Just a bit ago, badlydrawnjeff brought up priming, the concept that preparing people can affect perceptions, especially of ambiguous or even non-sense material. Fair enough, that.

I think we should, however, pursue this concept just a bit farther. Consider the following graphic:


( Read more... )

(Hah! You thought this was going to be an entry on Buddhism, dintcha.)

Something that observers of politics quickly realize is that the Left-Right model of politics is far too simplistic to be useful. (Well, except for those that take up a Cause and join the Crusade against the Other Side, as such a simplistic, bipolar view makes it easier to ( Read more... )

A quote from Greer, and thoughts on same ( Read more... )

In a recent article in talk_politics sophia-sadek presented an excellent article about the myth of natural property and in part the distinction between the "pursuit of happiness" as included in the Declaration of Independence contrasted with "property".

Now I'd like to start by mentioning that I do agree with the notion of a "natural right" to property (yes, ( Read more... )

...now that I have your attention allow me to explain ( Read more... )

Sorry, folks, I screwed up, then LJ screwed up. I was trying to post the correct video, but after I did, LJ truncated the video and everything the post was saying afterwards.

Seriously, the list of crap Livejournal is pulling lately is tempting me to abandon it altogether. Anyone else sick of the ads before we can enjoy our "Livejournal

How would you describe your ideal government and its laws and policies?

(Sorry, mods, for making a short post consisting of nothing but a question. I was hoping it could facilitate some interesting and hopefully wank-free discussion ^_^)

We cover a lot of topics around here, and often people get heated about the best way to do so and so, for instance, the best way to preserve equality, or free speech, or maybe economic success, or international competition between nations ( Read more... )

I've sometimes seen at least that academics believe that society trends over time to greater and greater liberalism. That individualism and freedom, however that is defined, are what *must* unfold. I do not see any reason that this is necessarily the case. The usual model taken is that of Western Europe, and while I'd vehemently disagree about any ( Read more... )

So yes, this is going to be personal. But then again, everything is personal when you are a person ( Read more... )