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An article in the Guardian argues that online influencers will be more important to conservative discourse in the US going forward in America. This is in part because of technological change, but also from the failure of the establishment class. At the same time, the influencer model has key weaknesses that need to be shored up to make that model healthier.The Guardian: ‘It’s all about trolling’: how far-right influencers are shaping Republican narrative - https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/26/jack-posobiec-digital-influencers-far-right-republicans-trolling Washington Post: Indicted Chinese exile controls Gettr social media site - https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/03/26/gettr-guo-wengui-social-media/

The standard self-improvement advice is to say No more often. That's frequently good advice. A lot of times we want to say No but are just too scared to do it. Sometimes other people are taking advantage of us. Or maybe we just neglect our own affairs to say No when we shouldn't.But there's a case for saying Yes too. Yes has much more optionality than No. Saying yes to opportunities, even when they don't seem like they can amount to much, often has payoffs much bigger than we can imaging. Managing for positive optionality and opportunity is a key part of becoming antifragile and positioning ourselves to capture the upside from events.Michael Foster tweet thread on saying No: https://twitter.com/thisisfoster/status/1636016109617856513

People involved in the arts, literature, or other creative fields are generally politically left wing - even far left. It’s much rarer to see someone who is explicitly and openly to the right, though it does happen occasionally. But there’s another way to look at it. Our ideas of left and right in politics descend from the French Revolution. But what if we defined them differently than we currently do?My preferred definition of the right, properly understood, is discerning and aligning oneself and the world around him with the truth. Thus, because great art often expresses Truth, that art is implicitly right wing regardless of the politics of its creator. The best art, journalism, etc. often overflows the intentions of its creator.But many of those who have the greatest insights about today’s world are not Christian at all. Sometimes this makes their work offensive to American Christian readers. But those who pay careful attention will often find incredible truth, particularly about the deformed nature of contemporary society, hiding in plain sight. Today I want to give some examples of this in the form of three contemporary European literary figures: Hanne Orstavik, Karl Ove Knausgaard, and Michel Houellebecq.

We see any articles about the so-called shortage of good men. That is, we've seen many articles in the major media about how women are delaying or foregoing marriage because they can't find the right man to marry. If that's true, what are the implications for men? It means that if they do have their act together, then they are a hot commodity in the marketplace, and need to internalize that understanding.

The estate of Roald Dahl (author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), has engaged so-called "sensitivity readers" to re-write portions of the text to be compliant with today's ideologies. I discuss this trend, the idea of editing old books in general, and a practical response we can take to mitigate against this trend. 

It's a free country and people are entitled to live however they want. But it's important to put forth and advocate for general patterns of life that are mostly likely to lead to flourishing - particularly when we've been following them ourselves. In that light, this month's newsletter contains ten of these theses about marriage and family.

In the mid-century era from World War II (or even before that) to around 1990, America had a mass market common consumer culture. With the fragmentation of that culture accelerating post-1990s, the upper middle class and middle class began to develop distinct cultures and folkways. Even removing race and politics as factors of division would not address this, because even among whites, the upper middle class and middle class now have different and incompatible definitions of the good life. This creates local political dissension and perverse incentives in areas like land use. 

Eric Brende spent a year living with the Amish, and also time trying to live a similar homesteader life in a small town environment. He decided that that there is no place quite like the city to build a productive household environment that is less dependent on the industrialized, technological economy for day to day life. He joined me to talk about his journey and how to get started with the productive urban household life.Eric Brende's web site: https://thehappyhouseholder.com/Eric Brende/WSJ: How to Beat the High Cost of Working: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-beat-the-high-cost-of-working-1535747253Eric Brende: Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology: https://www.amazon.com/Better-Off-Flipping-Switch-Technology-ebook/dp/B000FC1VAG/

President Nate Fischer and Executive Director Josh Abbotoy join me to talk about American Reformer, a non-profit focused on reinvigorating Protestant Christianity in American life. 

In pro wrestling, the "face" is the hero and the "heel" is the villain. The incentive structures of our society are willing to personally reward people, especially conservatives, who engage in heel behavior in real life. This is because by acting the heel, people serve as a foil to the hero the media wishes to build up. Even Peter Thiel fell prey to this, helping to propel Rigoberta Menchu to the Nobel Peace Prize. While heel behavior can be effective at times, and is a tool everyone should have in their tool chest, we should think long and hard before engaging in these tactics.Heel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heel_(professional_wrestling) Peter Thiel speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibR_ULHYirs

With remote work giving people flexibility on where to live, and people moving because of politics and other social factors, where should we live personally? I will examine different types of communities, and share some thoughts on their pros and cons.

I will look forward at potential trends for 2023, including the theme of the return to normal.

Returning to the theme of deficits in the American leadership and elite classes, I will examine some of the reasons why evangelicals in particular seem not be high impact leaders in our institutions and in society. In particular, I will discuss evangelicalism's weak sense of "calling" and it's low view of the created order.

Doxxing is the internet practice of revealing the identity of an anonymous social media account and/or digging up controversial or offensive social media content in order to get someone fired or worse. It's nearly universally viewed as a shady practice, but is a common technique for cancellation today. In this month's newsletter I provide a primer on doxxing: what it is, who does it, what the consequences are, and how it is perceived. I also provide some practical insights about how to respond to a world where doxxing is common.Subscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Change, whether in personal self-improvement or social evolution, is not linear. There are quantum leaps and discontinuities. This can be deeply unsettling and render obsolete previous ways of doing business and operating in the world.

Companies have long used aggressive sales tactics to maximize units sold and prices charged. Customers have long tried to get the best deal. With the rise of digital technology and financial disparities, these conflicts are highly asymmetric to the disadvantage of ordinary consumers. It's similar in competition for many essential goods like housing, where the equation for the average consumer has been re-written to favor those with large amounts of money.WSJ:  If the Price Ended in 99, You Probably Overpaid - https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-the-price-ended-in-99-you-probably-overpaid-11669293972WSJ: The Sinister Logic of Hidden Online Fees - https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sinister-logic-of-hidden-online-fees-11669229205NYT: It’s Public Land. But the Public Can’t Reach It - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/26/business/hunting-wyoming-elk-mountain-access.htmlSubscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Gambling, drugs, loan sharking, and sex used to be the province of the mob and other shady characters. Now they are big business, legally sanctioned by governments which often profit from them, and in which even major institutions and respectable figures profit. This is a perfect microcosm of the decline of American leadership.NYT: Key Findings From The Times’ Investigation of Sports Betting: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/20/business/sports-betting-investigation.htmlThe Observer: Game, set, bankrupt: how an addiction to gambling on tennis lost me £40,000: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/20/gambling-addiction-tennis-bet365-online-betting-hannah-jane-parkinsonLA Times: The reality of legal weed in California: Huge illegal grows, violence, worker exploitation and deaths: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-08/reality-of-legal-weed-in-california-illegal-grows-deathsSubscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Online or other criticism, combined with receiving support from unexpected quarters, is one of the most powerful dynamics promoting political realignment today. I discuss these, why you need to protect yourself from them, and why you should be careful about how you criticize people on your own "team" online.Twitter thread on career selection: https://twitter.com/aaron_renn/status/1590715709612433408Twitter thread on presentations: https://twitter.com/aaron_renn/status/1589635724164288512Subscribe to my newsletter: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Thoughts on the midterm elections in 2022 and why you should get out and vote.

With the ongoing flight from the label "evangelical", I will discuss the various meanings of this term and why, rightfully understood, there is no escape from the name.