Writing to Vegan Cheetah: Admit That You Lied, Patch It Up, Move On.

I'm gonna read you an email that I just
sent to Charles Marlow at the vegan cheetah today it's an email I thought I would never write it's an email that I composed in response to cheetah saying not to me in particular not to anyone in particular in the last video that he posted that he has regrets that he realizes he's done wrong that he realizes he's harmed other people and that basically he looks back on his own content and he's aware that a lot of it is garbage I appreciate that and the reality is as you're gonna see in this message all along my perspective on cheetahs content has been different from maybe anyone else in the audience because I didn't just know that he was lying I knew that he knew that he was lying and that's a very different thing a lot of people are on the internet playing this game don't have vendor control don't know when they're lying don't know when they're defaming somebody and cheetah does he does and he did and that's why I think he's capable of apologizing for it turning a bad situation to a pause the situation and moving on now will he I doubt it the question is what do I do for my part in my position and what would I want other people to do if our positions were reversed guys that's not a hard question to ask yourself with any of these debates or any of these conflicts with people who left at their chance and it still happens now leaping at their chance to show that they're morally superior to me to snub me to escalate some little conflict into something much more vile than it needs to be ask yourself what if one of them had written me an email as nice as the email vote to read you that I just sent a vegan cheetah now again cheetah has defamed me in a very serious way he's defamed me in terms of alleging that I'm engaged in financial fraud you know that I'm a scam artist he's made allegations about my personal life and my sex life more times than I can count he's alleged that I'm facing criminal charges a wife beater and so on and yet this is what I said when I wrote to him I don't know just an hour ago earlier today Charles I did see your generalized apology or statement of regret in your most recent video you know also that I would have difficulty hating you for the things you said and did against me in the last six months or so because I know how fake it was I know that you never believe the lies you told whereas to be honest there are people on YouTube who actually believe this stuff you know also that I was being sincere when I said that I don't think you're nearly as stupid as the people sitting next to you on the same bench when you're sitting next to Nina and Randa or you're sitting next to Ryan from happy healthy vegan you're playing dumb but they're really dumb I neither meant that as flattery nor as an insult but just as a statement of fact do you want to patch it up we could talk via Skype and not even mention past conflict not even mention veganism you can just talk to me like a human being and express the same sort of generalized regret for the harm you've done and it will go a long way towards humanizing you for your audience it doesn't cost you anything to say that you're sorry everyone knows for example that you've just made up the story about Anna Scanlon out of thin air everyone knows you were just trying to entertain your audience and everyone knows that you now want to move on and make videos about how happy you are with your girlfriend etc instead of doing hatchet jobs against other vegans even if you don't apologize if we just record record you talking to me like a normal human being not pretending to be this fictional character the vegan cheetah talking to me in a sensitive way expressing concern and interest about any of these issues but for example about the progress of my own divorce case people will to some extent stop hating you for being such a cartoon character the reality is Charles there have never been criminal charges against me not for wife-beating and not for anything else and instead there are now criminal charges against my ex-wife as part and parcel of the divorce that's not drama that's not scandal and that's not something that would be exciting to present to your audience in a shocking way it's just human reality the two friends could talk about with some level of sympathy and understanding honesty is the only currency we've got sharing that kind of real talk is the only thing that earns your audience's loyalty and interest on YouTube end of quote end of email um so look what is the point the point is to do good in whatever way you can in this life sending that email Charles may never reply he doesn't have to reply but it's me reaching out to him in a positive and constructive way at a time when it could do some good for me to reach out to him if I send him an email just calling him an idiot that's not gonna do any harm but it's not gonna do any good either now have I ever received an email like that from someone willing to talk and willing to listen have I received an email like that from Jeff Nelson never from unnatural vegan never I mean I'm I'm thinking the most respectable have I have received a email like that from Martin Lewis or you know the the various people who are more like muckrakers have I have received email that from durianrider freely never absolutely nobody at any level in this game has ever sent me an email remotely resembling that neither out of curiosity nor expressing support or what-have-you and you know there's a lot of misconceptions about me partly because I openly say to people look I'm not a nice guy I'm not playing by these nice guy rules I'm not trying to convince my audience that I'm a nice guy I'm not trying to flatter people and say that their content is good when I think it's garbage I'm not trying to flatter people and say that they are brilliant when I they're idiots there are a lot of phony games I don't play as part of keeping it real on the other hand of course I can recognize when a conflict between two people is fundamentally shallow and could be easily resolved and even though my conflict with cheetah is very obvious it's out in the open everyone can see what the conflict is it's also true that it is shallow and could be easily resolved now by contrast I think the conflict between me and unnatural vegan for many people it's not obvious many people write to me and say like it took them six months to figure out what the conflict you