My Coming Out of the Closet Post

byJacobZwack

341 followers

3 hrs ago

About The Executive Prankster: The Art of the Duality

Mood: Unapologetic / Philosophically Dark

"I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, sir. The Jungian thing, sir."

— Private Joker, Full Metal Jacket

In Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, Private Joker wears a helmet that says "Born to Kill" while simultaneously wearing a peace symbol button on his lapel. The Colonel asks him about it. Joker calls it "The Duality of Man."

It is the conflict of the human condition: the capacity for kindness and the capacity for cruelty existing in the same vessel.

But in 2025, that duality isn't just a philosophical concept. It is the lie we live every day. The "Duality of Man" has metastasized into the Duality of Society. We are a culture of shiny packaging wrapping up absolute rot.

The Patriotism Paradox

We claim to "support the troops," but that phrase has become a bumper sticker, not a behavior. We have stripped the thankfulness and appreciation away from the humans inside the uniforms and turned them into political props.

We tell ourselves they are all there out of pure, unadulterated patriotism. But let's look at the assembly line. Sure, some chose to be there for the flag. But how many were rolled off the assembly line with simply less to live for or more to gain? How many saw the military not as a calling, but as the only escape hatch from a poverty-stricken town that the American economy forgot?

And let’s be honest about the concept itself. As the playwright George Bernard Shaw famously noted:

"Patriotism is, fundamentally, a conviction that a particular country is the best in the world because you were born in it."

Patriotism is a geographic accident.

Everyone is a "patriot" of their own country. We are all just fighting over lines drawn on a map by dead men. We send our "assembly line" youth to die in the name of "peace," while the war machine keeps the stock prices high. It is the ultimate deceptive package: A box labeled "Freedom" that contains nothing but "Profit."

The Big Short Con

If you want to see the terrifying spectrum of human capacity—the "Duality" in its most violent form—you don't need to look at Hollywood. You just need to look at the industry I work in.

Look at The 2008 Financial Crisis.

For years, the "Smartest Guys in the Room" sold us the shiny box: The AAA Rating. The "Safe" Investment. The American Dream of homeownership backed by the titans of Wall Street.

And inside the box? Toxic assets wrapped in dog sh*t wrapped in a bow.

The same "Captains of Industry" who wore the $5,000 suits and preached "market stability" were knowingly betting against the very American families they were claiming to help. They crashed the world economy, wiped out retirement funds, and then toasted with champagne on balconies while people lost their homes.

It’s because Deception is the Currency of Power.

This isn't an accident; it's a strategy. Robert Greene warned us about this in the 48 Laws of Power, specifically Law 37: Create Compelling Spectacles.

"Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power — everyone responds to them... Dazzled by appearances, no one notices what you are really doing."

— Robert Greene

The "shiny box"—the marble lobbies, the complex financial instruments, the suits—was never the gift. It was the smoke screen. Just because the package looks expensive, doesn't mean the contents aren't poisonous.

The Assembly Line Soul

We are integrated into this machine of deception before we can speak.

We are pushed through enforceable school routines—not to learn critical thinking, but to learn schedule compliance. We are graded, stamped, and sorted.

The legendary George Carlin called this out perfectly years ago. He warned us that the "owners" of this country don't want critical thinkers; they want:

"Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept these increasingly shittier jobs."

— George Carlin

The duality here is the Illusion of Choice vs. The Reality of Survival.

We are told we are free, yet the economy forces us into whatever box pays the rent. We forsake our passions to work those "shittier jobs" just to keep a roof over our heads that we are rarely inside because we are too busy working.

The Chemical Paradox

And how do we cope with this fake reality? We consume.

On one hand, we have the Profit of Poison: Alcohol, food dyes, and additives that inflame our bodies.

On the other hand, we have the Profit of the Cure: Big Pharma shoving anti-depressants in our faces to fix the problems caused by the lifestyle they sold us.

I know this cycle because I am its best customer.

I am in recovery. I have been fighting this battle for over half my life. I don't brag about my "time" or collect chips for applause because I've had relapses. I keep my head down and pledge to AA because it’s the only place that seems to understand that the "normal" world is the crazy one.

I also struggle with mental health. It moves in two-year cycles—a darkness that makes the mind too busy to function. So, I take the Sertraline. I take the Gabapentin. I numb the noise so I can put the suit back on and get back on the assembly line.

I am the perfect economic unit: I bought the poison to cope with the world, and now I buy the pills to cope with the poison.

