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"This guy knows all the gossip, the ins and outs, the lashon hara of the Orthodox world. He’s an [expert] in... all the inner workings of the Orthodox world." (Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff) LATEST POSTS:
- Dennis Prager v Cedars-Sinai Lawsuit
- Dennis Prager Through Randall Collins: Interaction Ritual Chains
- What is a ‘Received Idea’?
- Jordan Bardella: The Manufacture of Normality
- Everyone Became Television: Bourdieu’s Warning and the 2026 Iran War
- Marine Le Pen
- The Coalition-Proximity Rule
- Nigel Farage
- Bernard Haykel: A Life Between the Text and the Gun
- Walker Connor (1926-2017)
- Benedict Anderson and the Nation as Imagination
- Anthony D. Smith: The Student Who Kept the Question and Rejected the Answer
- Ernest Gellner
- Eric Kaufmann: The Man Who Made the Majority Visible
- Dominic Cummings: A Biography
- Steve Lopez: The Last City Columnist
- California Historian Kevin Starr
- Stephen Kotkin: A Life in Power
- William T. Vollmann: An American Life in Excess
- Rod Dreher: A Life in Exile
BEST POSTS:
- * The Enlightenment Wasn’t Enlightened (6-23-26)
* Mr. Burge Draws The Line (6-23-26)
* 'Improving on Democracy' (6-17-26)
* People Leak To People Who Are Fun (6-11-26)
* Why Does Australia Produce So Many Great Journalists? (6-11-26)
* Steve Wynn and the Press: Power, Litigation, and the Contest Over Las Vegas (6-3-26)
* Sheldon Adelson and the Journalists (6-3-26)
* The Vigilant Animal: Thinkers Who Reject the Myth of Human Gullibility (6-2-26)
* The Cost of Refusing the Misunderstanding Myth (6-2-26)
* Show Me How It Travels (6-2-26)
* The Norm Explainers (6-2-26)
* Centering Marginalized Voices (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Washington Post put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What would it look like if the Financial Times put its reader first? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for the Los Angeles Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* What It Would Mean for The New York Times to Put the Reader First? (6-1-26)
* Why Wembanyama Lives on the Perimeter (5-31-26)
* The Emotional Palettes Of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco & Sacramento (5-27-26)
* The Administrative Capital: Sacramento Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* San Diego - The Quiet Republic (5-27-26)
* The Quiet Bar: San Diego Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* SF v LA Legal Culture (5-27-26)
* Why Talent Travels Poorly Between San Francisco and Los Angeles (5-27-26)
* San Francisco and Los Angeles as Rival Models of Urban Access (5-27-26)
* Social Cliques in New York, 2026 (5-25-26)
* Social Cliques in San Francisco, 2026 (5-25-26)
* The Rival Courts of Washington (5-25-26)
* The City of Private Rooms (5-25-26)
Category Archives: Charisma
People Leak To People Who Are Fun
The scholarly literature on leaking rests on a civic premise. The leaker, in this account, weighs the public interest against institutional loyalty and personal risk, and when conscience outweighs career, he goes to the press. The premise survives because it … Continue reading
Posted in Charisma, Journalism
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Decoding The Rise Of Zohran Mamdani
Unlike my friends who are 100% convinced that Zohran Mamdani will be a terrible mayor, I think there’s a decent chance that Mamdani will be a good mayor (about 10%) and a solid chance he’ll be an average mayor (20%). … Continue reading
What Makes Charismatic Rabbis Dangerous Rabbis?
ChatGPT says: Alliance Theory explains this pattern cleanly and without moral mysticism. The same traits that make a rabbi maximally effective at binding people emotionally also place them structurally closest to boundary failure. This is not about bad character. It … Continue reading
Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump
Gemini says: David Pinsof’s essay on charisma and Molly Worthen’s book, Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Donald Trump, function as mirror images of the same phenomenon. Pinsof provides a psychological and evolutionary framework for why … Continue reading
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Charisma Requires Managing Social Paradox
David Pinsof writes Feb. 2, 2026: Being charismatic means being good at social paradoxes. Think about a charismatic person—Elizabeth Holmes, Robert Downey Jr., Bob Dylan, whoever does it for you. What powers do they have? What can they do that … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Charisma, Economics, Status
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What Is Charisma?
David Pinsof writes: Being charismatic means being good at social paradoxes. Think about a charismatic person—Elizabeth Holmes, Robert Downey Jr., Bob Dylan, whoever does it for you. What powers do they have? What can they do that we can’t? Well, … Continue reading
Posted in Alliance Theory, Charisma
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Charisma: Micro-sociology of Power and Influence
Randall Collins writes in this 2020 book: Lawrence of Arabia is probably the most famous name to come out of World War I. It was a long grinding, muddy war in the trenches that ended more with exhaustion than victory, … Continue reading
MAGA’s Jew-Hatred Component Are Tiny
LF: “Nobody with anything to lose sides with Nick Fuentes. His Jew-hating crowd are marginalized losers and only a tiny portion of MAGA.” ChatGPT says: The panic about Fuentes often outstrips his real reach. Here’s how I’d map it. Fuentes’s … Continue reading
Posted in America, Charisma, Nick Fuentes
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Napoleon Never Slept: How Great Leaders Leverage Social Energy: Microtechniques of success from Jesus to Steve Jobs
Sociologist Randall Collins writes in this 2016 book: * Charismatic leaders get people focused. They turn their attention onto the same thing. They set in motion positive feedback loops: people in the group build up a shared emotion; the stronger … Continue reading
Posted in Charisma
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Ingredients of Charismatic Leadership
Posted in Charisma
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