointment before, and this year, she has proven herself to be even more of a scumbag. Back in 2015 when I created a blog post detailing her shenanigans with Weight Watchers, I didn’t think she would stoop any lower, but her recent actions only prove how obsessed this woman is with being thin. You would think that someone as accomplished and successful as Oprah, a billionaire and the owner of her own production company, would focus on other things or at least leave other people out of her neurosis, but she can’t seem to be OK unless she lets everyone else in on her rationalizations and excuses. 

In 2023, Oprah was still a board member of Weight Watchers, a company she bought stock in before she joined. In 2024, she admitted that she started using a drug to help lose weight, and by the time she made this confession, she had been taking it for several months. Oprah didn’t step down from her position on the board of Weight Watchers back in 2023 when she started taking the drug; she waited until this year to do so. Once she was outed, she threw some money at the problem by donating to charity, a common action frauds take to make themselves look less corrupt. 

That was bad enough, deceiving individuals by losing weight on a drug without disclosing this to any Weight Watchers members, but because, underneath all that sham confidence and real success, she’s an insecure woman, she decided to host a dishonest television special called “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution." She claimed this special was about normalizing talking about weight loss. What she should have titled it is, “An Oprah Special: I Want to be Adored.” Oprah doesn’t want to normalize talk about weight loss; she wants approval from her audience to take drugs in order to look a certain way, though she will probably tell you the drugs are for health. 

I didn’t watch the full special and have no desire to do so. Watching Oprah justify taking these kinds of drugs is like watching an active anorexic talk about the benefits of taking speed. These drugs she's taking and promoting are prescription drugs designed and approved by the FDA to treat diabetes. Some doctors provide them to individuals who are obese or who meet other criteria. The drugs were not meant to be given to people who simply want to lose weight and have money to buy them, but some shady healthcare professionals will sell them to willing customers. 

In a lot of ways, I feel sorry for Oprah. To be that much of a powerhouse and still be caught up in an illusionary beauty image that's circulating in her own head is depressing. In her special, she stated, "I come to this conversation with the hope that we can start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment, to stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they choose to lose -- or not lose -- weight, and most importantly, to stop shaming ourselves." But how is taking a potentially dangerous drug in order to lose weight and conform to society’s warped beauty stereotypes removing the shame around anything? 

For obvious reasons, Oprah didn't go too deeply into the side effects and dangers of these drugs in her little special. From what I gather, Ozempic and other related drugs are medications used primarily for Type 2 diabetes. They’re used off-label for weight loss as well, meaning this isn’t the suggested usage. The common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, belching, stomach pain, fast heartbeat, and constipation, to name a few. Severe side effects of these prescription drugs include gastroparesis, allergic reactions, changes in vision, kidney failure, gallbladder issues, and pancreatitis. Also, Ozempic carries an FDA warning on the box for the risk of thyroid C-cell tumors.

Ultimately, Oprah is and already was free to do whatever the fuck she wants. She’s so desperate for approval that it’s mind-boggling, though. The fact that she had to hold this televised rationalization fest shows how stuck she is in obsessing about her weight. I agree in part that society did this to her. The public has never been kind when it comes to her or anyone else's weight, but maybe if she hadn’t made it such an issue by promoting fad diets like Slim Fast and flaunting her slim body and then hiding it when she gained weight, people would have lost interest. I don’t blame her for being a product of our society, but I will call her out on inflicting her unhealthy obsessions and behaviors on all of us. 

An Unwelcome Distraction

It has only been recently that I've started standing up to bullies. In general, I try to be fair, turn the other cheek, or take the high road, but that doesn't always work. It certainly didn't with Kim Duclos. My tolerance for people who go out of their way to be mean is at an all-time low. I'm simply not going to sit back and do nothing when someone threatens me or attempts to push me around. I'm three weeks out from a major surgery and this isn't exactly how I want to be spending my time, but I also feel the need to address this situation.

I'm going to make this post as brief as possible because it's mostly a waste of time to pay any attention to people who create conflict and drama and make issues out of minor disputes, but since Steve McConkey, a self-proclaimed Christian who spends his time asking for donations for his "Ministry" so he can continue to "work" on interfering with and condemning athletes in the LGBTQ community, threatened to sue me a while back and continues to violate my right to privacy, I wanted to address the situation. Social media is so strange in the way it gives some people a distorted sense of esteem and accomplishment. Writing everything out, it seems silly that an adult would spend the kind of time, money, and energy he does in order to get revenge on people who dare voice an opinion online.

