Ramblings & ephemera
This quotation is directly about politics, but it’s about anyone – or even anything – we emotionally attach ourselves to. From Glenn Greenwald’s “My friend the president” (Salon: 8 December 2009): Those who venerated Bush because he was a morally upright and strong evangelical-warrior-family man and revere Palin as a common-sense Christian hockey mom are [...]
Posted on December 19th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: business, history, politics, religion | No Comments »
From Alex Koppelman’s “Why the stories about Obama’s birth certificate will never die” (Salon: 5 December 2008): But according to several experts in conspiracy theories, and in the psychology of people who believe in conspiracy theories, there’s little chance those people who think Obama is barred from the presidency will ever be convinced otherwise. “There’s [...]
Posted on March 6th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: history, politics, science | No Comments »
From Glenn Greenwald’s “A tragic legacy: How a good vs. evil mentality destroyed the Bush presidency” (Salon: 20 June 2007): One of the principal dangers of vesting power in a leader who is convinced of his own righteousness — who believes that, by virtue of his ascension to political power, he has been called to [...]
Posted on October 11th, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: history, law, politics | 1 Comment »
From Laura Miller’s “The heretic” (Salon: 25 August 2008): Still, the mental powers of Bruno and his fellow memory artists seem almost superhuman today. The basic principle, Rowland explains, is simple enough, “to link words with images.” Nevertheless, the structures employed were mind-boggling: vast, elaborate patterns and nested wheels within wheels (like the color wheels [...]
Posted on September 29th, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: education, history | No Comments »
From Salon’s “Religious belief itself is an adaptation“, an interview with Edward O. Wilson: Religious belief itself is an adaptation that has evolved because we’re hard-wired to form tribalistic religions. Religion is intensely tribalistic. A devout Christian or Muslim doesn’t say one religion is as good as another. It gives them faith in the particular [...]
Posted on April 6th, 2006 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: religion, science | Comments Off
