Elite Overproduction, Schlub Feminism, Ben Shapiro
My appearance on The Ben Shapiro Show + links and recommendations
You can now catch my discussion with Ben Shapiro. Starts at 54:38.
Links for Spotify and Apple Podcast.
NYC Event:
You are invited to attend my live event with author and professional boxer Ed Latimore in New York City. September 18 at 6pm. Details and registration here.
From the archives:
A Memoir Is Not a Loose Heap of Personal Anecdotes. An assortment of thoughts and the paradox of suspense
The Only Reading App I Use:
I’ve been using Readwise since April of 2021.
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter/X, you’ll know I regularly share screenshots like this from books or articles I’ve read:
These screenshots come from my Readwise app.
Readwise aggregates your reading highlights from various sources like Kindle, Apple Books, Substack, Twitter, and so on. It stores your highlights in one place, making it easier to stay on top of your reading.
Each morning, it emails me 8 random excerpts from different books I’ve read. Since 2021, that daily message has been a quiet ritual for me: fragments from books I half‑forgot are resurfaced, like my own past self giving me a tap on the shoulder.
Moreover, when I’m thinking about a particular topic, a quick search pulls up not just my notes but every highlighted Kindle passage I’ve ever saved on the topic.
Exclusive Offer for My Readers
Use this link → https://readwise.io/robkhenderson/ to try Readwise free for 60 days (double the length of the standard free trial).
I suspect, like me, you’ll wonder how you ever read without it.
Links and recommendations:
How to Read a Society by Theodore Dalrymple
Why and how to write things on the Internet by Ben Kuhn
The Death of the Amex Lounge: Why the Upper Middle Class Isn’t Special Anymore by Nick Maggiulli
IQ is the most predictive variable in social science* by Emil O. W. Kirkegaard
MeToo killed schlub feminism by Phoebe Maltz Bovy
Literature Has Become a Playground for Marxists by Liza Libes
Follow me on Instagram here. The platform is less volatile and more chill than Twitter/X, so I post some spicier excerpts from my readings on my IG stories
You can follow me on TikTok here
Three interesting findings:
1. Elite overproduction occurs when a society produces too many people who feel entitled to high status and try to form alliances with genuinely marginalized populations in order to depose existing elites and install themselves in their stead. (source: We Have Never Been Woke by Musa al-Gharbi).
2. When you fuse discipline and work ethic with extraversion and openness to experience—essentially reward and novelty seeking—you end up with someone who is autotelic, or agentic; a person who makes things happen in life. (source).
3. People who see themselves as victims often believe they have license to mistreat others. The underlying moral logic is, “Because I’ve been wronged, I can do no wrong.” This mindset can fuel selfishness, aggression, and even a desire for revenge. (source).
The paperback version of Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class is now available.
If you have gained any value from this newsletter want to support my work, please buy a copy today. For yourself. For a friend or a loved one. If you can’t afford it, please support your local library.
Order your copy now:
Audible (I narrated the audiobook myself)
I happened to write on elite overproduction last week but adding the gender component, citing Rob and Al-Gharbi. What convergence. https://www.radicallypragmatic.press/p/the-credential-cartel-how-the-professional
I loved the City Journal link.