More, More, More
I date myself.
Toward the end of my last post, I wrote,
It takes more than meanness to be perceived as a master. I don’t have that more, and I don’t want it.
What did I mean by “that more”? What ‘causes people to believe and submit’ - a Chinese expression for ‘compelling’?
A Kouple of Kharacters
Why do so many people I know continue to revere The Jordan despite the revelation that “he was suicidal [and] addicted to benzos”?
Why do those same people continue to revere Victor Davis Hanson despite the fact that he was wrong about the Iraq War - a war that they have all distanced themselves from?
I wouldn’t take life advice from a suicidal drug addict.
I wouldn’t take anyone seriously anymore after they erred on one of the biggest issues of our time.
Okay, I would take VDH seriously about, say, warfare in classical Greece. Even Greek grammar. But as an all-purpose pundit? No, never again.
I have to resist the urge to rant about how pundit no longer means what it used to.
Instead, I have to figure out what makes pundits like VDH so … Kompelling.
The 4K
1. Kasting
The most krucial komponent kan’t … er, can’t be changed.
introduced me to Clique Theory. The defunct Clique Theory site explains,Clique is a combination of genotype and phenotype.
[…]
You are born into a clique and clique is as unalterable as eye color or fingerprint.
Clique is largely DNA driven and can be generally be detected within 5 seconds of meeting someone […] There is no moving beyond it. Literally anything you do, you're aligning yourself with one Clique or another. Even if you disavow all job interviews or any interest in liberal arts careers, your Clique will follow you to the grave.
Kompelling people come from the ‘right’ cliques. They are Korrectly Kast.
Both The Jordan and VDH are White Patriarchs.1 Modern Moses figures. Surrogate grandpa figures.
I never saw Russell Brand in anything, so I can only say he looks like a Scumbag in Clique Theory.
I am a Loser in Clique Theory:
They [Losers] are compulsive posters because no one else listens to them in the real world, and posting is a chance to vent. […] They don't have to worry about being politically correct either, because they're already outcasts.
[…]
If you're a good poster, you're probably a Loser, and the more you post, the bigger the Loser you are.
I failed to finish this post in time last night. A day without a post, though poor for discipline, prevents me from being the biggest Loser.
2. Kostume
Dressing the part.
Look at The Jordan’s suit above. Or below.
Look at the outfits of clergy. At the uniforms of the military and police.
The Kostume says, ‘We don’t dress like you. Therefore we are not like you. We are better than you. Respect my authoritah.’
Even Cartman wears a uniform when he utters the words.
3. Kode
Talking the part.
Savor this sample of The Jordan’s Kode:
Meaning is manifestation of the divine individual adaptive path
I can’t beat Nathan Robinson’s takedown of Peterson’s parlor trick that my best friend decades ago called The Profound:
Obscurantism is more than a desperate attempt to feign novelty, though. It’s also a tactic for badgering readers into deference to the writer’s authority. Nobody can be sure they are comprehending the author’s meaning, which has the effect of making the reader feel deeply inferior and in awe of the writer’s towering knowledge, knowledge that must exist on a level so much higher than that of ordinary mortals that we are incapable of even beginning to appreciate it.
Obviously not all Kompelling people sound like Peterson. There are many ways to Kode.
In my neoCON days, I was Kompelled by one Koder who wrote rilly rilly loooong essays about Why We2 Must Go to War. I conflated quantity with quality.
Another Kompelling Koder threw verbal bombs at LIE-bruls and anyone else who happened to disagree with his POV. Which at the time was also my POV. That Koder was my surrogate attacker.
I revisited that Koder’s blog many years later. Their Kode hadn’t changed … but its target had. NeoCONs had become the target … which would have been fine if the Koder admitted they had once been one of them. Nope. Perpetual Hero Syndrome. The Koder is always right - whatever ‘right’ is now - and everyone else is wrong.
4. Konduct
Acting the part.
Robinson notes how The Jordan’s book Maps of Meaning begins with an epigraph that “is comically grandiose”:
I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world
— Matthew 13:35
Mere mortals do not radiate The Jordan’s ‘superiority’:
I don’t know, Dad, but I think I have discovered something that no one else has any idea about, and I’m not sure I can do it justice. Its scope is so broad that I can see only parts of it clearly at one time, and it is exceedingly difficult to set down comprehensibly in writing….
