Rob Henderson
@robkhenderson
Followers
161K
Following
16K
Media
10K
Statuses
37K
Best-selling author | Senior Fellow, @ManhattanInst | Contributing Editor, @CityJournal | Newsletter: https://t.co/6ToT89QsPv
Earth
Joined March 2011
ANNOUNCEMENT. I’ve sold the film rights for my book TROUBLED: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class: .
172
86
2K
The decline of the headphone jack has released an epidemic of braindead mouthbreathers playing videos in public spaces. Airpods are expensive but even if you manage to get them they're easy to lose (easier if you're dumb). So tech companies increase profits as people buy more of.
1K
3K
42K
One reason why Costco is so popular among working and lower middle class, especially families and the elderly. The membership program turns the store into a sanctuary from miscreants:
643
2K
27K
"males are more concerned with abstract rules than females are. boys have developed complex group games. and carry on debates about rules at an abstract level. In contrast, girls play less complex games, and if there is a dispute, the game ends abruptly and without resolution."
270
1K
19K
Bill Maher says something completely inoffensive, that McDonald's is delicious, and his panel acts as if he has just dropped a bombshell piece of information. Part of assimilation into upper middle class norms is to pretend fast food isn't delicious.
1K
709
14K
The most unrealistic part of Barbie is when they get to the Venice beach boardwalk in LA and there are no homeless, no junkies, no vandals. Just guys that look like frat boys from USC. Barbie then says she feels fear because of these boys. Wonder how she'd feel in the real LA.
162
1K
12K
Every so often I remember this event. The Asian kid who was diligently studying and said, "Hey this is library" was unaware that he'd be in a better position to ascend in American society if he'd tossed his books and joined the protestors.
295
1K
12K
It's in men's interest to date younger women and it's in women's interest to shame men for doing so.
264
773
11K
56% of liberal white women aged 18-29 have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
1K
3K
11K
In 1956, Soviet leader Khrushchev delivered a speech denouncing Stalin's crimes. A heckler shouted "You were his colleague, why didn't you stop him?" Khrushchev barked back "Who said that?" Nobody moved a muscle. Seconds later, Khrushchev said "Now you know why I didn't stop him".
56
2K
10K
If a male enjoys dressing up and behaving like a woman, he was born that way. If a female enjoys dressing up and behaving like a woman, she was brainwashed by society.
139
1K
10K
Best books I read in 2020. 1. Atomic Habits by @JamesClear. “If you show up at the gym 5 days in a row—even for 2 minutes—you're casting votes for your new identity. You’re not worried about getting in shape. Youre focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts”
131
2K
9K
They eliminated standardized testing before they eliminated legacy admissions. Tells you all you need to know.
Columbia becomes first Ivy League school to permanently drop SAT/ACT testing requirement
131
1K
9K
Step 1: It's not really happening. Step 2: Yeah, it's happening, but it's not a big deal. Step 3: It's a good thing, actually. Step 4: People freaking out about it are the real problem.
100
2K
9K
"while men are nearly 18 percent faster than women in 5K races, they are only 11 percent faster in marathons, 3.7 percent faster at 50 miles, roughly even as they approach 100 miles, and then women routinely outpace men at races 195 miles and up"
370
698
9K
Fascinating. Young single women are uniquely resistant to radicalization and propaganda:
3K
505
9K
San Francisco is one of those rare cities where you see dogs step in human poop.
86
635
9K
I grew up in foster homes, fled as soon as I could by enlisting in the military at age 17, and studied psychology at Yale and Cambridge with the GI Bill + scholarships. Here are 31 things I learned from growing up in dysfunction and deprivation and climbing out of it. Thread.
163
2K
8K
Three interesting findings:. 1. While men are nearly 18 percent faster than women in 5K races, they are only 11 percent faster in marathons, 3.7 percent faster at 50 miles, roughly even as they approach 100 miles, and then women routinely outpace men at races 195 miles and up.
210
313
9K
Percent of births to unwed mothers . 1960: 5 percent . 2018: 40 percent.
