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Eh, I don't know, as a personality on the podcast, I find him entertaining and am not bothered by the things other people are bothered by.

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Just now, Zeusthecat said:

Eh, I don't know, as a personality on the podcast, I find him entertaining and am not bothered by the things other people are bothered by.

 

So it wouldn't creep you out if your kid or a friend was suffering from severe mental health issues (or even mild ones) but didn't want to take medicine or even seek medical help because Dan Ryckert doesn't like drugs or doctors and says he didn't need them to feel better? I mean, I'm fine with having someone being the dumb and goofy one on a podcast, but when you're selling that ignorant worldview to people for a profit, that crosses a line for me.

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Dan as a clownish man-child akin to a character on a sitcom is fine.  Dan as a potential role model scares the shit out of me.  He could very seriously wreck some lives if people are foolish enough to try and emulate him, which lets face it is going to happen.

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56 minutes ago, Gormongous said:

 

So it wouldn't creep you out if your kid or a friend was suffering from severe mental health issues (or even mild ones) but didn't want to take medicine or even seek medical help because Dan Ryckert doesn't like drugs or doctors and says he didn't need them to feel better? I mean, I'm fine with having someone being the dumb and goofy one on a podcast, but when you're selling that ignorant worldview to people for a profit, that crosses a line for me.

 

That's not exactly what that book says. I didn't find it particularly helpful, but it's not exactly the devil either.

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1 hour ago, Gormongous said:

 

So it wouldn't creep you out if your kid or a friend was suffering from severe mental health issues (or even mild ones) but didn't want to take medicine or even seek medical help because Dan Ryckert doesn't like drugs or doctors and says he didn't need them to feel better? I mean, I'm fine with having someone being the dumb and goofy one on a podcast, but when you're selling that ignorant worldview to people for a profit, that crosses a line for me.

 

I'm not judging him based on his qualities as a potential role model, I'm speaking strictly about how he comes across to me on the podcast.

 

And I haven't read his book but from what I've heard, I don't think it is as nefarious as you're making it sound. I thought he just decided to write a book about his experience navigating through his issues which I don't really see a problem with. If he handled shit a certain way and managed to write a book about it and get it published then that's fine. I don't see the need to judge someone based on their potential as a role model and from all the podcasts I've listened to, he has made it pretty clear that he acknowledges he is weird and never really spends any time advocating that everyone else should see the world the way he does. Considering all of the other shitty humans out there he's pretty damn harmless.

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29 minutes ago, Zeusthecat said:

 

I'm not judging him based on his qualities as a potential role model, I'm speaking strictly about how he comes across to me on the podcast.

 

And I haven't read his book but from what I've heard, I don't think it is as nefarious as you're making it sound. I thought he just decided to write a book about his experience navigating through his issues which I don't really see a problem with. If he handled shit a certain way and managed to write a book about it and get it published then that's fine. I don't see the need to judge someone based on their potential as a role model and from all the podcasts I've listened to, he has made it pretty clear that he acknowledges he is weird and never really spends any time advocating that everyone else should see the world the way he does. Considering all of the other shitty humans out there he's pretty damn harmless.

 

I mean, that's nice that you're not judging him as a potential role model, but that doesn't mean he isn't one to others and that isn't something for which he should be judged. He published a whole book in the "health, fitness & dieting" section of Amazon about his worldview, I think that's about as "advocating" as you can get. Here's the publisher's blurb for Anxiety as an Ally: How I Turned a Worried Mind into My Best Friend, the fourth of five books that he's written about being a carefree yet successful dumbass:

 

Quote

After experiencing his first panic attack on New Year's Day of 2003, Dan Ryckert began a 12-year process of learning how to channel panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder until they became driving forces in his life. Using anxiety as his ally, he was able to land dream jobs within the video game industry and vastly improve the quality of his personal life. In this candid recollection, you'll learn about how he went from having panic attacks during college roll calls to speaking in front of large crowds with minimal interference from anxiety. More importantly, Ryckert details the methods in which he channelled these once-negative conditions until they became a driving force in his life and something he wouldn't get rid of even if he was given the chance.

