EP.93 Outsiders by Choice: Rejecting the System, Reclaiming Yourself | Unplugged Conservative

In this episode, I sit down with the Unplugged Conservative for a real conversation about the world we’re living in—and the pressure to constantly belong to something.

We break down how modern society conditions people to think in groups, act in groups, and lose themselves in the process. From the addiction to validation, to the struggle of healing and rebuilding yourself, we get into what it actually takes to step back, detach, and think for yourself.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about identity, control, addiction—whether that’s substances, attention, or approval—and what it looks like to break free from all of it.

If you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit in… good. That might be the point.

Detaching isn’t weakness. It’s power.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Everything you're about to hear is for entertainment purposes only. Listen, have some fun, but don't ever do, believe, or promote anything they say. They're idiots.

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Guys, guys, guys, guys, hold up, hold up. You should know. This ain't for everybody. Welcome to Savagely Loud. What's happening, people, guys? Welcome back to the show for the people that understand the facts, divided by feelings equals failure. I'm Cliff, I'm your host, and normally today right now is where I was gonna tell you that I'm joined on today and always by my co-host, Big Dave Anderson, the big bad Viking. But he is at a previous event that he had scheduled, having a good Greek Orthodox thing with uh extended family. I hope he's having a fucking great time. Um, so he can't be here today. He really wanted to be here today because he really wanted to meet who the other person is that is on the screen if you're watching. Um, but we'll get to him because you know the drill. Right now, we gotta get to us. If you want to help us out, get these words out, get these truths out, you can follow me at Savagely Loud on Instagram is where I'm most active. On that page, you're gonna find two links. One of those links is gonna be to the Savagely Loud Podcast page on Instagram. If you could please follow us there too. It would greatly help increase the footprint of the show. And the other show link you're gonna find on that page is a simple link tree. Anywhere you want to hear my bullshit or see my rants, you can get you can get it there easy peasy. Outside of that, Facebook X and Rumble at Savagely Loud, YouTube at Savagely Loud Podcast. Please don't forget to subscribe, and you can email us in at savagely loud at gmail.com. We will get to your communications. Last but not least, don't forget to like, comment, and share the material. And please, for the love of all the things that you love, rate and review the show on Apple, iTunes, and Spotify. It really does help the show. We need your help. Every one of us that does anything with a camera in front of us needs your help. So please just extend that courtesy and rate and review the show for us. It'll take you about a minute and a half. That all being said, if like I said, if you're watching, you notice that there is another man on the screen with me, a one with a beautiful, long, majestic beard, one of the most majestic on the internet. Who could it possibly be? It's Kyle, the unplugged conservative. How are we doing today, brother? I'm good, brother.

SPEAKER_04 2:27

Thank thank you for having me, and thank you for inviting me on. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Well, I find you truly interesting, and we're gonna let everybody else know why I find you interesting after you let them all know. You let everybody know where they can find you.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Um, so mainly on Instagram, just unplug conservative. If you want to come see my real raw bullshit, you can find me on Facebook for all of us 40 plus year olds that still use fucking Facebook. Um, you can find me over there under the same screen name, or if you know me personally, you know where to find me on Facebook. Um and then you can find me on X too, under the same Unplugged Conservative.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So right on, right on. Yeah, when it comes to Facebook, that is kind of a wild thing where because you know, like you are and I am, and you know, we're we're on all these different platforms, and each one of these platforms has their demographic. Like Instagram people, they always make fun of the Facebook people, Facebook people make fun of TikTok people, tick tock people are just spinning around in a field lost because they never know what's happening. You know, YouTube people don't go to any of them, so it's it is it is kind of weird that you bring up our 40 plus year old demographic because we do like Facebook. I I I did transition a little over a year ago to primarily Instagram um because I you know what I found out about found about Instagram that I liked a little bit more is that where Facebook they feed you the opinion and then give you the video. Instagram gives you the video or the picture and then feeds you the opinion. So you get the option of whether or not you want to hear somebody's stupid bullshit, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 4:08

Yeah, they they definitely give you that option for sure, which is nice.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

So anyway, let's uh let's talk about you because I I found you on Insta on Instagram and I was just thumbing through Doom Scrolling one night and I saw your beard. And like I used to have a giant big Viking beard and shit, and uh I've told the story before, but I've told I'll tell it real quick. Uh I you know I I was I fix cars, I build cars. Well, I had to do a Honda CRV, had a bag blow. So every time a Honda blows the fucking airbags, you've got to replace the control module for it, which is in the center con under the center console of the car. Well, I like went in to launch myself in, like arm on the seat and launch myself into the car. Well, it turns out my arm was on my beard, and I thought I pulled it out of my face. I went home that night and cut that bitch down short.

SPEAKER_04 4:57

So that's that just sounds painful, man. I can't even imagine.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, but it was your beard that caught my attention, and then quickly thereafter, it was the way you spoke. It was your mannerisms, your cadence, your tone, it was your whole personality that I kind of felt I it it intrigued me because you're not like everybody else out there. You in and especially because you do have conservative in your name. Um, every time that name, you know, that word conservative gets put into a name, even I, to this at this point, am just like, oh, fucking shoot me. Like, I'm done. Like I'm fucking. Here we go. Here's another one. Right. So, and but then you started talking, and I'm like, ooh, this dude's got a good a pretty good raw take on some shit. I'm gonna follow him. I'm gonna like because you know, the way I work is I don't just auto-follow. If I find a post from somebody I've never seen that I like, I wait for them to come back into my algorithm a couple of times to make sure I like what they're saying. I won't go necessarily hunt them down. You were an immediate follow. I don't exactly remember what you were talking about, but it was kind of um well, not kind of. It you were you were just about blatantly outright stating the fact that you don't, you are not a staunch conservative liberal. You don't really subscribe to this intense, fiery fucking this feud between the sides, but you do have conservative values. Tell me about that. Tell me what led you real, like, you know, right down this road to making a page, putting your content out there, and all of that.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

