Online trolls’ rhetoric, Sartre’s anticipation
Anti-Semites, postmodernists, and alt-rightists as peas in a pod.
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Psychology
How great artists become great: Karajan version
According to his biographer: Karajan seems to have spent the greater part of his like seeking the one thing he believed would make him completely happy: absolute mastery over his own destiny. Richard Osborne, Herbert von Karajan: A Life in Music, Northeastern University Press, 1998, p. 33 Related: How other great artists became great:Igor Stravinsky
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Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? [Open College transcript]
We’re posting serially at thinkspot the transcripts of my Open College podcasts. Here’s the eleventh: OC11: Is Envy Worse in a Free Society? “Is a free and open society more susceptible to the dangers of envy? It’s an interesting question because most often the envy charge is used against socialism, or any kind of outcome-egalitarian
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Who controls your mind? Decision and habit
Wise words from actress Alyson Hannigan: “I was in a real negative headspace for a long time. I remember the moment I became an optimist. I was walking across campus, and somebody passed me by. In my head, I insulted that person. I stopped myself and thought, ‘Why would I think something negative about a
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The new street-populists: Ignorance plus Faith-conditioning plus Moralistic fervor plus Mob psychology.
Not just one thing explains the new wave of street-populism. Five constituent types, with different levels of understanding and commitment: 1. The mass of protesters: Especially the younger: conditioned by semi- and mis-education, though sometimes with a partial understanding of a real problem. Their moral beliefs stand as unquestionable dogmas of faith in their minds.
SJW suppression psychology — why the viciousness?
A common pattern–on widespread display in our generation: “People who are trying to prevent members of society from speaking the truth will often punish minor criticisms … simply to send the message to the rest of society that no dissent will be tolerated and no attempt to form an opposing group — even one that
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Is Disgust a “Conservative” Emotion?
New study, with implications for the hypothesis that political differences are driven by emotional dispositions. Abstract: “Extant political–psychological research has identified stable, context-independent differences between conservatives and liberals in a wide range of preferences and psychological processes. One consistent finding is that conservatives show higher disgust sensitivity than liberals. This finding, however, is predominantly based
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Movement splits and hatreds — a music example
Most movements consistently exhibit a destructive social psychology. The dynamic is this: a movement’s members begin with a huge amount in common — the same high talent, goals, and passions. But any difference, sometimes minor, sets them against each other ferociously and irreparably. The dynamic crops up in many movements across history — political (e.g.,
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