Jack Kruse and the Paleo Train Wreck

Oh, the Paleosphere just got really entertaining. If you’re blissfully ignorant of all the ins and outs of Who’s-Who in the Paleo world, then feel free to ignore this post. I kinda wish I could.

Not the Love Boat.

In short, Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb annual love boat was scheduled to take off from Galveston, TX a few days ago with Dr. Jack Kruse, the controversial guy on the Paleo scene. That’s not what ended up happening. Read the official account here.

A few weeks ago, a Twitter account popped up called Sh*tKruseSays that parodied Kruse’s manner of communication, often with direct quotes. If you were in the know, these were entertaining and made for a light chuckle in the slushpile of Tweets.

But then, just as the boat was getting ready to embark, police raided Kruse’s cabin and removed him from the ship. Why? It appears someone called Carnival Cruise line and warned them of a potential bioterrorism attack at the hands of Jack Kruse. Based on what? A parody Tweet that came from Sh*tKruseSays:

security confiscated dynamite. talk won’t be as explosive as one at PaleoFx. still have vial of Legionnaires for epic biohack. #lccruise12.

And now the Paleo fur is flying. Check out David Csonka’s blog post about it and the comments. (Way to get out there and be first with the story, David. Well played!)

Twitter was ablaze with all kind of speculation yesterday and it’s likely to continue into today. But this whole situation gives me a bad taste in my mouth. So here’s my take, and it’s not likely to be popular with everyone.

• Every time something like this happens, we rarely get all the details right away or in any manner resembling accuracy. So we should sit tight and let things unfold before we form any opinions of this matter. The internet is like an epic, global-scaled grapevine game. Remember that when you were a kid? If we humans can’t get a simple message from one end of a circle to the other, then I doubt we’re getting the story now.
• There is a camp in Paleo that has been vocal against Kruse. That’s fine with me, free speech and all. But this situation has devolved into accusations that he’s falsifying this encounter and milking it for what it’s worth. That’s pretty damn libelous. And even if that’s true, aren’t you just feeding into his ego-driven desires by broadcasting it?
• For Kruse’s part, they’ve turned this into a campaign against the folks behind the parody Twitter account. Which is ridiculous. The only person responsible for this mess is the person who called Carnival. Either they don’t understand modern humor or they maliciously twisted this for their benefit. I mean…I guess the latter is feasible…but man, I feel sorry for them if they think life is really about screwing over other people and getting some sort of revenge like that. What a waste of energy.
• I think this situation should serve as warning to all of us. This is what happens when minor petty disputes get mixed up online with a bunch of nosy ne’er-do-wells (present blogger included) and then add in a dash of feds. Shit gets serious really effin’ fast.
• What pisses me off about this is that it has made me feel sympathetic for Kruse. Assuming he didn’t craft this whole thing himself (I don’t think he did, though he may be milking the fallout), he had to endure something ridiculous, false, and embarrassing. I mean, they removed him from the boat! Can you imagine being a speaker at some conference and you are physically removed in front of everyone who came to see you speak? Holy shit, y’all. It’s a potential career killer.

I am not a fan of Kruse, I don’t jive with his schtick at all. But I’ve defended his right to let his freak flag fly in the Paleo world. I saw him at PaleoFX this year and people are clearly drawn to him for whatever their reasons. I’m not good enough in the science to dispute him on those grounds, but I find it easy to ignore him and coexist peacefully.

But this shit is starting to smack of bullying. And this is coming from someone who was slut-shamed all through high school: gum in the hair, being barked at in the hallways on the basis of a false rumor, crank phone calls, you name it. It sucked.

Ahh…Isn’t that better?

Jack Kruse is a human being. I feel silly having to remind us of that fact. You may not agree with his mission or how he’s going about that mission, but this active campaign against him is getting ugly and I want no part of it. Nothing is being served by all of us sticking our noses in and making mountains out of molehills. People who weren’t there and aren’t involved are slinging shit at Jack and Kruse’s camp is slinging shit about an ongoing investigation, and I say we’re all slinging shit in a vacuum that matters to a tiny niche of folks all connected by an ethereal, intangible circuit. Meaning, when the shit settles, nobody really cares who’s right or wrong and yet we all wasted time and energy with this crap.

It’s time we all minded our own business. Step away from the computer and go outside.

5/15/12 EDIT: As I suspected, it appears the whole thing was a massive misunderstanding. The caller was duped by the parody account and worried about a real threat of bioterrorism.

This whole episode has displayed some serious rifts in the Paleo community. Lots of collateral damage. It’ll be interesting to see how it all sorts out for AHS in August.

As for the two sides of this, I’m not sure who’s crazier—Jack, who used this opportunity to go after his detractors, or his dogged detractors, who used this opportunity to call him a lying liar and try to undermine him. And both ended up empty-handed. I bet the feds got a good chuckle out of the whole thing.

I hope we’re all embarrassed.