 

 

That really sounds like a self-help book to me, one that discounts the efficacy of doctors and medicine based solely on Dan Ryckert, God's perfect idiot, thinking that he doesn't need them. In a world where thousands of people suffering from mental health issues don't see a doctor or therapist because they don't think anyone could possibly understand what they're going through, and where they don't take medication because medication means that there's something wrong with them, I feel okay taking issue with Ryckert peddling some unscientific "If I can do it so can you" yoga-and-meditation palaver for money. I really don't think the existence of worse things in the world means that I'm not allowed to say that this shit is probably not good.

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When he's confronted on things I'm sure he means to say "This is right for me and works for me" but he actually says gets cut off at "This is right".  

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The books is really more an autobiography focused on Anxiety than a self help book. He specifically recommends 10% Happier by Dan Harris as an actual source for self-help. 

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Can't we just agree to disagree here? Is it really necessary for you guys to bombard me for not submitting to your point of view? Jesus it gets tiring. I'm not stupid and I don't need people constantly trying to "educate" me on why I'm wrong and why they're right. Grow up.

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2 hours ago, Zeusthecat said:

Can't we just agree to disagree here? Is it really necessary for you guys to bombard me for not submitting to your point of view? Jesus it gets tiring. I'm not stupid and I don't need people constantly trying to "educate" me on why I'm wrong and why they're right. Grow up.

 

I'm sorry if you feel attacked for liking Dan, Zeus. It's not my intent to make you feel criticized by proxy or talked down to when I criticize him. I'm just feeling a lot of frustration because I have more than a few important people in my life who are struggling with mental health and for whom the constant bombardment of privileged white man-children saying shit like, "All it took for me to find good mental health was the right lifestyle choices," especially when they're making poor lifestyle choices elsewhere, is an actual, serious trigger, so I have difficulty expressing sympathy for people who like him because that sort of idiocy is "refreshing." I've seen that shit hurt people and I hate being told that it's harmless. That's on me, I guess, and I own that. I could be a lot more politic.

 

Nevertheless, just from a look at the Amazon reviews for Dan's book, there are many, many people using Anxiety as an Ally as a self-help book for depression and anxiety, just as it is categorized on Amazon, and some of them specifically reference using it instead of going to a doctor. For that alone, beyond even the annoyance of seeing someone make a lucrative career out of ignorant, know-nothing attitudes, I'm always going to dislike Dan... which probably means that I don't have much else to add to this conversation. I'll let myself out.

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Wow, if that's really what his book is like that's a far bigger piece of shit move than anything else. Like, kinda worth not consuming any more Giant Bomb stuff over. 

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3 hours ago, Spenny said:

When he's confronted on things I'm sure he means to say "This is right for me and works for me" but he actually says gets cut off at "This is right".  

 

I feel like this is an accurate assessment.  I don't truly believe that Dan has any malicious intent or that he even necessarily believes what comes out of his mouth or expects people to take him seriously.  But the way he says things in his "I don't get what the big deal is" tone really rubs me the wrong way, especially about things that actually are a big deal.

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I'm sure the folks here that aren't interested in any stuff with Dan in it didn't listen to Danswers, but that show ended up being surprisingly boring because every answer ended up being "we realize we're white men of privilege so there's only so far any advice we give anyone who isn't literally all of those things will go, but as people who suffer from anxiety and depression the thing you should do is reach out for professional help because there's no substitute. If you're having an issue with a relationship the best thing you can do is talk to your SO about it, writing into a podcast isn't going to produce magic answers." 

 

I seriously can't believe how often I defend fucking Dan Ryckert in these, the pages of the idle thumbs forums, but I have heard from his mouth over and over again how getting over the stigma of having anxiety and accepting that he could go to a doctor, see a therapist, and talk to his friends and family to help him was the biggest part of what he's done.

