Author's archive

(I have made this post a “sticky” so it will appear at the top of the page until I unstick it in a few days.)

(Unstuck 2024-08-05.)

In preparing a post that will appear tomorrow (WordPress allows you to schedule future posts), I learned that I have been misquoting Mark Twain, fortunately in a way that did not alter the intent of what he said. He did not say that history “often echoes,” he said that it “often rhymes.”

Using the blog’s “search” feature, I went back and fixed my mistakes (I reserve the right to fix my mistakes). I can’t say that I got all of them, but I think I got most of them.

Rebecca Watson draws a line between intentional dis- and misinformation on the Disinformation Superhighway and what she refers to as sh*tposting (which I can best define as sort of stupid wisecracks intended as “humor”). She uses as a starting point the J. D. Vance couch slur and how it went from a casual and completely fabricated post on the site that used to be known as Twitter to a torrent of tripe (warning: some language).

Or you can read the transcript.

Afterthought:

Methinks the primary take-away here is that “social” media isn’t.

At Psychology Today Blogs, Jessica Koehler explores why persons cling to beliefs even when they are demonstrably false, aka “belief persistence,” and offers some techniques for combating it. A snippet:

Politics is a domain rife with belief perseverance. Political beliefs are often deeply ingrained and tied to one’s identity, making them particularly resistant to change. This is evident in how people consume news and information. Individuals tend to gravitate towards media sources that align with their existing political beliefs, reinforcing their viewpoints while dismissing opposing perspectives.

Given the debased state of dis coarse discourse, this is a valuable read; I commend it to your attention.