What would warrant such anger toward me, you might ask. My big mistake? In response to some online bickering that was going on between a friend and Steve, I had the nerve to post a Bible quote as a comment on Steve's public Facebook page. THE NERVE OF ME! Apparently, it was a passage he didn't like because this resulted in the comment being deleted within minutes and me being blocked from viewing his page while logged in. My friend was also blocked. Almost immediately after, Steve decided to post a picture of my friend on his page that is or at least was set so that anyone not logged in can view it, and pretty much invited his friends to join him in a mocking session. Steve seems fond of mocking others and has done the same with Hillary Clinton, several trans and gay athletes, Democrats, and others he doesn't like. That's not all he did, though. He also contacted my friend's employer and, well, I won't go into the gory details since you can read about everything here:  https://chimprefuge.com/2018/07/20/steve-mcconkeys-funniest-lies-also-introducing-mcconkoids/#more-8163

I find it funny, in a creepy weird way, that Steve calls others stalkers given his actions. He's the type who likes to point his finger while three are pointing back at him. For example, he's quick to point out other people's past mistakes even though he has made plenty. In fact, he admits to doing hard drugs at one point in his life, an illegal activity that could potentially land a person in prison, not just jail. Just because he didn't get caught, it doesn't mean he's innocent, but the way he rips on others makes it seem like he thinks he's some kind of angel. He's not. Far from it.

After being blocked, I mostly stayed out of things except to occasionally like a comment or voice an opinion relating to something several friends posted on Twitter or Facebook, so I was surprised when a friend pointed out that Steve dragged me into the fray with a public threat to sue me and called me an accomplice, implying I had committed some kind of crime, something that could easily be considered defamation of character. When I noted this on Twitter, he deleted the post, which means he's obviously looking at what I do online.

That's not the only thing Steve has done, though. Instead of getting into everything here, I'd rather point my readers to other writers who have addressed Steve's antics. Since he's so fond of public postings about others, I'll leave it up to readers to decide what they think. Unlike many of Steve's postings, though, the following two by people remarking on his behaviors do not include lies.

This post is by Hemant Mehta. It goes into detail about Steve's desire to ban trans athletes and more:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2018/04/15/leader-of-christian-athlete-group-condemns-marathons-allowing-transgender-runners/

This one is also interesting:

 http://whatwouldjackdo.net/2015/11/greetings-from-the-atheist-gestapo-world-headquarters-all-your-bibles-are-belong-to-us11111.html


I really hope his attempts to damage my reputation and interfere with my and others' professional lives and standing don't continue. I'm not going to stand by and watch him lie, though. He even lied about a legal document that's public (but not newsworthy or relevant - more right to privacy violations).  Pertaining to that, the last time I owned a dog, I was in grade school, so his claims about someone abusing my dog aren't accurate, nor are several other claims. It's tempting to make assumptions when looking at certain brief statements, but, unless you were there, you really don't know what happened and shouldn't speculate, especially publicly which could be considered libel.

I hate taking up space on this blog to post things like this, but as long as he keeps up his lies about me and keeps pointing to his posts that reveal the address of one of my friends, I will keep Tweeting and exposing his lies, as will my friends. In reality, the more Steve keeps up what he's doing, the more he exposes his unchristian-like behavior, to say the least. Meanwhile, my true Christian friends are working in Uganda helping refugees, serving others, practicing kindness, and being the beautiful human beings that they are.


ETA:

Keep in mind that this is the first blog post I have written addressing this issue. It's almost laughable Steve's response to me defending myself. His "friends" are now calling me disgusting because of the lies he spews about me, and for someone who's almost scary in his quest to find out information about me and others, him calling anyone else a stalker has to be breaking every irony meter in the universe.