Oh, you are correct. Um I I am an independent conservative, and I've always kind of aligned there, but I'm like in the center, and I catch shit from everybody, man, all sides. Because I have no filter. You know, I have no filter for one. It's like fuck your feelings. I'm gonna say what's on my mind, and you know, if you don't like it, don't fucking listen. Um, and then you know, I have views and opinions where I I align with all sides with certain topics. Like, there's some shit on the left that I that I align with, there's some shit on the right that I align with. Um so it's like I've always been the type of person that tries to not, and we're we're all fucking human, we all make mistakes and we all kind of fall into our character flaws, but I find it very uh it's like a big disservice to yourself if you stay married to an idea. And I'm clapping for that one, I'm clapping. I mean, it's true, right? Because you you you marry into an idea, and that makes it so hard to be able to change your mind when the facts or new information comes out that challenges that idea that you have married yourself to. So it's like, oh no, and then you have this internal conflict, like, oh no, what am what the fuck am I supposed to do? I turns out I was wrong, but but there's so many fucking people out there that they don't give a shit, and they'll they'll just stay with the boat even though it's going down, even though they have a life raft given to them with this new information, they're gonna fucking stay on the boat that's going down, and it's like I know it's a terrible fucking um that's perfect, you know. But so I really started um political shit, like discourse, conversations, dialogue back in like 2010 on Facebook. Um that's when I really, really started getting into it. Um was during the Obama era. And I was constantly just getting banned, man, like just left and right for hate speech, bullying, you name it, you know what I mean? Just constantly getting getting shit from the left, from the right, and I did that for years, for years, and then I started a Instagram page, excuse me, I started an Instagram page for my motorcycles that I build. So I build Harleys and I fill um tutorial videos for YouTube to teach people how to wrench on their own bikes in their garage, and I started allowing the political stuff to kind of infiltrate that space. And some of my people that have been following me on that Instagram account kind of were sending me DMs like, bro, you gotta you gotta chill with the political shit, man. Like, I followed you for the motorcycle stuff, not for political takes. And I'm like, all right, yeah, I get, you know, I hear you, I hear you. So that's what led me into starting this um strictly political Instagram account. And it's only been a little over two months. I mean, I feel like there's been some decent traction with it, uh, but it's just a space for me to share the stuff that I find very interesting, to share the stuff that I align with, to and to even share stuff that I don't align with, just to get good conversations with all aspects of everybody.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

And I I, you know, I want to point something out that most people will miss. I want to highlight the shit out of what you just said, this one part. And you said people messaged me, they DM me and said, hey man, I followed you for the motorcycle stuff, not the political content. And you said, Yeah, you know what, you got a point. That is a fucking testament to how cool you are as a human being, like how level-headed you are. Because I've had this conversation thousands of times with people, you know, they they shift their content. Hey man, I followed you for this, you know, like what's going on? You're if you're shifting your content, like, cool, but I'm out. And then these people get so angry, so pissed off. How fucking dare you tell me how to run my how this is my page, this is my house, oh my God. But you handled it the way I so respectfully, you handle every like it's just like every instance that I see you where people will push on you, they question you, you know, that you reach opposition. It's always with that level head, and that's what I appreciate the most because that's not something you find on the internet. Like the internet is just nothing but a bunch of hotheads now.

SPEAKER_04 11:36

Yeah, exactly. And I think once we lose that ability for open dialogue with each other is when shit's really gonna get worse. Worse than it already is. Yeah, um, so I think it's very important, even if you don't want to hear what the opposition has to say, I think it's important to at least hear them out before you make any type of conclusion to their argument or their side of the argument. Now, obviously, there's gonna be instances where I don't want to fucking hear anything they have to say, depending on what what it is they're talking about. Now, if they're talking about um maps, shit, stuff like that that has to do with children, it's like get all the way fucked. I want absolutely, you know, don't even fucking ignore, fucking block, delete, fucking within seconds. But for the most part, yeah, I I think open dialogue is very crucial.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:44

In society these days.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

There's there's not a there's not a bunch of us out here. There's not a bunch of us left that believe that because um when you get when you go when you go onto the internet, you go on to you know social media sites, all of them, it's it's literally just a cesspool of people that are married to their ideas. Like they had one idea 25 fucking years ago, and somehow it's still the only idea that can possibly work, even though it hasn't worked for the past 25 years, but they're not willing to have the conversation. And you know, when I get into conversations, I tell people openly, I'm not trying to sway you, I'm not trying to persuade you. I'm trying to actually understand you. If I can understand where you're coming from, and perhaps then you can understand where I'm coming from, we can reach a middle ground where we can coexist with different ideologies, but we we we can actually be friends. I mean, I'm sure you, like many of us that are like this, you know, that welcome open dialogue and open conversation, honest, truthful conversation. I'm sure you've got a lot of friends that don't agree with everything about you, as do I. Oh, absolutely. And they're probably some of the best relationships you have because you you we all possess that ability to just live and let live. You know how we that that old thing that we used to get taught, you know.

SPEAKER_04 14:01

Yeah, yeah, no, it definitely is very um important to check your ego and allow other people to check your ego. And I feel like that's something that is lost on so many people. I'm clapping again for that one. It you know, and even that even that right there is my own ego saying that. So it's like it I think self-preservation and self-awareness are two of Can you hear me? I can hear you now.

SPEAKER_01 14:38

Yeah, welcome to the shit show. It happens every single. I think I've had probably four shows that it didn't happen where I where my camera cut out, Zoom stopped. This is why we're not using this stuff anymore, and I'm transitioning to Dave, my co-host. He's gonna be the producer, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

I was like, oh shit, what did I do? I was on medical thinking, I fucked it up. I did something.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, if it if that happens again, just hang out for a minute. It'll all it'll all work itself out, and and I'll come back to it. But uh anyway, you you what you were you were saying, uh, you know, about relationships and open conversation and all that.

