Tik Tok Introductions
I first saw Justin on Tik Tok. Bright. Fast talking. Persuasive. He spoke well. Almost too well.
Was this just another charlatan ex convict selling prison info?
Or a legitimately passionate advocate for what really matters?
I had to find out myself. For those who know me its unsuprising that I unleash holy hell on those seeking to rip off federal criminal defendants. A vulnerable population in their time of need requires a shepherd with an .50 BMG and a long lens to keep the wolves away.
I dug into his prior videos, writings and website. I spoke to close colleagues and sure enough, he checked out. We had a brief chat and a podcast that had me feeling that I was in the presence of someon who had done the work.
The oracle of Delphi was once asked who the wisest man in Greece was, “Of all men Socrates is most wise”
Why? Because Socrates knew that he knew nothing.
The battle cry of the profoundly intelligent is an undying thirst for knowledge and the humility to ensure it is unquenched.
I knew instantly that Justin had done the hard excruciating work required to be a flawed human, as we all are, accept it and hold himself to a higher standard. Like me, he found his path through adversity, careful study, voracious reading but most of all overcoming a life changing event that caused him to face the man in the mirror.
Acknoweldge that man. Accept that man. And move forward.
Here’s the secret, the best of us have faced adversity and come out the other side. I wouldn’t trust anyone who hadn’t. But some of us are destroyed by it, not improved.
What’s the difference?
Why do some get eaten up and spit out?
Recovery requires that we step out of the cave and understand how our reality has created a profound sickness.
I uncovered this in “Truth & Persuasion: In a Digital Revolution”.
Here’s a secret readers don’t uncover until the book’s climax: despite its namesake this isn’t a book about persuasion—it’s about truth and its elusive nature. It explores the absence of truth in our external realities and the inherent subjectivity embedded within the concept itself. It explores fundamentally how the undertoe of wealth, success, and power erodes caution, truth, and reality. This has lead to spectacular downfalls of Sam Bankman Fried, Elizabeth Holmes, Harvey Weinstein, Sean Combs and many many more.
Both Holmes and Cicero thrust themselves into the harsh spotlight, fully aware of their deception. Fully aware of their fraud. The allure was irresistible—the siren song of capitalism, perceived success, and universal acceptance drowned out caution. Some might think this was a gamble. Incorrect. It was an addiction.
This was as much of a choice as Johnny Depp’s next Megapint.
Let me explain.
The $10 Billion Lottery Ticket
Icarus in a Lottery Ticket
Imagine you’ve just won a $10 billion lottery jackpot.
What’s your smartest move? Invest? Donate?
Surprisingly, the statistically safest option is tearing up that winning ticket. Approximately one-third of lottery winners declare bankruptcy within five years. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia further reports severe negative impacts on the financial health of lottery winners’ friends, family, and neighbors. And that’s just bankruptcy—few, if any, winners feel truly fulfilled, successful, or whole.
In a modern echo of the myth of Icarus, winners fly too high on the wings of sudden wealth—only to find those wings melted by the sun of relentless obligations, taxes, and the complexity of managing it all. The dark truth is that society’s obsession with “more” traps us in illusions of everlasting happiness, when in reality, the chase often yields emptiness.
A Princeton Study on the “$75k Plateau.” Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman and economist Angus Deaton found that emotional well-being increases with income only up to around $75,000 a year. Beyond that, money’s impact on happiness flattens out.
The Easterlin Paradox is a long-standing economic observation shows that once basic needs are met, surging national wealth doesn’t necessarily correlate with rising average happiness.
Wealth on its own, then, is no panacea. Jim Carrey once remarked, “I wish everyone could get rich and famous and have everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” Our culture can’t quite believe that truth, so we keep chasing. Members of the 27 club, a famed collection of stars that fell at the age of 27, would agree.
However, unlike Jimmi Hendrix or Amy Weinhouse, overdose is not usually the death sentence. The quick rise of modern capitalism quickens the fall as well. At her peak, Holmes commanded a net worth topping $4 billion. When federal fraud charges exposed the mirage, that wealth evaporated overnight, leaving her reputation in tatters and her future behind bars.
Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX) rocketed to multi-billionaire status via crypto investments, Bankman-Fried’s empire imploded under allegations of mismanagement and deceit. One minute he could hail Elon Musk on his personal cell phone the next he’s in a prison in the Bahamas.
What unites these tales? A deepening shared illusion that fortune equals fulfillment. Both Holmes and Bankman-Fried discovered too late that money without integrity is a hollow crown.
Perhaps they never had a chance to learn the rules.
Life Inside the Panopticon
Philosopher Jeremy Bentham developed the idea of a Panopticon—a prison with one central tower from which a single guard could observe inmates, who in turn had no idea if they were being watched. Fear of observation led them to police themselves.
Haunting concept, right? Yet Panopticons are everywhere.
Citizens are graded on social behaviors, from jaywalking to online comments. A low score can restrict basic freedoms like train travel.
Ring Doorbells and Neighborhood Apps film everything in a web of private surveillance. Suburban streets are dotted with doorbells that record every passerby, feeding footage to police or vigilante social-media watchers.
Government agencies in the U.S. also assemble vast data troves. The DEA scans license plates. Homeland Security tracks the movements of every individual, citizens and non-citizens alike. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau keeps tabs on businesses. While these programs often start with a rationale like “public safety,” they erode personal freedom as data systems become more advanced and interconnected.
