Dave Ramsey Gazelle Intensity and the PF Blogosphere
January 31st, 2008 by Ana
Dave Ramsey is pretty big in the personal finance blogosphere. Whether you love him or hate him, he gets a lot of posts published about him as a “financial guru” (or “hypocrite” or “con man” or “cult leader” or even “liar” as one recent blog mentioned!) and also about his get-out-of-debt ideas.
There’s a considerable amount of bloggers on each side of the fence. I am firmly in the “love Dave Ramsey” camp. Some are firmly in the “hate Dave Ramsey” camp. But there is actually a third camp, and this is the group that makes me bite my fingertips: people who blog about Dave Ramsey without really knowing what he says or writes! There are quite a few in this camp who might read a snippet on another blog and pop off without doing all the research. Then there are a few who will take the time to do a little research over at DaveRamsey.com but still not really understand what the message is.
I’m going to pick on PaidTwice (with her permission!) and her misunderstanding of the Dave Ransey term “gazelle intensity.” She posted today saying she isn’t a gazelle, but a cheetah …. ummm … yeah she hasn’t been through Financial Peace University or attended a Live Event to see Dave Ramsey’s whole gazelle-and-cheetah routine.
I tried to warn her before it posted that she didn’t really want to call herself a cheetah in the same post as mentioning Dave Ramsey. She says she read the explanation on the Dave Ramsey site about gazelle intensity, and even links to it. Now I will agree with her that this specific explanation doesn’t capture the true meaning.
Along with being the fastest mammal on dry land, cheetahs are predators … and that is the metaphoric way Dave Ramsey uses them to represent credit card companies and in general any pure lending company that exists only by “feeding” off of people. They are definitely the fastest in the financial world when it comes to slapping fees on their customers!
The whole idea of gazelle intensity comes from a Bible verse in Proverbs: “Deliver yourself like the gazelle from the hand of a hunter.” Dave Ramsey says he didn’t understand that verse until he saw the gazelles and the cheetah on the Discover channel and watched the clips of gazelles running to escape the faster cheetah. Gazelles run and bob and weave and dodge because their very lives depend on it! Dave Ramsey says this is how you should get out of debt, since your very financial life depends on it if you want to thrive as well as survive.
So even after her explanation, why would I still insist she shouldn’t want to be “cheetah intense?” Well I watched that same Discover channel show on the gazelles and the cheetahs … and cheetahs have NO staying power. They are very fast sprinters, but give up quickly since they only catch one gazelle in 19 chases. They’re really not very sucessful either at catching the gazelles, all in all. The gazelle gets away 18 out of 19 times! I’ll take my chances on the gazelle side of this equation, even though I don’t consider myself to be truly gazelle intense. More on that last bit in another post…
Posted in Dave Ramsey |
January 31st, 2008 at 3:21 pm
And, as I said to you in the first place - that if there’s an official “definition” of gazelle intensity, and I read it, but it isn’t actually “gazelle intensity” - there’s a failure to communicate effectively there.
I do like randomly shouting CHEETAH though.
I just don’t take the entire analogy all that seriously. I think *that’s* the difference in your three camps. There are devotees, haters, and those who think he’s interesting but aren’t complete fangirls (or boys). I like the overall message but I’m not devoting my existence to studying it. I’m commenting on a widely available and publicly posted definition and my take on it.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:23 pm
And I bet 18 out of 19 tries to get out of debt fail.
I shall change that… but um, I’m not going to train cheetahs to be better hunters. They have sharp claws.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
[…] Dave Ramsey Gazelle Intensity and the PF Blogosphere at DebtFREE-Revolution […]
January 31st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I read her post before I came here. I just figured that {like she said} she had never read all of the book, listened to or now, watched the show, taken the class or been to see him live. But, yes, when she called herself a cheetah, I cringed!
January 31st, 2008 at 3:31 pm
PT: Well, you probably have several DR fans who read your blog, and yes we are ALL cringing at you calling yourself a cheetah!
You are probably right about the correlation of get-out-of-debt statistics and the cheetah’s success rate. I’d personally love to see the debt reduction success rate much higher though!
