History Archives - Page 7 of 15

March 6, 2023

Cancel culture

Cancel culture refers to the practice of publicly calling out or boycotting individuals, companies, or institutions for behavior that is perceived to be offensive, controversial, or problematic. The goal is to hold these entities accountable for their actions and to pressure them to change their behavior.

This can manifest in various ways, such as social media campaigns, petitions, or protests. The aim of cancel culture is often to create social consequences for the perceived wrongdoing, such as loss of employment, loss of social status, or loss of financial support.

History of cancel culture

The term cancel culture emerged out of the earlier concept of political correctness, and gained popularity in the 2010s alongside the rise of social media. Some scholars and media theorists trace the concept of cancel culture back to even earlier phenomena, such as the boycotts and blacklists of the McCarthyism era in the United States on the right, or the call-out culture of feminist and anti-racist movements on the left.

Cancel culture and political correctness are related in that they both involve social and cultural pressure to conform to certain norms of language and behavior. Political correctness refers to the avoidance of language or actions that may be considered discriminatory, offensive, or insensitive, often with the aim of promoting inclusivity and social justice. Both tend to concern themselves with highlighting language, stereotypes, and assumptions rooted in racism, sexism, and other common forms of bigotry throughout history.

Cancel culture vs. political correctness

In some ways cancel culture can be seen as an extension of political correctness, in that it goes a step further by seeking to hold individuals and entities accountable for violating norms of respect and social justice. The collective power of Facebook, Twitter (aka “X”), and other social media outlets has helped activists organize around ethical, moral, and political issues, and provided new tools for achieving accountability goals, through activities such as public shaming, boycotts, or other forms of social and economic pressure.

In my opinion, the right-wing critique of so-called cancel culture is grounded in an erroneous conflation between governmental action and collective organizing by groups of individuals who are themselves often associated with political activism. Cancel culture is often mentioned in the same breath with censorship, whose definition connotes government tyranny and overreach.

Cancel culture vs. censorship

Typically, however, the government is not involved in actual instances of cancel culture — it is merely people exercising collective powers provided by private social media companies. In fact, it seems to me that right-wing policy tends to involve actual censorship — such as Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, or (also in FL) the Republican bill introduced which would require political bloggers to register with the state.

I think it’s important to be discerning, in these instances, about who is exercising power and why — is it really a case of the government overreaching (censorship), or is it simply a group of people reacting appropriately to the continued presence of structural racism, sexism, and many other -isms in modern society: and stubbornly so, after decades and centuries of collective social justice work?

March 1, 2023

Essential thinkers on authoritarian personality theory

Many people around the world were shocked in the aftermath of World War II. How could “polite” society break down so utterly, so swiftly, and so zealously? Why did authoritarian personality traits come to dominate human affairs, seemingly out of nowhere? How thin is this veneer of civilization, really?

The authoritarian personality is characterized by excessive strictness and a propensity to exhibit oppressive behavior towards perceived subordinates. On the flip side, they treat authority figures with mindless obedience and unquestioning compliance. They also have an aversion to difference, ambiguity, complexity, and diversity.

How did they get this way? Are people born with authoritarian personalities, or is the authoritarian “made” predominately by circumstance?

Authoritarian personality studies

A braintrust of scholars, public servants, authors, psychologists, and others have been analyzing these questions ever since. Some of the most prominent thinkers on the subject of authoritarianism were either themselves affected by the Nazi regime, or lived through the war in some capacity. Other more recent contributions have built on those original foundations, refining and extending them as more new history continues to unfold with right-wing behavior to observe.

February 28, 2023

Political Psychology

Political psychology is an interdisciplinary field that examines the psychological processes underlying political behavior, attitudes, and decision-making. It seeks to understand how people’s beliefs, emotions, and motivations influence their political preferences, and how these preferences shape their behavior within the political system.

Political psychology draws on theories and methods from psychology, political science, sociology, and other social sciences to study topics such as political ideology, voting behavior, political attitudes, public opinion, intergroup relations, political leadership, and conflict resolution.

The field also examines how political events and institutions affect individuals’ psychological well-being and how psychological factors contribute to the formation of political identity and collective action. Political psychology has practical applications in areas such as political communication, campaign strategy, policymaking, and international relations.

February 28, 2023

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a political tactic used to manipulate the boundaries of electoral districts to favor one political party over another. It’s essentially the opposite of what the Founders meant by representative democracy — voters are supposed to choose their representatives, and not the other way around.

The practice is named after Elbridge Gerry, a governor of Massachusetts who in 1812 approved a redistricting plan that created a district that resembled a salamander. The term “gerrymandering” combines the words “Gerry” and “salamander.”

The objective of gerrymandering is to create “safe” districts for a particular political party or group by concentrating voters who are likely to support that party into a small number of districts, while diluting their votes in other districts. This is done by drawing district boundaries in a way that groups together like-minded voters or separates them from voters who are likely to vote for the opposing party. It’s a way of cherry-picking one’s constituents, and manipulating the outcome unfairly in your favor — with one net effect being the dilution of the voting rights of your opposition.

