Groupthink, Reason, and Conspiracy Thinking

Posted on Friday 26 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • An apology/defense of groupthink;
  • My thoughts about how religion undermines the ability to reason;
  • A Republican who believes globes are a global conspiracy;
  • How Republicans take advantage of laws they voted against;
  • And how they’re trying to disappear gays and lesbians

This first item is interesting because I can’t tell from the title and subtitle what the claim is, exactly, and wonder how what it seems to claim might be true. Is the “in partnership with John Templeton Foundation” (a group that rewards those who conflate science and religion) shown under the byline a clue?

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Epistemology | Comments Off on Groupthink, Reason, and Conspiracy Thinking

Moving Toward One Kind of Science-Fictional Future

Posted on Thursday 25 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Working from home vs. commuting, a slow social trend we thought might be temporary, but which may be inevitable, and for the good.

I have a laptop connected to two big monitors, but otherwise this photo is apt. My cat Potsticker — not unlike this cat, but with more orange — lies on my computer table as I work. Usually in the late afternoons when he’s expecting his dinner.

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Posted in History, Human Progress, Technology | Comments Off on Moving Toward One Kind of Science-Fictional Future

Three from SciAm

Posted on Wednesday 24 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Scientific American is a magazine I’ve read intermittently for 50 years.

  • A new take on the difference between liberals and conservatives;
  • How most Americans think they are better than most people, but people in Asian countries do not;
  • How there are bizarre numbers that even most mathematicians don’t understand.

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Posted in Mathematics, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Three from SciAm

Fox News Admits They Were Wrong; Reviews by Michael Dirda

Posted on Tuesday 23 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

First, a follow up to my Media Literacy post three days ago. Stop the Presses! Something amazing has happened!

Salon, Amanda Marcotte, 23 May 2023: Fox News falls for another hoax, as the Dominion defamation settlement pays off, subtitled “The most surprising part of the “homeless veterans” hoax? Fox News admitted they were wrong”

Apparently the Dominion defamation settlement had consequences, lest Fox News keeps getting sued for lying. The photo here… with her expression…. seems appropriate.
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Posted in Mathematics, Narrative, Science, science fiction | Comments Off on Fox News Admits They Were Wrong; Reviews by Michael Dirda

More Examples of What MAGA Really Means

Posted on Monday 22 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today:

  • How Florida has been designated a dangerous state for blacks, Latinos, and sexual minorities to visit, with Tennessee close behind Florida and Texas on implementing similar policies;
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene’s hypocrisy about drag (she condemns it, except when her boyfriend does it);
  • Horror stories from Texas about women with failed pregnancies;
  • My thoughts on the potential banning in Florida of any alternatives to white bread and American cheese;
  • And quote from Saul Bellow.

*

More and more it seems clear that MAGA is about reasserting the dominance in America of straight white Christians, which seems to entail going back to the eras of Jim Crow, of homosexuality being illegal and gays worrying their careers would be ruined if they were found out, and abortions being performed in back alleys. The 1950s, or even before.

NY Times, 21 May 2023: N.A.A.C.P. Issues Florida Travel Advisory, Joining Latino and L.G.B.T.Q. Groups, subtitled “The N.A.A.C.P. urged people to consider Florida’s policies on diversity and race under Gov. Ron DeSantis when thinking of traveling there.” Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Psychology | Comments Off on More Examples of What MAGA Really Means

Today’s Fantasy vs. Reality Watch

Posted on Sunday 21 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today about

  • How Americans feel so negative about the economy, despite actual statistics;
  • How Christian Nationalism is working in Wyoming — the usual evocations of concerns that are not real;
  • How to determine truth, with an aside about science-fictional futures, and the competing attraction of conspiracy theories.

This item goes with the theme of yesterday’s post.

NY Times, Paul Krugman, 15 May 2023: Why Are Americans So Negative About the Economy?
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Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Today’s Fantasy vs. Reality Watch

Lessons in Media Literacy

Posted on Saturday 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 Republicans are using it for political purposes, never mind the global impact

NY Times, Megan K. Stack, 20 May 2023: If You’re Hearing About the Border, Someone Is Trying to Scare You

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Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on Lessons in Media Literacy

Today’s Authoritarianism Watch

Posted on Friday 19 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today:

  • Heather Cox Richardson on the transformation of the Republican Party since Reagan, from a party of small government to one bent on enforcing Christian nationalism;
  • How Republicans now argue that juries don’t count (when they lose);
  • FDR’s four freedoms (of speech, of worship, from want, and from fear), vs. those of the current Republican party (to control, to exploit, to censor, to menace)

Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, May 18, 2023

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Budgeting, Firearms, Walls, and Executing Trans People

Posted on Thursday 18 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Several items today.

  • How family and government budgeting are more unalike than similar;
  • How firearms training teaches you that you are in constant danger, and should shoot at once;
  • Thomas L. Friedman on building bigger walls, but also allowing in more immigrants — “both the high-energy, low-skilled immigrants and the high-I.Q. risk takers”;
  • And more examples of conservative animus towards trans people, to the point of executions; donation fraud by conservatives and the Mormon church; and DeSantis’ aim to make Florida students ignorant.

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Another simplistic talking point is making the rounds again.

Politifact, 17 May 2023: A family budget is often invoked in U.S. debt fights. Just how similar is it to a federal budget?

Answer: not very. Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Budgeting, Firearms, Walls, and Executing Trans People

Motivated Reasoning, and Vigilantism

Posted on Wednesday 17 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two themes today.

  • A prime example of motivated reasoning, from today’s NY Times font page (as if on cue from yesterday’s post), about conservative opposition to transgenders
  • And several examples of the increasing Republican approval of vigilantism

NY Times, 16 May 2023: How a Few Stories of Regret Fuel the Push to Restrict Gender Transition Care, subtitled “In the campaign to ban gender therapies for minors, Republicans have amplified a group of activists who no longer identify as transgender, overriding objections from transgender people and medical experts.”

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Posted in Conservative Resistance, Psychology | Comments Off on Motivated Reasoning, and Vigilantism