Naval Ravikant Blocked Me Because He Only Likes Cleverness When It Comes in a Tweet That Agrees with His Hot Take
I’m flattered.
In the lead-up to the 2016 election and four years after, I was on Twitter (another account) a lot, trying to squash the lies and falsehoods tweeted by Trump and anyone who was making it easier for him to win. I would have seen it as a badge of honor if Trump had blocked me like he blocked others I knew. I gave it my best effort.
Both Susan Sarandon and John Cusack blocked a friend of mine simply for pointing out facts and noting their choice of candidate was based on privilege, as was their disdain for anyone who wasn’t their preferred candidate.
It isn’t that difficult to get blocked by a celebrity, you know, fragile ego and all.
Especially when it comes to politics and how basic aspects of government work, they are usually — not always — out of their depth of education on the topic. Their privilege hampers them too, giving them for many blind spots that those of us not making 5 million per film do not have the luxury to possess.
I’ll have to settle for a minor influencer blocking me instead.
Last week, Naval Ravikant blocked me.
*What?*
I doubt most people who don’t work in Silicon Valley know who Naval Ravikant is. He has a podcast. He is the co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of AngelList. He’s made a ton of money throwing money at companies in Silicon Valley to see if anything stuck, a lot did. By his admission on The Tim Ferris Show, he is heavily invested in cryptocurrency. This episode, Naval Ravikant on Happiness, Reducing Anxiety, Crypto Stablecoins, and Crypto Strategy (#473) is actually good and informative on reducing anxiety.
Since Biden became President, I’m rarely on Twitter anymore and have stopped pointing out people’s asinine tweets, filled with falsehoods and misinformation because it’s a full-time job.
But I occasionally log on to share my writing.
So when I saw a retweet from Ravikant that was irresponsible, misguided, and uninformed, I had to say something.
Here is the tweet he retweeted,
Here is my reply,
And then, a few hours later…
“You’re blocked”
I wasn’t even snarky in my tweet. Sensitive much?
My point was straightforward. My tweet wasn’t disrespectful, mean, angry, vapid, or stupid. It was to the point and smart. And why it got me blocked.
Naval doesn’t like to be outwitted.
It is incredibly irresponsible and ignorant to lump together abortion rights and the vaccination debate when a vaccine saves millions of lives. I’m surprised someone like Ravikant, who is intelligent, would have an easy and cheap take on the issue.
However, I’m not surprised it came from a male.
I actually like Ravikant, and full disclosure, I’ve quoted him a couple of times in my writing. He’s a smart guy. I’m just surprised that he would take any time to block me given that I have fewer than 600 followers on Twitter, and no one knows who I am.
Naval’s Twitter Feed
Naval’s Twitter account is interesting and telling. He doesn’t follow anyone. That says a lot about his ego and a reflection of what he thinks about himself.
His tweets are cryptic and sometimes don’t make much sense. I’ve often thought about making a parody account of his Twitter feed because it would be easy and fun to make up cryptic tweets that sound clever, but no one knows what they mean. Kind of like what the @LosFelizDaycare Twitter feed does brilliantly, making fun of uptight, woke people and their offspring in Los Angeles, where I live.
I laugh out loud when I read their feed because truth makes the funniest comedy.
I think Ravikant is trying to emulate what Musk does well on his Twitter feed, but not as successfully. I’ve retweeted a handful of Ravikant’s tweets that are positive and speak to the kinds of messages I like — that provide inspiration. However, some of them are downright obscure and obtuse. But that doesn’t stop people from retweeting him.
The tweet I mentioned above was shared with his 1.3 million followers. As of this writing the tweet has over 3.5K likes. That’s a lot of stupidity getting shared on the internet.
Stop with the false equivalencies
The abortion and the vaccination debate are fundamentally dissimilar.
First of all and the only thing that matters and stops the debate in its tracks is abortion is still a constitutional right.
Choices on vaccination and abortion are fundamentally dissimilar.
There is still a constitutional right to choose to have an abortion. There is no constitutional or legal right that allows someone to send an unvaccinated child to school. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that schools can require vaccinations.
Although, state by state, abortion laws are being dismantled.
And,
A pregnant woman’s decision to have a child or have an abortion does not impair the health and well-being of the community at large.
And,
We don’t hear about unwanted abortion epidemics. When a woman makes the choice to have an abortion it doesn’t lead to an epidemic of unwanted abortions among the general population.
(this is the argument that prompted Naval to block me). It is to the point.
I have no idea what Ravikant believes or why he retweeted such a silly argument. He doesn’t ever take a stand on anything. Is he against the government mandating vaccinations? Is he against abortion? Is he anti-vaxxer? Is he a libertarian, and if so, why is he conflating a woman’s right to choose with getting a vaccination. Libertarians want freedom of choice. Is he a Libertarian who only wants freedom of choice for men? A libertarian who only wants freedom of choice for anti-vaxxers and not for a woman making a personal decision that wouldn’t affect the health of the larger public.
Who knows.
Silicon Valley guys and their love of Bitcoin and thus anything anti-government
Naval says he stays away from politics because it’s a “zero-sum game,” and he stays away from “those games.” But in my opinion, his anti-government stance, claiming he has no use for politics and would never waste his time talking politics, is very political, as is the tweet he retweeted.
I had the same problem when I started following someone Ravikant thinks is the most brilliant person, Nick Szabo. I don’t like his politics either. Many believe Szabo is the creator of Bitcoin and thus wrote the Bitcoin Whitepaper. These two guys are incredibly wealthy because of Bitcoin and crypto investments.
Ravikant appeared with Nick Szabo on The Tim Ferriss Show ages ago, together in one podcast talking about Bitcoin, called The Quiet Master of Cryptocurrency — Nick Szabo (#244). (Szabo seems like a recluse and didn’t want to be there, check on the photo on Tim’s blog. It’s blacked out so you can’t see his face.)
This is where I first learned about Ethereum (ETH) and why I bought some.
I started following Szabo’s Twitter account and was surprised he is a Trump supporter and retweets all kinds of strange and factually incorrect information to his many followers. Tim Ferriss tried to gloss over any political leanings Szabo might have by asking timidly, “Nick, you’re more of a libertarian…” right? Nick didn’t respond. No, he is a Trump supporter, according to his Twitter feed.
Ravikant acts like he is above politics because it is a “zero-sum game,” but his anti-government stance and retweets (like the one I had a problem with) are political. He is fooling himself if he thinks he stays away from politics.
He eggs political debate on and then blocks anyone who points out his flawed thinking in retweets that aren’t very witty, clever, or factual if you debate the specifics.
But he wasn’t willing to debate specifics; he only wants followers who agree with him. So, he blocked me. If Naval were more confident, he’d be OK with a woman challenging him with a straightforward tweet. I’ve listened to about three of Tim’s podcasts with Naval on as a guest, and he speaks with a very “I couldn’t give a f*ck” attitude about what others think about him.
I think he cares very much.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering Type A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