Gerrymandering is typically carried out by state legislatures, who have the authority to redraw electoral district boundaries every ten years after the release of the Census data. The redistricting process is supposed to ensure that each district has roughly the same number of residents, but lawmakers often use this opportunity to manipulate the boundaries in a way that benefits their party.

Partisan and racial gerrymandering

There are two main types of gerrymandering: partisan gerrymandering and racial gerrymandering. Partisan gerrymandering is when district boundaries are drawn in a way that benefits one political party over another. Racial gerrymandering is when district boundaries are drawn in a way that dilutes the voting power of racial minorities — which, in turn, tends to help the Republican Party and hurt the Democratic Party.

Partisan gerrymandering can be carried out in several ways. One common method is “packing,” which involves drawing district boundaries so that a high concentration of voters who support one party are all in one district. This leaves other districts with fewer voters who support that party, making it easier for the opposing party to win those districts. Another method is “cracking,” which involves breaking up a concentration of voters who support one party by drawing district boundaries so that they are spread out across multiple districts. This dilutes their voting power and makes it harder for them to win any of those districts.

Racial gerrymandering is usually carried out to dilute the voting power of racial minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics. This is done by drawing district boundaries that split up minority communities and dilute their voting power by spreading them across multiple districts. Racial gerrymandering is illegal under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race.

Effects of gerrymandering

The effects of gerrymandering can be significant. By manipulating district boundaries, lawmakers can create a situation where one party has a significant advantage over the other, making it easier for them to win elections. This can lead to a lack of political competition, which can make it harder for voters to hold their elected officials accountable. In other words, gerrymandering can lead to increased corruption in government at all levels.

Gerrymandering also has the potential to create a lack of diversity in government. By concentrating voters of a particular political party or race into a small number of districts, lawmakers can create a situation where the views and interests of some voters are not represented in government. This can lead to a situation where elected officials are not truly representative of their constituents — which is the essence of the American Dream.

Efforts to combat gerrymandering have included legal challenges to redistricting plans, the use of independent redistricting commissions, and the adoption of alternative voting systems like ranked-choice voting. Despite these efforts, gerrymandering remains a significant issue in many states, and its effects can be seen in elections at all levels of government, from school boards to Congress to the White House.

February 26, 2023

Authoritarianism Dictionary

We glibly believed it could never happen here even though we’ve been warned again and again. And in some sense, even though it’s been here all along — hiding in plain sight. It could happen here, and it did, because it’s happened here before. This dictionary of American authoritarianism collects definitions and charts the rise of language, ideology, tactics, and historical movements of American authoritarians, to arm us with the knowledge we need to understand the tricks of the trade.

For a long time it was convenient to think of authoritarian personality as primarily a European problem, or in any case, a phenomenon that happened elsewhere. We are still waking up (…again) to the scope and depth of the problem, while anti-government groups organize relatively openly and we have yet to see justice for the January 6 attack on our capital. There is much work to be done, and in the meantime we can always continue to educate ourselves about our nation’s history — and the role of slavery, white nationalism, and racism in the shaping of the country and the future class structure of today’s America.

The myth of white innocence is toxic to this understanding. Those who say they “don’t see” race or “don’t want to talk about” race put their white privilege on full display in demanding their right to opt-out of the discussion on race. They’re not interested in having a discussion on race — they’re interested in silencing events like the Tulsa Race Massacre and ensuring we lack the language even to describe the horrors being visited upon human beings by the silencers. The only “discussion” they want to have about the matter is spoken in the words of Smith & Wesson, Chapter AR-15.

American Authoritarianism

White supremacy, in fact, in part inspired Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In turn, the Nazis inspired the original America First movement at the hands of Charles Lindbergh, a notoriously avowed anti-Semite who vociferously opposed America’s involvement in World War II. Lindbergh and the other early movement conservative extremists lost the battle, and the Allies won the war — thus, fascism as an ideology was defeated in the popular mind for a goodly while.

But prejudice and bigotry are beasts that never sleep — only fitfully slumber and simmer beneath the surface. Bigotry has been rebuilding covertly for years and decades, if it can even be said to have gone away. America has always had its strain of autocratic fascination — and that strain of authoritarianism began flirting with what became fascism in the 20th century. The extremists yearning for a consummation of American fascism have continued to work diligently for almost a century, and have now largely succeeded in injecting a virulent form of nationalism, xenophobia, and isolationism into mainstream GOP politics in the 21st century.

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 seemed to unleash these latent forces that have been amassing since the Reagan years, growing more virulent during the 1990s. From Pat Buchanan and Newt Gingrich of yesteryear to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron DeSantis today, the American right-wing is more and more overtly appealing to anti-democratic methods and ideologies — and no longer seem to be regarded as the kooks and cranks of the Republican Party as their equivalents were during the John Birch Society era.

