My response to Greg Doucette

Transcript:

So Greg Doucette called me out for saying something I didn’t say.

Greg watched one of my latest videos on how many years steroids cut off your life and he seemed to think that the conclusion was that steroids don’t reduce your life expectancy. I encourage everyone interested in the topic to watch the video in full so you could form your own opinion. but in a nutshell the video says that, on average, doped athletes live longer, still, a little bit, than the general population, and than their siblings. Therefore, it seems that for relatively moderate occasional cycling, at least, the harms of steroid use are largely offset by their better nutrition and their exercise and their better lifestyle in general. So steroid usage definitely reduces your lifespan and the specific damage seems to be about equivalent to the positives that you would normally get if you lived a very healthy lifestyle with a lot of exercise and good nutrition, staying at a low body fat level, having a good body composition, and generally living a healthy life. So it’s a glass half full – glass half empty situation if you will.

On the bright side, I guess a lot of people were surprised that steroid users weren’t dropping dead after a single cycle. But the downside is that just occasional moderate usage already reduces your lifespan pretty much back to that of the average person with a generally very crappy lifestyle. Greg did not seem to understand this nuance even though I literally began the video saying that… “Steroids, or to be precise, anabolic androgenic steroids are bad for you. Nobody disputes that.”

Greg’s second point was that it’s very irresponsible to put out this kind of information because people will abuse it and see it as an excuse to justify their steroid use. went so far as to say that I glorified steroid usage. I disagree. I believe that not giving people information because they might use it in the wrong manner is a very dangerous, paternalistic viewpoint. Assuming that you know better than everyone and everyone else is stupid, so you should be in control of what information people should get is a tenet that underlies the ideology of the Soviet Union, Cuba, the People’s Republic of China, nazi Germany, and fascist Italy. We all know how those ideologies ended.

In contrast, a much more proven historical model of a functional society is that of personal responsibility, freedom of speech and freedom of information such as what we experience in the West. I believe people should have access to all relevant information to make their own personal decisions, and it is not up to me to make the decisions for them. most people shouldn’t drink a lot of alcohol and most people shouldn’t smoke. But I will defend your rights to do those things.

While we’re talking about truth and responsibility there are a few more things that needs to be said. I don’t like to do this, I never like to make things personal, and I never discuss persons. I always like to discuss ideas. But in this case Greg already made it personal and even called me a jerk. Greg’s new angle is that of the truth sayer and the anti-steroids guy. He might be blunt, but he’s honest and he’s anti steroids, so he has the best in mind for you. I’m a big proponent of the truth and I think most people shouldn’t use steroids. So I respect both of those things.

Unfortunately, when we look at Greg’s actions rather than his words, he hasn’t been exactly living as a truth sayer or an anti-steroids type of guy. I’m reading an official news report here saying that: “Greg Austin Doucette, 37 years old, is charged with possessing, smuggling, importing, trafficking and distributing steroids under the Customs Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.” Not only has Greg been charged with selling steroids, it seems they were fake steroids. “The Canada Border Services Agency, alleges that Doucette was repackaging and selling the steroids under a fake brand name, Cipher Farm. They said other drugs were packaged under counterfeit Cialis and Viagra labels.” So, Greg, after you got caught selling fake steroids, you started selling bunk supplements. And then there was the whole thing about the turkesterone you’re selling in independent lab work not actually containing turkesterone. And then there was Geoffrey Verity Schofield’s video about your very questionable marketing and business practices, which you have taken down for supposed copyright infringement. And then there was your ban as a judge from the CPA. And these are just the things I remember from spending all this time in the industry. I don’t follow you and I know these things, so these are probably just the tip of the iceberg.

So, Greg, don’t talk to me about responsibility. Stick to yelling at the mic.