Mike Cernovich

An admixture of mindset and media

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Mike Cernovich

Anatomy of a Fake Fact Check

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As Sante Fe school shooter wore a hammer-and-sickle logo, I made the uncontroversial statement that this logo was associated with ANTIFA. Today a fact-checking website that partners with Facebook and foreign governments said ANTIFA does not use the hammer-and-sickle logo. This is fake news.

Run a Google image search for ANTIFA and hammer-and-sickle. Thousands of results appear. See for yourself:

 

Here’s a video entitled, “Black Conservative Scolds Black #Antifa For Flying Hammer Sickle Flag #Boston.” As you can see in this screen capture, an ANTIFA member is flying a hammer-and-sickle flag.

Examples abound, and anyone can confirm this in five seconds.

Why did the Fake Fact Check Website Lie?

This is an attack on alternative media. Each time they flag an article as fake news, even when they verifiably lie as they did hear, then alternative media is downgraded in Facebook’s algorithm.

Their lies cumulatively become part of the narrative. Mike Cernovich, who a fact-checking website said spreads information, claims….

These lies about me are a way to lie about you, and a way to embolden ANTIFA.

Fact Check is fake news.

How to Survive Hell

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“If you’re going through hell, keep going,” takes on new meaning when your body randomly breaks out into first and second degree burns. After years of taking medications my doctors prescribed for eczema, I was finally diagnosed with Red Skin Syndrome, an iatrogenic condition caused by the very medications doctors prescribed. The only cure was to stop taking all topical corticosteroids. Cold turkey. That’s when the Hell sets it. My face swelled and my eyes closed shut.

  • Hi. There is a 0% chance you know something about my skin condition that I don’t know. Keep those, “Have you tried…” tips to yourself.  :^)

I’m not sunburned in this picture, this is what’s known as a flare. If you look at my hand, you can see some non-fire skin. I’m not squinting in the image. My eyes had swollen shut and I had to eye them and pry them open to go out to dinner with friends.

How to Survive Hell? Live your Life.

Sometimes life sucks, there’s no way to spin it, you’re in pain and life sucks. This is what my face looked like for 8 weeks. I had lost a bunch of hair and my eyes sealed shut due to edema and swelling in my face.

Once you accept the underlying circumstance of, you have a choice.  Let life suck on its term, or live life on your terms?

I could have stayed home and hid. I could have wondered if people thought I looked like a hideous freak. I could have let shame and a fear of judgment put me on house arrest.

Or I could have gone on with my life, to the extent possible.

I choose to live my life normally.

I even went to the gym, which offered varying levels of pain.

Lacking moisture, my skin was a delicate as a butterfly’s wings. My would pull off from the flexion of normal movement. This is what my neck looked like on a normal Tuesday.

Have you ever heard the expression about putting salt into a wound?

When most of your body is an open wound, every drop of sweat stings.

Imagine tearing skin with each reputation at the gym as a salt drip of sweat covered the open wounds. I never cried, but there were whimpers of agony at times.

I also swam in the Dead Sea after a bad skin flare. Here’s what my arms looked like before diving in. (Well you don’t dive into the Dead Sea, as the saline content keeps your body in a state of floatation.)

“Low point” takes on a literal meaning when you’re salting wounds over your entire body.

 

How to survive hell? Keep a gratitude journal.

Each day I said, “You are so lucky that you can afford to work for home. Imagine what it must be like to have a job to go to.” Whenever I couldn’t move, I expressed gratitude that one day I would be able to move.

I was grateful for friends, who wanted to hang out.

I was grateful for Shauna, who stood by me.

And I sought beauty wherever possible.

After floating in what felt like an acid bath, I enjoyed a sunset over the Dead Sea.

 

How to Survive Hell? Focus on the Spirit.

“Spiritual growth is physically painful” became my mantra. I’d reflect on what a gift this suffering was, because my own life had become vainglorious. I only cared about money, sex, and partying. I had become superficial and lacking in empathy.

The physical pain, and frankly, the physical ugliness of myself, humbled it. The experience put me in touch with the human condition.

How can I act fearless? Because I’ve faced my fears. My body has been in Hell.

How to Survive Hell? Have a Vision for Your Future.

Like all people, I let shame and judgment control me. Don’t take risks, people might laugh at you, people might mock you, people might….

While going through Hell, I focused on how strong my spirit would be. I treated the experience like a training experience sent to me from the Universe. I was shown what I was capable of overcoming, in order to accomplish more. To stop letting excuses about being introverted stop me from leading.

Today people wonder how I keep moving forward despite being attacked by powerful media companies, being lied about, being slandered, being stalked….What I face daily is nothing because pain is subjective. What you feel today is measured and defined by what you’ve overcome.