Authoritarianism Dictionary

I’ll be adding to this authoritarianism dictionary over time, as I can chip away at it and as new words get added to the lexicon. It’s highly encouraging that the American people were able to throw off the would-be dictator Trump, but the Republican party continues to press their seditious aims in his name. They continue to trade on the Confederate ideals long defeated, discredited, and dishonored in this nation. Let’s educate each other on the techniques being used against us by the powerful to limit our frames, and to inhibit our awareness, our choices, and our awareness of our choices.

The hour is late, and we must act with all haste.

Term	Topic	Definition
1st Amendment	government	"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
2nd Amendment	government	"A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
13th Amendment	white supremacy	The Amendment that put an end to slavery. It was passed by Congress and ratified by 2/3 of the states in 1865.
14th Amendment	white supremacy	The second Constitutional Amendment passed following the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to freed African American former slaves, along with equal civil and legal rights as specified in the Constitution.
15th Amendment	white supremacy	Third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments, the Fifteenth gave African Americans the right to vote -- and prohibited any type of voter discrimination on the basis of race.
19th Amendment	misogyny	The woman's Suffrage Amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States.
4chan	alt-Right	A notorious internet message board with an unruly culture capable of trolling, pranks, and crimes.
4GW		Fourth-generation warfare, a model of hybrid warfare proposed by William S. Lind (of "cultural Marxism" fame)
8chan	alt-Right	If 4chan wasn't raw and lawless enough for you, you could try the even more right-wing "free speech"-haven 8chan while it still stood (now 8kun). Described by its founder Frederick Bennan as "if 4chan and reddit had a baby," the site is notorious for incubating Gamergate, which morphed into PizzaGate, which morphed into QAnon -- and for generally being a cesspool of humanity's worst stuff.
8kun	alt-Right	The rebranded incarnation of 8chan after being booted offline and haggling with its founder, Frederick Brennan.
abortion	religious extremism	The safe medical procedure for ending a pregnancy.
active measures	Russian	A style of political warfare originating in the Soviet Union in the 1920s incorporating spycraft, disinformation, propaganda, sabotage, and destabilization, among other offensive programs targeting the USSR's geopolitical foes including the United States.
ad populum		Rhetorical fallacy that assumes an opinion shared by the majority is correct -- without consideration of the credentials of the group.
aggrieved entitlement	white supremacy	A term coined by sociologist Michael Kimmel, who documents the perceived emasculation of America's white male uneducated class and their reactionary rage against social justice and marginal groups getting the spotlight.
America's "original sin"	white supremacy	A reference to the institution of slavery.
amoral	abuse & control	Without morality; without empathy or compassion.
anti-abortion	religious extremism	Political movement formed in the 1970s to overturn Roe v. Wade, that has become a major pillar of the Republican Party
anti-Communist	conspiracy theory	The Cold War Red Scare was promulgated by Senator Eugene McCarthy with help from lawyer Roy Cohn -- who later famously weaned Donald Trump in his image. The John Birch Society and movement conservatives seethed about ehe enemies within, as middle America set about booming with the Boomers for an entire generation of widely shared prosperity.
anti-intraception	psychological warfare	Psychologist Theodor Adorno's term for individuals who resist self-reflection and exhibit the absence of looking inward.
anti-racism		A proactive stance against racial prejudice and systemic discrimination, advocating for policies and practices that promote racial equity and justice.
anti-Semitism		Hostility, prejudice, or discrimination against Jewish people, manifesting in social, economic, and political exclusion or violence.
anti-tax	plutocracy	A political position opposing taxation, often advocating for reduced government spending and intervention in economic affairs.
armed robbery	organized crime	The act of stealing from a person or place using weapons or the threat of violence, constituting a serious criminal offense.
aryan		Historically misappropriated by Nazi ideology to denote a supposed "master race," originally referring to Indo-Iranian language speakers.
Ashe experiments	psychological warfare	A series of 1950s social psychology studies by Solomon Asch demonstrating the influence of group pressure on individual conformity.
ASPD	abuse & control	A mental health condition characterized by a pervasive disregard for others' rights, often leading to deceitful, manipulative, or criminal behavior.
assassination	paramilitary	The killing of a head of state or other important figure for political or ideological reasons, as opposed to murder as a crime of passion.
astroturfing	psychological warfare	The deceptive practice of creating the illusion of grassroots support for a cause or organization, often orchestrated by vested interests.
authoritarianism	government	A governance system where power is concentrated in a single authority, limiting political freedoms and often suppressing dissent.
banality of evil		Hannah Arendt coined the phrase “banality of evil” to refer to the confoundingly commonplace motives of the Nazis who perpetrated some of the worst war crimes in history -- they would never have struck anyone as potential mass murderers before the war.
banana republic	plutocracy	politically unstable countries whose economies are monocultures controlled by an oligarchy; puppet states
bandwagon		The phenomenon where individuals adopt beliefs or behaviors because others do, often leading to a majority opinion or trend.
Biblical inerrancy		The doctrine asserting that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is without error in all its teachings, encompassing theology, history, and science
The Big Lie		A propaganda technique involving the repetition of a colossal falsehood to make it accepted as truth; notably used by Adolf Hitler to describe the deceit he attributed to his enemies.
birth control	misogyny	Methods or devices used to prevent pregnancy, enabling individuals to plan if and when to have children.
birtherism		Conspiracy theory started by Donald Trump claiming that Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S. and thus, ineligible for the presidency
bitcoin	alt-Right	A decentralized digital currency operating without a central authority, utilizing blockchain technology for secure transactions.