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17 hours ago, Gormongous said:

 

I mean, that's nice that you're not judging him as a potential role model, but that doesn't mean he isn't one to others and that isn't something for which he should be judged. He published a whole book in the "health, fitness & dieting" section of Amazon about his worldview, I think that's about as "advocating" as you can get. Here's the publisher's blurb for Anxiety as an Ally: How I Turned a Worried Mind into My Best Friend, the fourth of five books that he's written about being a carefree yet successful dumbass:

 

 

That really sounds like a self-help book to me, one that discounts the efficacy of doctors and medicine based solely on Dan Ryckert, God's perfect idiot, thinking that he doesn't need them. In a world where thousands of people suffering from mental health issues don't see a doctor or therapist because they don't think anyone could possibly understand what they're going through, and where they don't take medication because medication means that there's something wrong with them, I feel okay taking issue with Ryckert peddling some unscientific "If I can do it so can you" yoga-and-meditation palaver for money. I really don't think the existence of worse things in the world means that I'm not allowed to say that this shit is probably not good.

 

Who are you to judge Dan Ryckert's fitness to give anxiety advice to others? Are you a medical doctor with a license to prescribe anxiety medication? If not you have about the same authority as Mr. Ryckert on this topic, if not less.

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5 minutes ago, electricblue said:

 

Who are you to judge Dan Ryckert's fitness to give anxiety advice to others? Are you a medical doctor with a license to prescribe anxiety medication? If not you have about the same authority as Mr. Ryckert on this topic, if not less.

?????????

 

1 minute ago, osmosisch said:

Fuck off, nobody has less authority than Dan

bless you osmosisch.

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42 minutes ago, electricblue said:

 

Who are you to judge Dan Ryckert's fitness to give anxiety advice to others? Are you a medical doctor with a license to prescribe anxiety medication? If not you have about the same authority as Mr. Ryckert on this topic, if not less.

 

You really don't need to be a doctor to call out bad medical advice. For example, it's pretty obvious homeopathy is hokum, but that doesn't stop people from recommending it and claiming "it works for me!" 

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2 hours ago, Spenny said:

 

You really don't need to be a doctor to call out bad medical advice. For example, it's pretty obvious homeopathy is hokum, but that doesn't stop people from recommending it and claiming "it works for me!" 

 

Defending medicine from a position of ignorance does it no favors. Either something has been tested and works or it doesn't, but your opinion doesn't gain some magical legitimacy because you think if it isn't xanax it must be snake oil

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39 minutes ago, electricblue said:

Defending medicine from a position of ignorance does it no favors. Either something has been tested and works or it doesn't, but your opinion doesn't gain some magical legitimacy because you think if it isn't xanax it must be snake oil

 

I'm sorry, did I miss something? What exactly is your basis for calling me ignorant but not Dan "Intentionally bombed an eyesight test to get glasses and now has to wear them to see" Ryckert? Rest assured, I have experienced the full range of what the medical field has to offer in terms of treating depression and anxiety, including alternative medicine, both in my person and in the person of my friends and family. At the very least, that puts me one up on Dan, who didn't even try medication "just because."

 

And all I'm saying is, see a professional before you decide what's best for you. Don't just go on advice from a guy who tried to cook and eat eggshells.

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30 minutes ago, electricblue said:

 

Defending medicine from a position of ignorance does it no favors. Either something has been tested and works or it doesn't, but your opinion doesn't gain some magical legitimacy because you think if it isn't xanax it must be snake oil

 

I am now deciding that my opinion is that any medical advice that isn't "see a professional" is bad medical advice. Call me ignorant for that one.