All of my life I wanted to write a book that people would find decades after I had died, a legacy work.

Although I didn’t know it at the time, great work is born out of great suffering.

Gorilla Mindset wasn’t a book of theory. It wasn’t a collection of “scientific studies” conducted using college kids. It was a book born out of suffering.

Hell is Coming for You.

My worldview is paradoxical to those with a superficial understanding of Western “logic.” I’m simultaneously the most optimistic and pessimistic person you’ll ever meet.

Hell is coming for you, or maybe it’s found you.

And you can get through.

How?

Keep moving.

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What I Learned Producing Documentary Films

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Hoaxed: The Fake News Simulation, my latest feature-length documentary, is in post-production. Making movies has been a learning experience, and I’ve made some mistakes. Here’s what I’ve learned:

Stop talking about making a film, Go make a film.

You can film a documentary on an iPhone. It won’t be the greatest film, but it will be a start.

Someone put it into the brains of young people that they deserve a six or seven seven-figure budget and staff for a film. You deserve NOTHING.

Take your iPhone out, make some films, and quit expecting others to do the work for you.

You’ll learn how to set up a shot, how to be patient when outside circumstances frustrate you, and how to get quality audio. You’ll learn how to edit.

Someone put it into the brains of people that you learn skills while working on major projects. Wrong. You develop your skills on minor projects.

I made this film with an iPhone and a GoPro

I went to the DNC and RNC to embed with protesters, and I got the best footage of any media outlet. We put this into a documentary exposing the fake news media for its dishonest coverage of the Bernie Sanders movement.

As you can see, I made a lot of mistakes in Un/Convention:

  • I shot videos vertically,
  • The sound quality isn’t perfect,
  • Some of the film is shaky.

And I made a film.

Unlike every other a-hole in New York and Los Angeles, I shipped a product.

Now look at the teaser for my latest film, HOAXED.

Do you notice any improvements?

Hoaxed even has original music and a music video.

Avoid people who talk about wanting to make a film.

In life, avoid the wanters.

I want to do this…

It would be nice to that…

Every jerk off in LA and NY is going to write a book or make a film. Most never will, because they don’t want to work hard. Avoid these people, as time is zero-sum.

An hour spent with losers is an hour not spent with winners.

Shoot way too much b-roll.

If you’re a filmmaker, New York or Hollywood isn’t a big deal to you. Your audience loves the sights and sounds of unfamiliar places.

Plus, filming b-roll puts you into the mindset of creation. The more you film, the more you’ll see in real life worth filming.

Filming b-roll is also a safe way to improve your camera skills.

You may also accidentally film something cool.

Set up the story of people you’re interviewing.

How often have you watched a film where a guest was randomly put on the screen. Who is this person? Why should we care about this person?

B-roll of sets the scene. For example we were interviewing someone who had been attacked by ANTIFA. While the talented directors were setting up the interview shot, I looked at her interesting living situation.

She lived in a bohemian warehouse, which isn’t unusual in San Francisco, but is still pretty cool. And it also shows that people you think of as “conservative” don’t fit those old definitions.

Money and Filmmaking.

I haven’t made a profit from any film yet, so if you’re wondering how to make the big bucks, ask me in a few months or years.

I have raised enough cash to pay others who work on films with me. As for me, I’ve lost money on every film I’ve made. However I remain optimistic.

Welcome to the Rule of 5.

The Rule of 5 holds that if you put your heart and soul into 5 projects, one of them will pay off an order of magnitude greater than the sum of your losses.

Sometimes you’ll hit the Big Win early. My debut book Gorilla Mindset did far better than I expected. (The average book sells 500 copies, and only 1% of books ever sell 10,000 copies. Gorilla Mindset is at over 80,000 copies sold, and it keeps selling every month.)

Un/Convention did 80,000 page views. A documentary on the Sweden migrant crisis did 150,000 views before YouTube banned it. Silenced didn’t make a profit, but it sold enough copies to make me optimistic about Hoaxed.

Learn as you go. Sometimes you’ll hit it big right away. Usually you won’t. Most people quit before they reach the top.

https://youtu.be/5arF5Zn5pZc

The 80/20 Rule is an iron law.

In life, 80% of your upside (or downside) will come from 20% of your activities or endeavors. This is known as the 80/20 Rule or Pareto principle.

20% of your friends will give you 80% of your fulfillment and happiness. 20% of your friends will give you 80% of your drama.

80% of a funding for your film will come from 20% of your supporters.

Some people will pay for a platinum experience, if you offer them one. Think about what you can offer the 20% of your audience that is hardcore into supporting what you do.

Treat 100% of people well.

Give immediate refunds to the complainers. People will often email me to complain. I refund them, and then they complain about getting a refund. They just want to complain to someone, and they feel like buying a ticket gives them a license to be nasty and toxic to me. Wrong!

