If a brilliant, eminent, and mainstream scholar of the 1960s could be right for such wrong reasons, the brilliant, eminent, and mainstream scholars of today could easily be mired in their own brand of motivated reasoning. Indeed, so could you. Or me. There’s no easy remedy, but the first step is being hyper-aware that we have a problem.
Tag: responsibility
What Educators Can Learn from “I, Pencil”
For self-directed learners, their creative energies are uninhibited. They are not controlled by a mastermind or a group of omniscient rulers who believe they know what is best for others. Self-directed learners retain their creative spirit, that zest for learning which is so apparent in young children but is often eroded through years of forced education.
Some Still Waiting Return of Liberty
For decades I’ve had my doubts about whether America is still the land of the free. With rules and enforcers everywhere you look, it doesn’t seem so. I’ve been wrong. Most Americans are free — as free as they want to be.
Advice about the Giving and Receiving of Advice
People will tell you to do what’s conventional, but they’ll give their respect to the ones who push the boundaries. When people give advice, it’s usually a reflection of what they think is possible for you and how much they believe they’re going to be on the hook for giving you that advice.
Why I am Grateful to George Herbert Walker Bush
Unless you live under a rock (and probably even if you do), you’ve noticed the death of George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st President of the United States, on November 30, at age 94. You’ve probably also suffered through multiple personal remembrances of the man and his presidency — some positive, some negative, some mixed. Mine, which you may read below if you’re not already worn out on the topic, is of the latter variety.
Gassing Migrants
The Trump administration and its apologists are quick to point out that Barack Obama was as willing as Donald Trump himself to tear-gas desperate people trying to protect themselves by crossing America’s southern border. So he was, though many will refuse to believe it. But that raises an interesting question: if every horrible thing Trump has done so far was also done by Obama, why do Trump and his fans hate the former White House occupant so much?
Jobs
Sooner or later, the know-nothings are going to bite off more than they can chew. POTUS is now threatening General Motors about plant closures. The sad truth is, however, that when a business overproduces, it must cut back.
“Our President”
It doesn’t matter who the current president is or isn’t. I will never have a president for the exact same reason I will never have a Grand Wizard or a Pope. I am not a participant in that particular religion or club.
On Stoicism
To everyone who gets triggered or offended by words, take some advice from the ancient Stoic philosophy: recognize your own complicity in how you react to what you hear other people say or read what they write.
Hypocrisy Alert: Republicans Agreed with Ocasio-Cortez Until About One Minute Ago
When congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) confessed her personal financial dilemma — “I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress. So, how do I get an apartment? Those little things are very real” — to the New York Times, guffaws broke out on the right.