How Stoicism Became The World's Greatest Scam
SourceStoicism is changing. You know, I've been reading Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations." Wow. I listened to it in the sauna. Yeah.
It's really intense because you're thinking, these are the writings, the direct writings that we have from a guy who lived 2,000 years ago and was running Rome: Stoicism. Stoicism. As someone who has covered and studied Stoicism for years now, I've noticed something strange happening. If it were just another celebrity trend, then it would be whatever.
But what's happening is much worse than that. This ancient wisdom that was once a guide to living a good and fulfilled life has been co-opted by the manosphere and turned into snake oil, sold as the magic pill to fame, fortune, and everything in between. Andrew, you need to be more misogynistic. This woman just spilled my coffee. Ugh!
Bring some paper towels! We're doing a podcast! Stoicism is not about not feeling emotions. It's about feeling the emotion and saying, "Okay." Stoicism is stoic.
My question is: Why Stoicism? Out of all the other philosophies that are out there, why this one? In fact, why philosophy at all? Why do a bunch of macho men who laugh in the face of intellectualism cling to the most intellectual ideologies?
To find out how Stoicism became this billion-dollar scam, we interviewed experts, took a Stoicism course, and watched more AI-generated Stoicism videos than I would like to admit. What I discovered is that the rabbit hole goes far deeper than one could ever imagine. For example, you might see a woman getting assaulted, and you are expected to remain stoic. The purpose of "broicism" isn't to educate, inspire, or enlighten, but rather to deceive and exploit impressionable viewers. Men are being conditioned to be weak, and you are being told that it's good to be emotional.
Young men should be emotional. They should understand that if they want to become successful and masculine, if they want to make a lot of money or date and sleep with many girls, being emotional may not benefit them at all. They should be stoic, with the ultimate goal of achieving their dreams. However, this path can also make questionable characters famous and incredibly rich. The matrix has attacked me.
While on a voyage at sea in 300 BC, a wealthy trader named Zeno was shipwrecked along with all of his cargo. Instantly, this wealthy man lost everything he had. After this loss, Zeno learned that we have very little control over what life throws at us. What we do have control over is how these events affect us. He realized that, although he couldn't control the weather or the sea, he could turn his loss into something positive by using his experience to teach others how to overcome difficult situations.
In doing so, he created the philosophy of Stoicism. Stoicism grew quickly across all segments of Greek society and beyond. From Zeno, whom many believe was a foreigner with roots in modern Lebanon, through thinkers like Epictetus, a former slave, Cordia Catella, Conus, the first female Stoic, all the way to Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and a skilled and insightful writer whose personal diaries, known as *Meditations*, have become an entry point to the philosophy for centuries of Stoics up to the present day. In the centuries following Marcus Aurelius' death, Stoicism largely disappeared because of Christianity. As the Roman Empire made way for the Holy Roman Empire, everything in the Holy Gospel was treated as, well, gospel.
And just about everything else was regarded as primitive pagan nonsense at best, and at worst, the express lane to hell. All of that changed in the mid-20th century, thanks largely to a handful of unrelated characters: a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and a soldier. But before we get to that, while working on this video, we dispatched four members of the Aperture team to explore the endless variety of Stoic tools being shared and sold across the internet. Of course, all the classic Stoic writings from Zeno through Marcus Aurelius have been in the public domain for thousands of years and are freely available with a quick Google search.
Some of the other things, well, as you're about to see, that will cost you. Okay, so for the next seven days, I'll be learning everything I can about Stoicism and trying to apply it to my life using only free resources. All right, so this just came in: I received my Stoicism game card, which contains 50 prompt cards that hold a lot of insights from the Greek Stoics. For my Stoic journey, I'm going to be talking to a Stoic coach, but not just any coach; he's just some guy I found on Fiverr for about $30. So don't expect anything crazy. I'm not expecting much from this, but hey, he's selling a service, and I'm going to purchase it and immerse myself in some daily Stoic practices.
I chose to go to the number one Stoic superstore on the internet, Ryan Holiday's dailystoic.com. I went ahead and selected a course called "Taming Your Temper: The 11-Day Stoic Guide to Controlling Anger." Every day, beginning with today, I receive an email, a video, and, most importantly, an activity to help me manage and control anger in keeping with the Stoic tradition. My Day One activity is something originated by Abraham Lincoln, called "burn letters." You write down some things.
That you carry around with you that makes you angry over and over. You write them down, you fold them up, and you set them on fire. By doing so, you literally start to unburden yourself of these things that, you know, you are carrying around for no reason. So, here we go with Day One. During the Vietnam War, U.S. Admiral James Stockdale survived seven unimaginable years as a prisoner of war in the infamous Hanoi.
Noi Hilton. He was shackled and tortured. His leg, injured during his initial crash landing in enemy territory, was cruelly and repeatedly re-broken. He was paraded around and humiliated for propaganda purposes. After his release, many asked him how he was able to survive such a gruesome experience, and his answer became what is known today as the Stockdale Paradox.
