Globe and Mail article by Tu Thanh Ha on Stefan Molyneux

Conrad

ExyPhylo wrote:

Deep Purple wrote:

On Stef's income: the reporter assumed that everyone with a donator icon got it by donating $X/month, rather than it being an accumulation of years of donating. When I left FDR, I was a Philosopher King, but at the time I was only donating $20/month, not $50/month. This will tend to inflate the estimate. On the other hand, some people donate without joining the boards, which will tend to decrease the estimate. I wonder why Stef is so secretive on this point. Well, I have my theories, but I wonder which one is right.

It is a subscription of a minimum of $50 a month for Philosopher King status. Many give far more money in general, I think it is a gross underestimate of the amount he receives.

I would imagine Stefan Molyneux restricting new posters and members from the boards now, is simply to protect that income. He knows at least for the meantime he will have to focus on the infant and he will be OK if he simply maintains what he has.

financially he probably is yeah (although the mention of Christina's name may cost her some current and potential clients), but now his mother and his brother, Christina's family and all their former friends whom they thought they had 'proudly outgrown' may read the article and that may much humiliate and enrage him.

ExyPhylo · Number of posts: 1180 Registration date: 2007-12-12

Conrad wrote:

Apart from the reporter's use of the term 'pied piper' (which, being a non-native speaker, I assume has derogatory connotations)

The Pied Piper of Hamelin' is a legend about the abduction of many children from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Germany.

Conrad wrote:

the article is quite balanced, giving Stef's perspective (often quoting him directly) as well as the perspective of the critics, and it provides documentation so that people can make up their own minds which supposedly is what Stef would want.

I agree, has he responded to the article yet?

Conrad wrote:

but what could he legitimately attack?

I doubt he likes the photo Wink

Patience · Number of posts: 368 Location: England Registration date: 2008-08-26

Deep Purple wrote:

About half of the links to the boards link to dead pages. He removed the threads, either putting them under the protection of donator-only boards or removing them altogether. I can imagine why. The weird thing was that I got two e-mails around 3 AM last night from FDR, consisting of what I presume to be the original posts of two of those threads. I attempted to search the boards for those two thread titles without luck.

Karen got the same emails as you last night: http://karenm77.wordpress.com/2008/12/13/the-fabled-globe-and-mail-article-hits-the-press-with-links/#comment-413

Deep Purple wrote:

On Stef's income: the reporter assumed that everyone with a donator icon got it by donating $X/month, rather than it being an accumulation of years of donating. When I left FDR, I was a Philosopher King, but at the time I was only donating $20/month, not $50/month. This will tend to inflate the estimate. On the other hand, some people donate without joining the boards, which will tend to decrease the estimate. I wonder why Stef is so secretive on this point. Well, I have my theories, but I wonder which one is right.

Stef does mention his taxes so he must be declaring some of his income (sorry, donations), but maybe not all of them. Didn't Al Capone have a problem with his taxes?

Deep Purple wrote:

I wonder how The Community is going to react to Stef's desire to pull back from spending so much time online.

In the podcast/recording of his interview with the Globe reporter, Stef referred to them as customers of his business. Wonder how they'll react to that.

I don't think he'll cut his hours down too much. He needs the buzz of all that adulation and the cheap thrills he gets from ranting through yet another podcast.

Conrad

ExyPhylo wrote:

I doubt he likes the photo Wink

I like what they did with their walls though, nice color. His command center also seems like a very clean and orderly place, I like that too.

Patience · Number of posts: 368 Location: England Registration date: 2008-08-26

ExyPhylo wrote:

I doubt he likes the photo Wink

It's nearly as creepy as the one used by the Daily Mail yesterday with their shortened version of the Guardian article!

ExyPhylo · Number of posts: 1180 Registration date: 2007-12-12

Conrad wrote:

financially he probably is yeah (although the mention of Christina's name may cost her some current and potential clients), but now his mother and his brother, Christina's family and all their former friends whom they thought they had 'proudly outgrown' may read the article and that may much humiliate and enrage him.

Yes I thought that on reading. I don't imagine a parent ever being prepared to be scorned by their children in the media. Christina's defoo was presented as a preference of Stef's and not due to actual abuses etc; she will definitely be hurt by this article though I imagine more emotionally than financially.

ExyPhylo · Number of posts: 1180 Registration date: 2007-12-12

Conrad wrote:

ExyPhylo wrote:

I doubt he likes the photo Wink

I like what they did with their walls though, nice color. His command center also seems like a very clean and orderly place, I like that too.

Well Conrad, company was coming and we know how that gos;)

Conrad

Patience wrote:

Deep Purple wrote:

On Stef's income: the reporter assumed that everyone with a donator icon got it by donating $X/month, rather than it being an accumulation of years of donating. When I left FDR, I was a Philosopher King, but at the time I was only donating $20/month, not $50/month. This will tend to inflate the estimate. On the other hand, some people donate without joining the boards, which will tend to decrease the estimate. I wonder why Stef is so secretive on this point. Well, I have my theories, but I wonder which one is right.