SPEAKER_04 15:17

Yeah, I think um self-preservation and self-awareness are definitely among the top priorities that we should be concerned about. Because you know, if you're not looking out for number one yourself, how can you possibly take care or look out for anybody else that is important to you? Because you're not centered, you know, and if you're not aware of what the fuck you're doing, how are you going to be able to move through life in a balanced type of way? Um so it's like I said, it all and it all comes back to that. Um if you're unwilling to see other aspects, you're just looking through a fucking very small scope of the world. And dude, I catch so and I catch so much shit. It doesn't even matter which which side, because it comes from all sides, like I've said before, but um it's like I can I can have a take or post something about what's going on in Iran, and then I'll get people saying, Oh, you're fucking getting paid by the IRGC, and then I can, you know what I mean, just stupid shit like oh you're getting paid by by Israel, and it's like no, fuck both of the fuck fuck both of them, dude. Like I don't have an alliance with either side, and quite frankly, I think they both fucking suck. So it's like it's and I just feel bad because it's just people like us, man, over there for the most part, that are just stuck between the bullshit. I mean, our own government, they're bad fucking actors, and we are not innocent by any means. That's why I get so frustrated with some of these people, man. They're just like, oh fucking USA, USA, and I'm a fucking patriot, like to my core. I love my country, but I do not love our government. And I think that's the biggest thing that kind of like a lot of these other content creators don't um uh what's what's the good good way of putting this? Um I guess they don't really get it, get that, and they take it as a as a sign of um like a betrayal or something. You know what I mean? Like they take it like, oh, you're you're fuck you're not a patriot, you're a fucking trader. And it's like, no, I just don't trust like I've I've been I've been alive long enough to see the bullshit that our fucking government has done. And they're doing the same shit over and over and over. And when you get these content creators that are 20 years old that weren't even alive when you have Alex Jones out here saying, you know, in the summer of 2001, saying the CIA's gonna fucking fly planes into the World Trade Center, they weren't even alive during this time, and now they got a take on Alex Jones saying, man, fuck Alex Jones because Trump said so. And it's like this dude's been right for 30 fucking years on 98% of the stuff he's talked about. So dismissing him just because Trump doesn't like him is so short-sighted, it's it's fucking mind-boggling, dude. So it yeah, I just it doesn't matter what I post, what I say, I'm always gonna catch shit one way or another. Well, it's just it is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

It's such a wild time we live in because you know, when we were growing up, my dad was a patriot, my dad served in the army and this and that and the other thing. But he loved the people of this country. Like, you never met another dude that loved the people of this country more than my dad. Now, my dad was a fucking asshole to me. That's a whole different story. But man, when it came to the people of this country, he loved them. But he would, he, he was able to separate. He's like, Yeah, I'm a fucking patriot. He's like, I love my fucking people. The government is what's fucking our people here. If we go over there, then their government is what's fucking us. He's like, I've been all over the fucking world, and you don't get you don't just get fucked by the people. He's like, it's the government that teaches the people, or the government makes the people put it in your ass. That's what he used to say. Like, you know, he's like, I I I love the people. And but now we're in this this climate where if you say patriot, all of a sudden you have to be a conservative, you have to lockstep with whatever fucking Trump says. And here's the honest to God's truth. I liked Trump. His dude, he was the best president we ever had in that first term. I don't know who the fuck he is in this second term, but he was the best. So I throw no shade at people like that voted for him to get him in, you know, both times. I voted for him. But you know, the thing is, is that I also possess the self-awareness and the situational awareness to say, hey, this is a different dude, and we have to have this conversation because we like the liter the guy literally just set fire to every promise he made us. And there was a there was a just a scoche of a moment there where people were, it seemed like all the conservative creators were waking up and they're like, hey, what the fuck? But now it seems like we're back into this this realm where if you're not in lockstep with Trump himself, not the president, not the cabinet, not the government, if you're not in lockstep with Trump himself, you hate America.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Exactly. And that's it's so frustrating, man, because because I do have that conservative in my name, and because I am an independent conservative, people automatically paint that broad that broad uh brush that you're MAGA, you're MAGA. It's like, no, man, I I voted for Trump because he he was the best option. And I I believed and I feel duped at this point by what's going on. And um, like you said, man, and I even put I've put up a couple videos saying the same thing like 2015 Trump, the ant the anti super PACs Trump was a different guy than 2025 fucking Israel's our greatest ally, Trump. Same guy that took two hundred and thirty million dollars from these super PACs, you know, these uh Israeli lobbyist groups, and it's like and then you have the the Never Trumpers from 2016 who are now part of the MAGA movement in in his ear, and they're all fucking Israel stooges, man. And it's like, what the fuck are kind of upside down shit are we living in right now? You know what I mean? And don't get me wrong, like there is some stuff that he has done that I'm like, fuck yeah, that's that's great.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Like, yeah, it's not like it's zero good, it's just in the big shit, it's it we're not looking all that great right now, you know.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

Right. And I don't think torching our um alliances is a smart move either. And we seen it, we seen it uh point blank, you know, he over the last year was like, fuck you guys, fuck you guys, fuck you guys, and then when he's like, hey, you guys gonna come help with this, they're like, No, we're not. You know, it's like, yeah, I wonder why, bro. You've been fucking criticizing these these countries for the last year and telling them they're pieces of shit for not kicking in here or there for whatever reason, or which I do agree with.

SPEAKER_01 23:26

I mean, it's not a great idea to burn all your bridges, however, he's got a point. Like, America is the ATM for the world, like especially NATO. We fucking spend all of our money, we get we rape all of our fucking people for their fucking paychecks, and then we put it into military spending so that we can go defend other fucking people, and we get nothing in return, like literally nothing in return. So I understand why he said it, but you know, there I think they're the timing has a lot to do with with uh that, you know, being being a bad decision.

