Monthly Archives: October 2020

Link and Comment: The Pace of Change

Posted on 13 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Guardian: 25 years of His Dark Materials: Philip Pullman on the journey of a lifetime. Pullman reflects on the quarter decade since he began writing the sequence of novels about Lyra that began with Northern Lights, aka The Golden Compass. … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Cognitive Dissonance and Fox News

Posted on 6 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

As if on cue, following my past few posts, here’s a NY Times columnist today on Why Fox News Is Still in a Coronavirus Bubble. Subtitle: “Humans will do figure eights to make facts suit their fictions. Laura Ingraham and … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Republican denial of coronavirus; Trump’s narcissism; Cults and cognitive dissonance

Posted on 5 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Washington Post: The GOP’s coronavirus denialism finally catches up with its leaders, by traditionally conservative writer Max Boot. He responds to a tweet, by a Republican. “Does anyone else find it odd,” she wrote Friday, “that no prominent Democrats have … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: The Debate; Trump and Christians; No Back to Normal

Posted on 4 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

So much to keep up with! The debate last Tuesday. NYT Editorial: A Debate That Can’t Be Ignored. Subtitle: “Americans need to face the man who is their president.” The debate was excruciating to watch for anyone who loves this … Continue reading →

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Group-Think and Conformity: Solomon Asch

Posted on 2 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

As a follow-up to the previous post, I came across a reference to a famous psychological experiment (from 1951) that demonstrates the power of conformity over independent thinking. I read about this case once before…. turns out it was in … Continue reading →

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