This is a comic about the backfire effect.
Source: You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you – The Oatmeal
Worth a few minutes of your time and thought
You’re not going to believe what I’m about to tell you
3 May 2017 by Leave a Comment
How the super-rich bought their Brexit victory
25 April 2017 by Leave a Comment
One of the undying Brexit myths is that it was a people’s revolt, a spontaneous anti-elite rebellion against a pro-European establishment. Yet we now learn that up to two-thirds of the cash that paid for Brexit came from just five extremely wealthy anti-European fanatics.
Source: InFacts How the super-rich bought their Brexit victory – InFacts
Colour me unsurprised.
Restoring Faith in Globalization
18 April 2017 by
The communists are keeping the globalization faith; but the capitalists seem to have lost theirs. This is bizarre – and entirely out of sync with past performance and current facts. We have every reason to be confident in a process that has delivered more prosperity to more people than anyone could have dreamed of just a few decades ago. We must not be shy in defending globalization and combating reactionary nostalgia.We can have a brighter future – but only if we don’t seek it in the past.
Source: Restoring Faith in Globalization by Carl Bildt – Project Syndicate
Half of Leave voters want to bring back the death penalty after Brexit
3 April 2017 by Leave a Comment
The YouGov survey also found 42 per cent of those who opted to part ways with the European Union want corporal punishment back in schools and 30 per cent want inefficient light bulbs to return to shop shelves.
Source: Half of Leave voters want to bring back the death penalty after Brexit | The Independent
The lies of the right that debase civilised society
27 March 2017 by Leave a Comment
There is a powerful case to be made against the version of multiculturalism that abandons women in ethnic minority communities to second-class lives and the institutionalised bigotry of religious courts. One has an absolute duty to support liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims in the struggle against theocratic power and my generation of alleged liberals and leftists has disgraced itself by its failure to be adamant on this point. There is a powerful case to be made against the version of multiculturalism that abandons women in ethnic minority communities to second-class lives and the institutionalised bigotry of religious courts. One has an absolute duty to support liberal Muslims and ex-Muslims in the struggle against theocratic power and my generation of alleged liberals and leftists has disgraced itself by its failure to be adamant on this point.
Source: The lies of the right that debase civilised society | Nick Cohen | Opinion | The Guardian
Make Great Britain “great” again? How Brexit reawakened England’s dormant imperialism
20 March 2017 by Leave a Comment
But the reactionary side of these islands was always there, sipping tea, grumbling about foreigners, hankering after the good old days—a resentful hinterland that has never quite accepted our lost pre-eminence. That’s why Brexiteers no longer care that they are cheering on a fantasy, by Jingo, so long as it’s a fantasy wrapped in the Union flag.
Source: Make Great Britain “great” again? How Brexit reawakened England’s dormant imperialism — Quartz
More on Empire 2.0.
Empire 2.0 is dangerous nostalgia for something that never existed
19 March 2017 by Leave a Comment
The empire, even at its height, never came close to absorbing the majority of our exports or providing the bulk of our imports, and neither will the Commonwealth, no matter how good a trade deal we win. Empire 2.0 is a fanciful vision of the future based on a distorted misremembering of the past. It’s a delusion and, like all delusions, has the potential to lure us into a false sense of security and lead us to make bad decisions.
Leavers claim they are looking forward, but I don’t believe them either. Unfortunately, they are looking backwards through rose-tinted spectacles.
This Article Won’t Change Your Mind
14 March 2017 by Leave a Comment
The facts on why facts alone can’t fight false beliefs.
“I think we need to get to an information environment where sharing is slowed down,” Manjoo says. “A really good example of this is Snapchat. Everything disappears after a day—you can’t have some lingering thing that gets bigger and bigger.”
Facebook is apparently interested in copying some of Snapchat’s features—including the disappearing messages. “I think that would reduce virality, and then you could imagine that would perhaps cut down on sharing false information,” Manjoo says. But, he caveats: “Things must be particularly bad if you’re looking at Snapchat for reasons of hope.”
Source: This Article Won’t Change Your Mind – The Atlantic
Continuing one of the themes from my last post, this article makes rather depressing reading: facts and evidence won’t make people change their minds. A change may slowly creep up on them and suddenly become an epiphany, but it may be too late for the rest of us.
How do you defeat President Donald Trump?
13 March 2017 by Leave a Comment
Here are 20 lessons from across the fearful 20th century, adapted to the circumstances of today.
A terrific answer from Eugenia Stonecroft. Some of the 20 lessons also apply to opposition to the way Brexit is being handled, like:
2. Defend an institution. Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions don’t protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.
Remember the Brexshitter screams about judges when the Supreme Court ruled that our unelected Prime Minister could not sideline Parliament, after all the bollocks about taking back control.
4. When listening to politicians, distinguish certain words. Look out for the expansive use of “terrorism” and “extremism.” Be alive to the fatal notions of “exception” and “emergency.” Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.
BoJo, Gove and Farage certainly vomited a lot of gung-ho crap.
8. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.
£350 million… No more need be said.
9. Investigate. Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on your screen is there to harm you.
Too hard for some people: “I don’t care about statistics” was the retort I received from one Leaver I tried to enlighten
Source: How do you defeat President Donald Trump? – Quora
oddrops 