As to whether he views having a woman working for him as a contradiction when advocating for women to stay home, have children and homeschool: he doesn’t. “Not a contradiction at all,” he wrote. “I talk more about family than not having a family, about finding meaning outside of work than through it. This also applies to men.”
For many of his followers, it is not entirely clear if the account is genuine or satirical. He explained to BuzzFeed News that it’s a mix of both. He is genuine about the benefits of beef liver, but not breast milk ice cream. “I just find that adding a bit of fun, humor and exaggeration is helpful in bringing a bit of joy to such a tribal and severe dietary world,” said Carnivore Aurelius.
But there are themes and images at play that hint at more than just dietary advice and jokes. Curtis Dozier, an assistant professor of Greek and Roman studies at Vassar College, leads a project called headlights, which tracks and debunks the far-right’s co-optation of the classics and antiquity. Dozier told BuzzFeed News that the use of an avatar of a Roman statue — in this case, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a key adherent of the philosophy known as Stoicism — is a visual motif associated with certain far-right or neo-fascist accounts.