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Yeah, it's definitely not ideal by any means.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Oh god, yeah, it's it's it's it's a pretty wild proposition that we're uh that we're faced with these days, um, you know, having to believe certain shit, um, you know, and and especially being told by young people like you touched on earlier. I'm being told by 20-year-olds, by seven. I dude, I had a 17-year-old life coach message me the other day over my personal development material. I'm like, what in the fuck are you even doing? You're not you're you can't even have a beer yet, and you're telling people how to fucking live. You know, it's it's it's wild.

SPEAKER_04 24:38

Um it's like, bitch, my beard is older than you are.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Right, right, you know, but that's you know, it these people they haven't lived, and I think the people that have lived a rougher life, um, gone through some shit throughout the course of their life, we see things different because I know you're one of these, and I want to get into that. Uh, one of the people like me. Like, I've been through a lot of shit. I've been through addiction, I've been through homelessness, I've been through all of divorce, I've been through all of this shit. And I fucking picked myself up and dusted myself off. But in the process of all that, I took the notes. So I got to study it, I got to learn what I fucked up, I got to learn what I didn't, you know, and things like that. You, I I just saw a video you posted, and I I actually think it was today, um, where you were you were talking about uh being able, you're you're 20 years sober. Am I correct on that? You're 20 years sober, and you were your message was that you can beat the shit for for the masses, which I really, really liked. So if let's talk about that, because we could we can use that to to help some people because I know you have that in your heart to want to help. So let's talk about that for a moment.

SPEAKER_04 25:46

Yeah, I think everybody deserves a second chance, man, no matter how much they think they don't. And I was an addict for years to Crystal Meth. And um, like you said, I just celebrated yesterday my my 20-year anniversary. Um, and it wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for my wife, um, for my family, for my friends, just an all-around great support system. Um, but like you, I was homeless uh when I was 17 years old. I was living in a fucking tent in Utah in the winter time. And for those of you listening, if you're familiar with Utah's climate, it gets pretty bad in the winter. And um I said, you know what? After two or three months of of selling drugs out of my fucking tent and uh getting high every day, I was like, fuck this, man. Like I'm I'm sick of the I I didn't say I'm sick of the drugs, I said I'm sick of the fucking cold. So I packed up all my shit, man, in a in a backpack and literally used the last of my money, bought a greyhound ticket, went to San Diego County, where one of my best friends growing up was living. He had moved down there a few years before, and I was like, fuck it, I'm I'm going to California where it's warmer. Um, and I was homeless down there for about six months, living on top of a Ferrari repair shop in San Marcos, California. Just at so at night when the shop would close, I would go up top of the roof and and sleep, and and then in the morning before they opened, I'd come down and and I'd go work a full-time job at the subway that was just down the street. And it took me, like I said, about six months. And the whole time, you know, I'm just a full-blown addict, but I'm a functioning addict. Um, so I'm working a full-time job, I'm saving up, and then my other buddy, DJ, was like, fuck, I'm gonna come down to California too. And we're all childhood friends, and so we all ended up getting an apartment, but the whole time we're all getting fucking high, just doing stupid shit. And eventually I'm just like, after four years of this repetitive cycle, I'm just like, I don't want to fucking live like this anymore, man. I I'm so sick of pacing the bag day after day after day after day, and just feeling like shit about myself constantly. And so I said, you know what, I I can't be here anymore. I gotta I gotta go home. I gotta go back. And and that's what I did, and it was A it was April 10th, 2006, and I came back, and that was that was the last time that I had used. And um it's been it's been crazy, man. But but at some point you time becomes irrelevant when when you get so far down the road and you've started building so many more things in your life without those um addictions, and you learn to live with without it. And like I said, you there's so much this world has to offer that doesn't involve that shit that's gonna fucking kill you eventually or put you in prison eventually where I've been for other stuff. And um yeah, it's just man, I've I've I look back on my life and I've lived seven lifetimes for the average people. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like the shit I've gone through and done, good and bad, it's it's just so much in a short amount of time, I feel like that it's just it's just crazy. And when I look back and reflect on it, and I think that's part of where I get my I have a lot of health issues too. I was diagnosed at 13 with rheumatoid arthritis, I've had six hip replacements. Holy fuck! I had colon cancer at 15, had my large intestine removed, um yeah, just uh a schlew of health issues, so it's like I I think all that stuff combined has created who I am and created kind of a sick sense of humor, but has also given me that gratitude for life and given me that willingness to try to see things from from multiple angles and because life's so short, man. I don't there's no sense in walking around being fucking pissed off all the time. You know what I mean? And it's like the best thing I did for myself aside from my wife was leaving those chemicals behind. And I'm one of the few, you know, that can say fucking 20 years sober.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Yeah, that's fucking amazing.

SPEAKER_04 31:23

Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. It's the first, I'm not gonna lie, you know, the first little bit, it was rough. And even to this day, 20 years later, I know I cannot be around that stuff because I would still feel tempted, even after 20 years. So it's like just remove myself entirely from those types of people, from any possibility of coming in contact with it, because I know that I have an issue, even still, 20 years later, I know I still I have a fucking issue, so it's like don't even put yourself in that position to be around it.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