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"your opinion doesn't gain some magical legitimacy because you think if it isn't xanax it must be snake oil"

 

i take lamictal and it's not xanax and it's not snake oil

 

"Either something has been tested and works or it doesn't"

 

much of homeopathic medicine has been tested and has been proven to not work, except as a placebo, which is, well, that doesn't work for fucking cancer, so don't fucking tell me or anyone else that "it might not be snake oil" just fucking don't

 

and also some homeopathic medicine is actually harmful so you know go educate yourself before you start insulting people who suggest that dan "i saw a bunch of doctors and took none of their advice, and then i learned meditation, so i wrote a book about it for ignorant kids to take as gospel" ryckert is wrong

 

DON'T

 

i don't HATE dan and i'm not sure anyone here does (maybe) but he's ignorant and wrong about so many fucking things and you should not be defending him on this, i'm sorry, but i'm not really sorry, because i spent ten fucking years of my life being depressed and afraid of drugs because what if they changed who i am and refusing to talk to anybody because i don't need anybody i should be able to handle this myself

NONE OF IT WORKED

 

dan spreading these false ideals is bad

 

meditation can help some people

 

it cannot help everybody

 

dan almost certainly could've dealt with his anxiety much sooner if he didn't insist on not doing so

 

people need real advice

 

yeah you've made me mad

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Despite the encircling dumpster fires, the last bit of conversation in this thread has definitely given me a lot to think about. The good discussion here won't be undermined by unthoughtful ad hominem attacks.

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19 hours ago, Badfinger said:

I'm sure the folks here that aren't interested in any stuff with Dan in it didn't listen to Danswers, but that show ended up being surprisingly boring because every answer ended up being "we realize we're white men of privilege so there's only so far any advice we give anyone who isn't literally all of those things will go, but as people who suffer from anxiety and depression the thing you should do is reach out for professional help because there's no substitute. If you're having an issue with a relationship the best thing you can do is talk to your SO about it, writing into a podcast isn't going to produce magic answers." 

 

I seriously can't believe how often I defend fucking Dan Ryckert in these, the pages of the idle thumbs forums, but I have heard from his mouth over and over again how getting over the stigma of having anxiety and accepting that he could go to a doctor, see a therapist, and talk to his friends and family to help him was the biggest part of what he's done.

 

I just want to quote this because I keep seeing these claims that Dan is advocating against people seeking professional help. I haven't seen a single piece of actual evidence to back up the claim that this is the case. I've watched and listened to a lot of Giant Bomb content and as stupid as Dan is, he constantly acknowledges how naive he is and rarely advocates that others adopt his point of view. 

 

And to provide another perspective, it's not always as simple as "seek a professional's help and get prescribed the right medication". For one, that shit is extremely expensive and after years of my wife seeking therapy and going through every different medication imaginable, we are still barely hanging on by a thread. Some of the medications had horrific side effects, others made her depression much worse, and those that did work tended to lose their efficacy over time. She's on Latuda now and finally doing a bit better but we are thousands of dollars in debt and she still regularly has days where she can barely get out of bed. 

 

Also worth mentioning that the very things some of you guys are lambasting are exactly the types of things every medical professional has recommended to us. Yoga, meditation, and self help books have literally been recommended by every single professional we have seen because those things actually do work for a lot of people and you need every bit of help possible when dealing with something so crippling. Not to mention, those are sometimes the only options for people who can't actually afford to seek medical help. Even with good health insurance, we can barely afford it because it is so incredibly expensive.

 

I think there's some confirmation bias going on here and people are taking their hatred of Dan to an unhealthy level. I thought this was a lighthearted thread where people just mused about how much they can't stand Dan. Instead, it sounds like people are just grabbing sound bytes from each other and making assumptions about his intentions with his stupid book to build a case for why their hatred of Dan is justified and why any of us who don't hate him are bad people that should feel bad. Because he's objectively a bad person right? He found a way to cope with his issues and managed to write a book about it and get it published. You may disagree with his perspective or think he was incredibly naive in refusing professional help but he's not this sinister person that's going around telling people that doctors are bad and that only he can cure their depression. And from the reviews of his book it seems like people generally like it and find it pretty entertaining.

 

Funny to think that merely stating that I like Dan Ryckert was going to initiate such a vitriolic backlash from so many people.

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literally nobody said dan advocated against people seeking professional help

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