Political positions are emotional as well as rational, and depend on the degree of trust in other people. Lower trust reduces the boundary of identification and the degree of cooperation between people. Knowing the emotional reasons for political positions makes them more understandable and helps in finding acceptable solutions.
People are neither completely social like ants, nor completely independent like most spiders. We have characteristics of both, and each attribute has its own benefits and drawbacks.
If I invite you to dinner and for dessert, serve you raw eggs on a bed of flour and sugar, do you you say “Oh, what a delicious cake!” or “What kind of joke is this?” It has all the …
Life Begins at Conception and Roe v. Wade was Correct Read more »
Chauncey Devega prophecies loudly and often about the risk of authoritarianism in the US: https://www.salon.com/2021/12/10/democracy-doom-loop/ https://www.salon.com/2021/11/15/american-democracy-is-on-the-treadmill-of-doom-how-do-we-get-off/ Today, Aaron Blake, senior political reporter at the Washington Post, writes that “lawmakers are disregarding private principle in their votes and often doing so …
.The right-wing populist movements here and in the UK are driven by anger. They justify disruption of the present system because it is seen as not working for people. They do not respect law and tradition when they stand in …
How the Populist Movements Compare to the Hippies Read more »
Why do we believe what we believe, and how is it possible that we differ so much? Our beliefs comes from our senses, culture, in-group, experts, feelings and thinking. Of these, only thinking and expertise can make a defensible case. (This is a major rewrite of the original 5/19/19 post.)
I offer this Reddit discussion about the FOX News article Honduran man charged with raping, killing jogger in New Jersey had been deported twice as an example of how hard it is to discuss politics. I am posting as PhilAndMaude. Person-A: A-fucking-nother …
Years ago, I thought I was going to die. The streets were dark and slick with rain. I was getting a ride back from a weekend encounter group where all our emotions had been laid bare, and the driver and …
Call it the law of unintended consequences. The internet is a disruptive technology comparable to the Gutenberg press. Initially it was seen as a global encyclopedia, making all human knowledge available to everyone. Then social media arose, and I saw …
It’s a New World of Perpetual War: US has been at war in Afghanistan for 17+ years Taliban still holds around half the country US has bombing campaigns in 8 countries US has troop presence in 177 countries (out of …