Yeah, it's a it's a wild thing that a lot of people don't understand when you get it when you talk about addiction, because you know, people all have this different interpretation, you know, this open interpretation in their own mind about what addiction really is. And me, I I don't draw so many gray areas. Like I I I addiction to me isn't like, oh my god, I was, you know, I I had I had to have my Vicatin for six weeks. Like, that's not addiction. Addiction is, you know, like you had, like I had, like I lost fucking everything, man. I was, I was, I was, I started selling blow and not never having, I needed money really bad. And I started selling blow, never having done it, then I started doing it, and then I became the fucking stereotype. I became that cliche guy. I started selling it, I started doing it, and then I started fucking buying all of my own stock. Then I had to start fucking stealing and robbing and fucking people out of money so that I could get my fix. I was selling myself three gram eight balls, which is for anybody that doesn't know, is something that most people will buy for a weekend. I was selling myself eight three gram eight balls for$40, and I was spending almost a thousand dollars a week. I was doing like nine to twelve grams a day. And it was Peruvian flaked too. So like I had to have the best shit because the the Stomped on bullshit wouldn't even get me there. So it was just more and more and more. And finally, you know, I'm yeah but just everything fell apart. My relationships were falling apart. All my friends, like I was that guy, like I would go to my friend's house, and the first thing I would do is hit the bathroom, hit the kitchen. You know, some people didn't mind if you fucking because I used to carry it around in a contact lens case. There was a perfect teener on each side of the contact case, had to fucking cut off McDonald's straw because it was bigger and less fucking porous. I did all that, and you know, and I would just every time I went to somebody's house, I'd hit the bathroom, hit the kitchen, and pretty soon they just stopped calling me over. They stopped inviting me, they stopped wanting to come over. And I had zero, after a while, I had zero friends, I had zero things going for me, lost my job, and I was just camped out. I became the mayor of rock bottom, you know, the governor of rock bottom. And one day I just was like, I woke up one and my morning routine. Um, you know, my morning routine was I had a plate, I always kept a plate with all my fucking blow next to me. And I'd wake up before I'd even chop before I'd even open my eyes, I'd have to my two razor blades because they chopped faster. Two razor blades, I'd be chopping lines, chopping my rails. And I made the decision one morning. I was like, this is this has got to be the last time. Like, this gotta be the last time. So got up and fucking took my rails, never fucking, and I didn't touch it again for had it been eight months, nine months. And then my buddy fucking invited me over to his house, and you know, and he had it, he was partying, and I took a couple lines there, and then I got the fucking, I got the sniffles, I got the neckache in the back of your head from always sniffling, my neck was hurting, my throat was dry. I was like, yeah, I was like, dude, this this shit's I I feel good, but my body doesn't feel good, and I don't like this. So I was blessed enough to uh be able to just walk the fuck away from it. But even so, you know, I still have friends, and as we all do, we uh we still have friends that you can every now and then they'll walk in, you're like, I can smell it, you know, like what's that smell? You know, so but being able to being able to actually walk the fuck away from it in the moment like you did, you know, make that conscious decision and be like, this has to end. I'm gonna be everything I don't want to fucking be if this doesn't. So now I have to exercise all this discipline that I haven't had to, what did you say, for four years? I haven't had to have this discipline for four years, and all of a sudden, it all has to wash over me immediately in this moment. Stick, and it has to be the most discipline I've ever practiced in my entire life. You did that shit. That's fucking killer. Like you did, you're one of the few. You said it, but I'm gonna say it differently. You're one of the very, very few that can make that decision in that moment and then execute on that, regardless of being 20 years sober. That's fantastic. What really is amazing is the is the the state of mind and self-awareness you had in that moment, in the fucking depths of despair, at the height of your addiction, to say this has to end, and then you ended it. Fucking killer. Right. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 36:31

Yeah, and it's not like I was forced either, you know. I had the money to keep doing it if I wanted to, and um but at this point I was already on my feet, you know, we were living great, and aside from the addiction, and I just it got it gets fucking old, man, you know, and it was like I'm either gonna end up dead, and this was before fentanyl was in fucking everything. This was back in in the in the early 2000s. Yeah, you didn't worry about it, you know what I mean. You worried about people cutting your shit with baby laxative. Yeah, you gotta shit.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

This must be good stuff. Yeah, I'm right.

SPEAKER_04 37:14

Yeah, the worst thing you had to worry about was a fucking baby laxative or something, and it's like I just I don't know, man. I don't I've always trusted my gut instinct, and I something was just like, this needs to end. Like, you're done. You're fucking done. And I'm the type of person that and my wife could tell you if she was sitting here. Um I don't do anything haphazardly or 50-50. Right. I'm either fucking all in or not at all. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Like head over heels or nothing.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

Correct. Correct. And it's it's either all in or not at all. And when I make up my mind to do something, I fucking do it. And whether it's good or bad. Right. So it's I don't know, I guess it's a blessing and a curse, depending on which way it goes.

SPEAKER_01 38:20

But yeah, I mean, it's like you love like you hate, you know. Like I I was a I was a skinhead back in the day, and and and I, you know, I like you you said earlier, you've lived seven different lives or more. I I always say I've been blessed by living multiple different lives, you know, like a homogenous style blessed for all my friends out there that always want to talk to me about God. I've just been blessed in being able to live these different lives. And the reason I say it's a blessing is because now I got the firsthand knowledge. Like everybody wants to talk like they know shit, but they don't live through the shit. They study the shit, they watch videos on the shit, documentaries on the shit, they form their assumptions and opinions on the shit, and then they they hit the internet or hit their friend circles like they know shit. I actually do, you actually do. Friends of ours actually do because we actually lived it, we learned it, we we were there. I was on the floor overdosing, looking up at every fucking trash ball that I was hanging out with, going, I can't be you, I cannot fucking be you. And I don't care how much books you read, how much internet use you you know scour looking for information, you don't understand that moment unless you live that moment.

SPEAKER_04 39:35

Correct. Yeah, you you can't learn by by you can't learn these things by reading it. And by no means am I saying go out and fucking get this under your belt. Yeah, don't don't by any means don't go out and get this experience because it's not worth it. But like you said, man, it's you can't teach and you can't absorb that type of information unless you've been at the fucking bottom scraping by. And that and that goes for anything. That's not just drugs, you know, that goes for fucking anything. And when when I talk about addiction, that could be fucking anything. Gambling, fucking pornography, um, drugs, you name it. Anything that's in an extreme um excess and not in a controlled moderation is not healthy. No, is not healthy for you, and that includes fucking the internet. Yeah, that includes social media, you know, put that at the top of the list. Bro, like too much too much of anything is not good for you, and we are not wired as human beings to take in all of this information. And now obviously I'm talking about the social media aspect of things, but we are just not wired to receive information this way. We are wired as stupid monkeys to have face-to-face interactions and all tribes, yeah, and to have you know physical touch and physical um in-person communication, and so that's why it's so easy for people to just become disconnected with fucking reality and then just start yapping, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, all over the fucking internet, dude.

