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# If You Can't Blind Them With Brilliance; Baffle Them With Bullshit
- URL: https://pulpconversations.com/if-you-cant-blind-them-with-brilliance/
- Published: 2025-06-19T12:41:41.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-27T14:45:13.000Z
- Description: Hat tip to the OG: Bob Holleron
- Author: Vinay Gupta
- Tags: Podcast, #Migrated-1787171093388, #Import 2026-08-19 16:25

These are the only two ways to *really* influence people.

## Guess which one is more common?

From [Ellsworth Toohey](https://a.co/d/d9DQaT1?ref=pulpconversations.com) to Paul Krugman - recent history is littered with folks who use institutional influence to shape narratives and subtly discourage individual excellence.

Toohey is a fictional character, of course, but he’s `the archetype` of the intellectual influencer who shapes public opinion not by building, but by tearing down.

He is a collectivist critic who wields soft power through media and culture, undermining individual achievement for the “greater good.”

What is the greater good?

There is no one answer however I encourage you to pay attention to people around you who subtly redirect your ambition and talent *away* from creation and instead toward consensus.

Modern-day Toohey’s are all around us. They are not villains in the classic sense.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/479e7a6e-735a-407e-8777-c114b515c13e_500x373.gif)

BUT ..

Instead they are often celebrated as *thought leaders* or moral voices.

It becomes dangerous for society when such influence stifles innovation, risk-taking and dissent in the name of “the greater good”.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/8cecc2ab-7972-4b09-9c9f-afcac7db3986_500x281.gif)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/118ff990-de5c-41a4-b5ca-1ed6dd305aa1_450x450.gif)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/c0af2d7e-cadb-4bd3-9701-34cc7deb5c17_480x270.gif)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/cf16c25a-1e7d-46bd-ac61-5ce1cbafc7ad_480x270.gif)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/fae9d508-5dd6-4092-ad64-bd29faad807d_480x270.gif)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/67/42/67423e8e-d1c5-4288-976a-2d7a9b94e567/content/images/2026/08/bb693e27-be8e-42a5-8f50-effed8aa5c07_500x500.gif)

The Influence Ecosystem

The Toohey-effect can be a leading indicator of stagnation or groupthink.

## It’s an early warning for investors and innovators alike.

Professor Shankar who so brilliantly conveys his humility and honesty in this video on Quantum Mechanics:

The next time someone attempts a straw man tactic to misrepresent Bitcoin; I will send them this most excellent video - thanks Prof!