Category Archives: Culture

A Crisp, Sunny January Day

Posted on 30 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Topics for today: Why China’s decline in population is a good thing; Yuval Noah Harari on identity; Moral panic and the right-wing mind; How climate change has been covered in textbooks since the 1970s.

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Psychology, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

Alcohol and Civilization, and other recent items

Posted on 17 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How civilization might have been driven by the desire for alcohol; about the NYT interviewing Republicans; the perspective on conspiratorial thinking from an American living in Britain; paranoia and the GOP; DeSantis’ war on “wokeness”; Paul Waldman on 6 things … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Progress, Psychology | Comments Off on Alcohol and Civilization, and other recent items

Optimism About America, and other recent items

Posted on 16 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

David Brooks on how America is on the right track; Ezra Klein on the fractured Republican Party; and items about gas stoves, red states and their blue cities, the partisan divide in COVID deaths, and how politics doesn’t do nuance.

Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on Optimism About America, and other recent items

The Erratic March of Scientific Progress

Posted on 15 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Vox, Kelsey Piper, 11 Jan 2023: Why is science slowing down?, subtitled “Science is the engine of society, and the decline of truly disruptive research is a warning sign for all of us.” Is this really a new problem? Or … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Comments Off on The Erratic March of Scientific Progress

Consumerism, and Political History

Posted on 7 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items today.

Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on Consumerism, and Political History

The World Is Laughing

Posted on 6 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one item today. It’s always cool when some remark I make in my blog is amplified the next day by a widely read newspaper columnist. Actually, two or three remarks, from recent days, in today’s column from Paul Krugman. … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on The World Is Laughing

Recurring Themes

Posted on 5 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Not enough time to write a review this afternoon, so I’ll just post a few links about current events. NY Times, Charles M. Blow, 4 Jan 2023: The Burn-It-All-Down Republican Caucus

Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on Recurring Themes

Good News of 2022; What Success at College Means

Posted on 3 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, Nicholas Kristof, 31 Dec 2022: Cheer Up! The World Is Better Off Than You Think.

Posted in Culture, Education | Comments Off on Good News of 2022; What Success at College Means

The Weekend, and Heather Cox Richardson on 2022

Posted on 2 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve missed posting the past two days for various reasons.

Posted in Culture, Personal history | Comments Off on The Weekend, and Heather Cox Richardson on 2022

Self-Replacement?

Posted on 27 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today looking at an article about how conservatives worry about the “great replacement” (of US Christian whites by non-white, non-Christian immigrants) and how, ironically, conservative policies invite their being replaced, through simple natural selection. With comments at the end about … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Religion | Comments Off on Self-Replacement?