SPEAKER_01 41:37

And it's like it's too much, and then the algorithm, you know, stuffs you into an echo chamber. So now you think you're right about everything, you know. Right. But I I I will say, you know, like for when it comes to rock bottom, when you were just saying, um, a friend of mine, Troy, turned me on to an A, it's an AI artist, but it's it's if you know how AI music's created, there is some talent there. Um, but is it the the the character, the dude's name is Owen James, and he turned me on to a song called I think it's called Low Enough. Listen to that song. If you have ever hit rock bottom, for everybody listening or watching, if you've ever hit rock bottom, you will fucking relate to that song so fucking well, it's gonna punch you in the chest like a horse kick. And that's what it did to me. Because there's this line in the song, and it's un this song is done like any unlike any other song I've ever heard in my life. And there's a line in the song when he goes, I got low enough to meet myself. Holy shit, I got low enough to meet myself. I was I'm still like I'm still blown away because there is so there's just a thousand tons of reality in that statement, and there's so many people out here that think they know themselves and they've never even met themselves. Right.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

No, that's absolutely a hundred percent accurate. Yeah, a hundred percent accurate, but you really don't know yourself until you've been in just true despair, yeah. And you don't know what you're capable of, truly capable of overcoming and doing until you've been in that fucking low, low space.

SPEAKER_01 43:21

Yeah. Yeah, you until you've you've until you've sat there and and just contemplated the existence of every molecule in your body. Yeah, you you ain't met yourself yet, homie. Like, let me tell you what, you know, or at least you you don't know yourself on the level that you think you know yourself. We'll we'll offer that olive branch because um, you know, I don't want to turn people off thinking they don't know themselves just because they've never been a scumbag, but right uh there there is a certain level in which you get to meet yourself. You get to meet that primal core nature of who you actually are, the the that part of you that everybody wants to believe. Don't exist. It exists in all of us. And you get low enough and you meet that part. And once you meet that part, you understand now the world all around you has that part. And some of them don't understand it. Some of them are embracing it without even knowing it. You look at the world very, very differently. And you, and I've I feel, and I think you touched on this a little earlier. I feel that once you get to that point and you gain this vision of the world through the lens of reality, actual reality, it you you become over, you like overwhelmed, overcome, or flooded even with gratitude, with with you know just being grateful because now I can understand this other thing that nobody else understands. I can now understand this thing about me that nobody understands, the world, and this pathway that has just opened up, and it's an incredibly enlightening experience, really.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

Yeah, yeah, definitely the things that should have killed me gave me that perception. Yeah. And the it's it's hard to, and I'm sure there's people that practice um what is it? Con uh condole how do you say that word? Uh the yoga. Oh, yeah. Kondolini, Kondolini Yoga, is what it is.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_04 45:19

Yeah something like that. Um, they can kind of get to that level of enlightenment, I guess if you want to call it that, um, to where you're actually able to truly, truly reflect on your core like inner core, who you are, like not who you are superficially, but deep, deep down. But I don't I don't know of any other way to observe that version of yourself, and and really I guess the only other people that I've met that have had those types of experiences are people who have had like near-death experiences where they died and got brought back and whatever, you know, whatever it was.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

So it's yeah, you learn a lot when you almost die.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

Oh, you definitely do, and you learn to become it's like a crash course in um just being grateful to be alive, yeah, you know, and realizing like this is this is it, man. This is the one life that I got, and I want to fucking make sure it matters, and I want to leave a positive imprint on it, and I don't want to leave a shitty remembrance of myself on everybody. Yeah, it's not what I want, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

Yeah, and and and let me so let me ask you this now, because your life is so much different. I'll I would I will dare to say so much better than it was as a former addict myself. Life was great when I was fucked up, but the moment I started coming down, the real me started popping in, and I didn't like that motherfucker, so I had to keep running. But once all that ended, I got to this place where I appreciated me. I like me. I have this positive vibe now, this positive energy I put out to the universe, you know, um the internet stuff, that that persona that, you know, that growly, savagely loud thing. That's I do personal development that way because I'm trying to reach like a crowd that is unreachable by all the nice people, um, like me, like I was. And that's what it took to reach me. So that's why I do my content that way. But um, I have such a my life is fucking awesome. Like I like it, just really is. I mean, I don't have trillions in dollars, I don't have a$30 million car collection and a mansion on the Miami beach or anything like that. But I all my bills are paid. I don't have to check menu prices. I can go buy a new car if I want to. You know, I I I live in a night, I own a home, it's nice. I, you know, I can my life is fucking awesome. My relationship with my kids is awesome. My relationship with my fucking now second wife is fucking amazing. Everything is awesome. And I just I think the power of positivity, just having a positive outlook on things, even on the bad days, will bring you that pot that great life. And I can see, you know, like I can feel through, you know, when when we interact or, you know, even through your content, I can feel that you are on a level that a lot of people are striving to achieve, but haven't achieved, not financially or anything, but you know, introspectively, like inside your heart, you are on a new level that that I think if everybody was on that level, life would be of vastly different for everyone. But before we wrap this up, I I'd like to hear just what do you what do what do you believe, or do you believe, I should say, the power of gratitude is a lot of what helped you to those to this new this new you know good life of yours.

