Becoming a bullshit warrior and being happier for it

[Music]

hi

my name is ralph salence and i’m a

musician

a well-known musician i may add only 25

years old

but already the most famous influential

and good-looking musician in my country

which of course is false

advertising or in other words

but boasting about oneself is

just a tiny part of bull that’s all

around us

but as a man from a show business

industry from a small country

i could have easily lied just for the

foreign viewers to go

that guy’s legit i mean look at him he’s

famous

he’s the most something something from

his country and

i guess that he’s on stage of tedx that

means that he’s telling me the truth

well maybe it’s a little bit of bull

yes bull is all around us you can feel

it in the air you can smell it

every day everywhere you go you get that

healthy dose of bull

which we may even assume makes the world

tick and tuck and go round and round

nowadays more than ever i feel that

people feed off of bull

many even don’t know how to communicate

in a different way

they just have to add that little bit of

bull into everything what they do

for instance let me give you an example

social media we all have seen these

polished selfies and videos with

comments like

aldo i’m an influencer i legit drink

this vitamin c

bd nutrition field alpha omega olive oil

gluten-free zero weight zero calorie

nutrition drink

protein shake energy drink every morning

that’s bull and when we visit our

mother-in-law

oh that is so delicious

what spices did you add salt

amazing or finally

when we click that we have read and

agree with the terms

and conditions that’s bull

but what if i convince you that we could

live much better without the daily dose

of bull

what if the bull is as big of a mental

problem as the plastic waste covering

our oceans

and what if you can be the best bull

warrior out there

bull is a form of lying and why do we

lie

why is it so hard for us to just be

honest well

some theories suggest that we aren’t so

far away from chimps

therefore as gems we have to prove

ourselves we have to prove that we are

the alphas in each group

doesn’t matter which group school work

friends

or family we lie just to make ourselves

feel better

look better and achieve more but the

more i try to live without bold the more

i feel that honesty

pays much higher dividends than lies

so as any therapist would say let’s

start from the beginning

let’s start with my childhood

i realized that i am going to become a

musician when i was only six years old

when my dad bought an eminem album the

martial matters lp

that was the first yeah eminem fans

that was the first time when i heard

hip-hop and it completely changed my

world

i was fortunate enough to understand at

six years old

what am i going to do in my life some of

my classmates

didn’t have the answer to this question

even when they graduated

and for that i will always be grateful

to my dad

stop clapping however

the first bull story that i heard was

not that long after my parents realized

that i liked singing

so they took me to singing class the

teacher thought that i have some talent

so she together with my parents decided

that i should participate in some

singing contests

and i took part in almost every contest

out there since of the age of eight

but the thing is i absolutely

sucked i lost every single competition

in which i participated

and that is a pretty tough bill to

swallow for a kid who’s only in the

second grade and who thinks that this is

his life

so after every failure that i had

my dad came up to me placed his hand on

my shoulder

and said well my son the most

important thing is to take part

oh for real thanks dad

i’ll feel so much better now because you

know

if i’m only eight years old i thought

that the most

important thing was winning but now i

see that all the gifts and candies that

the others kid

other kids get because they’re better

than me are just smoking mirrors

because the most important thing is to

take part

and i love my dad and i know that his

intentions were good

and once again although i was only eight

years old

i understood that i was being bold

because of my dad’s solace i was able to

realize that i’m doing something wrong

that i have to change something that i

have to work harder

because if really the most important

thing is to take part

how come the other kids who won and took

all the winners benefits

felt better than me i was lucky to

understand

by admitting my singing sucks that i

have to

take way more singing hours that i have

to invest more time and

what i love to do and do much more than

just listening to eminem tapes

and only after many years since my first

contest

i reached my childhood’s dream became a

well-known

professional musician it is

important to detect bull as early as

possible and when

and when detected you have to take

action no matter if it’s fake news false

advertising or political propaganda

if it’s out there it has to be stopped

because you never know

when it will pay against you one day i

was chilling at my grandma’s house

when i received the message on facebook

and i quote

hi i’m organizing a free event for

latvian citizens and guests

date and place 9th of june riga

the main idea is promoting family as the

root of

everything we won’t advertise it but

it’s our fight against pride

let me know if you’re interested in

participating

i remember that i had a really good mood

that day the sun was shining the weather

was sweet

