The Incoherency of Religious Rationales

Posted on Saturday 20 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s generally considered impolite to point out the irrationality and incoherency of religious faith, but sometimes the examples are so blatant, you wonder if they aren’t signs of some mental disorder. Like those cases where brain damage causes one side of the brain to perceive one thing, the other half, something different. (See Oliver Sacks and others.)

CBS News, 19 Jul 2024: In RNC speech, Trump recounts surviving assassination attempt: “I’m not supposed to be here”

So here for example is Trump (with that absurd ear ‘bandage’) saying, near the beginning of his RNC speech the other night, “I’m not supposed to be here tonight” in one breath, then a moment later, “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God.”

Well, which is it? Continue reading →

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Never Mind Policy or Principles, Conservatives Need Only Stories

Posted on Thursday 18 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Politics and the Narrative Drive converge in items today.

  • Robert Reich about how the GOP is courting unions;
  • How J.D. Vance emphasizes his personal story rather than conservative principles;
  • How Republicans cling to the myth of migrant crime;
  • And how people on the right think, nonsensically, that the left is “godless.”

We’ve been watching the Republican National Convention the past few evenings because, well, there’s nothing else on. We’re not in the midst of watching any particular show on cable, or DVD, and it’s easiest just to turn on one network or another and watch the show. What struck me on the first night was that a union leader (!) was speaking to Republicans, as if Republicans support unions. They never have; they’re pro-big business, and thus anti-union.

Robert Reich, 16 Jul 2024: The GOP pretends its pro-union, subtitled “How the anti-union party courts working-class voters”

The strategy here, apparently, is if you say black is actually white, some people will believe you.

Continue reading →

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We tell ourselves stories in order to live

Posted on Wednesday 17 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Yes, recalling Joan Didion, captured here. I’m not the only one who suspects this is true.

Facebook, Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, friends-only post, 16 Jul 2024: I have spent…

…a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what is inspiring the rabid hatreds of the MAGA right. I entertained the “justified resentment of the rural left-behinds” hypothesis. I entertained the “fear of racial and gender replacement” hypothesis. I entertained the “cult group hypnosis” hypothesis. And others. None of them seemed adequate. Now, after a decade of watching this bloodthirtsy, hypocritical political sadism I’ve come to believe that underlying it all is something I’ve never allowed myself to entertain before about any group. Here it is: the MAGA movement is driven by the need of a large population of Americans to hide their own actually-existing depravity — from others and themselves. Not the spiritual kind, but real crimes. How else explain that MAGATs attribute every crime, perversion, abuse of power, act of bad faith, lying, cheating, and sadistic violence to their “enemies,” while the police records, court filings, and neutral investigations show that the vast majority of the actual instances of those things is on right-wing “conservatives.” Pedophilia — compare the instances of sexual predation, sexual abuse of children, and child porn. Voter fraud – the vast majority of cases have been by Republicans. Sadistic misogyny. Persecution of gays by closeted preachers and politicians. Stigmatization of sexual freedom by swingers behind closed doors. Theft by churches, wage-thieving businesses, sweetheart deals and kickbacks. Violence against pro-choice people by killers. Hatred of laws and norms as conspiratorial oppression by the “deep” state, by people who have enjoyed breaking laws and getting away with it and by harming other people with impunity. Hostility to taxes by people who cheat others habitually, to social justice by people who enjoy seeing harm done. The old evangelicalism of Jonathan Edwards stressed the sin of the people, sinners in the hands of an angry God. The new evangelicalism sees sin only in others. So I can’t help an almost reflexive response when I hear someone spewing MAGA hatred: “you’ve got bodies in your basement and my fondest wish is for your crimes to come to light.” That’s not a healthy political attitude, but I don’t feel like I have a choice. And I guess that’s my answer to my old question about what’s the benefit of projection for the projectors. On the political level they’re not just deflecting bad thoughts, but actual, concrete, bona fide crimes.

Continue reading →

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Perhaps There Is Only Story

Posted on Tuesday 16 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Now right-wingers are blaming the Trump assassination attempt on women;
  • Those who come out and say that want to impose Christian Nationalism on the nation;
  • Paul Krugman on Project 2025, and it would reverse measures established in the 19th century to prevent cronyism and corruption;
  • Trump buys into RFK Jr.’s vaccine conspiracy theories; Charlie Kirk think there must be something wrong with men who don’t vote for Trump;
  • And on a contrasting note, how Richard Dawkins admires the courage of atheists.

There must be a reason, right? Things just don’t happen for no reason, do they? That would be such a waste of an opportunity for a new conspiracy theory — a new story to explain the world! Any story will do!