Black Codes	white supremacy	Laws enacted in the post-Civil War Southern United States aiming to restrict African Americans' freedom and compel them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt.
black-pilled		A term denoting a pessimistic worldview, often associated with the belief that societal decline is inevitable and irreversible.
BLM	white supremacy	A decentralized social and political movement that began in 2013, aiming to address systemic racism and violence against Black individuals, particularly focusing on issues like police brutality and racial inequality
BLM (Bureau of Land Management)	government	An agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, established in 1946, responsible for administering public lands, primarily in the western United States, overseeing activities such as energy development, livestock grazing, and recreation.
blockchain	alt-Right	Digital ledger of events and transactions that powers cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
blood libel	conspiracy theory	A false and anti-Semitic accusation alleging that Jewish people use the blood of Christians, particularly children, in religious rituals.
Blue Checks	psychological warfare	Reference to Twitter's "verified" feature for certain members, who have satisfied the company that they are who they say they are. Originally the feature was meant to identify the official accounts of news sites and reporters, so it has both an association with -- and a legitimate lineage from -- the media industry.
bolt hole	End Times	A type of retreat or refuge for those in the survivalist subculture, to be absconded to in case of disaster or apocalypse (see also: bug-out location).
Brooks Brothers Riot	Sedition Caucus	A coordinated protest by Republican operatives led by notorious dirty trickster Roger Stone on November 22, 2000, aimed at halting the vote recount in Miami-Dade County during the U.S. presidential election, effectively influencing the election outcome
Brown v. Board of Education (1954)	white supremacy	Supreme Court decision ordering the desegregation of schools. Resistance to the ruling took the form of "states' rights" advocates, among much else.
bugman		A derogatory term used by some in the New Right to describe liberal men perceived as lacking traditional masculinity and practical life skills.
bug-out location (BOL)	End Times	A predetermined, often remote, refuge selected by survivalists to retreat to in case of emergencies or societal collapse (see also: bolt hole).
Calexit	Sedition Caucus	A movement advocating for California's secession from the United States to form an independent nation, drawing inspiration from Brexit and gaining attention after the 2016 presidential election
Calvinism		The ideology of predestination means you can't do anything to change your fate, but you can act like you're saved and that's close enough, to Calvin.
capital gains tax	plutocracy	A tax levied on the profit realized from the sale of a non-inventory asset, such as stocks or real estate, with rates often lower than those for ordinary income, leading to debates over tax equity.
carried-interest tax		A tax provision allowing investment managers to pay capital gains tax rates on their share of profits, rather than higher ordinary income rates, prompting criticism for favoring wealthy investors over average wage earners.
the Cathedral	conspiracy theory	A term used in certain conspiracy theories to describe an alleged alliance of academia, media, and government institutions purportedly working together to promote a unified ideological agenda (see: Curtis Yarvin)
cathexis		A kind of fusion the people of a nation may claim to feel with the fascist leader.
Citizens United		A Supreme Court case that opened the doorway wide to the influence of dark -- i.e. untradeable, not transparent -- money in American politics.
civil society		The sphere of voluntary associations, organizations, and institutions that exist independently of the government and market, facilitating collective action and public discourse.
Civil War	white supremacy	A conflict between factions or regions within a single country, often over political, social, or economic issues; notably, the American Civil War (1861–1865) was fought over primarily slavery.
climate change denialism		The rejection or dismissal of the scientific consensus on the extent and causes of global climate change, often hindering environmental policy and action.
clown world	conspiracy theory	A slang term used to describe a perception of modern society as absurd or illogical, often employed in a derogatory context to criticize contemporary social and political developments
CloudFlare	Big Tech	A company that protects websites from cyberattacks, it dropped support for 8chan after the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso. The shooter had posted his anti-immigrant manifesto on 8chan before the event, another in a series of eerily similar patterned shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand and a San Diego synagogue.
Cluster B	abuse & control	A category in the DSM-5 encompassing personality disorders characterized by dramatic, emotional, or erratic behaviors, including antisocial, borderline, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders
collective narcissism	abuse & control	A psychological phenomenon where individuals exhibit an inflated, unrealistic belief in the greatness of their in-group, leading to sensitivity to criticism and hostility toward out-groups.
Columbine Massacre	political violence	The April 20, 1999, school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two students killed 13 people and wounded over 20 others before committing suicide, profoundly impacting U.S. discourse on gun control and school safety.
Communism	government	A political and economic ideology advocating for a classless society where the means of production are communally owned, aiming to eliminate private property and achieve equal distribution of resources.
The Confederacy	political violence	The Confederate States of America, a coalition of 11 Southern states that seceded from the United States in 1860–1861, leading to the Civil War, primarily over the issue of slavery.
conscience		An individual's internal sense of right and wrong, guiding moral decisions and ethical behavior.
conspiracy theory	psychological warfare	A belief or explanation suggesting that events or situations are the result of a secret, often sinister, plot by a group of people or organizations, typically lacking credible evidence.
convict leasing	white supremacy	A system, prevalent in the Southern United States after the Civil War, where prisoners were leased to private businesses for labor, effectively perpetuating forced labor and racial oppression.
copperheadism	white supremacy	A citizen of the North who was against the Civil War and favored negotiating a settlement with the South was referred to, pejoratively, as a copperhead.
