From Pine View Farm

September, 2020 archive

Human Beings: Simultaneously the Salt and the Scum of the Earth 0

Scientific Blogging carries psychologist Simon McCarthy-Jones’s exploration how and why some persons find cruelty gratifying.

It’s fascinating and timely read; here’s a bit:

We understand if someone lashes out in retaliation or self-defence. But when someone harms the harmless, we ask: “How could you?”

Humans typically do things to get pleasure or avoid pain. For most of us, hurting others causes us to feel their pain. And we don’t like this feeling. This suggests two reasons people may harm the harmless – either they don’t feel the others’ pain or they enjoy feeling the others’ pain.

Another reason people harm the harmless is because they nonetheless see a threat. Someone who doesn’t imperil your body or wallet can still threaten your social status. This helps explain otherwise puzzling actions, such as when people harm others who help them financially.

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Defensive Driving on the Disinformation Superhighway 0

At Psychology Today Blogs, Camille Johnson demonstrates that lies can affect our judgement, even when we recognize them as lies. At the end of the article, she suggests some steps we can take to reduce our chances of drowning in the sea of lies. A snippet:

What is important to consider is that in a world where misleading and false information are constantly being presented in social media, we need to be aware of our vulnerability to that information – even when we know it is false, inflammatory, or intended to sway us. We like to think that we are not vulnerable, that Facebook posts, twitter threads, and funny memes aren’t affecting us – because of course we know that they aren’t 100% true and it is just a joke. But science shows that we are vulnerable. When we see outlandish information, even when we know it is untrue, it sways our judgement. This is especially true if the information appeals to us on an emotional level.

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“Let Me Count the Strays . . . .” 0

As Yom Kippur nears, Brian Greenspun takes inventory.

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QOTD 0

John Locke:

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.

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A Tune for the Times 0

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Facebook Frolics 0

Relocation frolics.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Be polite to babies.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

They just can’t help fondling their portable phalli, can they?

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Twits on Twitter 0

Voter fraud fraud twits.

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Immunity Impunity 0

See the report from The Hill that Farron refers to.

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Flushed with Success 0

Stephanie Hays noted that the mansions of the very rich often have more bathrooms than bedrooms (we’re talking in the teens or more here), so she set out to uncover the reason.

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The Elephant in the Room Senate 0

Title:  Horton hatches the egg (with apologies to Dr. Seuss).  Image:  Republican Elephant sitting in bird's nest on egg labeled

Click for the original image.

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QOTD 0

Margaret MacMillan:

Dictators, perhaps because they know their own lies so well, have usually realised the power of history. Consequently, they have tried to re-write, deny, or destroy the past.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Disappearing frolics.

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Picturing the Disinformation Superhighway 0

Medieval torturer opens door to cell and says to occupant, who is chained to the wall,

Click for the original image.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Another instance of childhood courtesy in the NRA’s Garden of Bleedin’.

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Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0

WhattaTrumpling.

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Misdirection Play, Going Viral Dept. 0

Scott Maxwell unmasks Florida Governor DeSantis’s misdirection play, which, Maxwell submits, is an attempt to distract from his incompetent and bumbling response to COVID-19. A snippet (emphasis added):

DeSantis staged a press conference to announce new plans — not to combat COVID, but to crack down on protesters and show his support for police. He called it the “Combating Violence, Disorder and Looting and Law Enforcement Protection Act.”

(snip)

His plan was light on details and thick with questions about its constitutionality. So the internet quickly exploded.

Lefties put together videos like: “Trump-loving governor makes it LEGAL to kill protesters.”

Righties screamed: “DeSantis Creates Perfect Legislation That Will Effectively End “Peaceful Protesters” In Florida”

It was just what DeSantis needed to distract from his COVID problems … everyone screaming about something else.

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The Unbelievers (Updated) 0

In The Kansas City Star, Melinda Henneberger reports on a small town in the Missouri countryside where most of the residents have chosen to disregard the danger of infection in these viral times. Many of them seem to have bought the herd immunity fairy tale that, if enough people get sick (lots of whom will die, but that part gets left out of the fairy tale version), somehow the threat will magically go away. Here’s a bit:

That’s such a common feeling in this town of 12,000 in the southwestern corner of the state that a mom who sees this nonchalance as “nuts” also said she’s afraid her business would fail if she let me use her name: “I’ve already had to unfollow everyone I’ve ever known on Facebook. More people than I ever would have believed think we’ll never hear about COVID again after the election, and if you wear a mask you get laughed at. A gentleman at the Dollar Tree came up and told me I was a sheep and I looked ridiculous. I have a friend who was diagnosed with COVID” who thought it was no problem for her kids to keep going to school.

We are a society of stupid.

Addendum:

Headline of the day: Virus cases reach 7 million in US amid spike in heartland, home to anti-mask sentiments

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Follow the Money 0

Thom and Dr. Richard Wolff discuss the economic underpinnings of racial and ethnic discrimination and police brutality.

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QOTD 0

Ricky Gervais:

There’s no difference between fame and infamy now. There’s a new school of professional famous people that don’t do anything.

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