But The Jordan has done just that! Behold his 564-page tome!
In high school there was a universally respected student who acted high and mighty, even taking a tone toward teachers that I now find questionable. At the time I was like the other sheep and easily impressed by that Konduct - that swagga. So was the Ivy League; that student went far. I used to consider them a success. Not anymore. These tricks are so transparent to me now.
Kost
Once fans are hooked by the 4K - once they invest in their idol for years, they accumulate a massive sunk cost in their favorite cult of personality. Perpetual Hero Syndrome prevents them from admitting them they were scammed.
I’m a good person!
I have good judgment!
I could never follow bad people, much less hand them my money.
Contrast that attitude with mine:
I don’t consider myself to be ‘good’, whatever that means.
I know my judgment has been flawed. I was never a fan of The Jordan, but I initially just thought he was anodyne. I did read VDH in my neoCON days. I was reading Kurated Kontent that never noted how Trump was the self-proclaimed “father of the vaccine” as recently as a year ago.
I have followed bad people and even handed them my money.
I have the strength to admit my weakness.
And to not get caught in the sunk cost fallacy:
Sunk costs often influence people's decisions, with people believing that investments (i.e., sunk costs) justify further expenditures. People demonstrate "a greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made". This is the sunk cost fallacy, and such behavior may be described as "throwing good money after bad", while refusing to succumb to what may be described as "cutting one's losses". People can remain in failing relationships because they "have already invested too much to leave". […] Individuals caught up in psychologically manipulative scams will continue investing time, money and emotional energy into the project, despite doubts or suspicions that something is not right.
MAGA is a psychologically manipulative scam. Despite supporting it for nine years, I cut my losses.
And that’s not the only long-term investment I’ve left behind. Without looking back.
I admit I’ve made bad investments. The 4K is my attempt to pinpoint what Kompelled me to invest. Maybe there are more K. Here are some other … Kandidates.
5. Kash?
Money does talk, and I think it is a factor in the cults of Great Orange God and Eeeelon. But nobody cares how rich The Jordan or VDH are. And money isn’t buying, say, Bill Gates a lot of fans.
Money was irrelevant in my neoCON blogging days. Nobody was getting paid to blog. Everybody in the parasocial pseudomovement was volunteering to cheerlead for the USSA invaders.
Money also wasn’t relevant in the case of my high school classmate who was Kompelling.
Money is nice but not necessary to be Kompelling.
6. Kredentials?
Same with Kredentials. Yes, The Jordan and VDH benefit big time from their degrees and positions. Hawaii’s current governor (pictured at bottom right below) played the MD card to stir up CONvid hysteria and posture as the doctor who could save our state.
What Does Hawaii News Now Think Is the Most Important Thing about Bobby?
Okay, I admit the subtitle is cheesy Krass clickbait. But if you’re reading this, it worked. Or maybe you’re reading this despite the subtitle.
But in my neoCON days the most Kompelling bloggers had no relevant Kredentials. They Koded their way into my heart. And Konducted. They had swagga. Act like a boss, and people will follow. That only works if the wannabe master has other Ks going for them.
7. Kontent?
Saying what people want to hear is a must for the Kompelling. But … it’s not what makes them Kompelling. Because the Kompelling actually do not say anything novel.
There were countless neoCONs saying the same thing as VDH. However, they weren’t White Patriarchs who could Kode with classical references to sound so much smarter than the antiwar LIE-bruls.
Similarly, lots of what The Jordan says is common sense. He just makes it sound so sophisticated. So much moar righter!
The Kompellers are repackagers. They sell someone else’s script. It’s their sales technique that makes them Kompelling, not the script.
Konclusion
I’m out of time. Out of Ks. Open to suggestions.
At the last minute I saw this Sage Hana post:
Bret Weinstein has 1.1 million followers on X. What makes him so Kompelling? In my framework? In yours?
Not a Clique Theory term. Maybe they’re Preps in Clique Theory.
“We” of course did not mean us keyboard warriors.
Weinstein is promoted because he is part of the controlled op dark web of liars. Dr. Jonathan J. Couey did a lot of work on him and this network. Worth a look for sure. He goes far deeper than the scamdemic.