i’m sitting in a chair in my grandma’s

garden fresh orange juice on the left

my grandma’s freshly made patties on the

right so i decided

that it would be a funny idea to answer

with one simple sentence

i’m gay send

that that’s not bold that’s a real story

yeah

took a screenshot erased the picture of

the sender

and posted it on twitter with a comment

i don’t always get invited

to perform in anti-pride events but when

i do

of course everyone understood the joke

people were laughing and sharing my

response

everyone understood that i was bullying

some bull

everyone but one one news portal took my

tweet

wrote a couple of sentences like one of

which was musician

ralph salence made a shocking

announcement and added a headline ralph

salence quotation marks

i’m gay clickbait at its finest

the good news is that the article in the

news portal got roasted online

some people detected the bull the bad

news is

not everyone i was shocked on how many

people rose to the clickbait

most of them didn’t even read the

article or click on my tweet to see the

full context

they just read the headline even some of

my relatives called my mom asking if i

was really gay which is quite funny

because they met me

with my girlfriend at that time at our

family parties

it’s fascinating how many people can’t

smell bull online

they just share everything if they’re

willing to believe it without further

investigating so my friends during these

moments what can we do enlighten your

social media buddies

send them a message send them an article

from a legit news source which debunks

the original

fake news statement talk to them so that

they stop sharing lies

and believing some click bait bull

whenever i read a fake story or

misleading article i’m not shy to report

it as

fake news or add a comment with a legit

uh source

but since we all live in bubbles and

social media echo chambers

i can only reach the outskirts of my own

bubble

also the next time when you read the

energy article about someone

imagine that you’re that person and

imagine how would you feel

if you were the victim of clickbait

but every one of us can become bull

warriors

and at least clean the path for friends

and family in our own bubble

so when next time you see fake article

full of bull

and don’t just smell it make sure to say

something and take part in the cleaning

i believe that small things do matter we

can all

get better bull hygiene when we’ll stop

bullying each other in a basic everyday

communication

it will be much more easy for us to talk

about huge

global topics start with your friends

one day i was supposed to meet my friend

annie

unfortunately i love playing video games

i was playing red dead redemption 2. and

let’s just say that

i chose my priorities

wrote her message don’t feel like going

out today

playing reddit their redemption 2. let’s

do it another day

sorry her response

that’s great i was going to text you

that i don’t want to meet you as well

super hard day feeling tired p.s

thanks for not coming up with the lousy

excuse like you have to work at the

studio or something like you did last

time

i was telling the story to my friend who

was on tinder during that time and she

told me wow i wish that most guys were

like that

i was like like what honest

they just keep sending me these

horrendous bull pickup lines all the

time

give me your phone i didn’t believe her

took her phone and

let’s just say that that day i was

i felt let down by our fellow men

i i can give you one example like hey

where did you get the model for your

profile pics

why do you have to do something like

that my friend said she would feel much

better if the conversations were more

straightforward

why do we have to come up with these

lousy excuses when we’re late

or when we don’t want to do something or

why do we have to come up with these

lousy pickup lines when we can just be

ourselves

then i remembered one time when i went

to the uk to see a concert

meet some friends and also i had one

free day

while in latvia i started a chat with a

girl

uh never met her before but

we were following each other on

instagram wow

wrote to her hi i’ll be in london during

that period of time i have one free day

you seem to be a nice person i would

like to get to know you

let me know if you’re up for spontaneous

dates have a great day long story short

we met and years later we’re still good

friends she said that my honesty was the

hook that made her

decide in favor of meeting me and yes we

had a conversation about lousy pickup

lines

and yeah she showed some of them to me

as well

so remember that bull is everywhere

when you smell it take action

don’t just sit on it but open up the

window so that the freshness and honesty

can clear up the air

help your friends in avoiding bull

educate them take the time of your day

to be a warrior

don’t be afraid of the backlash like i

wasn’t when i answered jokingly to bull

with one sentence

you’re not the alpha when you’re afraid

or when you’re lying

you’re the alpha when you’re honest and

when you have a backbone

even small things count and decent smart

people respect honesty and integrity

even more than what you think is harmful

bull

at least give it a try give it your best

shot

if you fail well then i guess that

the most important thing is to take part

but although we are all grown-ups this

may hurt a bit

if you smell and do nothing

you are full of thank you

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

you