Get rid of the negative and toxic supporters. You feel like you need everyone, especially when starting off. Time is a zero-sum activity. Focusing on responding to complainers will distract you from giving value to people who support you.

Over communicate with your supporters.

Making movies is a lot like litigation. Nothing seems to happen for a long time, and then something huge happens. During that “nothing” time, people wonder if any work is being done. This is because people don’t realize it takes hundreds of hours to edit footage.

It’s better to over-update than under-update. Even if there’s nothing to report, reach out to your backers to tell them, “We are working hard,” and throw in a picture or short video clip.

You’re going to go over budget.

Murphy’s law applies: If something can go wrong, it will. You’re going to lose some equipment, the airline is going to charge you more than you agreed to, people may demand a bribe to get out of your shot. (Yes, this happens. If you’re filming in public, sometimes people will harass you unless you pay them off.)

Let your film evolve as you work on it.

Your art will push back.

You have an idea for a film, and while you’re making it, the art begins taking you in another direction.

For example Hoaxed started off as a hit piece on the fake news media.

As we thought more deeply about it, we realized that Fake News is a Simulation.

We live in a world of lives, and this world of lies was created by the fake news media. Hoaxed took on a more sci-fi vibe, and won’t look like a traditional “media” film.

 

What else do you know to know about filmmaking?

Post a comment below!

You can stream Silenced on Amazon.

You can watch Un/Convention here.

And if you grind away like me, you can STAY FOCUSED with Gorilla Mind.

Gorilla Mindset – New York June 23

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Gorilla Mindset returns to New York City on June 23, 2018.

On June 23rd I’ll be returning to New York for my last East Coast seminar of the year.

If you already know what my mindset work is about, email me here to request an invitation. If you aren’t sure about attending a mindset seminar, skip below the form and read more.

     

     

     

    Each Gorilla Mindset seminar is different,
    which is why some people attend all of them.

    I’ve given seminars across the world, and usually only do 2-3 a year. In 2017 I only held one seminar, and this upcoming seminar in New York will be my last East Coast mindset event of the year.

    What can you expect at a Gorilla Mindset seminar?

    First, you’ll meet some of the best people of your life. Everyone there, regardless of background, shares a commitment to becoming the best versions of themselves and to living the best life.

    Second, we start off by focusing on the Gorilla Mindset model:

    • Each chapter of Gorilla Mindset is separate yet connected,
    • Self-talk and language patterns,
    • How metaphors embedded in language shape how you view yourself and the world,
    • Proper posture in standing, walking, and working.
    • How to re-write your past to create a new future.

    We always have a lengthy question-and-answer.

    From there we cover story-telling, memories, reality creation, and whatever else is on your mind.

    Is everyone invited to Gorilla Mindset seminars?

    Yes, we do not discuss politics at all. As anyone who has read Gorilla Mindset knows, it’s an apolitical book. Our only focus is to help people from all over the world live the best life possible.

    Gorilla Mindset isn’t political, and there are always people from all backgrounds and genders in attendance.

    What if you can’t attend a seminar?

    No big deal! I have filmed two seminars, and both are available for free viewing here.

    During this seminar my skin was in a terrible flare due to an auto-immune condition. Did that stop me? No, and that’s what Gorilla Mindset is all about. Do not let life’s challenges stop you.

    This Gorilla Mindset seminar is from July, 2017, and was filmed in Los Angeles.

     

    How can you attend a Gorilla Mindset seminar?

    You can email me to request an invitation here.

       

       

       

       

       

      Confessions of an Internet Addict and Dopamine Dealer

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      I will be honest with you. I am completely and totally addicted to social media. It has changed my perception of time. It has changed my perception of of what’s important in life. It has disrupted my attention span, making it harder for me to focus on the long-term. It has weakened my working memory. It has set my book projects back. It has gotten me into pointless drama with low-consciousness scrubs.

      And I’m also one of the biggest dopamine dealers on the planet, which is ethically conflicting. The reason I’m world-class at what I do is because my twenties and early thirties were spent with my nose in books.

      Am I leading people in the wrong direction by providing them a constant fix of entertainment, education, and even outrage?

      Getting good at social media is easy if you’ve put the reading in. You have a depth of knowledge to draw upon. You’ll see connections other won’t. Books you’ve read will surface when news stories hit.

      Most of what I do today is coasting on the hard work of my 20s and 30s, which is why I repeatedly tell people to not waste their 20s. It’s the most important decade of your life.

      Social media is also my job, my career, and a major net positive for my life.

      Social media allows you to influence world affairs, set up meetings in far-away places, build a business, and make friends.

      The best friends you’ll ever make, you’ll meet online. This is especially true if you have niche interests.

