Category Archives: Conservative Resistance

Narrative Bias and Control

Posted on Tuesday 30 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Another take on why conspiracy theories have become so popular; How home-schoolers who decided to send their kids to public schools exposed the three lies about home-schooling that convinced them to do so; The Week on the state of book … Continue reading →

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Then They Came for the Meteorologists

Posted on Monday 29 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s items. How conspiracy theorists are attacking meteorologists; Naomi Oreskes on how the right attacks Social Security because it’s a “big government” program that actually works; The connection between American Christians and Uganda’s “kill the gays” policy And today’s music: … Continue reading →

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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 … Continue reading →

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

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 … Continue reading →

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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 … Continue reading →

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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 … Continue reading →

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

Skepticism, Beliefs, and Cognitive Biases

Posted on Tuesday 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 Monday 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 Saturday 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 Friday 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”

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Evolution | Comments Off on False Ideas of Human Nature