July, 2018 archive
Borderline Disorder, Republican Family Values Dept. 0
Psychologists Rosalind Barnett and Caryl Rivers consider the likely psychological effects of the party of mean for the sake of mean’s sadistic policy of ripping children from their parents. They discuss three in particular:
- The first whammy: Learned helplessness.
- The second whammy: Lack of attachment.
- The Third Whammy: Mistrust over Trust.
Follow the link for a detailed discussion of each one.
“These Are People Who Thought That Scrooge Was Right” 0
Thom and his guest discuss the right-wing’s vision of a new Gilded Age.
All the News that Fits, Foxy Shady Dept. 0
If you don’t talk about it, it never happened.
QOTD 0
Groucho Marx:
Afterthought:
I can’t provide the citation, but Bennett Cerf once wrote that Groucho also said,
My television has a six-foot screen. It’s a Japanese screen.
I put it front of the television and read a book.
Dodgy Descent 0
Some things run in families.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
American Heritage 0
Tony Norman reminds us that the past is not even past.
Experiments Fail, Even Noble Ones 0
Writing at The Roanoke Times, Pete Hamilton is not optimistic. A snippet:
Today it appears that Franklin’s cynicism might well be justified; that Hamilton’s optimism may have been premature; and that Lincoln’s bright vision of our national origins could possibly be approaching an inglorious conclusion. Could the American experiment in democracy be doomed to the same fate of those “petty republics” of ancient Greece and Rome?
Follow the link for the rest.
One Thing Is Not Like the Other Thing 0
In a fitting post for the Fourth of July, Gina Barreca muses on difference between patriotism and nationalism.
Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest. It will be worth your while.
Patriotism is about a desire for progress, not a yearning for repetition. It’s about wanting to be better, not just longing for an idea of what we think we once were. While it should be rooted in a knowledge of history, patriotism is more than a sentimental reverence for an idealized and nostalgic vision of what most people never possessed.