It goes something like this: In Admiral Stockdale's experience, his answer became what is known today as the Stockdale Paradox. Prisoners of war who held out hope that release was always just around the corner eventually grew discouraged, gave up, and died. Stockdale believed he, along with his fellow survivors, were able to endure only because they didn't hold out hope for freedom.
Instead, they made peace with life, even in the most brutal and dehumanizing circumstances. Instead of waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel, they embraced the darkness within it. And, not surprisingly, throughout his ordeal, he took direct inspiration from history's most famous slave turned Stoic: Epictetus. Stockdale, a Medal of Honor winner and later a vice presidential candidate, published a celebrated book entitled "Courage Under Fire," testing Epictetus's doctrines in a laboratory of human behavior.
And suddenly, James Stockdale became the most famous Stoic in over a millennium. Meanwhile, Stoicism was also enjoying a renaissance in the emerging world of psychotherapy. This is Massimo Pigliucci, philosopher, biologist, and author of "How to Be a Stoic." The history of modern Stoicism really started with the invention of cognitive behavioral therapy in the 1950s and early 60s. That's because the major figures who started that approach to psychotherapy, such as Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis, were directly inspired by the ancient Stoics, especially Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus.
There is a connection here, and that connection is important because cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is arguably the best evidence-based psychotherapy available today. In other words, it works. This also indirectly demonstrates that Stoic techniques are effective. Albert Ellis went so far as to say that the best way to sum up the spirit of CBT was with a quote from Admiral Stockdale's favorite philosopher, Epictetus: "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them."
Although giants in their field, neither Albert Ellis nor Aaron Beck were celebrity gurus by any stretch. Had they existed back then, put together they wouldn't have been as popular as a single picture of Dan Bilzerian's boat. But thanks to them, seeds were planted that would bear unexpected fruit 40 years later. The other thing that happened was there were already millions of people around the world who read the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius and the writings of Seneca. This is Donald Robertson, a cognitive behavioral psychotherapist and author of one of the most influential books on Stoicism of all time, *How to Think Like a Roman Emperor*.
They didn't talk to each other; they didn't congregate in little groups. This is Jules Evans, a historian and author of another influential book, "Philosophy for Life." That changed in the 1990s with the development of the internet. The internet allowed this kind of diaspora of Stoics around the world to form online communities, and that's how it developed into a movement in a way that it was never able to before. It was in this renaissance that Marcus Aurelius became a character in one of the most iconic movies of the last few decades.
"Gladiator." Russell Crowe is genuinely interested in Marcus Aurelius and wanted to incorporate more of his philosophy into the movie. However, Richard Harris portrays Marcus Aurelius in the first act. There are subtle hints of Stoic philosophy referenced throughout the film, which prompted many viewers to read "Meditations" after watching it. As the Spaniard sought gladiatorial glory on the big screen, the internet age was coming into full bloom.
Silicon Valley, some formerly sleepy San Francisco suburbs, suddenly became one of the epicenters of human civilization. Society-altering innovations—email, e-commerce, e-everything—were emerging regularly. Vast sums of wealth were seemingly created overnight. People were interested in what made this brave new tech world tick. The Silicon Valley life philosophy is embodied by a group of smart individuals who view everything as a system or a machine, including themselves.
For every problem in life, there is a life hack. Why read a book when you can listen to it at double speed? Why get a good night's sleep when you can chug a coffee, take a 20-minute nap, and then get back to work feeling refreshed and rejuvenated with a "nap-u-chino"? To the Silicon Valley mindset, worrying about things like finding angel investors is a bug in the system that needlessly consumes processing power. To manage that, they turn to cognitive behavioral therapy—the ultimate brain hack—and its unexpected traveling companion, stoicism. The phenomenon of Silicon Valley CEOs jumping on the bandwagon is, in some ways, sincere, but at times it feels superficial; stoicism is trendy, and I want to be a part of that.
I like Stoicism because I saw this cool quote on the internet, which is perhaps completely fabricated and not something that an ancient Stoic ever actually said. This Stoic revolution is not something that an ancient Stoic ever actually expressed. Tomorrow's Silicon Valley fad—like hyperloops and juice machines that really just squeeze packets of juice for you—wouldn't exist without one of the major characters in our story, Ryan Holiday. There are entrepreneurs who have done incredibly well by simply repackaging Stoic maxims. When I published my book in 2012, my publisher suggested I create a book of Stoic maxims, and I thought that sounded boring. What an idiot I was! I could have made lots of money doing that, and others did.
Holiday found best-seller success with his stoicism self-help book, *The Obstacle Is the Way*. The book was published with help from Holiday's friend, Silicon Valley angel investor and celebrity lifestyle influencer, Tim Ferriss. It's hard to imagine a more potent duo than Holiday and Ferriss for popularizing stoicism in the mainstream. Who knows how many thousands, even millions, of people have been exposed to stoicism because of these two? Credit where credit is due. The opposite.