mean an actual thinking even was you know no shade I mean I understand it's a little more ideologically complex but it's interesting I mean by contrast the conflict between me and a natural vegan it's very profound it's very deep I don't think it ever could be resolved and she's also somebody who's never been willing she has never been willing to listen to criticism it's always such an irony she says that about me but it's really true of her she's never been willing to debate the underlying issues she's never been willing to apologize for anything admit that she's wrong and that is a difference that runs so deep it gets right down to the core question of what is veganism what is the future of the movement and so on that's not what this video is about I'm just presenting as a contrast knowing Charles as I do and knowing even the new direction he wants to take in his channel he's been through several different metamorphosis on that channel it is really not hard for me to imagine him just saying yes all of these lies he made up out of thin air of him just saying in a general sense that he regrets hurting people lying to people doing what he did back when he was in a crazed rush to entertain his audience since were four hours a day live streaming it's not hard for me to see him saying that he's sorry when it costs him nothing to say that he's sorry and it gains him everything right not hard to to imagine that at all [Music] in my recent video about my political position you know where I had this video called why I am NOT left-wing one of the main things I try to emphasize there was having the humility and pragmatism to look at a situation and not see it in terms of left versus right or the poor versus the rich or simple ideological categories to not see it in terms of flags but to look at it in an analytical way and say what can I do to make this situation better and you know to answer that question whether it's about Cambodia or Colombia or northern Saskatchewan and Canada it takes humility and a very strange form of engagement of research to figure out what can I do as a powerless individual what can me and my group of friends do to actually make this situation better hey the answer may be nothing the mansur may be incredibly small and incredibly shallow but yeah when I look at these situations I'm not looking at them in terms of right and wrong even I am looking at them from the pragmatic perspective of what can I do to make things better there's no question that she does the wrong there's already a video on this channel called you know my final judgment on fee conchita where I'm absolutely laying into him and letting him know everything he does wrong others I've not I've not stopped short of judgment my point is not at all judgy not lest you be judged judge go ahead make the judgment but judgment isn't an end in itself right character assassination is not an end in itself here's my judgment here's what the situation is now what can I do to make it better so yeah even somebody like cheetah and I've done this in the past other people Joe best is another great example Joe best did so many unforgivable things to me he defamed me so many times and I kept reaching out to him positively again and again why yes on the one hand exactly what I've just said I can pass judgment on somebody but then the next question is what do we do now how do I assume it situation better and beyond that what I'm doing on this channel is not chasing views is not chasing subscribers on a profound level I'm really not a Fame [ __ ] for me this really is about the future of the movement and when it's about the future of the movement then even when you're looking across across the table you're looking across the table at someone you may despise whether that's you know Joe best or Joe vegan or Ryan from a BLT vegan is maybe someone you have such profound differences with that you feel no kinship with them to say the least or maybe someone who's hurt you or insulted you or defamed you it's not about me all right it's about the movement so what am I gonna do next where am I gonna go from here how can we build something positive starting right now and that's also why by the way I'm constantly reaching out to people who are not famous who do not have more subscribers to me I'm not out here famewhoring I'm very happy to bring onto the channel someone like Steven fate also known as Steven fight this lawyer I just uploaded another podcast with because I'm not looking at people thinking how can this help my channel grow how can I get another 5,000 viewers or another 5,000 subscribers I'm actually looking these people thinking who can make a positive difference in organizing real activism in doing something positive for the movement in the next five years and if freely phoned me up and wanted to have a conversation on the channel I'd do it I'd have just out of kinship with my fellow vegans you know it's totally but when I look ahead to the next five years who do I think really matters and it's really gonna make a decisive difference is it freely or is it somebody with a degree in law doing basically lobbying for ecological causes in Washington DC on some level all of you know the answer are we talking about chasing Fame are we talking about building foundations are we talking about dead ended drama just for the sake of people's ego or are we talking about the future of the movement you know what I'm talking about but on the other hand vegan drama is a part of my life these are people I know these are people I care about these are people who absolutely shape the way I use YouTube and they're probably the reason why half the people watching this video discover my channel in the first place what can I say I'm a snob but I'm not so much of a snob that I would ignore what I saw a cheetah saying in that most recent video Thesz I see a guy who's sitting there he knows that he's told lies he knows these defame people he knows that what he's been doing has been mean-spirited and malicious and destructive for so many months now and he knows he's better than that and he wants to move on and he wants to make better content and I'm sure at bottom that's motivated of the fact that he has a new girlfriend and a new apartment he just feels he's moving on to something better in his life it's how it goes for so many of us I'm a snob but I'm not so much of a snob that I would see that and just turn up my nose and ignore it or just see that and sneer and think serves you right