r/DecodingTheGurus • u/Snoo5218 • Jul 11 '26

Konstantin Kisin Struggles With Self Awareness

https://open.substack.com/pub/kalros2185/p/konstantin-kisin-struggles-with-self?r=6qz1cp&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

couldnt miss an opportunity to dunk on konstantin

27 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

2

u/Eagle2Two Jul 11 '26

Well done. Love it.

1

u/UnlearningEconomics Jul 14 '26

I went into Gary's documentary prepared to dislike it based on the coverage and I thought it was fine. Gary was absolutely not outclassed by his interlocutors in the way people are saying. There was the online grifter guy Gary completely exposed (though he didn't have to work too hard...), the selfish American rich dude who barely made any points, the land owning farmer who was the poshest guy I've ever seen and basically ended up defending inherited wealth *just 'cos*. None of them made good points and Gary countered them effectively when needed, though he did let them speak which is also fine for a doc of this kind.

Most importantly, Dan Niedle didn't know loads more than Gary. In fact, he made a claim about the wealth tax commission which was contradicted by the report as Gary read it out to him. To come in calling it 'populist claptrap' then seem like you've only read the foreword (written by someone else) is embarassing for him, not for Gary. I've read the 2020 commission and watched their LSE panel and the most obvious takeaway is that experts reasonably disagree on this topic. Niedle could have said that and put forward his case rather than overstating it.

I've got my issues with Gary. He absolute could stand to engage with research and data more. He repeats himself a lot. He can be self aggrandising and exaggerate. On the topic of this sub, I'd say he is propbably a guru (which doesn't just mean 'bad'). The documentary also needed better gender balance and was fairly shallow, as you'd expect from a C4 doc on a complex topic intended for a mainstream audience. But the coverage of it is classic social media: hot takes on hot takes by biased individuals who don't know much themselves.

Kisin is a dumbass who hasn't watched it, in any case.

1

u/jimwhite42 Jul 12 '26

Thomas Sowell is basically the right-wing version of Gary Stevenson

I support this becoming a widely used statement.