"The Obstacle Is the Way" serves as a solid starter kit that has launched many readers on a path to genuine Stoicism. I am familiar with Ryan's work; I know Ryan, and I’ve read "The Obstacle Is the Way." I thought it was quite basic, but that’s its strength. He pitches it at a certain level, at a sweet spot that really resonates with readers. I don’t know what percentage of his millions of followers transition from his work to buying Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" or Epictetus' "Discourses," but I would think it would be very high. I wish I were as good at marketing as he is.
The issue is that "The Obstacle Is the Way" also launched an empire in which a collection of millennia-old wisdom was now somehow for sale. Along with that, there is a variety of shiny, and some might say tacky, Stoicism merchandise. Does he sell plastic skulls? I'm not sure. One thing I found interesting was that before becoming a full-time promoter of Stoicism, Holiday's previous jobs had all involved helping big corporations sell products. His previous book was called "Growth Hacker Marketing," and the one before that?
Trust me, I'm lying. Look, our job is to do anything that grows the business. And Holliday did indeed grow his business by opening up shop through his website, dailystoic.com. Honestly, at times it's hard to tell how much of Holliday's drive comes from a sincere desire to share Stoicism with the world, and how much is just a world-class salesman marketing a book. There is a distinction to be made between selling in general and selling and merchandising.
I believe merchandising is a specific type of selling. It involves selling items that are not necessarily needed, solely for the purpose of making money. For example, purchasing a medallion featuring bones and a skull with the inscription "Memento Mori," which means "remember that you have to die," is not useful to anyone. It serves merely as a means to generate profit.
Business at The Daily Stoic is definitely booming. Ryan Holiday's net worth is estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million. With that growth hacker mentality, that number is only going to keep rising. Holiday professes a sincere devotion to Stoicism, dating back to his college days. While we don't doubt that he's telling the truth, scrolling through the store at dailystoic.com, one can't help but wonder: What would Zeno think?
Influencers and other online entrepreneurs took notice not only of Holiday's success but also of how his brand was infiltrating the professional sports world. Copies of "The Obstacle Is the Way" became as common in U.S. pro locker rooms as sneakers and ice packs. If you're, for instance, a member of a competitive sports team, sure, what people call life hacks are going to be useful. Yes, they are. But that's not stoicism.
Those are just the techniques. Then you have these entrepreneurs who are millionaires and billionaires, which serves as massive social proof that Stoicism is fantastic. This spreads the idea further, as people think, "Well, if this NFL quarterback is using it, that sounds good to me." Men look to very successful individuals and ask, "What makes them great?"
Is there anything that I could take on board? Gwyneth Paltrow hired a type of interior designer to advise her on which books to display on her bookshelf—not for reading, but for aesthetics in her living room. They recommended stoicism because it's trending. That’s how trendy stoicism has suddenly become.
Even the mainstream media was getting in on the act. More and more people were coming to the same conclusion: if stoicism was good enough for pro athletes, Bill Gates, and even Hollywood actors like Michael Douglas, maybe it was the missing cheat code that separated regular individuals from achieving everything they wanted in life. Consequently, there are now many authors, podcasters, and YouTubers who tell you things like, "Oh, you want to succeed at sports?"
Embrace Stoicism. Do you want to become rich? Embrace Stoicism. Do you want to be successful? Embrace Stoicism.
The Stoics would be stunned by all of this because all of the things I just mentioned—success, money, fame, and so on—are classified by the ancient Stoics as indifference, meaning that they do not make a difference to the only thing that matters: your character. As awareness of Stoicism grew, it became even more watered down, turning into a collection of maxims and life hacks to address whatever life problem you had. These so-called life hacks are techniques that are useful for practicing Stoicism and incorporating it as a way of life. But that's all they are.
They are crutches, in a sense. They are useful techniques that allow you to stay on track. However, the important thing is the track, not the technique. I mean, "life hacks" is an odd phrase, isn't it? It's not really one that the Stoics would use.
Other Stoic life hacks are very accessible and DIY-friendly, which makes them quite attractive in the age of the internet. Somewhere along the way, the true message of this ancient Greek philosophy got drowned in a sea of life hacks.
When it washed up on the other side, it was a mutant offspring, something super—so far removed from its origins that if Marcus Aurelius were alive today, he wouldn't even recognize it. Stoicism became Groicism. Do I remember when the manosphere started to become a thing? In all honesty, I was a kind of Johnny-come-lately. Other people were saying, "Are you concerned about Stoicism being hijacked by people in the manosphere who are distorting it?"
And my initial reaction was, "What are you talking about? I have no idea. I've never seen that." I was surrounded by people who were interested in Stoicism. I organized and spoke at many conferences.
I thought I had my finger on the pulse of how Stoicism was being appreciated, but I didn't know about the red pill movement and the manosphere until much later, really. Although I guess in retrospect I had seen traces of it. I had seen books earlier and articles by people who portrayed Stoicism in a way that seemed quite odd to me. By the time my book *Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations* came out, which was in 2012, I was contacted and invited to be on a podcast to talk about Stoicism.
