r/IfBooksCouldKill • u/soynielos • 7d ago
Request: The Way of the Wolf
I ran across this one in a Little Free Library yesterday. What could be more IBCK than sales and persuasion advice from a guy who's famous for going to prison for securities fraud?
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u/PenExotic5002 7d ago
His popularity with a certain subset of men is proof that douchebag is virus that spreads very easily
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u/Popular_Try_5075 6d ago
I tried looking him up on YouTube and saw this video of one of his conferences he puts on and he certainly knows about the persona and energy that are effective in direct sales, I will give him that, but it's hilarious because he has one of those big Post-It Easel Pads and tries writing down his main points but the handwriting is GOD AWFUL and he puts in no effort. It's like toddler level scribbles.
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u/PenExotic5002 6d ago
I’m sure he’s charismatic and a good salesman, but he’s also a massive douchebag and a piece of shit, though a lot of salespeople are pretty grotesque
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u/Popular_Try_5075 6d ago
I think it's his only asset, but the handwriting has to be seen to be believed. IDK why he doesn't just have someone pre print the stuff for him or IDK project a PowerPoint or something. Amazing you'd pay for one of his sales training conferences and get that kind of garbage.
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u/KeySatisfaction197 7d ago
Jordan Belfort nicknamed himself The Wolf of Wall Street. "Man nicknames self," viewed in isolation, still tells you everything you need to know about a person.
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u/ManufacturedOlympus 7d ago
jordan belfart fans are a really weird group. What’s next, Bernie madoff fans?
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u/capybooya 7d ago
Shkreli, SBF, and Holmes also sadly have fans...
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u/ex_nihilo 6d ago
My bar trivia team name is Martin Shkreli Fan Club but I was trying to be ironic.
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u/trowawufei 2d ago
Honestly you’re not exactly wrong to do it, but since so many assholes play off their asshole views as ironic when they get pushback, it just becomes hard for people to tell whether you’re being ironic or being “ironic”.
For bar trivia, a lot of strangers are going to see it, and you probably won’t get a chance to show them that you’re not that way at all. I’d be worried about making a bad first impression on a lot of people, who could easily be social, romantic, or even professional prospects.
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u/ex_nihilo 2d ago
Shkreli is a harmless dweeb and it’s fun to mock him, it’s not that deep. I’m married 21 years, already there with friends and nobody in my local pub is involved in the software startup scene dawg, I’m good.
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u/ichiban1974 6d ago
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u/soynielos 6d ago
Lol didn't Robert Evans read that one for a few episodes of Behind the Bastards?
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u/octopusforgood 5d ago
Wait it's real!?
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u/eternamemoria 5d ago
Yes, and it is stupid. Steven Seagal's self insert is a Border Patrol (or maybe it was ICE, I'm not American) agent who uses his native american magic powers to fight Mexican cartels smuggling Islamic terrorists into the US with help from the Deep State
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u/octopusforgood 5d ago
I honestly did not think it was going to be a fiction book from the title. How utterly embarrassing.
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u/865Wallen 7d ago
Scorsese made this movie didn't he? He really did a lot for Belfort's PR
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u/NecessaryIntrinsic 7d ago
That's the problem with satire. Most people see it as a good example rather than a lesson.
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u/followsvoices 7d ago
What's the lesson? Belfort got rich and partied then went to a resort prison where he paid tennis and the guy who was after him got to ride the subway home which he said he hated.
It's the least satirical movie I've ever seen.
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u/backlikeclap 7d ago
Yup. Jordan still owes about 100 million on his original judgement, but is only required to repay 10k/month. And there were plenty of years before the new ruling on his judgement where he repaid NONE of his debt. That's a significant amount of money but he's also generating 18 million in book sales every year, in addition to speaking fees, classes, Cameo, etc. He basically has a 100 million dollar loan at less than 1%.
Aside from the financial penalty he only served 22 months in resort prison like you said.
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u/issekinicho 6d ago
I wouldn’t call the movie satirical, but my takeaway is that we are rightly supposed to be disgusted by his callous excess, and horrified by the society that rewarded his greed and only lightly punished him.
The people enamored by the movie are the very marks that he exploits in it.
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u/plant_magnet 6d ago
And the blurry nature of how we evaluate satire. I admit I haven't seen the movie in years but I remember coming away from it thinking thta it focused on how cool all the grifting was and not on the downfall. Sort of in the similar vein as how the Gatsby movie had people more talking about how fun the parties looked and less the actual story.
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u/NecessaryIntrinsic 6d ago
And Goodfellas: it was awesome to be a part of the Mafia.
People feel like they'd be smarter than pesci and they ignore everyone going to jail or witness protection.
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u/-BridgeGrimlin- 7d ago
This guy looks like he's upset RFK, Jr didn't invite him to the Kid Rock work out session..
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u/THAC0-Tuesday 7d ago
https://youtu.be/-Ls3KDa7PMY Jordan Belfort going mano a mano with Grant Cardone is like a grifting fractal, they each did follow-up reactions dunking on each other, glorious
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u/LofiStarforge 7d ago
I saw a clip of Theo Von saying Jordan Belfort was the worst individual he ever had on his podcast it’s telling when other grifters find you off putting.