SPEAKER_04 48:55

Yeah, I think um, well, to touch on what you were saying real quick, um just having that voice of my own, finding myself, my true self, and having that open voice of I don't fucking care if somebody disagrees because this is what I truly believe, and and it's not in any way um trying to dismiss those other people, but um it's I don't know, it's it's kind of hard to explain. Um just finding your voice, I think, is a huge accomplishment. And having having that um uh God, what's the word I'm looking for? I can't even think right now. Um I'm trying to think of the right word. Um not cur not courage, but um god damn it. What is it?

SPEAKER_01 50:02

Presence, the state of mind, perhaps.

SPEAKER_04 50:05

Well, just the when you when you're comfortable in your own skin, you know, yeah having that um what is the word for that? Now I'm thinking about it. I'm having the biggest brain fart right now, dude. Um anyway, it's just ha having that self-respect for yourself and knowing that you fucking deserve the esteem that self-esteem. Yeah, self-esteem, having the self-esteem and awareness to to know that you truly do matter, you should be grateful, or I should be grateful for everything that life has to offer, good or bad. I don't really see much things that I endure as bad more than they are learning experiences. And so I'm very grateful for everything that's came my way, good or bad, because it has truly shaped me into who I am, and I'm a great husband. I mean, my wife and I have our 20th anniversary coming up soon. I must be doing something right. Yeah, you are as a husband, and um you know I I love my family hard. I it's just I'm overall grateful for what life has to offer, good and bad. Like I said, it's it's you don't get one without the other. That's all and you're fucking you're extremely delusional if you think you can have one without the other, because you can't, because the world is is the universe is centered on balance, and it is what it is for every good thing you get, there's gonna be something negative that comes with it. Oh, yeah, or down the road.

SPEAKER_01 52:08

Well, and I always talk about balance because I'm a huge fan of balance, and I know there's people out there that ah, fucking balance, there's not always balance. No, there is always balance. It's uh it doesn't always work like people think it does. You know, you think you do one good thing and one bad thing's gonna come right after it, but that's not always the way it works, and vice versa. Sometimes you got to go through 10 years of bad shit to get to the rest of your life of the good shit, you know, like uh people that had shitty upbringings, you know, myself included, and uh, and so many others, millions and millions of others. I had to learn to look at that like this is the balance. The balance isn't Tuesday to Wednesday, the balance isn't January to February. The balance is the first part of my life to the last part of my life. That's the balance. Because, and and you know what? Going through everything I went through as a kid, I wouldn't wish on anybody. But going through that made me be able to appreciate what I have, be content with the things that I have and be able to love, you know, because there was a long time in my life, and I'm sure you felt the same at one point, where I didn't there was a time I didn't think I was gonna love anything. I was ever gonna be able to love anything. It was just endless hopelessness and you know, so yeah, it's that hollow. Yeah, hollow, feelingless, emotionless, just I'm just waiting to die. I'm standing in line, waiting to fucking die. Like that ain't no life for nobody. So uh we can wrap it up on this. You know, if if you're out there and you are in despair, you're in addiction of some sort, again, that can be anything, just like Kyle said. Uh, it can be gambling, it could be pornography, it could be alcohol, it could be drugs of all sorts, it could be anything that you're doing in massive amounts of quantities that is not a fucking benefit to your life. There is there is a better life waiting. You've just got to ex uh you know, exercise some discipline up front. Um, if you need some help, don't be afraid to ask. Like, you know, there are some of us that got out of it without the help, you know, or without asking. We probably could have done better if we had the help, if we did ask. Fucking ask, man. Don't don't let your life just tail spin into nothing.

SPEAKER_04 54:19

People definitely, there's I guarantee it, everybody listening, there's at least a handful of people in your life that truly do care about you. Absolutely. Whether you know know about it or not, and or whether you think so or not. They they definitely are there for you a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_01 54:36

Absolutely, and lean on them. They're they're that's what they're there for, you know. Your God put whatever you have in your whoever you have in your life there for a reason. Lean on them. Um so before we get to hopelessly human, before we get to all the housekeeping, I do wanna I I do want to touch on what that flag behind you on the wall. Who is that? Who is that honoring?

SPEAKER_04 54:57

Uh that's my father's flag. Um he actually.

SPEAKER_01 55:05

We don't have to break it all the way into it. We can uh we can, if you don't, you know, I can see that that is a I ask more for an for an honoring because it's I when I see a flag that means something to me. I don't give a fuck who has it, who it's for, like that means something to me. And I think that we just I just wanted to point out that that that is is an honorable that that is in memory or honor of an honorable person right there.

SPEAKER_04 55:31

Yeah, so that that was um on my dad's casket. Um he was in the army and um he we literally just had his uh April 9th is was his five-year uh burial date. I mean he actually overdosed, um, he died of a drug overdose. He was a drug addict my entire life, my siblings' entire life. Um over 50 years, he was a habitual addict. Like I'm talking shit that would have killed a normal person. And but he was a he was a great guy, you know, and through his flaws, whatever. But um the fucked up part is he overdosed in his bathtub and we didn't find him for seven days. So that that's a a memory I'll never get out of my head. But um yeah, man, it's so we had we had an awesome service for him. The honor guard, the the army was there. Um my club, my motorcycle club, we escorted him from the from the funeral home to the cemetery. It was just it was an amazing, amazing turnout. I mean, we had hundreds of bikes show up, and it was just overwhelming. It was awesome. Um, but yeah, that's that's my old man right there, and or his flag anyway. Yeah, well and I I appreciate everything that that represents.

SPEAKER_01 57:17

Uh and and anybody that knows what that represents, we appreciate it too. So, you know, here's to honor your old man. We'll make this episode for him. Thank you. Appreciate that. All right, let everybody know where they can find you.

