The Independent Whig
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The Tragic Effect of the Left’s One-Dimensional World View on the Multi-Dimensional World
I recommend the documentary “What Killed Michael Brown?” by historian Shelby Steele. Two things about it struck me. 1) Steele’s term “Poetic Truth” sounds very much like a Grand Narrative: An overarching story that provides the framework through which we understand and react to the world. 2) Obama and Holder, in the way they handled … Continue reading
How the Intellectual Class Betrays Us and Makes Things Worse
At first blush, data seems to indicate that police kill blacks disproportionately more than whites. But when we look more deeply and consider confounding variables the influence of race diminishes nearly to margin-of-error levels (data linked below), suggesting that the violence and destruction by some BLM activists may be an unwarranted overreaction. This is not … Continue reading
What if left and right were different races?
What if research revealed that the political left and right are different races? Would we act differently toward one another? Should we? If so how? Here’s the thing. They might be. Or at least, insofar as the law and social standards are concerned, they essentially are. Bear with me while I explain. Race is about … Continue reading
My Position: Why I Write, and What I’m Trying to Say
This is an update of a Twitter thread I wrote, with minor edits for typos and one or two addenda for clarity. 1/ I want to try to explain yet again my position. This is important, as it goes to the heart of a great deal of what I say here. 2/ @JonHaidt’s concept of … Continue reading
How Reason Makes Us Cruel
Conscious reason is a double-edged sword. It helps and it harms. Today I’m focusing on how it harms. My brother-in-law passed away on January 29th, 2020 from pancreatic cancer. Afterward his wife related an insight she gained from being his primary caregiver during his final months. She said “Our brains expect today to be like … Continue reading
My Most Important Follows
In which I share interesting trivia about people who are important to me. March 26, 2020. The #See10Do10Challenge on Twitter reminds us to stay fit while we’re isolated at home during the Corona Virus pandemic. Participants film themselves doing 10 pushups and then post the video on Twitter along with the Twitter names of friends … Continue reading
It’s Worse Than It Looks: What Most People Don’t Understand About the Partisan Divide
It is NOT TRUE that the partisan divide is a struggle between similar people who happen to vote differently. It IS TRUE that it is between different kinds of people. The implications of this are enormous. The primary factor that differentiates the two kinds of people is cognitive style – operating system, if you will, … Continue reading
The Deal We’ve Made With Each Other
If we step back from it all and try to view ourselves from the perspective of an outer-space alien anthropologist we see that religions, ideologies, moralities, political parties, the animosities among them, all of it, is downstream from the tribal righteous minds natural selection has given us. Of which we are almost universally oblivious, like … Continue reading
How to Bridge the Divide: The Moral Foundation of Meaning/Indifference
We humans have a deep-seated need to feel heard. Being heard confers meaning, purpose, to one’s existence. It makes us feel like we matter. Not being heard denies us these things; makes us feel like we don’t matter. People on both sides of the political aisle feel that they’re not being heard, which causes them to lash out. This explains much of … Continue reading
Evidence of the Heart: A Cry for Meaning
A friend of mine, Jochen Weber, whom I met at the first Heterodox Academy Open Mind conference, wrote this. I liked it so much I asked him if it would be OK if I posted it on my blog. He said yes. Here it is: It happened very much by chance, and it was a … Continue reading
I Support Viewpoint Diversity
A politically diverse group of social scientists, natural scientists, humanists, and other scholars who want to improve our academic disciplines and universities. We share a concern about a growing problem: the loss or lack of “viewpoint diversity.” When nearly everyone in a field shares the same political orientation, certain ideas become orthodoxy, dissent is discouraged, and errors can go unchallenged.
Venn Diagram of Liberal and Conservative Traits and Moral Foundations and
The Independent Whig 