401
1K
7K
"a Chinese billionaire dies every 40 days. unnatural deaths have taken the lives of 72 mainland billionaires over the past 8 years. 15 were murdered, 17 committed suicide, 7 died from accidents and 19 from illness. 14 were executed. (Welcome to China.)"
298
3K
7K
Firefighters and MBA students were asked how they'd feel if they bought a new car, showed their friend, and next day the friend buys the same kind of car . % who report they'd feel:. Upset. Firefighters: 3%.MBAs: 47%. Betrayed. Firefighters: 13%.MBAs: 47%
426
840
7K
Singapore: Little to no drug addiction, needles, car jacking, shoplifting, violence, homelessness, litter, or graffiti. Small children ride public transport without parents. Women and elderly can walk alone at night without fear. Hard to see the appeal of this place.
374
499
7K
People are slowly realizing they held the wrong mental model of young men. The wrong mental model says that young men are natural risk-seekers and will naturally want to approach (and possibly harass) women. Now people are learning that most young men's default factory setting is
65
1K
8K
A man who is 5 feet 6 inches tall needs to earn an additional $175,000 per year to be as desirable as a man who is about 6 feet tall . A 6'2" man can earn $30,000 less than a 6' man and will be viewed as equally desirable
613
1K
7K
"conservative women are particularly blissful: 40% say they are very happy. That makes them slightly happier than conservative men and significantly happier than liberal women. The unhappiest are liberal men; only a fifth consider themselves very happy"
363
1K
7K
Better that ordinary people in a country die of thirst than their political elites experience an ounce of shame.
While American YouTuber MrBeast’s goal was to provide clean drinking water for 500,000 people, activists say his actions shamed the Kenyan government and helped perpetuate the stereotype that Africa is "dependent on handouts."
13
695
7K
John Oliver went through all 4 steps in record time.
John Oliver explains how Democrats can respond to the trans issue. All they need to do is tell people there's no evidence that trans girls are at an unfair advantage or pose a threat to safety in athletic competition.
52
634
7K
From "Self-Made Man," a memoir of a woman who lived life disguised as a man for 1 year. The author (Norah Vincent) describes her revelation of what it's like to be a man approaching women and trying to attract their romantic interest:
151
904
6K
They eliminated standardized testing before eliminating legacy admissions. Tells you all you need to know.
Harvard University won’t require SAT or ACT through 2026, a landmark step in push to limit role of standardized tests in admissions
72
927
6K
“Kids.” Many of these protestors are undergrads, many are law and PhD students. All of them are adults. A huge segment of this country faces the full brunt of reality at 18 but if you attend grad school at the richest universites on earth you get to be a kid until your 27th.
WATCH-- @chrislhayes: It's easier to argue about what college kids are doing than to confront the human misery and destruction that's happening in the actual conflict which is, of course, the source of these protests.
9
711
6K
20% of the population is responsible for. •100% of criminal convictions. •99% of govt benefits received. •84% of cigarettes smoked. •83% of credit card debt. •78% of all injuries. •67% of fast food consumption. •53% of all alcohol consumption. •47% of all sex partners.
For those who were wise and instead chose to get some more sleep, here is a PDF of the poster :-). And also here is a link to said poster because I admittedly like my small font:
196
958
6K
The Warren Buffet test to determine whether you live a blessed life:
101
928
6K
"Male sexuality has no exchange value, whereas female sexuality can be traded for many things women want: not just money but also food, attention, drugs, respect, career advancement, forgiveness, reduced punishment for misdeeds, high grades for academic work, and more."
226
598
6K
Face images computed by averaging people's perceptions of their political out-group. Liberals' perception of conservatives (bottom right) is the one that's "not like the others." .
229
750
6K
Interestingly if you stop recording crimes suddenly crime stats go down.
The San Francisco police department has basically stopped issuing traffic tickets.
8
772
6K
Men who can do 40 push-ups or more have a 96 percent reduced risk of heart disease compared with men who could do less than 10 push-ups. Push-ups are a better predictor of whether a man will get heart disease than an aerobic treadmill test.
151
726
6K
As much as they supposedly care about oppression, their true north star is power and status.
Harvard students are legit worried that their open Hamas support will affect future job opportunities with Goldman.