I looked into the podcast, and it turned out to be a white supremacist, Southern secessionist podcast. One of the hosts was actually one of the organizers of the Charlottesville white supremacy rally. I was astounded. I thought, how did these people get into Stoicism?
Broicism, in its simplest terms, is Stoicism that has been hijacked and manipulated to fit the narrative of the manosphere and red pill community. It's Stoicism for the bros. For the uninitiated, here’s a quick background on the so-called manosphere—a term, by the way, coined by former porn star Ian Ironwood. The manosphere is synonymous with the red pill mentality, which is borrowed from the Matrix movies, a mentality notably disavowed by the people who actually created The Matrix. It was conceived as a backlash against the general perception that feminism had gone out of control and that women were no longer behaving in a way that traditional men could support. The manosphere, as the name implies, became a catch-all term for a network of male-centric online communities.
Everything from alpha males and pickup artists to involuntary celibates, also known as incels, to the alt-right, the far-right, and beyond. We will do our best to explain the reasons behind this. Stoicism, or rather "broicism," is now running rampant in the manosphere, causing a surprisingly contagious philosophical brain flu. Just listen to Taylor's call with a supposed Stoic leader. All right, so it's been about four days.
Since I purchased this Stoic course on Fiverr, I've been getting ghosted, and I paid around $50 for it. After nearly a week, my Stoic coach finally decided to respond. They told me, "You are fat, Miss Johanna. There is no reason to be fat." I asked, "Why are you telling me this?" and they replied, "People are calling you fat." I said, "Yes, but you are saying I am fat." Then I asked them another question.
Miss Johanna, do you want to continue to be overweight or not? No. Okay. Can you take control of your diet? Hey, it's hot, it's this, it's that.
Yeah, but can you actually do it? For example, if you see a woman getting raped and you remain stoic, you have the choice to walk away if you want. Although the rest of our crew didn't experience the same terrible lectures, it's clear that you really can't put a price on stoic teachings.
This is my Day Three check-in. I'm using the Ryan Holiday Daily Stoic guide on taming your temper and controlling your anger. Every day, I receive something to read, a video to watch, and a physical activity to complete. Yesterday, on Day Two, the instruction was to look in a mirror and make angry faces. Personally, I would say my experience with looking in a mirror and making angry faces was insightful.
Personally, I would say my experience looking in a mirror and mean mugging felt more silly than anything today. On day three, the instruction was about drawing on the life lessons from the Adam Sandler movie "Happy Gilmore," which was to learn to find your happy space. I was expecting something a little more substantial from the stoic content at this point, but it's only day three, and we have four more days to go. After watching the videos on the first day, I started reading the classics. I've been reading "Meditations" by Marcus Aurelius, and it's honestly such an eye-opener. The best part about it is that the book is in the public domain.
You don't have to spend a penny to buy it. There are also writings from Epicurus, Seneca, and even Zeno. This way, you can learn directly from the founding fathers of Stoicism without paying any cost at all. Alright, so it's been three days now, and I've made it a little routine for myself. Every day, I'm picking a card and reading the quotes.
They're mostly from Marcus Aurelius and Seneca, which I have to say has been a very interesting way to take 10 minutes a day. It doesn't take too much of your time, and it's still a good way to change your perspective a little bit. So, let's continue. If we had to define Stoicism in its pillars, I would agree that one of them is certainly the acknowledgment that we only control our intentions and the actions that we initiate, not the outcomes. That is, in fact, consistent with Stoicism. That's real Stoicism.
That's what Epictetus says right at the beginning of his manual for a good life. This is actually a very healthy way of thinking about things. It also forms the basis of certain versions of cognitive behavioral therapy. Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, for instance, studied by Albert Ellis, which is a type of CBT, starts out precisely with that kind of acknowledgment.
So that's fine. But the second thing that the Roiks seem to believe is that they need to suppress emotions and that they cannot afford to be seen as weak. That is not stoicism; that is a fundamental distortion of stoicism. Too many men are being conditioned to accept weakness.
You know, some of my Stoic writings are used or misused in the manosphere and by the "bro-ists," the red pill Stoics. I've seen that, and it's like you cringe and think, "Oh, I guess I should explain myself better next time." Unlike genuine Stoicism, "broicism" is rarely brought up. It's presented as a process for becoming your best self. Much like a get-rich-quick scheme or a workout routine promising instant abs, "broicism" is all about results.
Once unleashed in the manosphere, broicism became a one-size-fits-all answer to all questions of the alpha male variety. However, like everything, it has become trendy. Now, you will find that more people are interested in Stoicism because they've read articles or listened to podcasts than because they've actually studied the Stoics themselves. With this trend, there is a risk of dilution. Many of the articles contain AI-generated content, fake quotes, and inaccuracies. As a result, we are now entering a phase where a lot of people are attracted to Stoicism but are receiving a really inaccurate representation of what the Stoics actually said.
