I watched https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA60MWi8bV4 by Philion and saw this:
That is not what a “set” means. He made this up and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I guess he assumed it’s like a comedy set. The image he put behinds the words looks like a comedy set.
The main people Philion is talking about including Mystery and Style (Neil Strauss). Strauss wrote a popular book, The Game, which Philion already brought up.
Having read The Game, I remember that it has a lengthy terminology section at the end. Since Philion is trying to teach pickup terminology in his video, you might expect him to have just copied all the definitions from the book. That’d be pretty easy. But he definitely didn’t do that because the book says:
SET- noun: a group of people in a social setting. A two-set is a group of two people; a three-set is three people, and so on. Sets may contain women, men, or both (in which case they may be referred to as mixed sets). Origin: Mystery.
A “set” refers to a group of people, not a pickup routine.
This one mistake seems to indicate that Philion didn’t actually do his research for this video; he’s just being a cheerleader for hating a particular outgroup without bothering to learn about the outgroup first. For example, he mocked the reality TV show The Pickup Artist, but after seeing this error I doubt he actually watched it.
Philion got a few more terms wrong, seemingly on purpose, to mock PUA. But here’s another one where I think he just doesn’t know what he’s talking about:
Compare with what The Game says a neg is:
NEG- noun: an ambiguous statement or seemingly accidental insult delivered to a beautiful woman a pickup artist has just met, with the intent of actively demonstrating to her (or her friends) a lack of interest in her. For example: “Those are nice nails; are they real?” 2. Verb: to actively demonstrate a lack of interest in a beautiful woman by making an ambiguous statement, insulting her in a way that appears accidental, or offering constructive criticism. Also: neg bit. Origin: Mystery.
Note how negs are ambiguous rather than negative. Negs are one of the most controversial and criticized ideas in PUA, so anyone very familiar with PUA, or with the debate about PUA and criticism of PUA, ought to know what it means. Philion’s ignorance is really showing.
Philion showed some bad things done by individuals like RSD Tyler and Julien. He did not attempt to actually explain or critique PUA’s ideas, and he doesn’t actually know what those ideas are (he should find out what they are before concluding that they’re bad). He’s a tribalist who wanted to flame the outgroup for views.
After text searching many of the ~2000 YT comments I was unable to find anyone who noticed the glaring factual errors. I did find this defense of PUA which I partly agree with:
1 month ago
bro, i watch your videos on fitness frauds and on misogynists but this is just pure clownery. the fact that you mentioned peacocking as something pickup artists do and promote today is telling enough for how wrong and outdated your information is. pickup artistry itself is just strategy, i am a hardcore feminist, and i go through pickup artist content (mostly john anthony lifestyle) regularly and don’t engage in predatory behaviour or coercion or maniupulative tactics. i’ve been using it since I was 18 and it has helped me immensely with my dating life. the fact that you mentioned negging and peacocking as tactics puas use in 2022 shows how shallow your knowledge is. i admit and know that the manosphere itself is full of misogynists, red-pillers, black pillers, incels, alpha males etc, but that is different from outright saying that pua which is just structured dating strategy for men, doesn’t work or is inherently misogynistic. all men need to do is find the right information, there are tons of frauds out there. yes there are frauds out there and yes some men are misogynistic, but that doesn’t mean you’re a loser because you’re interested in improving your social skills or ability to achieve the dating life you require. you just have an unsubstantiated belief that the right woman (or man, if that’s your deal) will automatically land in your laps, which is frankly laughable, and magical thinking. this is just a sad hitpiece on pua, but unless you’re going to ban men from talking to women they find attractive, your hitpiece will do nothing about men seeking out structured dating strategy, its redundant. all you’ll do is reduce harrassment, which is a good thing. i hope this comment convinces some men that improving your dating skills or social skills is not a bad thing or something to be mocked just avoid coaches who hate women, i suggest John Anthony Lifestyle or A.G Hayden.
I also saw another comment that I partly agree with:
1 month ago (edited)
great video, amazing quality.
I think the PUA scene is just, overall and extremely simply put, taking advantage of how our society makes your average man non desirable to your average woman.
PUA sky rocketed at around 2005-2013 or so.
Who were the main audiences at those times? 16 to 30 year olds. If we look at what the media was portraying for those people when they were growing up, you had backstreet boys (and i love many of their songs to this day) who sang mostly about emotional men that unless you were a backstreet boy, would not be attractive to many women.
Same with N-Sync, as much as I loved N-Sync, lets be real about the content of their music
As well as many movies. I am not saying men should be extra dominant or force women ofc, all im saying is that it made young men confused, and think that by “showing their emotions” is what women wanted. The PUA community was an “overcorrection” and oversimplified what a man needs to do to get girls, because lets be real, if u r in highschool at those times, unless you are the jock, you aint getting girls, which was also further reinforced by media(specifically movies)
This made a lot of people extra shy and “traumatized” to approach women, and thats why you had that one guy that did a practice set with the woman in this video where he just stood there and stared at her even when she said if he would like to take a seat, the guy is frozen stiff, to portray him as cringy rather then a poor soul that had what I could assume as a terrible childhood when it comes to socializing is rather mean, poor sod was just looking for solutions to his problem.
At the end of the day, I’d say many grow out of the “need” for PUA guidance and realize that they don’t need help getting women they just need to go out and do shit and it will happen naturally, not for all, but for most. there is a lot more that can be said and specifics I have skipped here such as fantasies created by social media (think Dan Bilzarian type) but that’s would become a book rather then a comment at that point :)
I found this one searching “set” and noticed that it misuses the word “set” based on the misinformation in the video. I also disagree with the attitude like just try to interact with women and improve naturally. It’s reasonable for men to seek some actual advice and guidance. And women don’t actually like it when men with terrible social skills try to flirt with them, ask them out, etc. Women prefer if men become more competent before approaching.
Both of these long comments had zero replies and zero upvotes. YT is a terrible place for thoughtful discussion.
