The Game - Neil Strauss

[IdleRich]

I know it's old news but I read it yesterday. Not, as I originally feared, a self-help book for those unable to attract the opposite (ie female) sex but a story of one man's descent into a world of Pick-Up Artists (PUAs) and misogyny. An absolutely readable and awful book that describes the way that Neil Strauss (or Style as he dubbed himself) rose to the top of a secret community of people who dedicated their whole life to swapping tactics for approaching, chatting up and, effectively, mind-controlling or hypnotising as many women as possible.
Strauss cunningly represents himself (I suspect at least somewhat dishonestly) as someone at slightly one remove from the community as a whole, someone who is both attracted and repelled by the power he (claims to have) gained to chat up and bed any woman he desired. In the end he leaves the community having recognised the shallowness of constant phone-number acquiring and found true love. He also misses no opportunity to point out how different he is from the majority of hangers-on and self-styled PUAs who become so addicted to The Game that they leave their jobs and home to hang on the words of pulling gurus such as Style and Mystery (they all give themselves stupid names - a bit like on dissensus but stupider) which means that he is able to get the book out and leave himself as someone who still retains some vestige of humanity. He has cake and eats it quite effectively basically.
Anyway, I have to say I loved reading the whole sordid, depressing thing and I wonder if anyone else has read it and what they think.

A picture there of the uber-pullers Mystery (left) and Style.

 

[bobbin]

their mind control techniques must be more powerful than i can imagine.

 

[baboon2004]

For a second I thought you'd erroneously placed a thread about a new hip-hop concept album in the Art & Lit forum.

 

[Mr. Tea]

their mind control techniques must be more powerful than i can imagine.

 

[massrock]

Would like to hear from nomad on this one.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Would like to hear from nomad on this one.

.....

Mystery couldn't get it up and Style came in like two minutes, rolled over and fell asleep.

 

[comelately]

http://www.dissensus.com/showthread.php?9091-Books-with-life-changing-qualities

We had quite the thread of death with this one!

 

[swears]

That pic of the guys looks incomplete without a snarky comment from Gavin McInnes underneath.

I know a fella who is well into this book, goes on about it all the time, giving everybody advice on what to say, how to act, the philosophy behind it all...

never actually talks to any women, though.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

We had quite the thread of death with this one!

yeah I thought of that as soon as I saw this. good times. skimmed back through, stand by everything I said 100%, in the interests of keeping the peace will leave it there. vivi e lascia vivere & all that.

one thing however - the term "pick-up artist" always puts me in mind of "A Hunger Artist" which, yes, is a rather jarring incongruity.

 

[scottdisco]

quality thread that, i'd forgotten all about it. Vim negging himself to get in the mood for wanks, brilliant

 

[scottdisco]

He has cake and eats it quite effectively basically.

i've not read it so totally take w salt but from what you say this seems very reasonable, there's an air of 'doth protest too much' to the guy it seems... ...this is of course obscuring the real issue, which is does Nigella flick her bean to Fred Durst, or to Zizek?

 

[droid]

quality thread that, i'd forgotten all about it. Vim negging himself to get in the mood for wanks, brilliant

His finest moment!

 

[Mr. Tea]

Hahaha, oh god, THAT thread.

I learnt how to help women to squirt [...] because of 'the community'

More like comeallovermyfacebaby, amirite??? And all thanks to The Community! Is that like the Muslim community or the LGBT community, only it's the squirting community?

 

[DannyL]

Quite ironic seeing my comments there, as I am the one who lent the book to Rich. (I found it in a church jumble sale, honest). I'd forgotten about that thread.

I thought it was thoroughly entertaining, but I strongly suspect he's a massive liar - not so much about the PUA techniques working, but his own distance from "the community" and what he actually did etc.

I still think basic techniques for improving confidence = not so bad, but systematising all into an alleged "science", introducing profits from workshops etc = not so good, and it's got an exploitative misogynist worldview embedded which he doesn't really examine.

 

[swears]

I still think basic techniques for improving confidence = not so bad, but systematising all into an alleged "science", introducing profits from workshops etc = not so good, and it's got an exploitative misogynist worldview embedded which he doesn't really examine.

I sort of think it's funny to imagine all these George Costanza looking guys using Jedi mind tricks on plastic valley girls.

"HELLO, you will sleep with me, btw you're annoying and dumb."
*waves hand across her face*
"OMG, I, like, totally feel attracted to you!"
"Just another day in the life of a fly guy, my friend."
*hitches up 44 inch polyester slacks*

 

[IdleRich]

"Vim negging himself to get in the mood for wanks, brilliant"

Guess I'm gonna have to read that thread.

"HELLO, you will sleep with me, btw you're annoying and dumb."
*waves hand across her face*
"OMG, I, like, totally feel attracted to you!"
"Just another day in the life of a fly guy, my friend."
*hitches up 44 inch polyester slacks*

That's pretty much what happens when he meets Britney Speares - he says "think of a number between one and ten" and she chooses seven (as, apparently, seventy percent of people do) and he guesses it correctly and she is completely dumbstruck - eventually she comes out with something along the lines of "OMFG, we have this incredible connection".

 

[Corpsey]

They all seem like complete cunts but I do quite like the idea of being forced to chat up women, since I can't really see how I ever will otherwise. So maybe I'll give them 500 dollars so they can force me... :slanted:

Either that or attach electrodes to my nuts and give one of my mates the remote control.

 

[comelately]

yeah I thought of that as soon as I saw this. good times. skimmed back through, stand by everything I said 100%, in the interests of keeping the peace will leave it there. vivi e lascia vivere & all that.

one thing however - the term "pick-up artist" always puts me in mind of "A Hunger Artist" which, yes, is a rather jarring incongruity.

Yeah I stand by pretty much everything I said too, I just don't buy the mysogyny and aspiration thing. That said, I am quite attracted to the Zizekian critique of new age stuff as well as other critiques of the human potential movement - and I think these critiques can also be applied to the pick up community very effectively.

I think I put over Sean Messenger's LVO3 as an approach more resembling a new-agey approach and less a wannabe fratboy thing. Sean has now released a free archive of every audio and video class - I believe he now teaches children in Oakland. http://lvo3.websitetoolbox.com/?forum=117644

As I said before, 'The Game' is full of mendacity, misdirection and time distortions. He spent many months getting hypnotised by Steve Piccus and Hypnotica. He is still in the community, and he was rumoured to have "approach anxiety" quite recently.

Er Mr Tea, I think the Lesbian community is already the squirting community. To be honest, and I will probably get accused of bragging again but it's nothing others are incapable of, I've taught/enabled/empowered women to have 5 minute orgasms giving me head, and more.....and I'm part of an Ongoing Tantric ecstatic dance group in the Netherlands, so my powers will only increase.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Thing is, I like sex enough as it is, and I can't really get into the mindset of treating it as this subject you can take a 'masterclass' in or spend years learning from a wizened old man in some remote Tibetan monastery. The word 'tantric' just makes me think of Sting and his famous 12-hour sex sessions to save the rainforest. Ugh.

 

[swears]

A girl came up to me last night at the bar and says "I saw you asleep on the train the other day, really liked your suit and glasses." So you see, I can pull girls in my sleep.