This is the unpredictability of how culture evolves, and memes evolve in unpredictable directions. Someone wrote a book about using Stoic techniques to win at poker. The poker championship, you know, there was a Stoic dating app. Let's talk about money.
So, Stoicism in that sense, with the dollar sign or the Silicon Valley version, is a distortion because it replaces the true Stoic value—your character and your judgment—with things that the Stoics themselves clearly stated do not matter. "Broicism" invariably presents overly simplistic solutions to complicated questions. One of the perks of "broicism" is that it can be easily twisted into whatever an opportunistic influencer wants it to be. It's an example of the Barnum effect, a psychological phenomenon in which vague and general statements appear to be tailored to a specific individual when, in reality, they apply to a wide range of people. It's similar to horoscopes, fortune tellers, and psychics.
In other words, charlatans make a living preying on people's fears and insecurities by telling them vague nonsense that masquerades as knowledgeable insights. What prompted us to make this video in the first place is that we saw a resurgence in the popularity of our Stoicism video. When I first made the video, it did really well—don't get me wrong—but in the past year or two, it's become way more popular than I could have imagined. In fact, right now, it's the most popular video on the channel, with over 11 million views. The problem is that the more popular the video became, the more comments we started to see from people who seemed to know more about pro-cism than Stoicism.
People who wanted to learn how to get rich the Stoic way, cope with a breakup the Stoic way, and turn off their emotions the Stoic way. If you're watching this and you have those questions, I want you to know I'm not judging you at all for that. I've had these questions myself, especially when I was younger. The sad reality of today's world is that there are many young men who don't have a steady adult male role model in their lives.
So, when male influencers who have money, women, power, and the luxury that these young boys dream of appear, it's easy to see why they get drawn to them. The message of bro culture is also true and very attractive to these young boys. The promise that you can will yourself to become completely self-reliant, powerful, and wealthy is obviously appealing because young men are often quite vulnerable and insecure about their masculinity.
So, they tend to look towards things that they think can fill that gap in their lives. If they believe that being tough and having a stiff upper lip symbolizes masculinity, then that's something they can become quite attached to as a fluidity of life. They associate it, rightly or wrongly, with stoicism and figures like Marcus Aurelius. Men may not be into therapy culture, but they are very much into stoicism, which is essentially therapy with gladiator metaphors. The ethos of stoicism embodies a tough love approach.
If you read Epictetus, it's quite tough love, and I think that appeals to men. Jules Evans believes the modern world has unwittingly created an opening for broicism to move in. I think Western culture has shifted to a different model, which is to blame your environment. If you're feeling bad, blame your environment, blame your economy, blame the actions of other people, blame some form of systemic injustice. In other words, you are justified in being miserable.
That's a very caricatured version of a certain type of left-wing argument. If you present an extreme version of that argument, you create a real opportunity for people on the right to propose a very basic idea and gain followers. The basic idea is to stop blaming other people, stop behaving like a victim, and stop complaining all the time. That's weakness. In fairness, we do live in challenging times.
People are looking for answers, and they don't have much faith in institutions like the church or government. If those institutions fail, there’s a growing sense that it's every man for himself. Some have argued that as organized religion has faded, people are looking elsewhere for a new rulebook to guide them. Just like the Bible, Stoicism can be whatever you want it to be.
It's been widely noted that many people who believe in the divine authority of the Bible have never actually read it. In the same way, many devotees of Broicism are too busy scrolling through their phones to actually read classic Stoic texts. This means that manosphere influencers can claim whatever they say has roots in genuine Stoicism, and the odds are that none of their followers will call them out on it. Although one does have to wonder, if Stoicism, as it's packaged and sold in the manosphere, isn't actual Stoicism, why even bother calling it that? I think there has always been an audience for a certain kind of male self-help, which is perhaps less geared toward healing and relationships and more focused on success, being a man of power, and embodying the ideals of a great man.
And that kind of genre, I think, has always looked for older traditional sources of advice, whether that's samurais or other figures. There is a widespread problem of this kind. Not only do certain communities embrace anti-intellectualism and adopt values that are, shall we say, questionable at least, but they also want to use cultural references. This is somewhat ironic, considering that these communities tend to be anti-intellectual; yet, they feel the need to have some kind of pedigree that justifies their position. Once a tradition has established itself as respectable for whatever reasons, and once it has become sufficiently popular that people recognize it, they say, "Oh, yeah, Marcus Aurelius," or "Oh, yeah, this guy or that guy."
Then inevitably, somebody tries to co-opt it. So, if it's not the actual genuine content of the philosophy, what is it about the brand of Stoicism that makes it so sellable in the manosphere? For starters, I think we can agree that the word just sounds kind of cool. In common parlance, being stoic means being the strong, silent type. Needless to say, this image plays well to what we call "alpha males."