More on that—and Elon Musk’s role—in a future Substack piece.
Subscribe
In the private sector, your boss can watch your computer idle time. Social media collects and sells your data for targeted ads. Even the simplest detail—like your grocery list—becomes fodder for an algorithm.
Surveillance swiftly turns punitive. Once you’re flagged, de-platformed, or “canceled,” redemption can be nearly impossible. This is the modern Panopticon’s power—a permanent digital record that never forgets your mistakes.
The Bystander Effect
Online, we often jump onto digital dogpiles or let them unfold without intervening. It’s a new form of the bystander effect, where we assume someone else will check the facts or come to the rescue—yet rarely does anyone do so. Meanwhile, reputations are dismantled at breakneck speed.
Confirmation Bias and Echo Chambers intensify the Panopticon’s hold. Algorithms feed us only what we agree with, nudging us to scorn dissenting views. Instead of engaging in genuine discourse, we cling to illusions that reinforce our existing beliefs and insecurities.
The Danger of Disconnect
When disconnected from authenticity, our minds imprison rather than liberate us. We become trapped behind invisible bars built from societal pressures, digital manipulation, and personal ambition. Thoreau’s experiment at Walden Pond—an attempt at self-reliance— stepping away from the collective mania to discover what truly matters could not be copied today.
Go ahead, try it. I’ll wait.
Today, few of us can just wander into the woods to “live deliberately,” but the underlying principle remains relevant: question the illusions, step out of line—if only mentally.
For even a Thoreau-esque retreat has been comodified by greed.
Billy McFarland’s “luxury” music festival fiasco duped attendees with Instagram illusions of success and exclusivity. The reality was a disastrous campsite, frenzied chaos, and zero authenticity. Self help retreat peddlers give you more stystems, strategies and cold plunges and preach disconnection. None help. They all stand for the proposition that we would all rather spend a few bucks feeling like we are doing something good for ourselves than actually doing it.
Shadow Work and Radical Honesty
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti
There’s hope and we can take a page out of the book of an unlikely hero.
Johnny Depp was canceled, hard. A stormy relationship, accusations of domestic violence, and a $50 million defamation suit thrust him into a media maelstrom. Yet he met it head-on at trial. Depp openly discussed addiction struggles and childhood trauma—owning his shadows instead of hiding them.
His authenticity struck a chord. Deep down, we admire the courage to be fully real.
Amber Heard, by contrast, presented a meticulously curated persona. Under cross-examination, cracks emerged, particularly around her unfulfilled charity donations. It became clear how quickly the digital mob shifts when a public mask slips.
The inauthentic rest on a house of cards that is easy to crumble. It may reach higher than a lowly log cabin but their fall is seen for miles.
The lesson? People long for raw humanity in a world full of illusions. They crave crucifying the inauthentic.
Breaking Free of the Cave
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave describes prisoners who know only shadows cast on a wall, mistaking them for reality. When one prisoner escapes and sees the sunlight, he realizes the shadows were mere illusions. Translated to our era, we must walk out of our digital caves—curated online personas, endless corporate surveillance, the illusions of “wealth equals happiness”—to see what’s truly real. Yet the harsh light of authenticity can sting at first. It demands courage, self-reflection, and humility. And it often contradicts the narratives society uses to keep us in line. But the payoff is a measure of freedom no amount of money can buy.
Individuation and True Freedom
Carl Jung referred to individuation as integrating the shadow, the parts of ourselves society deems unlovable or inconvenient. Johnny Depp’s public confrontation with his personal darkness is an example of turning vulnerability into power. By contrast, Elizabeth Holmes and Sam Bankman-Fried tried to “manage the narrative” at all costs, which only deepened their spiral when reality punctured the illusion.
To break free from the modern Panopticon, we must do more than tear off a monitoring bracelet. We have to dismantle our self-imposed limitations—the illusions we’ve internalized.
- Digital Minimalism: As Cal Newport suggests, periodically uninstall or mute notifications. Limit social media usage to curated intervals. Regain control over your time and attention.
- Cultivate Non-Material Goals: Prioritize meaningful relationships, creative pursuits, or community service. Studies show people who invest in experiences over possessions report higher long-term well-being.
- Embrace Radical Honesty: Journaling, therapy, or honest conversations can help you face your shadow, strip away facades, and find a sturdier sense of self-worth than external validation offers.
- Question the Crowd: Before leaping into a digital dogpile, consider alternative viewpoints or deeper contexts. Recognize how biases might be stoking the flames.
- Stoic Mindset: Channel Marcus Aurelius or Epictetus: focus on what you can control, and detach from the rest. True power starts with self-mastery.
Beyond Shadows
If you find yourself trapped in a carefully curated persona—be it a social media projection, a corporate façade, or the never-ending quest for “more”—remember that the door to the prison is already unlocked. You hold the key. It’s called authenticity. Once you step outside and see the sun, the shadows lose their power.
Wealth, status, and adulation can be fleeting illusions if they’re not grounded in personal truth. And no digital system, no guard in the tower, no scorching spotlight of cancel culture can cage a mind unafraid to be genuine. The ultimate victory in our modern Panopticon is recognizing that while you may be seen, you are also free—if you dare to see yourself first.
By Ronald Chapman
