Category Archives: Conservative Resistance

Wishing Things Away: The Gays, and Abortions

Posted on Monday 24 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Several recent items about two topics recently struck me as similar in the way some conservatives deny their reality or think they can simply wish them away. In Chechnya, there have been reports in recent weeks that authorities are rounding … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality | Comments Off

The Mendacious David Barton

Posted on Monday 17 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Amanda Marcotte at Salon: First fake news, now fake history: Glenn Beck wants to train young people to promote an alternative history About Glenn Beck and his partner, David Barton -! If there are two characteristics that really define Trumpism, … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, MInd | Comments Off

Elizabeth Kolbert on Trump and Climate Change

Posted on Thursday 13 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Elizabeth (The Sixth Extinction) Kolbert, in The New Yorker: Earth Day in the Age of Trump. She wonders how “A White House characterized by flaming incompetence has nevertheless managed to do one thing effectively: it has trashed years’ worth of … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Expertise, Dunning-Kruger, Tactics of Denialists

Posted on Monday 10 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

NPR’s Adam Frank on Why Expertise Matters, commenting in part about Tom Nichols new book The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters. Frank quotes a couple key passages from Nichols: Nichols is profoundly troubled … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Conservative Cruelty; Blue Lies

Posted on Wednesday 29 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Chauncey DeVega at Alternet: Why Are Republicans So Relentlessly Cruel to the Poor?. Subtitle: “Paul Ryan has dreamed of slashing Medicaid since his keg-party days—and that blithe hostility is widespread”. Because conservatives are more inclined to think that poor people … Continue reading →

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Media Bubbles and Fake News

Posted on Wednesday 15 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

There was a fascinating piece on NPR’s Morning Edition Tuesday morning, about an analysis of news media sites shared on Facebook and Twitter during the election campaign, aligned by allegiance to Trump or Clinton. The researchers stressed how neutral they … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Radiohead; Originalism; Principia; Trump brain rot; Homeschooling; Art v Religion

Posted on Tuesday 7 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on links saved over the past week or so. Vox: Radiohead and sadness: a data analysis. Fascinating. \\\ Vox: Judicial originalism as myth It’s always struck me that Judicial originalism — the idea that nothing can be inferred … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Politics, Science | Comments Off

Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Fundamentalist Christianity

Posted on Friday 3 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Some ten weeks ago, and about a month after the election, I made the observation (in this post) that many, perhaps most people live in a kind of “post-fact” or “alternative fact” (that term came later) reality, by virtue of … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics | Comments Off

The Enlightenment and This Moment in American Culture

Posted on Wednesday 1 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From Washington Post, a week or so ago: Harvard scientist worries we’re ‘reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking’ Prompted by how some presidents — Bush 43, and now Trump — are actively pushing back against scientific findings and research. … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Human Progress | Comments Off

Is Trump the problem, or also his voters?

Posted on Monday 27 February 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

I have a link saved from a few days ago of a column by Nicholas Kristof called Trump Voters Are Not the Enemy, which he tweeted a cautionary note about not demonizing the people who voted for Trump. It’s a … Continue reading →