"The Colorado Stalker and his sidekick Lize Brittin are writing volumes (Um, no that would be you about us, but since you won't let up on the lies, I'll gladly continue writing.) on me that nobody reads (Not accoring to my stat counter, but OK), however, they come up on google search (Wait, you're not the stalker but you're Googling us?) as you go down. She lectures me on ethics (Nope, I wrote a blog post describing what happened.), but she promotes the killing of babies (Liar. This is a complete lie. I don't even really "support" abortion, but I stand by a woman's right to choose. I've never had an abortion and never will.) and endorses the Stalker (I don't think he understands the meaning of the word endorse. Agreeing with someone doesn't necessarily mean supporting someone.) . Kevin lies continually (Nope. He has some strong opinions, but he has not lied about Steve.) about me and makes up fake news (Again, he doesn't make stuff up about Steve, and blog posts and tweets are not news, real or fake). He says he coaches Olympic runners, but never has (Yes, he has, actually. You should ask his athletes about it.). His criminal record is long (Steve's would probably be at least as long -- crashing a car drunk, doing hard drugs, etc. -- he just never got caught, and Kevin has already publicly addressed his past)."

I don't think this needs a caption.

ETA Dec 2019:

I briefly took this down but decided to repost it when Steve just couldn't stop lying and dragging me into his online spat with Kevin. One thing I really can't stand is people behaving in terrible ways and then hiding behind the title of Christian. 

Similar to my comment below:

I recently talked to my brother, Alex, and sister-in-law, Lisa, (both lawyers) about all of this and got some good advice, but it's strange that someone who keeps violating the terms of service on websites like Twitter and keeps lying to the point where these websites are forced to remove content, insists on calling himself a Christian. If a God saw this kind of unethical behavior, all because some guy got mad and wanted to get revenge on someone who called him out on his questionable statements and actions, there's no doubt "he" wouldn't be happy. 

The whole thing is a sham, this POOR ME! I'M BEING ATTACKED AND STALKED bullshit by people who, in reality, are bullies and too immature to have any kind of civil conversation. That's why they resort to shitty tactics like lying online and expanding the scope of conflict by dragging as many people into it as possible.

I am grateful to those who took my personal information down and am glad they can see through this guy's act of being a good Christian. If that's being a good Christian, send me to Hell knowing I made an effort to be a better person than that and at least did my best to be honest. I mean really. Starting online battles, intentionally and improperly posting personally identifiable information online, and outright lying are not honorable qualities. How do people like this sleep at night? I really want to know. I do my best to be a decent person, and I have all kinds of lingering worries about my actions, putting way too much pressure on myself to do the right thing and questioning all the time what the best action is. And then there's this guy who boasts about being in line with God, yet stoops to such incredibly, incredibly low levels. Just yuck. 

ETA 2020
Apparently, he liked what Kim was doing by mocking me about my job and telling people I want my mom to die, so he posted something similar. These two are disgusting. I am so lucky to have decent people in my life. I can’t imagine what goes on in someone’s messed up head to do these kinds of things to another human being. 

Supposedly, this is how he thinks good Christians should behave, by lying and mocking people, which is bad enough, but the people liking it and feeling sorry for him are equally bad. Imagine thinking you're morally better than someone by resorting to this:

You may not want to read through this entire exchange, but it's interesting to see someone who provoked a guy turn around and play the victim. Kim and Steve are the same that way. They continue to poke the bees and then whine when they get stung:  http://www.kemibe.com/stevemcconkeythreat.htm

And both Steve and Kim are fond of dragging me into this mess. For a long time, I kept quiet, but that did nothing but cause them to include me more. In the email exchange between Kevin and Steve, Steve boasts about being able to post records online, but there are limits to doing that. See, I have talked to lawyers, too, and while I think it's ridiculous to sue someone over online bullying, unless it gets bad enough, there are some limits to what people can legally post. For example, yes, you can post someone's records online, but if it's done with malicious intent and is not newsworthy and also gives out otherwise private information, like an address (considered doxxing), then it can be considered a violation of someone's right to privacy. But who wants to go to court over that, especially when Kevin has said over and over that he doesn't care? Maybe a cease and desist letter would be enough, but I doubt it with these types. Both Steve and Kim are so dead set on "getting" Kevin that they don't give a shit whom they hurt in the process. In fact, they think that by hurting people associated with him, it will somehow be a "win". But it's so fucking pathetic. The whole thing started because of them. Neither one has the courage to have a conversation either online or otherwise, so they take stupid little jabs and then retreat, hide and pretend they are being attacked. 

The funniest thing in all of those email exchanges is Steve suggesting Kevin offer Kim an apology. Dear Kevin, please offer one of the biggest bullies I have ever encountered -- someone who lied from the start just to fuck with people and made up shit about me waiting for my mom to die -- an apology. Jesus Christ, people are fucked up.