There’s the idea of lookism — that better-looking people get unfair advantages: higher pay, more status, etc.

Words and ideas have this too. Call it the eloquence effect, where the aesthetics of how someone speaks makes them seem more impressive than they might be.

A common trap is mistaking how eloquent someone is — how fluidly they move between topics, how precise or varied their language is — for the actual substance of what they’re saying.

Mamdani is a prime example of this.

On the flip side, I’ve worked with incredible engineers and business people whose eloquence is average at best, but whose ideas are profound.

Learn to tell the difference.

Along the same lines from Poor Charlie’s Almanack:

I disagree about the lack of substance and what Mamdani is saying, but I'm open to hearing arguments or anecdotes that defend that point!