Why the truth hurts only those who speak it
The Frustration of Fact Deniers in a Post-Truth Nation
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Have you ever had a debate with a friend who thought she was voicing a difference of opinion, but, in actuality, displayed a total disregard for, well, reality?
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK
In modern America, the metaphor of rival teams is a convenient way to identify and separate our values, organize information, and employ mental shortcuts.
Neuroscientists call these mental shortcuts heuristics...
Black Rights and White Wrongs
When Robert Putnam’s book Bowling Alone was first published in 2000, it revealed an alarming trend: Americans were becoming less connected to family, friends, and community.
The groundbreaking book chronicles our decline in social connectedness...
100 days of hypocrisy
This week ends the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. So far, his greatest achievement was inspiring the largest protest marches in American history - quite a feat considering my generation will drive two blocks for a gym...
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unbalanced
“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” -A.J. Liebling
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Last night I watched the documentary The Brainwashing of My Dad, about a family man’s rightwing radicalization. The filmmaker traces her father’s descent from a free-loving personality to an angry, embittered devotee of conservative media out of touch with reality...
the scam of internet cable providers
Last summer I wanted to change Internet providers. I was having bandwidth problems with AT&T, so one afternoon I phoned Time Warner Cable. I gave a representative my address, and he pulled up the package options for my street in Los Angeles...
the right to bear harm
In 1999 sociologist Barry Glassner published his national bestseller, The Culture of Fear, about the hidden forces that manipulate us in the name of profit. In the wake of Columbine, Glassner noted how the media coverage pulled us away from discussing proven dangers, such as ease of obtaining firearms, and toward distractions like rap music, video games, and trench coats...
nonprophets
Recently, Pope Francis held a TED talk to remind Christians of our primary obligation: to take care of the less fortunate.
This is not a new message. At least, it shouldn’t be for the 70% of Americans who identify as Christian...
POST-TRUTH NATION
“Fact is merely what enough people believe, and truth lies only in how fervently they believe it.” -–Charles P. Pierce, Idiot America
By now countless journalists, academics, and luminaries have expressed serious concern over the election of Donald Trump. To put it simply, the only ones celebrating his victory are the KKK, Russia...
OTHELLO'S WIFE WAS A WELFARE QUEEN
As students return to school this week, their backpacks will soon fill with Hamlet, Moby Dick, and a myriad other tomes no teenager would willingly touch.
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With eight months of fake news and alternative facts, our youth must turn to the classics if they wish to understand the present...
NO, trump will not make things better
Since the election, I’ve engaged in countless conversations with friends and family about Trump’s presidency. Generally, they go one of two ways: a shared sorrow for our country’s declining democracy, or me debunking misinformation that led to a Trump vote...
rust belt racism & economic growth
Donald Trump won the 2016 election by appealing to the frustrations of the Rust Belt, where unemployed Americans felt left behind by the new economy. These citizens have every right to be angry – Democrat and Republican presidencies abandoned them and their livelihood for Corporate America...
no tea party: Brexit, Trump and the KKK
Brexit represents a growing trend in worldwide populist movements that threaten to undermine democracy, both in Europe and in the U.S. In the U.K., a small, wealthy, white, rightwing upperclass has deliberately stoked its country’s xenophobia into a belligerent nationalism that now threatens its very existence...
Are we reliving the 1960s or the 1930s?
The year 2016 will go down as one of the most volatile years in recent memory, portending what may lurk around the corner. Author Yascha Mounk, Harvard political lecturer and Carnegie fellow, explained how a week in July may have altered the course of democracy into the near future...
