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