225 Quotations Found

It is better to die for an idea that will live than live for an idea that will die.

Author: Steve Biko | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Politics & Public Policy

It turns out that people will in fact trust liars — so long as the liars keep telling them what they want to hear.

Author: David French | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Concepts, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Truth | Right | Wrong

I thought ideology defined the community, but the community existed regardless of the ideology, and breaking with the community was the far graver sin.

Author: David French | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

Perceptions of insignificance can drive a process of seeking out groups, endorsing their ideologies and engaging in behaviors consistent with these.

Author: Jake Womick | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Thought | Inquiry

Human beings are group animals, and they are frightened and stressed when expelled from the groups to which they have belonged. Our political attachments often matter much more to us than our political ideas.

Author: David Frum | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

Studies of political intolerance and ethnic prejudice have shown that zealous churchgoing and rigid religious faith are among the important correlates of political and ethnic animosity.

Author: Richard Hofstadter | Subjects: Politics & Public Policy, Religion

Once great men created fortunes; today a great system creates fortunate men.

Author: Richard Hofstadter | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

Political parties no longer serve the function they used to. In days gone by, parties were political organizations designed to win elections and gain power. Party leaders would expand their coalitions toward that end. Today, on the other hand, in an increasingly secular age, political parties are better seen as religious organizations that exist to provide believers with meaning, membership and moral sanctification. If that’s … [ Read more ]

Author: David Brooks | Source: The New York Times | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

Republican cultural populism is bogus. The biggest change over the last four decades — the change lurking behind the mounting insecurities and resentments of the working middle class — has nothing to do with immigrants, Democrats, liberals, “socialists,” “communists,” coastal elites, women, transgender people, or any other Republican cultural bogeymen. The biggest change over the last four decades — the change that has undermined the … [ Read more ]

Author: Robert Reich | Source: Facebook | Subjects: America, Economics | Economy, International, Politics & Public Policy

Of all dangers to a nation… there can be no greater one than having certain portions of the people set off from the rest by a line drawn — they not privileged as others, but degraded, humiliated, made of no account.

Author: Walt Whitman | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: International, Politics & Public Policy

Many people just need someone to feel superior to make themselves feel better. You see Americans doing it now, unfortunately, while voting against their own interests. It is that kind of shortsighted behavior that is destroying us.

Author: Octavia Butler | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears… To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.

Author: Octavia Butler | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

Studies show that when people experience uncertainty and lack of control, they are more likely to see patterns or regularities where there are none. These patterns can range from visual illusions (such as seeing faces in the clouds) to seeing causality in random events and forming conspiracy theories. Under these circumstances people are also more likely to turn to ritualized behaviors. This is known as … [ Read more ]

Author: Dimitris Xygalatas | Source: Nautilus | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Thought | Inquiry

[A] public figure’s persona is a collectively created construct. It’s built by the celebrity and what they present to the media and the public, and then built by the media and the public and how they interpret and interact with the famous person. Once fans have created a personal parasocial relationship with their celebrity of choice, they will project whatever positive attributes they want onto … [ Read more ]

Author: Aja Romano | Source: Vox | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

When we’re emotionally invested not only in the narrative being bolstered by the truth-teller but in the chosen truth-teller themselves, it becomes even harder to extricate an “objective” version of reality from the version they’re dispensing because the stakes feel so high.

Author: Aja Romano | Source: Vox | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Thought | Inquiry

Thinking of populists as left or right is a misunderstanding. Populists care little about ideology — what they want is power. To get it, they build their popularity by polarizing populations. Fanning division between “us” and “them” creates intense loyalty from a base of supporters, who are easily convinced that things that stand in the leaders’ way — including independent institutions and laws — are … [ Read more ]

Authors: Rachel Kleinfeld, Roberto Stefan Foa | Source: Harvard Business Review (HBR) | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

This, in a nutshell, is the genius of democracy: it’s built to accentuate rather than suppress diversity. And not just diversity of race, gender, or religion, but diversity of personality, interests, philosophies, and worldly pursuits. Democratic systems let the wisdom of evolutionary processes play out in the social realm. This is why democratic societies tend to be more economically innovative, culturally dynamic, and physically safer … [ Read more ]

Author: Mark Manson | Subject: Politics & Public Policy

Americans are divided not just by political beliefs but by whether they believe in a shared reality—or desire one at all.

Author: Charlie Warzel | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: America, International, Politics & Public Policy

As Michael Caulfield, an information researcher at the University of Washington, has argued, “The primary use of ‘misinformation’ is not to change the beliefs of other people at all. Instead, the vast majority of misinformation is offered as a service for people to maintain their beliefs in face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.” This distinction is important, in part because it assigns agency to … [ Read more ]

Authors: Charlie Warzel, Michael Caulfield | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

Foreign policy and democracy is a combination of moral principles and expediency. What assumes primacy? Interests or values? The answer is neither. You balance the two.

Author: Benjamin Netanyahu | Subjects: International, Politics & Public Policy