Sometimes leaders, whether political or scientific, get so caught up in the momentum of history that they become a part of the machinery, of the history of the world, that they almost lose their agency in the process.
Author: Moshik Temkin | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: History, Leadership, Politics & Public Policy
The historian Bernard Lewis once offered sage advice to any group that faces adverse circumstances: “The question, ‘Who did this to us?’ has led only to neurotic fantasies and conspiracy theories. The other question—‘What did we do wrong?’—has led naturally to a second question, ‘How do we put it right?’ In that question … lie[s] the best hope for the future.”
Author: David Frum | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Politics & Public Policy
How do we practice deceit? We rip the truth apart and reweave it into the lie. Nothing is more convincing.
Author: Altered Carbon | Subjects: Communication, Concepts, Ethics | Integrity | Morality, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.
Author: James Baldwin | Subjects: Concepts, Law | Legal, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Power
Most voters are partisans first and democrats second: Only about 13.1 percent of our respondents are willing to defect from a co-partisan candidate for violating democratic principles when the price of doing so is voting against their own party.
Authors: Matthew H. Graham, Milan W. Svolik | Source: The New York Times | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Motivated ignorance differs from the more familiar concept of rational ignorance in that ignorance is motivated by the anticipated costs of possessing knowledge, not acquiring it. That is, it is not simply that the benefits of accurate political knowledge may be less than the cost of attaining it and thus not worth pursuing but that the costs of having accurate information exceed the benefits.
When expressed … [ Read more ]
Author: Gary C. Jacobson | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Facts | Bias, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
Grievance identitarianism — be it of the left or the right — impedes the very thing a student is attending university to do: namely, think and learn. It turns a person into a tribalist, someone who, rather than thinking for oneself, outsources one’s thinking to the group.
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Remember that the criticism of a belief (or a practice, faith or lifestyle) is not a personal … [ Read more ]
Author: Robert P. George | Source: The New York Times | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Politics & Public Policy
We say, “Alright, the only way I can live with inequality is to see it as the fault of those who have failed to do as well as I.” To do otherwise leads to a dangerous idea: that the system itself fosters inequality.
Author: Stephanie Coontz | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
Democracy was established in part as a reaction to the notion that there should be any preset order to the world, with rich and poor, sovereign and ruled. But, especially when paired with capitalism, democracy still creates winners and losers. The resulting dissonance between the ideals of democratic life and the reality forced new explanations for inequality.
Author: Brian Alexander | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
Once you give up the principle of equality, you have given up the whole game. You have admitted the principle that people are unequal, and that some people are better than others. Once you have replaced the principle of equality with the idea that humans are unequal, you have stamped your approval on the idea of rulers and subjects. At that point, all you can … [ Read more ]
Author: Heather Cox Richardson | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln, then a candidate for the Senate, warned that arguments limiting American equality to white men and excluding black Americans were the same arguments “that kings have made for enslaving the people in all ages of the world…. Turn in whatever way you will—whether it come from the mouth of a King, an excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or … [ Read more ]
Authors: Abraham Lincoln, Heather Cox Richardson | Subjects: Concepts, Freedom | Liberty, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Race Relations
The discipline of countering our reflex for self-righteousness is a triumph of existential maturity — one increasingly rare in a culture where most people would rather armor themselves with judgment than tremble with uncertainty, would rather be right than understand.
Author: Maria Popova | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subjects: Communication, Education | Scholarship, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior
Ask any conservative about what defines their worldview, and one of the first things they’ll tell you is that they stand for eternal truths against passing fads. Liberals, they believe, have an unjustified faith in the plasticity of human nature — which for conservatives is a fixed and unchangeable thing.
Author: Zack Beauchamp | Source: Vox | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Fundamental questions about the human condition are not beside the point in dire political times; they are the point. How can we think straight amidst cynicism and mendacity? What is there left to love, to cherish, to fight for? How can we act to best secure it? What fences and bridges do we need to build to protect freedom and which walls do we need … [ Read more ]
Author: Lyndsey Stonebridge | Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
At its core, equity is fairness. Fair processes often result in a redistribution of outcomes because more people get opportunities to succeed.
Authors: Enrica N. Ruggs, Oscar Holmes IV | Source: Harvard Business Review (HBR) | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
[Liberalism] refers … to the centuries-old philosophical tradition that sees politics as fundamentally oriented around the values of freedom and equality. Government, for liberals, exists to enable people to live according to their own vision for their lives; it has no business telling people what god to worship or giving certain groups of people more rights than others.
Author: Zack Beauchamp | Source: Vox | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Inequality, we’re taught to believe, is the necessary price of civilization.
Author: David Wengrow | Source: TED | Subjects: Economics | Economy, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
Ignoring a problem on the electorate’s mind doesn’t make it go away; it only sends voters searching for a candidate who will listen. Views can shift over time, but probably not over the course of a campaign. Elections aren’t a battle for hearts and minds. They’re a fight to give voters what they already want.
Author: Timothy Shenk | Source: The New York Times | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Motivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts. It’s choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity. Nescience is therefore incentivized; people actively decide to remain in a state of ignorance. If they are presented with strong arguments against a position they hold, or compelling evidence … [ Read more ]
Author: Peter Wehner | Source: The Atlantic | Subjects: Education | Scholarship, Facts | Bias, Personal Improvement, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Thought | Inquiry
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance… In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what … [ Read more ]
Author: Neil Postman | Subjects: Communication, Concepts, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior, Truth | Right | Wrong