covert narcissist	psychological warfare	An individual exhibiting narcissistic traits in subtle or concealed ways, often appearing modest or self-effacing while harboring a strong sense of entitlement and a need for admiration.
Critical Race Theory (CRT)	white supremacy	An academic framework that examines how laws and systems perpetuate racial inequalities, emphasizing the role of institutional and structural racism in society.
Critical Theory	conspiracy theory	A philosophical approach originating from the Frankfurt School of ex-pat Germans who had either escaped or survived Nazi Germany, aiming to critique and change society by analyzing power structures, ideologies, and social injustices.
crocodile tears		A term describing insincere or feigned expressions of sorrow, derived from the ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears while consuming their prey.
crying wolf		The act of raising false alarms or exaggerating dangers, leading others to become skeptical of future warnings, based on Aesop's fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
cultism		The practices and behaviors associated with cults, often involving extreme devotion to a person, idea, or organization, sometimes leading to manipulation or exploitation.
cults	abuse & control	Groups characterized by unorthodox beliefs, intense devotion to a charismatic leader, and practices that may include manipulation, coercion, and isolation from mainstream society.
cultural Marxism		A conspiracy theory alleging that Marxist theorists are subverting Western culture to undermine traditional values, often criticized for its anti-Semitic and far-right origins.
Dark Enlightenment		Also known as neoreaction, a political and philosophical movement rejecting egalitarianism and democracy, advocating for a return to hierarchical and authoritarian governance structures.
Dark MAGA		A fringe movement within the pro-Trump community that embraces authoritarian imagery and rhetoric, often depicted through dystopian and aggressive visuals, advocating for a more radical approach to achieving political goals.
dark money	plutocracy	Political spending by nonprofit organizations that are not required to disclose their donors, allowing for anonymous influence on elections and policy decisions.
death cult		A pejorative term used to describe groups or ideologies that glorify death or engage in practices leading to mass casualties, often applied to extremist organizations or apocalyptic movements.
deep state	conspiracy theory	A term referring to an alleged clandestine network of non-elected government officials and private entities purported to operate independently of elected leadership, influencing and enacting policy without public oversight
democratic socialism	government	A political ideology advocating for a socialist economy characterized by social or collective ownership of the means of production, integrated within a democratic political system that emphasizes political democracy alongside social ownership
desegregation	white supremacy	The end of segregation between white and Black society in the U.S., ending formally in the 1950s and 60s.
disinformation	psychological warfare	Deliberately false or misleading information spread with the intent to deceive or mislead, often used to manipulate public opinion or obscure the truth.
dispensationalism		A theological framework within Christian eschatology that divides history into distinct periods or "dispensations," each marked by specific divine revelations and covenants between God and humanity.
domestic violence	abuse & control	A pattern of abusive behavior in any relationship used by one partner to gain or maintain control over another intimate partner, encompassing physical, emotional, sexual, or psychological harm.
Doomsday Clock	End Times	A symbolic clock created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, representing the likelihood of a man-made global catastrophe, with midnight symbolizing the apocalypse; the time is adjusted based on current global threats.
double standard	misogyny	The application of different sets of principles for similar situations, leading to unfair or biased treatment of individuals or groups.
down ballot	government	Refers to political races or issues listed below the top positions on an election ballot, such as local or state offices, which often receive less attention from voters and media.
doxing	abuse & control	The act of publicly revealing an individual's private or personal information without their consent, typically with malicious intent, often leading to harassment or threats.
Drain the Swamp	MAGA	Campaign slogan of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential contest and an ironic political metaphor advocating for the elimination of corruption and entrenched interests within government institutions, signifying reform and transparency; in reality, Trump dramatically increased corruption and self-dealing.
eco-fascist		An individual or ideology that combines environmental concerns with authoritarian, nationalist, or racist beliefs, often advocating for extreme measures to reduce human impact on the environment, sometimes at the expense of marginalized groups.
El Paso Walmart shooting		A mass shooting that occurred on August 3, 2019, in El Paso, Texas, where a gunman killed 23 people and injured 23 others at a Walmart store, targeting Hispanic individuals in what was deemed an act of domestic terrorism.
Emancipation Proclamation	white supremacy	An executive order issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the Civil War, declaring the freedom of all enslaved people in Confederate-held territory, paving the way for the abolition of slavery in the United States.
empathy		The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, fostering compassion and connection by recognizing and appreciating others' emotional experiences.
estate tax	plutocracy	A tax levied on the net value of a deceased person's estate before distribution to heirs, applicable when the estate's value exceeds a certain threshold, and often subject to debate regarding its impact on wealth transfer and economic inequality.
"Eternal Rome"		Ideology positing Russia as a geopolitical bulwark of conservatism against a weak-kneed West (part of Alexander Dugin's reformulation of Eurasianism theory)
ethnic cleansing
exfiltration	cybersecurity	The removal or copying of data from one server to another without the knowledge of the owner
extra-Constitutional
facial recognition	surveillance capitalism	Technology that matches surveillance video and photography with large databases of known subjects' faces to identify them
Fairness Doctrine		1949 FCC policy requiring broadcast networks to present controversial issues important to the public in a non-partisan way, that was repealed under Reagan in 1987.
