Category Archives: Narrative

All Stories Change

Posted on Monday 3 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Before it was called the Civil War, it was called the Slaveholders’ Rebellion, until apologists got the name changed; Trump and rewriting American history; Perhaps knowing less makes you happier; Religious folks who see data centers as signs of the … Continue reading →

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About the Appeal of Stories

Posted on Friday 3 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the great books appeal both to literary standards and our lizard brains; With my speculations about the appeal of science fiction; July 4th. The Guardian on how the US is a global citizen gone rogue; how the stain on … Continue reading →

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Primitive Morality, Stories, Politics

Posted on Friday 22 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Oklahoma and child marriage: an example of how modern morality is not (and should not be) beholden to the Bible; A Yuval Noah Harari video on how cooperation throughout human history requires common stories, e.g. religions; An economic experiment that … Continue reading →

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Thanksgiving

Posted on Friday 28 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Thanksgiving with an Asian family; A Facebook graphic about hospitals and who gets the money; Carl Sagan on Who Speaks for Earth? Recalling quotes by E.O. Wilson and Robert A. Heinlein; Don D’Ammassa on humanity’s death spiral; NYT articles on … Continue reading →

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Narrative Closure in A House of Dynamite

Posted on Saturday 1 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

And David Brin on the persistent idiocies of the UFO cultists – – – We watched the new film about a potential nuclear war, A House of Dynamite, last Sunday on Netflix, and then I watched it again on Netflix … Continue reading →

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How history, and current events, become approved stories

Posted on Wednesday 3 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Humans live by stories: comparing the story of Jesus to the story of the stolen 2020 election; Short items about Cracker Barrel; RFK Jr the vax quack; how women are not people; erasing the existence of gay people from public … Continue reading →

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More Ticks Off the Dictator Playbook List

Posted on Monday 17 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

There will be no calm still point. Trump defying the Court; a Constitutional crisis, perhaps; The next phase of Trump’s dictatorship era; Following the dictator playbook; Concern about discrimination against whites, and how MAGA is about white supremacy; How narratives … Continue reading →

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Gaslighting Reality

Posted on Sunday 23 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s lying reaches new levels; and Musk’s DARVO strategy. (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) – – – NY Times, Peter Baker, 23 Feb 2025: In Trump’s Alternate Reality, Lies and Distortions Drive Change, subtitle “Condoms for Gaza? Ukraine started … Continue reading →

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Cynics, Conspiracies, and the Oligarchy

Posted on Friday 17 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

RFK Jr. is a cynic, not a skeptic; Conservatives would rather punish California than deal with the climate crisis; Paul Krugman on how Trump has no plans, only yes-men; Why the decline of DEI is a worry; Peter Thiel now … Continue reading →

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Conservative Reality, and Reality

Posted on Tuesday 7 January 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The state of the American economy, vs. conservative dystopian fantasies; How conservatives whitewash the events of January 6th, 2021; How Meta is obeying in advance by removing fact-checkers, and wondering why conservatives object to fact-checkers (where the answer is obvious); … Continue reading →

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