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 America is the narcissist Trump;
  • Brief items about the MAGA indifference to Trump’s billions in personal gains, the jingoistic view that only the USA benefits from the greatness of Jesus; and Republican idiocy about wind and solar power.
– – –

What is the appeal of stories? Both in books and at the movies?

The Atlantic, Boris Kachka, today: The ‘Have It Both Ways’ Theory of Great Books, subtitled “Many literary classics have a way of appealing to our lizard brains while making us question why we’re so compelled by them.”

A standard answer goes to the roots of tribalism and the human understanding of cause and effect in the natural world. We tell stories to relate cause and effect, e.g. thunder is caused by the god Thor tossing lightning bolts. And we tell stories to valorize heroes and leaders who unite the tribe. Why the appeal of stories about danger and violence? As lessons about the risks of the world. Or as rehearsal to situations we might face. A kind of abstract, inverse, play. What about science fiction stories? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To the article:
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What Is This About Democratic Socialists?

Posted on Thursday 2 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Jonathan Chait thinks they’re bad;
  • Jerry Coyne echoes his animus;
  • Robert Reich sees a different trend, more exciting than democratic socialism;
  • While Paul Krugman thinks “most of us are social democrats”, which seems to exhibit the way these words are variously used;
  • The books on the new Air Force One are fakes; how the reflecting pool is especially captivating; how the Capital is a mess; how Christians spread false Christian Nationalist history (with many links to examples).
– – –

OK, so what are Democratic Socialists and why do even some Democrats think they’re bad? Jonathan Chait seems skeptical.

The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait, today: There’s Nothing Democratic About These Socialists, subtitled “The DSA was formed in opposition to the very thing it has become.”

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Lost Potential

Posted on Wednesday 1 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • The families conservatives want;
  • Heather Cox Richardson on the Republican motives to strike down the Fourteenth Amendment;
  • Brief items about mandating the Bible in class; yet another study finds no link between Tylenol and autism; a conservative wants to sterilize foreign visitors; how the Qatari-gifted Air Force One was, actually, built in America; how MAGA takes the latest SCOTUS loss as an existential crisis;
  • And David Wallace-Wells on the need to retrofit the planet.
– – –

For all that conservatives resent big “nanny state” government, they’re eager to micromanage social trends that don’t align their expansionist, tribal values.

NY Times, Jessica Grose, today: The Gap Between the Families We Have and the Ones Conservatives Want [gift link]

The panic about Americans having fewer babies continues unabated. But we know this: Marriage and fertility rates in this country and across much of the world have been declining for years, with no signs of reversing. Prominent American conservatives keep saying that the problem is that it’s not 1950. That’s when it was typical to get married in one’s late teens or early 20s, to someone only of the opposite sex, and a majority of families had a male breadwinner with more legal rights than his wife.

(The answer, of course, Continue reading →

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The Conservative Ethos: Tribalistic, Xenophobic, Autocratic

Posted on Tuesday 30 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How the Supreme Court repeatedly gives Trump the license to discriminate (never mind “all men are created equal”);
  • Robert Reich on the Court’s decision to let Trump fire officials in government agencies whenever he likes;
  • Robert Reich on how the 14th amendment survived the Supreme Court, though only barely;
  • Items about the conservative distaste for foreigners (again…);
  • How Elon Musk thinks cuts to USAID didn’t cause any deaths (he’s wrong);
  • Brief items about Nuclear Family Month, Hegseth’s purges, Vance’s claims about the “deep state” and Nixon; and two idiots on the right.
– – –

This is from three days ago.

The Atlantic, Adam Serwer, 27 Jun 2026: The Court That Will Believe Absolutely Anything Is ‘Race-Neutral’, subtitled “The majority gives Trump yet more license to discriminate.”

Trump-administration officials have made no secret of their desire to purge the United States of nonwhite immigrants. Donald Trump has declared, “If you import The Third World, you become The Third World,” a common refrain repeated by his advisers. Trump has also said that immigrants have “bad genes,” that they are genetically predisposed to crime, and that they are “poisoning the blood of our country”—coming, as they are, “from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.”

And yet conservatives claim to worship the Constitution and the Declaration, which come with phrases like “all men are created equal,” which even taken figuratively, they clearly do not believe.

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Are the Best Years Behind Us? No.

Posted on Monday 29 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • The US is better off than 50 years ago, yet people feel worse (another version of this recurring story);
  • Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso no. 1.
– – –

Yet another story on this general theme. It’s about human nature, not the actual state of the world.

Vox, Bryan Walsh, today: The US is better off than it was in 1976. So why does it feel worse?, subtitled “America’s 250th birthday feels bleak. The numbers tell a different story.”

The current generation does not remember this.

America in the summer of 1976 was not in a good place.

The president who presided over the country’s bicentennial, President Gerald Ford, only had the job because the previous president and vice president had resigned in disgrace, making him the sole US president who was never actually elected. The Vietnam War had ended in defeat and disgrace when Saigon fell the year before, after the deaths of nearly 60,000 American service members. Inflation hit double digits in 1974 and stayed ugly, unemployment sat near 8 percent, and economists had to invent a word — stagflation — for an economy that seemed to encompass the worst of both worlds.

