August, 2025 archive
It’s All about the Algorithm, Reprise 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Daniel Marston suggests that something much simpler than the “content” offered by the algorithm keeps us glued to our screens. It’s the mere fact that the “content” keeps changing. He cites a study that seems to bear this out:
Now, if you can tear yourself away from watching online videos of persons cleaning their houses, go read the rest of his article . . . .
Chaos Agents 0
Writing at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Gene Collier is not sanguine. He notes
Follow the link for context.
A Culture War How To 0
David makes a strong case that the culture war can–methinks maybe even should–be viewed as a conscious tactic to stoke division and distract the polity from what’s going on behind the scenes. He summarizes the process as follows:
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1. You identify a perceived threat to traditional values.
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2. You exaggerate the threat.
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3. You demonize the “other.”
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4. You use that to galvanize the base and distract from everything else.
Watch the video for his explication. (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)
“Facts Are What People Think” 0
Donald Trump is suing universities, attacking news media, and honoring slaveholders.
Douglas Rooks* sees a pattern in all this. Here’s a tiny bit of his article:
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Yes, David Rooks. Not David Brooks. Clearly.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
Susanna Newsonen takes a look at how “(S)ocial media hijacks your brain’s reward system, making it hard to log off” and how that erodes persons’ attention spans. A snippet:
Now, go read a book and, remember, “social” media isn’t.
Real Big Men 0
At the Hartford Courant, Rachel Marsden is fed up with the faux machismo of many of today’s Republican Party. She argues that “Trump’s foreign policy has turned into big act of manspreading.”
Follow the link for her evidence.
The Ballroom Dance 0
Seth finds himself somewhat taken aback by Donald Trump’s preoccupation with desecrating the White House building a Mar-a-Lago style ballroom, while not noticing what’s going on in the real world.
The Climates They Are a-Changing 0
At the Idaho State Journal, Leonard Hitchcock Donald notes that Trump denies the reality of climate change and is rolling back efforts to deal it. He wonders, “What motivates Trump to deny the reality of global warming?”
So he decided to follow the money.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
The Trump maladministration has another concentration camp in the works.
But, according to the local Republican state representative quoted in the report, it’s a boon to the local economy, because of all the jobs it will create.
Never mind that confining persons without due process violates the very notion of the rule of law.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And another “responsible gun owner” exposes a portable phallus to a child.
QOTD 0
Gerard Horan, in the voice of Ray Butler:
Once you start with a lie, there’s somehow no going back, is there?
Recommended Reading 0
Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter.
I have had a copy of it on my bookshelf for (mumble) years. If anything, it’s more relevant now than when he wrote it.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
At the Bangor Daily News, Mary Ann Larson hears a recent rhyme from across the sea.
Aside:
I know someone who has relatives in the land Larson refers to. What she says is quite correct.
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*Mark Twain.