The problem is that being Stoic and Stoicism are two very different things. There is a difference between what we sometimes call capital "S" Stoicism and little "s" stoicism. So when you hear somebody say, "Oh, that person is being really stoic," they usually don't mean he is following the philosophy of Stoicism. What they mean is, "Oh, he is putting on a stiff upper lip. He is not reacting to the situation."
He's trying to control his emotions. He's trying to toughen up, basically. That is a psychological attitude, which turns out to have fairly good empirical evidence showing that it is actually damaging. It's not a good thing; it's bad for your mental health if you try to be stoic with a little "s." Stoicism, with a capital "S," on the other hand, is a philosophy.
Although the term Stoicism is often misused and misinterpreted, the basic principles of Stoicism are fairly easy to grasp, at least compared to other philosophies. Ancient Stoicism lends itself to easy-to-remember and highly marketable catchphrases. The phrase "memento mori," a reminder of man's mortality that literally means "remember you must die," appears to be one of Ryan Holiday's best-selling medallions. But still, why has "broicism" succeeded where other formerly trending philosophies, like Buddhism, have not? It can't just be because people think Roman centurions look awesome in that book.
"300" was a great movie, right? So why are people in the manosphere drawn to Roman themes? There's that recent trend about how often men think about the Roman Empire—it's quite a trope. Is there something to it? Yeah, I mean, Rome was a militaristic society.
It permeated Roman culture and symbolism. It was autocratic. I think that if you're going to exploit adolescent boys, which is something people have done throughout history, the go-to way of doing that is to accuse them of being unmanly, drive that message home to them, and then offer to solve it for them. You know, you're going to refer to autocratic societies and strong leaders. Perhaps Stoicism outshines Eastern philosophies because Buddhism, Taoism, and the like have been tainted by associations with 1960s counterculture and its modern offshoot, the touchy-feely New Age movement.
It's further been suggested that the chauvinism that taints so much of the red pill alt-right movements is also at play, positioning themselves in opposition to a caricature of folk liberals bowing to the exotic superiority of Eastern wisdom. Western chauvinists insist that the forces which have civilized and elevated man uniformly originated in the West. Perhaps that has helped drive the rise of broicism? Donald Robertson disagrees. In my own case, I immersed myself in reading Asian philosophy when I was a young man.
I read works like the Gita, the Upanishads, the Dao De Jing, and the Wǔxīng Sū, among others. I loved them. But when I discovered Stoicism, I connected with it in a different way.
I don't think it's because I idolized Western chauvinistic values, but because I had a kind of experience that I would describe as déjà vu. I thought some of the content seemed kind of familiar to me. You know, I've heard some of these concepts in our own culture. Other observers are more skeptical. You can see that there's also a kind of traditionalist school or camp that argues we should return to the idea that Western civilization is the best.
We should teach the greats. We should teach the Stoics in high school and in universities and so on. That kind of chauvinism. And you even see Stoicism being taken up by white supremacists. It definitely doesn't hinder broicism's appeal that one of the leading names in Stoicism is Marcus Aurelius.
If you're going to absorb the life lessons of an ancient philosopher, you might as well think like a Roman emperor, right? If I'd written a book about how to think like a Roman slave, and it was about Epictetus, maybe we can test this one day, but I don't think anyone would have read it. Or I don't think it would have sold many copies. I believe a lot of people picked up "How to Think Like a Roman Emperor" because they thought Roman emperors seemed manly and powerful. In reality, Marcus Aurelius was a skilled military and political leader, but between running an empire and writing his "Meditations," he probably didn't have as much time to hit the gym as it sometimes appears.
In the manosphere, thumbnails for videos touting the virtues of stoicism often depict Marcus Aurelius as if he's on some heavy-duty steroids, and, come to think of it, his beard looks suspiciously modern too. Yeah, maybe I'm guilty of a kind of bait-and-switch strategy here, but unapologetically, right? So we draw them in because they want to emulate a Roman emperor's powerful, autocratic figure. Then, when they get there, they realize it's different at the top and that Marcus Aurelius wasn't particularly autocratic.
Because he had seen through the illusions of power. I actually think that's a very compelling strategy. Clearly, whoever is in charge of the algorithms on YouTube and social media knows this content sells. Click on a bunch of brocis links for a couple of days, for example, because you're researching a documentary on the subject. In our experience, your suggestions feed will be dead for weeks.
And it's not an accident; the content sells. The powers that be at YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok are aware of this, and they're all capitalizing on it. So, what exactly does broicism get wrong about stoicism? For starters, it mistakenly refers to stoicism as a Greek philosophy.
That might get you some funny looks in Greece. Well, there’s some interesting trivia about the early history of Stoicism. There are lots of aspects to consider, but probably one of the main points is that you’ll occasionally hear people criticizing Stoicism as being a philosophy of dead rich white dudes or something like that, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Certainly, Marcus Aurelius is a dead rich white dude; he was the last famous Stoic. However, the founder of Stoicism was not even Greek; he was Phoenician.