fake news	disinformation
false flag	Russian	covert operations designed to deceive by appearing as though they are carried out by other entities, groups, or nations than those who actually executed them
fascism	government
fellow travellers
fifth column
fifth world war	Russian	non-linear war; the war of all against all
filibuster
Financial Crimes Enforcement NEtwork (FinCEN)	organized crime	Department within the Treasury that handles and maiontains FBAR filings from US persons holding in excess of $10,000 in foreign banks.
FISA Court	organized crime
FISA warrant	organized crime
fiscal policy	plutocracy
flat earthers	conspiracy theory
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)	psychological warfare	Legal statute requiring those persons lobbying on behalf of a foreign government or other entity to register such with the U.S. government.
foreign bank account report (FBAR)	organized crime	Required disclosure to the US treasury by persons holding in excess of $10,000 in funds in foreign banks.
forensics	law enforcement
forever wars
The Frankfurt School
Freedmen's Bureau
FreedomFest		Conservative evangelical event annually in Las Vegas
Free Speech
free trade	plutocracy
fronto-paralimbic area		Part of the brain associated with empathy, along with the anterior insula
fundamentalism
Gab	alt-Right
GamerGate	alt-Right
genocide
gerrymandering	government	The practice of selecting voter districts based on party registration lines so as to make it easier to control larger blocks of the elctorate.
gift tax	plutocracy
"global cabal"	conspiracy theory	euphemism in far-right Russian discourse to refer to a perceived "Jewish conspiracy" behind the international order of institutions like NATO and the EU
globalists
Grand Jury		16 to 23 people impaneled to hear evidence from a legal prosecution, and decide if said prosecution has a caseworthy set of evidence to bring charges.
Greensboro Massacre	white supremacy
Great Awakening
Great Migration	white supremacy
Great Society	government
greed
Guantanamo
happy talk		Tim Snyder's term for the ubiquitous affect of technology & unquestionable conviction that tech is helping significantly and never harming.
human trafficking	organized crime
hybrid warfare	psychological warfare
hypercapitalism
incel	misogyny	"involuntary celibate" -- a male individual who believes society owes him sex
inflation	plutocracy
information warfare	disinformation
integralist
interest rates	plutocracy
internationalist	conspiracy theory	Another word for "globalist" or "cosmopolitanist," all of them also words for Jewish people
interposition	white supremacy	Dubious theory underpinning the idea of states' rights, which is that individual states have veto power over any laws passed by the federal government
Iran-Contra
iron triangle		A conspiracy between organized criminals, corrupt government officials, and business leaders to turn the state into a kleptocracy -- or "rule by thieves"
Jim Crow South	white supremacy
Johnson Amendment	prosperity gospel	Allowed televangelists to funnel tax-free riches into luxury goods and political advocacy
Karen	white supremacy
kayfabe		The "play pretend" convention of presenting a staged performance as if it were spontaneous and authentic -- a trope of professional wrestling.
kleptocracy		Literally, "rule by thieves" -- a system of government in which the people at the top steal wealth from the nation and its people for themselves and their cronies.
Kochtopus	plutocracy	Term for the sprawling political machinery of the Kansas-based billionaire Koch Industries inheritees, Charles and David.
kompromat	Russian	compromising material on a head of state or other important figure; typically used for blackmail purposes
lamestream media	alt-Right
late Republican period		A way of stating a common belief on the New Right, that America is a kind of late-stage Rome awaiting its Caesar
leaderless resistance
liberalism	government	Political and ethical framework based on individual liberty via human rights and equal protection
libertines
literacy tests
lobbying	government
"Lock her up!"	MAGA	Chant led by Mike Flynn at the RNC in 2016, referring to Hillary Clinton's email scandal which turned out to be a nothingburger
Logan Act	government
Lost Cause religion	conspiracy theory	After the Civil War, the Confederates never accepted defeat. Instead, they wove a noble victim mythology into white southern Christianity, in an attempt to memory hole the terrorism they'd wrought -- and wished to continue practicing without scrutiny or accountability, thank you very much.
lynching	white supremacy	Extrajudicial murder, sometimes publicly, of Black men and women -- often for invented crimes
Machiavellian
machine learning	Big Tech
Mafia state	organized crime	A systematic corruption of government by organized crime syndicates.
MAGA	MAGA	"Make America Great Again" -- one of Donald Trump's campaign slogans.
malignant envy	psychological warfare
malignant narcissism	abuse & control
"man code"		Mentioned by Raffensberger in relation to the Trump extortion call: that if Trump hadn't lied about it in public, he might not have released the tape, just chalking it up to "private criminal attempts between two men" aka "man code"
manosphere	misogyny
Marxism	government
the matrix
mental predation	abuse & control
#MeToo	misogyny
microaggressions
micropenis	misogyny
micro-propaganda machine		The “micro-propaganda machine” (MPM) — an influence network that can tailor people’s opinions, emotional reactions, and create “viral” sharing episodes around what should be serious or contemplative issues
millennarianism	conspiracy theory
minority rule
mirror neurons
misogyny	misogyny
MK Ultra		Reportedly a CIA program in the 50s that conducted research into mind control and brainwashing -- its findings were apparently so shocking that the program was shut down and never heard from again.
money laundering	organized crime	Attempts and processes to obscure the sources of funds moving into or through a system
multiculturalism
narcissism	abuse & control
narcissistic collusion	abuse & control
natality		Hannah Arendt's term, and her most hopefuly theory for the future of humankind -- that it will continually be renewed by the literal birth of new generations of humans to reinterpret the human condition and our existence in the world.
national debt	plutocracy
national deficit	plutocracy
national security
NDA		Non-disclosure agreement
negging	abuse & control
neomania		obsession with the new -- a hallmark of American culture
neo-reactionaries
New Deal	government
New Jim Crow	white supremacy
New Right
non-linear warfare	Russian
normalcy bias
novichok	Russian	military-grade nerve agent developed by Russia and used in the poisoning of former FSB agent turned Putin critic Andrei Skripal and his daughter in Lonson in March, 2018
nullification	white supremacy
NRx		neo-Reactionary, an extremist techophilic ideology popular on the right
