Okay, let’s cause even more trouble, and try to be a little more articulate about what I was trying to say yesterday. First, an aside–I’m with Mique, but  I go farther, in my distrust of psychologists as experts.  There are branches of psychology–brain science studies, genetic mapping–that have call to claim status as a science,…

The woman–and, certainly, the very pretty woman–Jem was thinking of is Debra Lafave, and it’s odd that she should have brought it up, because it’s part of a phenomenon that I find a little uncomfortable. First, I will say I see nothing wrong with the judge’s decision.  As far as I can tell by Googling…

I’ve been thinking, since yesterday, about the different kinds of stupid people in the world, and I think that part of the problem is that we use the word “stupid” to mean two nt necessarily related things. Certainly there is “stupid” as in “has no talent at learing things,” to turn the definition of “intelligence”…

Well, nights really. Greg and I like to watch political opinion shows, and at eight at night, right before I go to be, we watch either Keith Olbermann or Bill O’Reilly, depending on three factors:  who is likely to have the funniest take on the story of the moment; whether we’re presently annoyed at  Republicans…

So, okay, let me try to work my way through this. I want to get one thing out of the way first. When I say that punishing an innocent person is a greater wrong than letting a guilty one go free, that doesn’t mean I think the wrong of letting a guilty person go free…

If there is one thing this blog is good for, it’s reminding me how much of a difference mental frameworks make. A couple of months ago, I made the statement that I thought that justice resides in the process, not in theoutcomes.  And Robert responded that he did not agree, when the guilty are let…

So, let me speak up for the people who are so desperate to perfect the world. In their defense, they’re dealing with a lot more than just a sloppy term paper or a holiday project gone bad, or even the building of a bridge or a building.  On a social level, the history of the…

I once corresponded for a period of three years with a very elderly and very dotrinaire Humanist who was convinced, no matter what evidence I showed him, that the Renaissance followed the Reformation–that the Renaissance was made possible only once “the people” had “broken the back of the Catholic Church.” He died without ever accepting…

Okay, I’m not really going to talk abou Robin Hood, even though it’s one of those things that make me all kinds of  nuts.  If you want to judge just how incredibly messed up our understanding of the Middle Ages really is, Robin Hood would be a good place to start.  We’re told that Robin…

And the Renaissance.  As if I  needed an excuse. But Jem brought up something that’s out there in the air, and that has been out there in the air for centuries, and it’s a misreading of history–a deliberate falsification of history that started in the eighteenth century–that makes it virtually impossible to understand Western intellectual…