SPEAKER_04 57:31

Uh well, if you want to after all this. They do, I promise. You can find me on Instagram, mainly unplugged conservative, or like I said, the people that know me, they know where to find me on Facebook. You can you can find me on Facebook. It's it's it's not hard. Um if you want to find some of the raw shit from 20 years ago that I was saying on on there, I promise it's still on there. And that I wanted to say that's one thing I find hilarious, man, with with this community that I found on Instagram, the political community, is they all think that they pioneered political political content.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

I was doing it in 2008.

SPEAKER_04 58:29

Yeah, it's like, come on, you know, and I made a I actually made a video saying that. Um saying, you know, I might be new here on this account, just a couple months old, but I can promise you that I put in my dues with the other platform and dealing with all the bullshit from Zuck and just everything. And so it's like when they're like, oh, I've been doing this since fucking from from COVID from 2020, it's like okay, add another 15 years, yeah, add another 15 years onto that to that fucking time span, and then you'll find me back there talking shit to everybody. But yeah, it's it's crazy, man. And I there's there's people in the community that I absolutely adore, they're great people.

SPEAKER_02 59:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:24

Um I just I just find it kind of comical. It's like some of these people they think they're fucking celebrities. And it's like, I promise you, you you're just a you're just a content creator. Don't let it go to your head. You're not curing childhood cancer. Right. You know, you're you're posting fucking videos, you're saying things into a camera. Let's not think it is something more than it isn't, because it is what it is. Well, I just like I said, it's nothing to be grateful for. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

I well, I just posted a meme earlier today, actually. Um, that uh yeah, Savagely Loud meme that said, if Facebook can hit one button and erase your entire life's achievements, you don't have any life achievements, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:11

That's the fucking truth.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

Right. Well, I truly do appreciate the hell out of you being on. I'm glad we had this conversation. Um, I I'm glad I know so much more about you now because uh makes me if nothing else, it validates that inner emotion I have. Like, you know, when you when you when you start finding somebody intriguing and you have a feeling that they might be one of the real ones, you know, you you like to get validated and find out that they are one of the real ones, and you definitely fucking are, brother.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:40

Well, I appreciate that, and I appreciate you extending the the open invite and and open arm to to have me on. So I definitely appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

Well, we're gonna we'll have you back again for sure because I know Dave's gonna want to talk to you because he likes you too. Um if you because Dave's not here, let me plug him. Uh, if you want to find Dave, Dave Anderson, the big bad Viking, you can find him at the hammer drops everywhere. Um, just look up the hammer. I think it's the dot hammer dot drops. You can find him everywhere. Um, he's a hell of a fucking good dude. Um, I I promise, you know, if you look at his content, it's it's something, it's some other shit you you're not used to. It's new. It's it's it's it's he's pioneering some shit in his own world. So I I he's got nothing but respect for me. Love you, brother. Um, go find him at the hammer drops, everybody. If you want to help me out, get these words out, get these truths out, you can follow me at savagely loud on Instagram, is where I'm most active. On that page, you're gonna find two links. One of those links is to the Savagely Loud Podcast page. If you could please follow us there too, it would greatly help with the help the show. The other link you're gonna find simple link tree anywhere you want to hear my bullshit, see my rants. You can find it there, easy peasy. Outside of that, Facebook X and Rumble at Savagely Loud, YouTube at Savagely Loud Podcast. Please don't forget to subscribe. You can email in at savagely loud at gmail.com. We'll definitely get to your communications. Uh, like, comment, share the material. Go follow Kyle. Unplug conservative everywhere. He's got the fucking some of the awesomest shit on the, you know, awesomest takes on the internet because they're they really are just questioning, inquisitive. He's he's not he's not afraid to push against status quo, and I appreciate the shit out of that. Um, all of that being said, guys, you know what time it is. We got down into the shit. We talked about addiction, we talked about death, we talked about all sorts of stuff. Now we gotta remind ourselves that a little bit of humanity still it still exists within humans themselves, with a little segment I like to call hopelessly human, and it starts a little bit like people can be hopeless.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:42

They can be quite in the way, but at the end of the day, some are hopeless stupid, some are hopelessly.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:54

Yes, yes, yes, some are hopelessly human, and this one is no different. This one comes to you from livealtitude.com or livealtitude.com. That kind of wordplay always messes me up. Uh, a homeless man helps a struggling elderly woman walk. A homeless man and a struggling elderly woman walk into a Starbucks together and sit down to enjoy a cup of coffee. At first, the woman seems nervous and uncomfortable being accompanied by a man that she doesn't know. The homeless man, whose name is I just scrolled and fucked it all up. The homeless man, whose name is Kenneth, notices his companion's discomfort and begins to reassure her that he's a nice person and he's just trying to be helpful. The two strike up a conversation and quickly learn that they both live in New York and they both walk their dog, uh they both love to walk with their dogs. As they finish their coffee, Kenneth realizes that the elderly woman has a problem. Her knees are too weak to walk all the way home, so Kenneth offers to walk her home. The woman is obviously reluctant at first, but Kenneth assures her that she that he knows the streets of New York like the back of his hand, and that he walks these streets almost every day. The woman agrees to walk with him and with Kenneth with Kenneth, and as they get to get up to leave, Kenneth quickly realizes that the woman is blind. After a few minutes of walking and getting to know each other, the woman confides in Kenneth in Kenneth that she believes that she's having a really hard time lately, and she's been feeling very depressed. Kenneth listens to this woman for a few minutes, and then he says the following You have no idea how lucky you are, do you? The woman is understandably confused and is see uh by this is seemingly random statement and asks Kenneth what he means. Kenneth replies, I mean that you have a roof over your head, food in your fridge, and you can walk outside whenever you want. You have no idea how lucky you are. This simple, profound simple but profound statement is exactly what the woman needed to hear at that moment. She finally realizes that she has a lot to be thankful for, and that and before she before she leaves Kenneth to walk home, she thanks him profusely and tells him that he made her day. The story of Kenneth and the woman that shows that our gestures of love can help beam hope and smiles to others. That's hopelessly human, and that's the show. Later, guys.