Understanding Netanyahu (with the help of AI)

[jon-nyc]

People with really bad combovers (Netanyahu included) usually do realize on some level, but a bunch of psychological and social factors keep the delusion alive. Here’s why they often can’t (or won’t) see what the rest of us see:

1. Gradual progression
 - It doesn’t happen overnight. The hairline recedes a little → they shift a few strands → it recedes more → they recruit more strands from farther back. Each step feels like a tiny, reasonable adjustment, so by the time it’s a full wind-tunnel-defying sculpture, they’ve already accepted every incremental stage.
2. Mirror reversal + selective viewing
 - We see ourselves in the mirror flipped, and we tend to look only from the angles we like (usually straight-on or slightly tilted). A combover that looks catastrophic from the side or in photos can still look “passable” to the owner when they’re checking it in the bathroom mirror each morning.
3. Vanity + ego protection - 
Admitting the combover looks ridiculous would mean admitting defeat to baldness. For powerful, image-conscious men especially (politicians, CEOs, etc.), that feels like surrender. Keeping the combover is a way of saying “I’m still in control, still youthful.” Cognitive dissonance does the rest: their brain literally filters out how bad it looks to protect their self-image.
4. Enablers and yes-men
 - Staff, spouses, and admirers rarely tell a prime minister (or any high-status person) the brutal truth. If everyone around them says “It looks fine, sir” or stays silent, there’s no reality check.
5. Habit and identity
 - After decades, the combover becomes part of their “look.” Changing it (shaving it, buzzing it, or owning the baldness) would feel like erasing part of their public persona. Netanyahu has had that signature swoop for 30+ years; ditching it now would be like changing his voice.
6. Photos lie (or used to) - 
Before smartphone cameras and merciless X/Twitter close-ups, people could get away with it more easily. Professional photos were airbrushed or taken from flattering angles, so the feedback loop stayed gentle.
   In short: it’s a perfect storm of slow creep, ego defense, sycophantic entourages, and outdated self-perception. Most of them probably have a tiny inner voice whispering the truth, but it gets drowned out by all the above.
   (And yes, the same psychology explains Trump’s version, Boris Johnson’s “intentional” mess, and every 60-year-old uncle who still thinks the three hairs from ear-to-ear are fooling anyone.)