Salon, Tatyana Tandanpolie, 16 Jul 2024: “Very clever effort”: Right-wingers find new group to blame over Trump assassination attempt — women, subtitled “Right-wingers claim ‘DEI got someone killed’ because there were women on Trump’s Secret Service detail”

Better yet, impose your preferred story on everyone else. By hook or by crook. Like getting rid of voters who aren’t going to vote your way. Never mind democracy — but we’ve already established that, whatever they say, conservatives don’t believe in democracy.

Continue reading →

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What Democracy Is For

Posted on Monday 15 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s time for another batch of short items. NYT and LAT (before the assassination attempt) think Trump unfit; items about the Ten Commandments, Fly Me to the Moon, conspiracies, a comment on TV about how democracy should work; and how Republicans are using the assassination attempt to deflect all criticism of Trump and his authoritarian policies. Another Trump judge dismisses a case against Trump, what a surprise. Zack Beauchamp, a name to look for. And others.

My take-away from among all these: that comment on TV about how democracy should work.

Continue reading →

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There Is No Other Place

Posted on Sunday 14 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Cue the Conspiracy Theorists and Projectionists. Items today about yesterday’s assassination attempt against Donald Trump, and which side is the one that actually promotes violence.

*

Well, I didn’t suspect that so many on the right would blame the *left* for inciting the would-be assassin of Donald Trump yesterday. Based on no evidence whatsoever, of course, except the reflexive projectionism whereby conservatives especially seem to imagine that everyone else operates to their (low) standards of morality and therefore attributes their own tendencies to everyone else.

The Atlantic, David Frum, 14 Jul 2024: The Gunman and the Would-Be Dictator, subtitled “Violence stalks the president who has rejoiced in violence to others.”

Continue reading →

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More About the NYT List

Posted on Saturday 13 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

First of all, I amended yesterday’s post with those books on that NYT list that I’ve read — 9 of them — and those I have copies of but not yet read — 14 of them. And now I’ll off-handedly suggest some titles that I have found personally the most worthwhile books I’ve read, from the 21st century. Which are not included on the NYT list.

Second, judging from the big list, most people favor fiction, i.e. novels about people, contemporary or historical, that illuminate the human condition and the potentials of human life. And nonfiction that is concerned with social issues. There’s nothing here about nonfiction that addresses science, or the big issues in life that transcend mundane life, including politics.

Clearly, my interests are not those of the majority of litterateurs. But I’m fine with that! NYT added a page for readers to submit their own top 10 titles. So after a few moments thought, here are what I submitted (from bottom to top). Most of these I think I’ve reviewed here on this blog.

  • Why We’re Polarized, Ezra Klein
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman
  • 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari
  • The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt
  • Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari
  • The Big Picture, Sean Carroll
  • The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert
  • Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson
  • Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang
  • The Better Angels of Our Nature, Steven Pinker

And when I think about this a bit longer, there would be more titles.

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The Latest Major Book List

Posted on Friday 12 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • First, about this week’s New York Times list of the best books of the 21st century;
  • Second for today: Paul Krugman on how Republicans think that America is a dystopian nightmare.
– – –

For no particular reason that I can detect, the New York Times this past month has been compiling lists of the best books of the 21st century, i.e. from 2000 to 2023. They began by compiling the annual “Editors’ Choice” or “Best Books” lists, chosen by the book review editors, that were published in each of those years (typically in the first Sunday of each December’s Book Review). That list is here. Since I read the NYT and its Sunday Book Review, I’ve seen these lists before; indeed, have seen them since the 1970s.

Then this past week Continue reading →

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Save the Children?

Posted on Thursday 11 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Never mind homeschooling; now there’s a cult of “unschooling”;
  • Nascent thoughts about conservative morality, children, MAGA, and the return to a simpler past — which would be, childhood;
  • How Oklahoma is letting right-wing figures (including David Barton) run its social studies curriculum;
  • And how William Gibson’s quote about “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed” applies very broadly.
– – –

Here’s yet another idea new to me!

The Week, Theara Coleman, 10 Jul 2024: Unschooling: the radical education trend raising eyebrows, subtitled “Some parents are letting their children lead their education”

Since the pandemic, there has been a noticeable surge in homeschooling. Now, a different pedagogical trend called “unschooling” is gaining momentum, sparking controversy and debate online.

Continue reading →

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Two New Ideas

Posted on Wednesday 10 July 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Or at least, first sightings by me of a couple ideas that have apparently been floating around for a year or two: Moral ambition, and progressive realism. There are new ideas in the world. Because experience and knowledge accumulate.

Big Think, Tim Brinkhof, 8 Jul 2024: Effective altruism is stumbling. Can “moral ambition” replace it?, subtitled “In ‘Moral Ambition,’ Dutch historian Rutger Bregman argues that all would benefit from a collective redefinition of success.”

Continue reading →

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