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Facebook Saves

Posted on Monday 29 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard, still out to discredit Dr. Fauci, only reveal their scientific illiteracy;
  • The difference between science and science’s pretenders, pseudoscience and science denial;
  • A crude but apt characterization of Christian theology;
  • Things theists claim as evidence that are not evidence;
  • Sam Harris on the credence given religion (but only modern ones) that would be given to any other discourse;
  • Two examples of science illiteracy: sunny today, so the moon will be brighter tonight; confusion about whether 1 times 1 equals 1.
– – –

Some of these are a bit abstruse, but I’ll try not to belabor them.

Unfiltered M.D., Dr. Terry Simpson, 26 Jun 2026: Making Sense of the Madness: Why Scientific Literacy Matters More Than Ever

Over the past week, Senator Rand Paul has again held up stacks of documents that he says explain the origins of COVID-19 and raise new questions about Anthony Fauci. Tulsi Gabbard has released a four-page presentation describing U.S.-funded laboratories around the world, and social media has been flooded with declarations that “the evidence is finally out.”

So Dr. Simpson read the documents. Gist:
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The Arrogance of the Devout

Posted on Saturday 27 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Texas inserts Bible readings into public school instruction, only some of them related to literary works;
  • Adam Roberts reviews Disclosure Day, with insights similar to my own;
  • Gubbins: Dismal turn-out for Trump’s rally; right-wing paranoia about Dems.
– – –

Salon, CK Smith, today: Texas mandates Bible readings and Christian-infused curriculum in public schools, subtitled “Education board decision fuels debate over where teaching about religion ends and religious instruction begins”

Texas has become the first state in the nation to require Bible passages as part of its statewide public school reading curriculum after the Republican-controlled State Board of Education approved sweeping new social studies standards Friday.

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Human Nature and American Self-Esteem

Posted on Friday 26 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Another story about a European loving his American experience, and also how Americans need this kind of validation;
  • Brief items about Trump Derangement Syndrome, the demonization of Anthony Fauci, how Christian Nationalist candidates should conceal their agendas, and why there are no migrants from Norway;
  • A longer piece about “post-liberalism,” which to me fails to take the long view;
  • More brief items from Paul Krugman about Pete Hegseth’s undermining of the military, and The Conversation about why people avoid bad news.
– – –

Another perspective about this; a German tourist loves America.

Slate, Alex Kirshner, yesterday: Freddy’s Big Adventure, subtitled “A German man’s World Cup road trip has turned him into an unlikely folk hero—and exposed how desperate Americans are for proof that their country is great.”

European tourists having a great time in America have been a recurring bit on my social media feeds lately, and perhaps on yours too. They’re driving on interstates. They’re trying ranch dressing. They’re eating at Taco Bell. But nobody has been a bigger sensation than a German man who goes by @FreddyLA7 on X. Freddy has gone megaviral for being a really good tourist and getting lots of fun gifts along his journey to watch the German soccer team (and others) all across North America.

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Assessing Disclosure Day

Posted on Thursday 25 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • National Review is offended by the film’s presumption to redefine “the Judeo-Christian ethic that formerly ruled Hollywood — making it a global, cultural superpower…”;
  • Vox on how faith and UFOs go hand in hand;
  • Slate on how Spielberg’s films are about “high strangeness”;
  • My take: road trips and action sequences, with a sprinkling of old spice.
– – –

Let’s revisit some of those items I saved about Steven Spielberg’s latest film, Disclosure Day, and see if we can figure out why some religious folks have taken such offense. The ones I posted earlier were on June 13th, followed by my quick take after seeing the movie on June 20th.

Meanwhile, I should say, I re-watched most of Close Encounters of the Third Kind over the past week, in sections, trying to lure my reluctant partner into watching it. What impresses me about that film are the visuals. The skies filled with spooky lightening-like lights. The bright lights of the little alien ships pursing the cop cars, and the ones luring the boy Barry outside his house. I still don’t buy the appearance of the mothership from behind(?) Devil’s Tower, when it should have been seen descending from above. But let’s move on.

Let’s start with this item from a conservative publication.

National Review, Armond White, 12 Jun: Disclosure Day: An Unequal Sequel, subtitled “Spielberg betrays the movies — and himself”

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As Others See Us

Posted on Wednesday 24 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How World Cup tourists are impressed by the US;
  • And an earlier piece about tourists were impressed by San Francisco, in both cases despite right-wing apocalyptic propaganda;
  • Amanda Marcotte on why MAGA buys Trump’s reflecting pool hoax;
  • Hegseth reverses the vax mandate ban, and fires another top general;
  • MAGA falls for satire;
  • Todd Starnes doubles down on tribalism;
  • Alan Greenspan admitted he was wrong: takes by Roger Lowenstein and Robert Reich.
  • And John Williams: Schindler’s List.
– – –

People are, inevitably, most concerned about their personal lives, without needing to be aware of the outside world. To some extent this piece reveals the psychological bias that leads many people to think life is worse off today than it was in some imaginary glorious past. And it reveals how outside perspective are quite at odds with the apocalyptic take that Trump and MAGA have on America’s big cities, which borders on bigotry.

Washington Post, opinion by Jim Geraghty, yesterday: What’s America really like? Ask the World Cup tourists., subtitled “Foreign soccer fans marvel at features of U.S. life we take for granted.”

Sometimes it takes outsiders, seeing us with fresh eyes, to remind us of who we are and what we have.

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