Dr. Gabor Maté explains this bullshit cycle perfectly in The Myth of Normal. He argues that what we call "pathology" (addiction, depression, anxiety) is often just a normal human response to an abnormal, toxic culture.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

— Jiddu Krishnamurti (often cited by Dr. Gabor Maté)

We aren't sick because we are broken; we are sick because we are trying to survive a system that isn't designed for humans. We are medicating our natural reaction to an unnatural world.

The Ultimate Duality: Coming Out of the Closet

And now, for the final reveal. The piece of the puzzle that makes this entire persona a liability—or a masterpiece, depending on your perspective.

For years, I have kept this part of my life hermetically sealed. I have built a firewall between my day job and my night thoughts. Why? Because in my industry, perception is absolute. We are trained to be blank slates, perfect mirrors for our clients' aspirations. To have an opinion—especially a dark, satirical one—is considered professional suicide.

But keeping the firewall up is exhausting. And frankly, it’s dishonest. If I’m going to talk about the Duality of Society, I can’t hide my own. I am done pretending that the suit is the only thing that exists.

I am coming out of the closet.

I am not scared to be ridiculed as an "unprofessional prankster" because I have already mastered the game of being "professional." By day, I am a Minnesota Real Estate Agent.

I wear the suit. I navigate the market. I guide families through the most expensive transactions of their lives with absolute fiduciary seriousness. I am good at what I do.

But I refuse to let that title define the entirety of my existence. There is a fear in my industry that if you crack a smile, if you have a personality, or if you—god forbid—admit that life is absurd, you will lose clients.

I say the opposite. The fact that I can see the absurdity of the world is exactly what keeps me sane enough to navigate it for you. My clients get the "Born to Kill" efficiency. This site gets the "Peace Symbol" release.

The Happy Hour Paradox

This duality follows me everywhere, even to the local bar on the weekends.

You will often find me there on a Sunday, watching the game, completely sober. But unlike everyone else, I’m not there to spend money. I’m there to make it.

I work a side hustle at the bar. Why? Because I like getting paid to watch sports. But there is a deeper, more delicious irony that keeps me coming back.

I watch other real estate agents—my competition—walk in wearing their Sunday best. They are buying rounds, flashing credit cards, and paying a premium just to be in the room, desperately trying to "network" and build clientele through a haze of alcohol.

They are paying for attention. I am getting paid to command it.

While they burn capital trying to look successful, I am stacking cash while soberly analyzing the playing field. It is the perfect microcosm of the industry: The noisy ones are spending, and the quiet ones are earning.

I am the Executive Prankster because I am the Professional Agent. You cannot have one without the other.

Why I Chose to Be "The Joker"

So, why does a grown man run a site dedicated to pranks, humor, and satire? Why adopt the persona of the "Joker"?

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the renowned risk analyst and investor, put it best:

"My major hobby is teasing people who take themselves & the quality of their knowledge too seriously."

Because Humor is the only rational response to an irrational world.

When the "Heroes" are monsters, when the "Patriots" are pawns, and when the "Health Care" system is a drug dealer—sanity becomes a liability. The weight of this world is too heavy to carry if you take it seriously.

I didn't start this journey to sell you a product. I started it because I needed a release valve. I needed to look at the assembly line, the fake patriotism, and the monsters in tuxedos, and simply laugh.

I am the Comic Relief in a tragedy. As Mark Twain famously observed:

"The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven."

And as the Steve Miller Band sang:

"I'm a joker

I'm a smoker

I'm a midnight toker

I sure don't want to hurt no one

I'm a picker

I'm a grinner

I'm a lover

And I'm a sinner

I play my music in the sun"

I'm doing exactly that. Curating these gifts—this collection of absurdity—is me playing my music in the sun.

But "playing my music" isn't just about this website. It is about networking with the Minnesota community that I love. It’s about connecting with the hospitality industry, learning the stories of the streets, and selling real estate with my mask off. Whether I'm closing a deal or sharing a laugh at a local hub, I am doing it out in the open, refusing to hide the duality anymore.

If you are going to be criticized for not fitting the mold, you might as well have fun doing it. I choose to be the Joker because it is a rejection of the "seriousness" that keeps the machine running.

Elon Musk said:

"I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary."

For me, being "extraordinary" means refusing to buy the lie. It means wearing the "Born to Kill" helmet because we have to survive the war of modern life, but keeping the "Peace Symbol" on our lapel so we don't lose our souls.

That is why I am here. To remind you that the box is empty, the game is rigged, and the only way to win is to laugh.

Welcome to the duality.