obstruction
Oklahoma City bombing
oligarchy	plutocracy
one-party state	government
open source intelligence	intelligence
oppo	intelligence	short form of opposition research
outrage industry	surveillance capitalism
PAC
Palantir	surveillance capitalism
paralipsis	disinformation	A rhetorical device in which the speaker feigns ignorance of the thing he or she is saying; "Saying / not saying" -- it offers a thin veneer of plausible deniability in a naked attempt to escape accountabilitty for saying exactly that.
paralogic	psychological warfare
paranoia		Extreme fear to the point of (or beyond) psychological pathology.
pathocracy	organized crime
patriarchy	misogyny
peculiar institution	white supremacy	slavery
peonage	white supremacy
plausible deniability	organized crime
Plessy v. Ferguson	government	1896
plutocracy	government	Political rule by the rich.
political correctness
poll tax
ponerology		The study of evil
populism	government
post-leftist
postmodernism	disinformation
post-truth	disinformation
Potemkin village	government	Any structure or facade built expressly for the purpose of making the situation appear more favorable than it really is
Powell Memo	plutocracy	Lewis Powell's 1970s memo to the wealthy white male elite, in anger over the crackdown against tobacco companies, as a call to arms to organize politically against "anti-capitalist" forces
PR	abuse & control	public relations
previous question rule		A parliamentary rule present in the initial decades of the Senate, borrowed from British law, that allowed the majority proponents of a bill or measure to call an end to debate about the provision with a short warning period of usually about 5 minutes.
Progressive Era	government
propaganda	abuse & control
prosperity gospel
prosocial behavior
psychopath	abuse & control
psyops	Russian	Psychological operations
PUA	misogyny	"Pick Up Artist" -- a self-styled lothario who helps train other would-be casanovas in his ways of manipulative charm
Pulse Nightclub shooting
race riots	white supremacy
race war	white supremacy	The goal of the accelerationist neo-Nazi idealogues is to start a race war and bring down the American government
RAGE	abuse & control	Retire All Government Employees
rape culture	misogyny
Reagonomics	conspiracy theory
the "real economy"	conspiracy theory	What folks on the New Right consider legitimate parts of the American economy: farm and factory jobs that used to sustain a middle-class income
Reddit	Big Tech
the regime	conspiracy theory
regression
repression
retweet	Big Tech	When a Twitter user amplifies the tweet of another, by "retweeting" it out to her or his network
RICO
Right anterior insular cortex		Part of the brain associated with empathy; psychopaths have a deficit here
right-wing authoritarian	government
Roe v. Wade
Ruby Ridge	white supremacy
running out the clock
RWDS	paramilitary	Right-wing Death Squads -- an acronym used by Proud Boys and worn as patches by some members and branches
sadism	abuse & control
sadopopulism	government
Sandy Hook school shooting	abuse & control
savior complex		Like the arsonist who sets the fire and then calls it in to play the hero, right-wingers with the savior complex are constantly holding up the sky as the Evil Democrats try to destroy everything good and holy -- and they want CREDIT for it, dammit!
Second Wave Feminism	misogyny
Section 230	Big Tech
senicide
sexual assault	misogyny
sexual harassment	misogyny
shadow profiles	surveillance capitalism	Data that Facebook collects on people who are not members of Facebook, via association with their friends who are
sharecropping	abuse & control
shared reality
show trials	Russian
Signal	Big Tech	encrypted messaging app
Silicon Reich
sit-ins		Nonviolent demonstration method used heavily in the 1960s
SJW	white supremacy	Social Justice Warriors -- used as a pejorative by the alt-Right
socialism	government
sociopathy	abuse & control
sockpuppet accounts	disinformation	Fake social media accounts used by trolls for deceptive and covert actions, avoiding culpability for abuse, aggression, death threats, doxxing, and other criminal acts against targets.
SMS	Big Tech	texting
special interest groups	government
spearphishing	cybersecurity	An email designed to appear as if from a trusted source, to solicit information that allows the sender to gain access to an account or network, or installs malware that later enables the sender to gain access to an account or network
spite voter	government
stand your ground
stochastic terrorism	paramilitary
suffrage	government	The right to vote, sometimes referred to as "the franchise."
SuperPAC	government
supremacy
surveillance capitalism
surveillance state	abuse & control
swatting	alt-Right	hoaxed reports to emergency services intended to provoke a SWAT team response at the target's home; a form of Internet-based attack used by Gamergate, the alt-Right, and other groups and individuals
symbiosis
symbolic violence
tax avoidance	plutocracy
tax fraud	organized crime
tax havens	plutocracy
Third Wave Feminism	misogyny
totalism	psychological warfare
total war	Russian
trial balloon	psychological warfare	Information put out or leaked to the media to gauge public reaction.
trickle-down economics	conspiracy theory
truth decay	conspiracy theory
The Turner Diaries	white supremacy
Tulsa Race Massacre	white supremacy	A mob of murderous whites descended on the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, dubbed Black Wall Street, and razed it to the ground. They dropped homemade bombs in the first ever domestic aerial attack on American soil. Over three hundred Blacks were murdered and hastily buried or burned. Police and other state officials were complicit; no one was ever charged for the crimes and insurance companies refused to honor Black business owner's claims from the destruction of their livelihood and senseless slaughter of their friends, families, and community.
Twitter	Big Tech
Uberman
unmasking	cybersecurity	Intelligence protocol redacting American identities from transcripts of foreign intercepts
vast right-wing conspiracy
volcel
Voting Rights Act	white supremacy
Waco, TX	paramilitary
wag the dog	abuse & control
wage gap	misogyny
war crimes
Watergate
watering hole	cybersecurity	hacker attacks that infect entire websites
whataboutism	Russian	Classic debate tactic of old Soviet apologists to deflect criticism of Soviet policy; whenever an American would levy a critique, the response would be, "What about the bad things America does?"
white collar crime	organized crime
white nationalism	white supremacy
women's liberation	misogyny
word salad
World War I		WWI gave job opportunities to blacks in the North, causing a great migration -- as well as a backlash and resistance from Southern law enforcement.
World War II
Yes California		Movement to secede from the US entirely, run by Marcus Ruiz Evans, Louis J. Marinelli

