Category Archives: Politics

Jonathan Haidt’s THE RIGHTEOUS MIND: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, 1

Posted on Friday 4 December 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion is a fascinating, insightful book. It uses psychological studies into moral sentiments around the world to develop ideas about the ‘foundations’ of morality, especially to expand … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Haidt, Krugman, Cruz and Swanson, Evolution v Creationism and Iowa Home-Schoolers

Posted on Friday 20 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I am 3/4 of the way through that Jonathan Haidt book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, which is almost revelatory in the sense that it provides a vocabulary and a theoretical framework for … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Bruni on Cruz; Flip-flopping presidents are most effective; political persuasion; Republicans’ economic narrative; Lisa Randall, a new Trek

Posted on Thursday 19 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

From last Sunday’s New York Times: Frank Bruni on Ted Cruz’s Laughable Disguise He emphatically recalls how his father’s embrace of Jesus Christ led him back to his mother — and to him — after his parents had separated. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Politics, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Bruni on Cruz; Flip-flopping presidents are most effective; political persuasion; Republicans’ economic narrative; Lisa Randall, a new Trek

Reading Haidt, arcs of history, false balance, how liberal views are closer to the truth, and science fiction

Posted on Thursday 12 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Beginning to read Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion today, an eloquent, insightful exploration into how the parameters of human psychology explain the range of political and religious differences. I wrote a … Continue reading →

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Narrative vs Reality

Posted on Tuesday 3 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Another post about Republican politics — because, cf. Heinlein, this is currently the greatest threat to the advancement of American society. Trump is a buffoon; Carson a mild-mannered religious zealot; Cruz an megalomaniac, evangelical religious zealot; Christie a political clown; … Continue reading →

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The 2015 Republican Clown Circus

Posted on Tuesday 3 November 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I can’t help but thinking that the entire world, or at least the rational world of the advanced countries in Europe and Asia, are rolling their eyes at the current US Republican candidates for president. Perhaps they understand that history … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: This Week’s American Politics; … Heinlein

Posted on Friday 30 October 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

This has been a bizarre week, what with the third debate among Republican presidential candidates, and the reactions from the red-meat base and, on the other side, the intelligentsia who rolled their eyes about all the lies and distortion those … Continue reading →

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Lawrence M. Krauss on Ben Carson

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

He says it better than I can (and of course with more authority). Ben Carson’s Scientific Ignorance It is hard to find a single detailed claim in his diatribe that is physically sensible or that reflects accurate knowledge about science. … Continue reading →

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