      Before social media, you were completely reliant on gate keepers to get your message across. Want to write a book? Gook luck getting it past the 22-year-old English major who screens all content. Today you self publish. Gorilla Mindset has sold over 80,000 copies and launched an entire seminar business.

      Want to make a film? Get on your knees, boys and girls, for big Harvey Weinstein. Today you can crowd fund a film, and in fact I’ve produced two crowd-funded films – Silenced and Hoaxed.

      Think you’re good enough to make it on TV, welcome to a life of office politics and back-biting at a massive corporation. Today you open your own video channel, with only yourself to blame if you fail.

      Everyone loves to rant about social media censorship, which is an issue. (Have you ever thanked the founders?)

      We’re about to enter the Wilderness phase of media, where prominent voices who bypassed the gate keepers will be shadow banned or shut out. Eventually the blockchain will make censorship impossible.

      How I fight Internet addition.

      Yes, fight is the word, because it’s an everyday struggle. Quitting smoking isn’t easy, but it’s simple. Stop smoking. It’s not as if daily life requires you to take a few puffs before tossing out a cigarette. Quitting smoking is all-or-nothing.

      Internet addiction is like dieting. You have to eat. If you’re prone to eating too much, then every meal has the potential to lead to a slip up. The same is true of the Internet. You must go online to work. Hours have passed. What happened?

      First, I put my phone into airplane mode when lifting weights or exercising. This gives me at least 1 hour away from the Internet at a time.

      When a major event (public speaking event, 60 Minutes appearance) is coming up, I keep my phone in airplane mode for much longer. I take long hikes or even walks through the city.

      Second, I take cold baths. You can’t be on your phone when you’re in a cold plunge trying not to freeze to death. The spa I go to also has jets in the cold plunge. Focusing on the waves of the water is therapeutic.

      Third, I read to my daughter before bed. Kids are obsessed with screens, and you had better hide yours from them.

      It’s a daily struggle, as the addiction is physiological. Social media is a dopamine drip, and being away from social media is physically painful because your body is no longer getting its feel-good chemicals.

      The key is to quit for durations, consistently, every day.

      Am I perfect? Of course not, but you can see in real-time that I’m spending less time online.

      It’s funny, too, to read the media conspiracy theories about why I’m laying low. Not one of these reporters have bothered to ask me where I’ve been.

      What you notice when you’re not online.

      People who talk about the news start to look like insane people. When I see people ranting now, I think, “What is wrong with him or her?” Of course that’s how some of my own videos now seem to me. You were all worked up over that?

      I used to do multiple videos a day on seemingly-important breaking news stories. Now I think, “Is this worth doing a video on? Will this even matter tomorrow? Will it matter in four hours?”

      When you spend time away from the web and reflect, you’ll observe that important stories take on greater significance. For example, the former Attorney General of New York, Eric Schneiderman, punched his date’s ear, causing her to lose hearing. She went to the doctor. This is all corroborated. He called his Sri Lankan girlfriend his “brown slave.”

      Oh but Trump tried to kiss a woman in an elevator and paid off a mistress! Sure, maybe we need a return to chivalry and monogamy. I’ll concede those points for discussion’s sake. And do you not see the difference between punching a woman in the ear vs going in for a kiss?

      The Schneiderman story should be a big deal. No one is even talking about it today. In the 24/7/365 news cycle where mean tweets are worse than words, punching your date in the ear is just another headline sandwiched between Russia, Wikileaks, something stupid CNN posted, and an offensive joke that didn’t land.

      I’ve become more patient. I’ve never been naturally patient, but the Internet made me think that what should happen in a month must happen today.

      When you live online, you start to see human beings as pixels on a screen. This isn’t healthy. The people across the way are humans with emotions and dignity. No one is going to call me Captain Kindness, but unless you work really hard to get my attention, I’m ignoring the haters and responding to hate with love.

      I’ve also noticed my writing is improving.

      Everyone should write. Keep a diary. Keep a blog. Writing every day forces you to turn the lead of “ideas” in your mind into the gold of the written word.

      Write before you speak. Write before you call someone. Outline your ideas.

      When I relaunched Cernovich.com, writing 500 words was painful. I plodded along by doing book reviews. I used to write 10,000 words a day. Some days I’d publish three articles. People complained that I wrote too much, and they couldn’t keep up.

      My mindset insights have greater philosophical depth.

      People have noticed that everyone today says mindset, where as before Cernovich came around, it was an uncommon word.

      And haters who have never read Gorilla Mindset still don’t understand the work, although some of my concepts are becoming mainstream.

      We’ve taken our mindset work into another direction.

      A select crowd experienced the new work last Saturday. In six to eight weeks, you’ll see our best work yet.

      Until then, read Gorilla Mindset.