61
568
5K
One reason why working class people resist upward social mobility: many disapprove of the duplicity, savvy self-promotion, and artful deceit required to advance in the world of the upper-middle-class professional.
205
803
5K
"undergraduates’ IQs have steadily fallen from roughly 119 to a mean of 102 today — just slightly above the population average of 100. In short, undergraduates are now no more intelligent on average than members of the general population."
363
1K
5K
Today at elite colleges across the country, professors and students will whine and cry while the campus dining hall workers, landscapers, and custodians will continue to prepare the food and maintain the castle so that the thin-skinned aristocrats can sniffle in comfort.
Reminds me of Yale after the 2016 election when custodians, landscapers, and dining hall staff showed up for work to clean the castle and prepare the food so that the students and professors (modern aristocrats) could cancel class to stay at home and cry.
68
749
6K
Hillbilly Elegy is now #1 on Amazon. The lengths some authors will go to sell books is truly incredible.
97
257
5K
Yes for 10-20% of the population there is a vast difference in effort between plugging into a headphone jack and using a bluetooth device. Might as well be the difference between building a paper airplane and a real airplane.
@robkhenderson I think many people are too dumb to learn how to use Bluetooth headphones.
64
141
5K
"A common misconception is introverts are not excitable and don’t like to socialise, but the truth is that they are just more specific about the topics they are extraverted about and the people they would like to socialise with. ‘an introvert is an extravert with good taste’."
26
631
5K
I don't get how people fall for the "intergenerational trauma" meme when up until ten minutes ago every human lived on the edge of death, where disease, predation, violence, and cannibalism were commonplace.
177
563
5K
Conversation I had last week with a guy I'd just met while traveling. After we exchanged names and basic social niceties: . Me "So do you enjoy living here now?". Him "Yeah, it's so much better than when I was staying in Boston." . Me "In what way? . Him "Well, unlike Boston no.
41
190
5K
In terms of effect on happiness. -Being in good physical health is worth an extra $400K/year. -Being married=$100K . -Seeing a friend regularly=$100K. How nice that cultural and economic elites promote fitness, marriage, & friendship. They clearly want you to be happy.
111
524
5K
This parolee was then arrested. No emergency declared and they managed to help ruin this guy's life. But at least they got their moment on camera.
VIDEO THREAD: Yesterday, July 4, activists demanding Joe Biden declare a "Climate Emergency" blocked traffic on he beltway in Maryland, just outside DC. One agitated driver got physical with them while saying that he's on parole and could return to prison if late for his job.
275
582
5K
55% of Ivy League graduates believe that the U.S. "provides too much individual freedom" compared with just 16% of ordinary U.S. voters.
86
1K
5K
The clucking about whether Harvard Extension is the real Harvard reminds me of George Orwell in The Road To Wigan Pier explaining how upper middle class snobs "while theoretically pining for a classless society, cling like glue to their miserable fragments of social prestige.".
61
640
5K
People of El Salvador: vote in a landslide to re-elect a president who arrests violent criminals . Ivy League professor 3,400 miles away: "as appealing as a Bukele-style crackdown might seem, these punitive campaigns against organized crime come at a serious cost to democracy".
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on street gangs has facilitated a dramatic drop in crime—but it has also come at a serious cost to democracy and human rights, writes @Gustavo_F_M.
17
642
5K
Some are surprised that 40% of U.S. women have tattoos. A major social class divide. Very few upper and upper middle class women have them. But just about every working class woman under age 40 I know has at least one tattoo. My guess is 70-80% of non-college grad women.
"Nearly twice as many women are tattooed (39%) as men (21%). This holds true for the rates of both hidden (30.2% vs. 16.7%) and visible tattoos (8.5% vs. 4.1%)."
286
606
5K
Many upper/upper middle class people have more respect for criminals than for ordinary people working low wage jobs. They consider menial work humiliating and couldn't imagine doing it themselves. But they could easily imagine, in response to such indignities, committing crimes.
161
607
5K
Three interesting findings:. 1. People who believe that it's wrong to have children (anti-natalists) are much more likely to score highly on Dark Triad personality traits (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism).
