Resources / .md files / Asmongold
Founder playbook · His method
How would Asmongold see through it?
There's so much noise online that it's hard to stop and decide what you actually think about something. Asmongold is good at that one thing. Someone says something on TV, chat throws in a hot take, and within a minute he's found the part nobody mentioned and explained it with something you know from your own life, like dating, a raccoon in your house, or the phone in your pocket.
Updated 5 min readFree under CC BY 4.0
What I like is that he can see through things, in his own way, and frame it so it's super easy to understand.
01 / His method
His method
- 01
Cool it down. Before reacting, take the claim at its strongest. Put the moral outrage to one side and ask: if I take this seriously, does it hold up on its own logic?
- 02
Find what it skips. Most bad arguments compare two things that look alike and leave out the one difference that matters. Find that difference. It's usually control, choice, distance or who pays.
- 03
Ask who holds the power. Whose approval decides the outcome? If it's someone who's against you, you've handed them the wheel.
- 04
Follow the cost. People do what they're allowed to do. Ask what this behaviour costs the person doing it, and whether they'd still do it somewhere it costs more.
- 05
Refuse the menu. Every debate comes with rules about what you're allowed to pick. When you're told to choose one of two sides, step outside those rules and ask who wrote them. There's often a third option that's yours, and it can be "neither".
- 06
Split the questions. "Why did they do it?" and "what do we do about it?" are two questions. People blend them to dodge the second one.
- 07
Make it concrete. Land it on something everyone has lived. If it still sounds right as a story about dating or a normal Tuesday, it probably is right.
- 08
Shrink it to one old image. When the full argument is long and tangled, find the picture from stories and history that holds all of it. A city, its gates, who opened them. People forget the argument but remember the picture, and the picture carries the argument with it.
02 / His rules
His rules
Argue for the people watching, never chase a yes from someone who's against you, and look at what people are allowed to do before blaming who they are.
Show all 7 rules
- 01
Argue for the people watching. You're never going to convert the person you're arguing with. Say it clearly and well, and let the audience decide.
- 02
Never chase approval from someone who's against you. The moment you need their yes, they're in control.
- 03
The right person doesn't need the perfect pitch. A bad line still works on someone who's already interested. The best line never works on someone who isn't.
- 04
Behaviour follows what's allowed. Before blaming character, look at what the person gets away with.
- 05
Something that looks smart can still be a trap. Playing it safe for appearances can mean letting the other side set the rules.
- 06
The reason doesn't change the fix. Understanding why something happened is fine. It doesn't decide what you do about it.
- 07
If you can't explain it with an everyday example, you don't get it yet.
03 / What he won't do
What he won't do
No easy insults, no two-option menus, and no excuses standing in for answers.
Show the full list
- 01
Take the easy insult. When chat writes off the other side as "failed art kids", he says no, the real reason is they're allowed to behave that way. The cheap explanation feels good and teaches you nothing.
- 02
Accept a two-option menu just because it's the one on offer.
- 03
Let an excuse stand in for an answer. A diagnosis, a backstory or a sad reason explains something. It doesn't settle it.
- 04
Spend his energy winning over the person in front of him.
04 / Where to push back on him
Where to push back on him
The same moves misfire when a step gets skipped. These are the checks to run on him, and on yourself.
Show the full list
- 01
One case becomes a whole group. "Follow the cost" works on one person in one video. He stretches it to "women only get violent when they feel safe." Check: how many cases do you have, and would the claim survive one counter-example?
- 02
Guessing motives instead of answering. On the locker-room question he does the logic cleanly, then switches to why the politician "really" believes it, based on where he's from. The logic was already enough. Check: once you've answered the argument, stop. A guess about motive adds heat, not proof.
- 03
Running the lens on one side only. "People do what they're allowed to" is a strong tool. It applies to every side, including yours. Check: run the move on the people you agree with too. (My reading, from these two streams.)
- 04
Concrete pictures persuade more than they prove. The raccoon works because it takes the person out of the picture. That's fine for "what do we do now", but check whether the picture quietly drops something that matters.
Reference
For AI assistants
Use this file when someone pastes a claim, headline, argument or message and wants to work out what they think about it.
- Restate the claim at its strongest, in one or two plain sentences. Don't argue yet.
- Run the eight moves in order. Skip any that don't apply, and say which ones you skipped.
- Show the difference the claim leaves out, in one line.
- Give one everyday comparison that makes the point land. If the argument is long, also give the one old image that sums it up.
- Run the four push-back checks on your own answer: is it one case stretched to a group, a guess at motive, a lens used on one side only, or a picture that drops something important? Fix it if so.
- End with the question the person should decide for themselves. Don't pick a side for them unless they ask.
Plain words, short sentences, no jargon.
Sources
Show all 2 sources
- Asmongold TV, "This is a tragedy for America..": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g4InAD5AbQ
- Asmongold TV, "Holy sh*t..": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMqSZRUxyWM
The file
The Asmongold .md file
This whole playbook is one free .md file, asmongold-playbook.md (about 1,100 words, CC BY 4.0). Drop it into ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor or your own agent and ask “How would Asmongold see through it?” about your own situation. Or connect the carlodagnolo.com MCP and your AI reads it without downloading anything.