So the Greeks saw him as a foreign immigrant, and thus Stoicism was perceived as an immigrant philosophy, I believe, to begin with. As for the whole stiff upper lip, strong, silent type concept, it is not the case that ancient Stoics don't talk about their emotions. In fact, as the philosopher Martha Nussbaum said to me, no one discusses their emotions more than the Stoics in ancient philosophy. The Stoics—that's all they talk about: emotions.
Let's face it—no philosophy makes it into the mainstream without getting watered down and distorted in the process. And let's not even get started on religion. Nowadays, however, some online alpha male influencers have drunk so much Kool-Aid that they’ve convinced themselves that they are the actual experts. I’ve been told, as have some of my colleagues, several times by red pill so-called Stoics, that we don’t know what we’re talking about when it comes to the interpretation of Stoic texts. This is in contrast to those who have only read one English translation of a book and believe they fully understand it. It’s a fascinating phenomenon, psychologically and sociologically, in and of itself.
The differences between Stoicism and Broicism? Let's start here. The Stoics, both ancient and modern, like Admiral Stockdale, viewed obstacles as just that—obstacles. Life is full of them, and to think that you can will reality to change is setting yourself up for failure and unhappiness.
You needed to accept the inevitable and train yourself accordingly. In more modern parlance, you needed to learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable. But to Ryan Holiday, to quote the title of his book, "The Obstacle Is the Way." The way to what? In the world of Stoicism, pretty much anything.
You think this will make you happy. This leads us to probably one of the most dangerous elements of Stoicism. The Stoics have a third pillar that seems to recur in their writings or discussions every time I spend some time in those circles. This is a profound degree of sexism bordering on misogyny. I do not use the word "misogyny" lightly.
These are frankly strange individuals who are into hyper-masculinity and tend to be seriously on the sexist or misogynistic side of things. One could argue that the ancient Stoics sometimes expressed views we would consider sexist. For instance, Seneca and Epictetus occasionally said things like, "Don't behave like a woman," or "Don't be womanly," and similar sentiments. It is important to remember that these individuals lived 2,000 years ago and were products of their own society. We often cringe today when we read those kinds of statements.
How did Stoicism ever get so far off the rails? On what basis does Brzezinski justify rampant sexism, or even worse? The best explanation the manosphere can offer mostly comes down to a bad translation. When you ask them where they got that idea, the usual answer is, "Oh, well, the word 'virtue.' Remember, I said that Stoicism is a type of virtue ethics."
Virtues are character traits, right? Things like generosity, courage, and so on and so forth. And so these people, the broics, the red pill stoics, say, well, the word virtue in Latin is "ver," and "ver" also meant man, so, you know, again, manly man. This is baffling because "ver" itself was actually a translation by the Romans of the original Greek word "arete." "Arete" is genderless.
It doesn't have anything to do with genders; it simply means excellence. What does "browocism" get right? Not much, really. The goal of Stoicism, and of life in general, is eudaimonia.
There's no direct translation for "eudaimonia" in English, but the closest equivalent might be "well-being." Essentially, it refers to an extended and consistent state of peace and acceptance of both the ups and downs in life. The goal of "broicism" is almost the complete opposite; it is based on the idea that you need a steady stream of success and external validation to feel good about your standing in the pecking order. The significant issue isn't just that "broicism" gives stoicism a bad name. Despite misrepresenting what the philosophy actually is, the very people who could really benefit from stoicism are being misled and fed dangerous nonsense instead.
Donald Robertson says if you squint, you can see a sliver of hope in the spread of broism. One thing I’d say about social media is that people sometimes say dumb things, not entirely seriously. It makes it seem, at times, that these views are more prevalent than they actually are. I’m optimistic; I give people a little bit more credit than the internet. I think of Stoicism as a kind of Trojan horse.
You know, people are attracted to it because they're looking for something that makes them even more manly or tougher than they already are. However, what they find inside is a collection of tools and concepts that resemble those found in modern cognitive behavioral therapy. Once you discover broicism and seek to learn more—like all the new visitors in the comment sections of our stoicism videos—you begin a journey that, with any luck, can lead you to actual stoicism. If you think this might apply to you, then we’re happy to have you, because you're the reason we made this video. If you've only encountered stoicism as practiced in the manosphere, the truth may surprise you.
In discussing the application of Stoicism in our lives, let's check in with our team one last time to see how the rest of their week as practicing Stoics panned out. All right, I just got off my call with the Stoic coach, and I feel like when we think of Stoicism and what it has become, this individual is a fairly accurate representative of it in some ways. The examples he used were bizarre; they always seemed to involve violence against others, particularly violence against women. As someone who doesn’t have extensive knowledge of Stoicism, this made me want to steer clear of it because if this is the community—or these are the people running courses—then why would I want to participate? Overall, that call did not feel successful, and I ended up paying about $30 for it, which wasn’t particularly enjoyable. So, this is day seven. Today, we had a check-in with the team from last week, and I was very curious to hear about my colleagues' experiences with this online course.
