Category Archives: Culture

Lessons in Media Literacy

Posted on 20 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How stories about the border are designed to scare you, one way or the other; How right-wing sites promoted a false story about immigrants displacing veterans from New York City hotels; Heather Cox Richardson on the debt crisis and how … Continue reading →

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Skepticism, Beliefs, and Cognitive Biases

Posted on 16 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Familiar topics, but worth another look, especially since if they were broadly understood it would make so many of America’s partisan controversies go away. (But conservatives will never allow concepts like skeptical thinking to be taught in schools, for precisely … Continue reading →

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Fear and Guns, Fear of Diversity, and Conservative Misogyny

Posted on 15 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

For today, current events items about How gun buyers are motivated by fear How Republican politicians are motivated by fear of change, and fear of the other How Trump and his fans expose conservative misogyny For later, I need to … Continue reading →

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The Upside-Down World of Conservative Values

Posted on 13 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

They’re for discrimination against some (gays and lesbians) against discrimination against others (religious conscientious objectors) Their ideas of freedom involve the freedom to discriminate against people they don’t like (even if that infringes on *their* freedom) Their belief in capitalism … Continue reading →

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False Ideas of Human Nature

Posted on 12 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one topic for today. Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 12 May 2023: It’s bigger than guns: Why the right does little to stop violence, subtitled “Conservatives have cultivated a negative and hyper-individualistic view of human nature”

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The Town Hall, and the Core Issue

Posted on 11 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The political news today is about the “Town Hall” on CNN last night that gave Donald Trump a full hour to spew his usual shtick of lies and insults, before an audience of his fans, and the commentary in the … Continue reading →

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A Slow American Civil War?

Posted on 9 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today about The debt ceiling crisis and the deficit scolds This Modern World on teacher bots and the debt ceiling, among other things How the latest mass shooting suggests an American ‘slow civil war’

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This Week’s Political and Cultural Items

Posted on 5 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Why Republicans can no longer be called the party of “family values” How Republicans are obsessed by the woke mind virus More reasons why the US needs more immigrants, not fewer Benjamin Wallace-Wells on Tucker Carlson Jerry Coyne on another … Continue reading →

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Social Pressures that Subvert Objective Knowledge

Posted on 4 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items today: How conservatives are steering education to the classics of the ancient Greeks, as if only ancient “knowledge” is valid How some modern institutions prioritize identity and D.E.I. over objective science NY Times, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, 4 May 2023: … Continue reading →

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Book Censorship, Swivel-Eyed Loons, and Declining Millennial Religion

Posted on 2 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three items today. Why book censorship doesn’t work, and how conservatives don’t learn this. Cory Doctorow on how the objections to the “15-minute city” reflect a genuine concern about corporate influence over the government. How the current generation (unlike past … Continue reading →

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