Consider, Reconsider
A Reason to Think, and Think AgainExtraterrestrials and Our Biases of Order and Randomness
Strange signals have been coming from the center of the Milky Way. Of course, we've had plenty of strange signals received by our varying apparatuses over many years -- and new ones all the time -- but this may be the first time it has not widely elicited the...
The Psychology of Sheep and Wolves
A lot of people have been called sheep lately for the alleged characteristic of unthinking compliance. It's a simple, direct way to explain away others' behavior while countering virtue signaling. This would make sense except for one thing -- that's not how sheep...
Making Hungary Great Again
{Posted by Ryan S Bonnett, with permission to republish} I haven't posted much about politics recently, and there's a reason. Under the previous administration, it was easy to address egregious points as they came up, which was seemingly on a daily basis. But now? I'm...
Why it is Wrong to Argue Over Vaccines
With my particular formal educational background and skills, I am able to "do my own research" on most subjects competently, at least on a basic level, even if I was not previously well-studied in those subjects. And I sometimes have to update and revise my...
I Was Facebook Jailed … and I Deserved It
I can tell you -- as so many others can -- that social media is not "silencing conservative voices". In other words, if you spread dangerous lies about the election or vaccinations, or called for insurrection, and coincidentally (or not) you are a Trump supporter,...
The Implications of Being Anti-Education
We regularly see sentiments pitting the Trades against the Professions, as much as reasonable people recognize they are both indispensable parts of the same body. Some memes are outright mean, while others are simply calls to de-normalize parents' and individuals'...
Behold the 12%
In a recent survey, 12% of respondents supported storming the Capitol on January 6th. We should be grateful the number is this low, with all the intentional polarization we're struggling beneath these days. And it confirms my own estimates. From years of studying...
President and Press
There has been an oft-repeated claim that President Trump has been hounded by the press from day one. That's a subjective statement I don't think is worth disagreeing with. But let's recognize it an apologetic attempt to explain why so many don't see the glory of his...
Time For a New Political Party
{Reprint of an editorial by Bruce E. Kenney, used with permission. Was published in the Olean Times, December 26.2020} To Rep. Tom Reed, in the late 1980s, as a Democrat, I ran against state Sen. Jess Present. I was unsuccessful, but during the campaign and after, I...
Indictment of a Figurehead
So many times these last three years I waited for uniting, encouraging words over tragedies and challenges, not unmeasured rallying. Deaths of respected leaders used to be mourned, putting aside political differences for the healing of a nation. When challenged or...
Culture War? We Need To Do Better.
{by Ryan S. Bonnett, reposted with permission from Facebook} I'd say that I need a break from politics, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Politics is the back and forth negotiation where our representatives ostensibly negotiate on our behalf, mixed with the direct...
Rethink History; Rethink What You Think is Happening in America
People are not educated about history, yet pass around strong opinions, parroting details they clearly didn't know the day before. Where did they get them? Revisionist propaganda has been around forever, often skewed one way, then the other. Fake experts (most news...
Pulling the Fire Alarm in America
I have studied the psychosocial phenomenon of brainwashing for many years, and it is a blood cousin to something I also research and write about -- ideological fanaticism. It took a while to see the pattern before me in our own nation, but now that I do, it's...
Examining Violence by Protesters … I Mean Sports Fans
Let's get my one-paragraph soapbox out of the way: I used to find it intolerable that people don't understand or accept that protest can be both peaceful and unpeaceful. After all, it may be peaceful all day across one or more cities, but then things seem to always...
A Moral Lens on Protests and Reform
TEACHERS. LAWYERS. MOTHERS. JOURNALISTS. MEDICS. VETERANS. The equivalent of Federal SWAT teams have been tear-gassing and "arresting" them, even breaking international standards for WAR by destroying medical supplies used to combat their unlawful use of chemical...
A Badge-Bully’s Bill of Rights
In what is possibly the most counter-productive proposal under a head-shaking euphemism of police "reform", a county Sherriff is urging lawmakers to double down on the very things people are trying to fix. Instead of listening to the community to understand why law...
Our Unrealistic Expectations of Police
Someone asked what would have happened on 9-11 if the police had been "defunded". The assumption is a worse disaster, and they may be right. There were a number of heroes in blue that fateful day in Manhattan when the towers were hit, and we should be grateful for...