And I decided to book it for myself as well. I have to say I'm super curious to see whether or not it's going to adapt the talking points. Also, because I'm a woman, I will be paying attention to that and see if my experience is any different from my colleague's. We'll see. I just finished my call with the Stoic course. Overall, it was very simplistic—there was nothing deep, no real human connection, and nothing controversial, contrary to my colleague's experience. He didn't delve into anything completely outrageous whatsoever. So, I think he definitely adapted to his audience, which was me in that case. I have mixed feelings about it.
I would not say that was a waste of my time, but I don't think you can provide any useful tips or life advice to people. There are so many other resources that are much more interesting than this. However, it was worth trying. This is day seven, my final check-in.
I've completed the "Taming Your Temper" course from Ryan Holiday's Daily Stoic. Overall, I would say I wasn't expecting much from this course, but I'm a big believer that you can find words of wisdom just about anywhere. However, Ryan Holiday obviously knows that if people want to rigorously study real Stoicism, there are better places to do that than his website; that's not who he's targeting with this course. I'm sure he'd be the first to tell you that if you have a real anger issue, it's going to take more than a seven-day email course to fix your problems. But all in all, this felt like something that, if you were to set up a program for schoolchildren to learn some basic Stoic life lessons, would be a good course for young kids rather than grown-ups, I think.
I wasn't expecting a ton, but all in all, I would have to say I was somewhat underwhelmed by my experience with the "Taming Your Temper" Daily Stoic course. Especially considering it costs 50 bucks to receive all these emails. Okay, so it’s the last day of the challenge, and I can honestly say I've learned a great deal. Everything you need to know about stoicism is available for free. I've gained so much knowledge, and there's still so much more that I haven't even begun to explore.
We'll be leaving links to the best free Stoicism resources in the description down below. In conclusion, the contrast between the original Stoics and the mainstream influencers claiming to be Stoics is quite striking. The difference is truly night and day. The goal is to become a better person. A better person is defined as someone who genuinely cares, gives a damn about other people, and takes action instead of merely talking about it.
It emphasizes the idea that our character is ultimately more important than external factors in terms of the meaning of life and our quality of life, surpassing external goods like wealth and reputation. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, rejected the followers who urged him to name the movement after himself. He wanted to focus on the ideas rather than on his own identity, rejecting the pursuit of personal glory as poison for the soul.
Although no doubt flattered to be acknowledged by a powerful man, Zeno is said to have declined an imperial invitation to visit Antigonus, the Greek general who succeeded Alexander the Great. It was said that Zeno avoided large social gatherings, preferring quiet study, and that he disliked verbose and elaborate speeches. Although he had known the pleasures of life as a wealthy merchant, Zeno refused to make money from teaching philosophy and instead lived a spare and ascetic life.
So, what would Zeno think if he could see the world today? What advice would he give to those who wanted to follow his virtuous path? It might surprise many of the people who invoke the name of the philosophy Zeno founded in their pursuit of fame and profit. Unlike many in the manosphere, he would reject far-right nationalism. After all, Stoics coined the word "cosmopolitan," which literally means "citizen of the world."
Stoicism is about cosmopolitanism. It’s about considering every other human being on the planet as literally your sister or brother. We are all part of one cosmic city, the cosmopolis. We are all cosmopolitans. Therefore, we should treat people, regardless of their culture, fairly and justly as a brother or sister.
He would fight inequality in all forms. One thing that Zeno and the early Stoics, in particular, believed was toxic was the idea of becoming alienated from our fellow brothers and sisters in the human race. So, racism, sexism, and all these kinds of prejudices and "isms" really fly in the face of the fundamental goal of Stoicism, which is achieving a sense of harmony and unity among mankind. And what of the manosphere itself? What do you think?
What is the goal of Stoicism? A hint is that it probably doesn't have anything to do with girls in bikinis. To put it more simply, it is to achieve your innate potential as a rational, self-aware, thinking being. Zeno arrived at the principles of Stoicism when a disaster outside of his control forced him to make sense of life in a new and deeper way. He was able to do so not by rebuilding his lost wealth and recapturing his former glory, but by developing a philosophy that would allow him to be satisfied with himself.
In the same spirit, Marcus Aurelius, during his lifetime the wealthiest man on Earth, gladly parted with a substantial portion of his fortune to aid his fellow Roman citizens, saying, "The only wealth that you will keep forever is the wealth that you've given away." Other recent real-life figures provide shining examples of the value of true stoicism amidst the worst life could ever throw at us. Not just Admiral James Stockdale, but also fellow prisoner of war turned senator John McCain and Holocaust survivor turned author Primo Levi. These worthy examples of stoicism didn't seek glory, fame, or wealth. They simply did the hard work of surviving life at its worst and came out the other side permanently stronger.
That is the way of the Stoic. And always remember, you should be wary of anyone who is too eager to tell you how you should live. For in the words of Zeno himself, we have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen more than we speak. Thank you.