Category Archives: Political Psychology

Policymaking in a democracy

Posted on October 10, 2018 by hessd

What will happen to the great coastal cities if the atmosphere continues to warm at the rate it is warming now? I think that is an interesting question. Even more interesting would be pictures—these would look like photographs, but would, … Continue reading →

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Colin Kaepernick’s Triumph

Posted on September 12, 2018 by hessd

On Sunday, I tuned in to my favorite football show, Sunday Night Football [1] and I watched Colin Kaepernick’s triumph.  I was dumbfounded.  Then I was exultant.  They introduced the teams and then the teams lined up and there was … Continue reading →

Posted in Living My Life, Political Psychology, Society | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

In praise of verbally defined limits and rationales

Posted on August 21, 2018 by hessd

It has become a popular middle class notion [1] that saying No to a child is a bad thing. Like most of the mistakes we make as we ride the pendulum from unreasoning strictness to unthinking permissiveness, there is a … Continue reading →

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“Did something happen to you?”

Posted on August 5, 2018 by hessd

I intend this as a general celebration of the Netflix series, Shetland, so I will present just a little information about the series generally.  Here’s the blurb from imdb.com. Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, … Continue reading →

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Moral outrage and moral rigor

Posted on August 1, 2018 by hessd

Lee Siegel begins his examination of “moral rigor” by choosing an exemplar; it is James Baldwin. Siegel knows that “moral rigor” is going to be a tough sell and he is working for as much specific and acceptable material as … Continue reading →

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Left-leaning media

Posted on July 21, 2018 by hessd

Where is the plumb line when you really need one?  A plumb line defines straight up and down, deviating neither to the left nor to the right.[1]  Everybody agrees on the absolute verticality of the plumb line because it a … Continue reading →

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It’s not about time travel

Posted on July 19, 2018 by hessd

I just saw Richard Curtis’s 2013 movie, About Time. [1]  I know, it’s about time I saw it, but I had never heard of it and of all the stars, Bill Nighy is the only one I had ever heard … Continue reading →

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It isn’t HIM, it’s THEM

Posted on June 27, 2018 by hessd

The New York Times did us all a service in its June 23 article, “As Critics Assail Trump, His Supporters Dig in Deeper.”  I confess that I liked it partly because it wasn’t news to me, but I also liked … Continue reading →

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The Times, They Are A’Changin’

Posted on June 18, 2018 by hessd

Count on it. Let’s take as an example the Roaring Twenties and the Stodgy Fifties. [1]  The 20s were a time for experimentation and throwing away traditional norms.  The 50s were a time of recovering from that and reacquiring those … Continue reading →

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The Church and Reconciliation

Posted on June 11, 2018 by hessd

I have just read a report by Ian Lovett, written for the Wall Street Journal in May 2018.  The subtitle of the report runs like this: “A push toward activism among liberal Christian denominations is reshaping traditional worship and splitting … Continue reading →

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