61
472
5K
3 interesting findings:. 1. Men in cohabiting relationships are just as satisfied in their relationships as married men, but women in cohabiting relationships are much less satisfied than married women.
81
328
5K
Naturally, rich people will continue to have top-notch doctors and everyone else will get a doctor who got the job due to "disadvantage." . Luxury beliefs are ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class, while inflicting costs on the lower classes.
To build a diverse class of students, the medical school at UC Davis ranks applicants by the disadvantages they have faced. The disadvantage scale helped turn UC Davis into one of the most diverse medical schools in the U.S. Can it work nationally?
107
746
5K
One reason for insane helicopter parenting:. Upper middle class parents taught their kids to not judge people based on appearances. But they themselves are well aware appearances matter a lot in predicting whether someone might do you harm. So parents are now forced to provide.
153
471
5K
A former CIA officer reveals that the most attractive incentive you can give to someone to get them to betray their country and become an informant: . Give their children admission to an elite U.S. college .
94
2K
4K
Guy who tried to keep the Columbia janitor hostage is the son of millionaire parents. People joke that Bruce Wayne could have used his wealth to help Gotham, but maybe Batman's creators understood that what rich scions really like to do is put on masks and try to beat people up.
NEW: James Carlson, one of the primary agitators in the recent Columbia's riots, turns out to be a millionaire’s heir with a long history of violent protests. A lawyer and self-styled anarchist, Carlson is the son of late ad mogul Dick Tarlow. Despite his privileged
14
1K
4K
Step 1: It's not really happening. Step 2: Yeah, it's happening, but it's not a big deal. Step 3: It's a good thing, actually. Step 4: People freaking out about it are the real problem.
52
908
4K
In the Soviet Union, facts and figures in the historical record were subject to modification. Old Soviet joke: “The future is certain; but the past keeps changing.”.
39
556
4K
A core feature of a luxury belief is that the believer is comfortably insulated from the consequences of his or her belief. Once that insulation dissipates, so does the luxury belief. Meanwhile, thousands of poor people suffer.
190
754
4K
Something going on with admissions at medical schools. # of Asian admits at UCLA medical school:. 2018: 84 . 2020: 63. 2021: 54. And latest data for 2022 reveals only 45 Asians. Nearly cut in half since 2018.
481
561
4K
Yes. Relative to women, men spend an enormous amount of time assessing a potential partner's level of education, income, occupational prestige, etc. and if it isn't low enough, men simply aren't interested.
203
264
4K
Jung’s reaction when he read Nietzsche for the first time:
57
476
4K
Every 6 months my mind returns to this heatmap indicating that conservatives devote the majority of their empathy and care to family and friends and liberals devote most of their concern to plants, trees, and inert entities such as rocks.
128
852
4K
Clarence Thomas’s grandfather (who he called “daddy”) raised him. Had him and his brother work at a farm from sunrise to sunset. Even removed the heater from his truck so the boys wouldn’t grow soft. Thomas later had a son, and describes seeing his grandfather interact with him:
88
496
4K
When I first arrived at Yale, an undergrad quietly told me “Whatever people say in public, you’ll usually find that in private their views shift about three notches to the right.”.
46
280
4K
Based on internal sales data Troubled should have debuted at #4 on the @nytimes list but wasn’t listed at all. The list is pro-wrestling for intellectuals; everyone knows it’s make-believe but still fall for it. In the mean time, it’s up to all of us to support bold authors.
BAD THERAPY by @AbigailShrier is the #1 book on all of Amazon. But didn't make the @nytimes bestseller list. 👀. Buy her book. And listen to our conversation here:.
20
531
4K
% of Americans who say they are better off now than they were 4 years ago. Sept 2020: 56 percent. Dec 2012: 45 percent. Oct 2004: 47 percent. Oct 1992: 38 percent. July 1984: 44 percent.
132
1K
3K
Sowell writes that before he was scheduled to debate Kenneth Arrow (Nobel prize winning economist), someone asked him if he was nervous because Arrow was so smart. Sowell replied "I don't mind debating smart people. It's debating stupid people that's hard"
42
486
4K
"Porn featuring violence against women is also extremely popular among women. It is far more popular among women than men. I hate saying that because misogynists seem to love this fact. Fantasy life isn't always politically correct."
