Category Archives: Blog
Big Bird And Mister Rogers Are Not Just For Kids: We Need Their Wisdom More Than Ever
Even though the news has obviously moved on, it’s still important to correct a common, and dangerous, misperception that lies at the root of Mitt Romney’s expressed desire to terminate funding for Big Bird and PBS — that they are solely for kids and liberals. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Media + Politics
Tagged Big Bird, Fred Rogers, Mister Rogers, politics
Leave a comment
On Mixed Minds: Liberal-Conservatives and Conservative-Liberals
Conservatives are generally fearful of and highly resistant to change, have an obsessive need for order and predictability, prize individual differences (money, status, etc.), and believe in hierarchy over community and egalitarianism. In sharp contrast, liberals generally believe strongly in reasoned argument, logic, and science.
Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Media + Politics, Psychology
Tagged Chris Mooney, conservative, liberal
Leave a comment
Standing Up To Political Bullies
One of most powerful ways of helping people learn about themselves and others is to put people into different groups based on their personalities. Thus, all the people with the same personality type are put into a common group. In this way, there are as many different groups as there are different types. Continue reading
The Unconscious Choice: The Forces of the Dark and Light Sides
Make no mistake about it. This election is about the choice between two worldviews that are as psychologically different and far apart as any two could possibly be. The choice is difficult not just because so much is riding on it—this much is obvious–but like most crucial things in life, much of it rests on factors that are largely unconscious. The later is far from obvious. Continue reading
Corrupt to the Core
Originally published on Nation of Change, August 26, 2012 This is a rant. I make no apologies for it because sometimes that’s the only thing that can help cleanse one’s soul. Norman Mailer was once asked why no good literature … Continue reading
Economics: The Psychologically Naïve Science
I admire Paul Krugman. I really do. His many columns in The New York Times and books (for his latest, see, End This Depression Now, ISBN 978-0-393-08877-9) are a testimony to his ability to explain arcane topics in terms that the layperson can understand. Continue reading
Psychoanalytic Politics: The Roots of Current Dysfunctional Political Behavior
What does the behavior of British children in WWII possibly have to do with today’s fractious politics? More than one would ever imagine! Continue reading
Your Call: How should we respond to mass shootings?
On July 26, 2012, I was a guest on the radio program Your Call on San Francisco local public radio station KALW. I spoke about the recent mass shooting in Colorado and how we should be responding. What could we … Continue reading
Psychotic Nation: Media, Macbeth, Cinderella
Make no mistake about it. America is in an extreme state of mind. It is gripped by forces that can only be described as psychotic. Continue reading
The Origins of Republican Pathology: Rebuilding the Emotional Containers of Society
By now, it is of course a truism to say that the Republican Party has tilted so far to the Right that it is extreme, if not literally a cult. As harsh as this may be, it doesn’t even begin to describe what’s wrong with it. In a word, the Republican Party is deeply pathological. In saying this, I am not using the term “pathological” flippantly. Continue reading