January 31st, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Oh, I love this post! Us Dave-ites are gazelles, NEVER cheetahs. You explained this brilliantly. I’m definitely in the “love him” camp.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Jen, you of all people should know better than to feed the ego LOL For the record PT is not a DR-follower, though I did try to get her to sign up for MyTMMO site
January 31st, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Y’all tell Dave to get better website editors. This isn’t the first time his followers have disagreed with an “outsider” reading his website and finding it doesn’t line up with what the followers preach.
How is one supposed to understand gazelle intensity if the official explanation at the source is, as Ana says, “doesn’t capture the true meaning”?
I didn’t criticize Dave. I do like shouting cheetah.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:58 pm
PT…I’ll try my best to pass that on! It’s annoying to me also.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I believe, at least for me, that it is better to take the pieces you agree with from multiple sources and come up with a Success Map that works for you. At the end of the day even a good plan followed is better than a great plan in a drawer!
Fun Post!
January 31st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
CHEETAH!
Try it, it is fun to yell.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:03 pm
PT, more fun to hear DR scream it live
February 1st, 2008 at 6:00 am
[…] out, and basically did everything I warn against on this blog. Perhaps we were a little too gazelle intense in December and should have taken a little vacation before we ended up blowing things as badly as […]
February 1st, 2008 at 8:19 am
I think the Ramsey fans should lay off PT and her cheetah screaming. He doesn’t have the definition of “gazelle” or “cheetah” copyrighted so if someone else wants to make up their own (better) interpretation then I think that’s ok.
If anything PT is giving Ramsey a little bit more exposure!
Mike
February 1st, 2008 at 8:59 am
I’m in the “love DR” camp, and yes, I did cringe at PT calling herself a cheetah. And, PT, I always think of cheetah’s when I see debt consolidation, credit card, and payday loan commercials. The point is that most people are ignorant to the fact that that’s what these institutions represent. In the end, it’s an analogy. Good or bad? That depends on the individual.
In reality, what does it matter? You can call yourself a cheetah all you want. You can be a cheetah, and I can proudly be a gazelle.
February 1st, 2008 at 11:48 am
[…] of cheetahs and gazelles, Ana at DebtFREE-Revolution is out to set the blogosphere straight on the origin and meaning of those phrases. After all, lots of people have heard Dave Ramsey’s terms without having ever read or […]
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I read Dave Ramsey’s book, Total Money Makeover about three weeks ago, after some initial resistance. He just seemed so cheesy, with his radio program and all of the products he sells to people who are supposed to be saving their money!
However, after reading the book (and even DURING the reading of the book!) I found myself becoming much more motivated and inspired to get ‘gazelle-intense’ about my debt, and to not only stop complaining about working two jobs (50 hrs a week) while attending school, but to ask for MORE hours!
As for the cheetah comment, paidtwice, I didn’t even remember that from the book. . . . (-:
February 4th, 2008 at 6:09 am
I’ve made a sport of killing cheetahs. I’ve got the last one in my sights and I’m about to pull the trigger.
I complimented cariboudoggy on the TMMO boards once by calling her a gazelle who chases cheetahs!!! They run scared from her. She is INTENSE!!! I bow down at her feet and chant, we’re not worthy!
March 20th, 2008 at 6:47 am
Since I posted that comment, I went to Dave’s live event (again, went once several years ago)…and he has projection screens of a cheetah chasing a gazelle, and he’s saying things like, “You can rent to own this, 90 days same as cash, 0% balance transfer offer, 0% car deal offer, this credit card has reward points….” and on and on…while you’re totally getting emotionally worked up watching this cheetah chase the baby gazelle, thinking the baby gazelle is going to lose….but then the cheetah poops out and quits, thank God. (DR said it was really hard to find video of the gazelle winning.) BUT it’s really effective–you get it burned into your brain–the cheetah is the creditmonger, and all those “sweet deals” are traps, and associate fear and flight with all your might with the creditmongers.
Then he shows footage of the mama and baby gazelle chasing the cheetah at full speed! (Photoshopped of course.) So I thought I was being original when I called cariboudoggy a gazelle who chases cheetahs, but it’s in his live event!!!
Killed my last cheetah YESTERDAY! I’m a gazelle happily moseying about my cheetah-free savannah.