Stef does mention his taxes so he must be declaring some of his income (sorry, donations), but maybe not all of them. Didn't Al Capone have a problem with his taxes?

yes, but Al Capone also killed, wounded and tortured people

Quote:

Deep Purple wrote:

I wonder how The Community is going to react to Stef's desire to pull back from spending so much time online.

In the podcast/recording of his interview with the Globe reporter, Stef referred to them as customers of his business. Wonder how they'll react to that.

yeah, I don't quite understand how they see themselves relative to Stef

Patience · Number of posts: 368 Location: England Registration date: 2008-08-26

Conrad wrote:

yeah, I don't quite understand how they see themselves relative to Stef

As very good friends, I think.

Patience · Number of posts: 368 Location: England Registration date: 2008-08-26

Dylboz wrote:

Funny. After almost an hour on the phone, I get paired down to a sentence.

More than one sentence, I think, and you made some important points. It's quality that counts, not quantity!

ExyPhylo · Number of posts: 1180 Registration date: 2007-12-12

Deep Purple wrote:

On Stef's income: the reporter assumed that everyone with a donator icon got it by donating $X/month, rather than it being an accumulation of years of donating. When I left FDR, I was a Philosopher King, but at the time I was only donating $20/month, not $50/month. This will tend to inflate the estimate. On the other hand, some people donate without joining the boards, which will tend to decrease the estimate. I wonder why Stef is so secretive on this point. Well, I have my theories, but I wonder which one is right.

Deep Purple wrote:

Stef does mention his taxes so he must be declaring some of his income (sorry, donations), but maybe not all of them.

He also stated he is a "non profit" and that in itself will have implications for him now.
UPDATE: the home page at FDR has now reinstalled the prominent link to the LIMI bash page. For a while we were a small link on the bottom.

ExyPhylo · Number of posts: 1180 Registration date: 2007-12-12

Stefan Molyneux wrote:

As you may know, I was interviewed by Tu Thanh Ha from the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail on November 20, and the story has just come out.

It is full of the usual exaggerated nonsense, claiming that I "encourage people to cut contact with their parents" and so on, and referring to me as a "pied piper" who lures impressionable young men and women away from happy families and so on... And in trying to work out the FDR income, he assumes that no one who subscribes ever cancels, which is of course not the case.

On the plus side, at least he mentions my relevant education, which is a step forward for the mainstream media, and also that only about 20 adult children have left families, out of tens of thousands of listeners. The reporter also links to Liberating Minds, which is... interesting. I have added a link to the Liberating Minds quotes page to the top of the Freedomain Radio homepage.

If you are interested, as an exercise in understanding media bias, it is worthwhile I think to listen to the actual interview I had with Mr. Ha, and then read the article ( or the other way round, if you prefer Smile ).

This is the original interview:

FDR1231

Click here to play this audio clip

This is the article:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wgtfreedomain13/BNStory/Technology/home

Deep Purple · Number of posts: 127 Registration date: 2008-05-10

My understanding is that there are two ways to get PK status: donate a total of $500+ (my route), or subscribe for $50/month (for those who want PK access today on what amounts to a 10-month payment plan). To keep your status, you have to donate regularly (Stef says he resets your account access after a year without donating, but he reset mine after 3-4 months). All that to say, it's not safe to assume that every PK is giving $50/month. I suppose that when you average it out -- the people who give less than minimum subscription fee and the people who give more than that -- the $60k/year could be accurate.

I figured it was the journalist who contacted you, not the other way around, but of course in the thread Stef is spinning it to be "those mean LiMi people just keep looking for ways to promote their anti-me agenda."

I always liked the color of the Red Room of Truth. It's a nice shade.

It was nice to have it confirmed that Christina does have some graduate degree (MA). Any word on what grade she received on her thesis? Very Happy

I wonder when these sorts of articles are going to start talking up the "crazy anarchist" themes. I personally hope they never do.

Does he talk about taxes and his non-profit status in the newspaper piece or did you listen to the full interview?

Zebra Foal · Number of posts: 877 Registration date: 2007-08-16

Conrad wrote:

ExyPhylo wrote:

I doubt he likes the photo Wink

I like what they did with their walls though, nice color. His command center also seems like a very clean and orderly place, I like that too.

Isn't Molyneux's room a bit...uh.... womb-like? ... that red placental wrap-around.

Also, we knew he was a clean freak--or rather xina? Didn't she clean the bathroom three times... or didn't he clean 3 bathrooms some other multiple...?

ExyPhylo · Number of posts: 1180 Registration date: 2007-12-12

Nathan has a few things to say on the comment article, sadly some things never change; http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081212.wgtfreedomain13/CommentStory/Technology/home#comment2913765