205
539
4K
Yes. The whole reason a man should work so hard to become rich and famous is in order to marry a 42 year old woman.
Do you think Chris Evans (42) marriage to Alba Baptista (26) is problematic due to the 16 year age gap? . Are you male or female?.
135
247
4K
"Boys, however, can only win by winning in the male hierarchy. Boys can’t (won’t) play truly competitive games with girls. It isn’t clear how they can win. As the game turns into a girls’ game, therefore, the boys leave." .
98
491
4K
No one would ask him about where he went to college so he learned to drop Boston enough times until he could finally release this crucial piece of information.
8
41
4K
Dark triad personality traits (psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism) correlate with victim signaling (e.g., the extent to which people agree that they have “Disclosed that I don’t feel accepted in society because of my identity") at r = .52
97
720
3K
BOOK COVER REVEAL. "In this raw coming-of-age memoir, Rob Henderson vividly recounts growing up in foster care, enlisting in the US Air Force, attending elite universities, and pioneering the concept of 'luxury beliefs'—ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class
104
374
4K
"'IQ tests don’t predict anything important.' That’s absolutely true—so long as you don’t think grades, jobs, money, health, or longevity are important. intelligence test scores are highly correlated with just about every outcome human beings care about"
137
538
3K
You’re sitting in your living room. Roommate asks you to stand up, walk once around your chair, and sit back down. Says, “It’ll make me feel safer.” . You don’t. Roommate starts crying. “Why not? It’s such a simple act.”. His friends shout “Just do it! Why are you hurting him?”.
115
386
4K
"I have never understood why it is greed to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else's money.".—Thomas Sowell.
39
466
4K
"depending on skin tone, sexual orientation, or religious views, Ivy Leaguers earning 5 times the median income may be categorized as oppressed. Conversely, janitors may be considered, within the intersectionality matrix, to be irredeemable oppressors."
49
663
3K
Luxury beliefs are ideas and opinions that confer status on the upper class while inflicting costs on the lower classes.
41
426
3K
Lots of discussion at the sexual revolution debate about whether the revolution failed men, or failed women, or helped men more than women, or helped women more than men. Nobody asked whether the sexual revolution failed children. People already know. Too depressing a topic.
101
409
3K
But nobody wants to admit that the collapse of the family has been terrible for children. Instead, we retreat to discussions of poverty and economics because talking about family and parenting makes people feel weird and judgmental.
122
716
3K
The dating market is also a modern novelty. Your grandparents met someone in their neighborhood, got married, and made it work. In poor countries, marriage rates are higher; people rely on one another for survival. Not so in rich countries, so you can remain single indefinitely.
It's funny how young women complain about how bad the dating market is AND young men complain about how bad the dating market is. And they're both right. It's garbage. Perhaps modern men and women are just not as good as they used to be and/or have unrealistic expectations.
45
308
3K
“Kids.” A huge segment of this country faces the full brunt of reality at 18 but if you attend grad school at the richest university on earth you get to be a kid until your 27th birthday.
The Harvard student groups who co-signed the anti-Israel letter are simple fools. But it’s not productive for companies to blacklist kids for being members of student groups that make dumb political statements on campus. Colleges are spaces for students to experiment with ideas &.
55
322
3K
“early Roman aristocracy was more likely to be killed in wars than the average citizen. wealthy classes were the first to volunteer extra taxes when needed. officers and centurions (but not common soldiers!) served without pay. the greatest burden was placed on the wealthy”
75
495
3K
"There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”
40
415
3K
"It is easier for a working-class kid to pick up an SAT prep book and study it intensively than to go on a community-service trip to South America, play travel lacrosse, or flatter the sensibilities of an upper-middle-class admissions official"
38
458
3K
The average high school graduate in the 1960s was as intelligent as the average college graduate today.
165
626
3K
"You can’t cite the Daily Mail. You can’t cite Fox News on socio-political issues either. It’s banned. So what does that mean? It means that if a controversy does not appear in the mainstream centre-Left media, then it’s not going to appear on Wikipedia."
69
681
3K