February 22, 2023

Scapegoating

A scapegoat is a person or group who gets unfairly blamed for the wrongdoings, misdeeds, or crimes of others. Scapegoating is the act of doing this to someone.

The term comes originally from the Bible, in a story from Leviticus where a Jewish chief priest symbolically laid the sins of the people on a goat before releasing it into the wilderness. The goat psychologically cleansed the bad deeds of the population, serving as a convenient mechanism for group healing.

The modern scapegoat

In contemporary times the scapegoat metaphor is used to describe situations where a guilty party gets away scot-free by loudly and vociferously blaming an innocent “enemy” instead. This can be on a small scale like a workplace or a family, but it can also be on a larger scale within society — labelling entire groups or racial identities as “enemies” fictitiously and thus, dangerously.

Scapegoats have a close cousin in the political realm, in the “Us vs. Them” core dynamic of fascism. Fascists essentially pretend that only Outsiders are dangerous, because it gives anxious people the illusion of safety. This ideology increases the followers’ dependency on the in-group, to the point of hero worship or even cult worship.

The illusion of control

Scapegoating is often driven by prejudice and bigotry, fear, and a need to maintain the status quo. When people feel threatened, either by external factors such as economic or political instability or internal factors such as a sense of personal inadequacy, they may look for someone to blame. Scapegoating can provide a sense of control and empowerment, allowing people to believe that they are doing something to address the problem. However, this illusion of control comes at the cost of dehumanizing and harming others.

Scapegoating can have serious consequences for individuals and communities. The scapegoated individuals or groups can become marginalized, ostracized, and stigmatized. They can experience discrimination, harassment, and violence, both on a personal and group level. Moreover, scapegoating can distract attention from the real problems and prevent work towards constructive solutions. By focusing on blaming individuals or groups rather than addressing the root causes of problems, scapegoating can perpetuate injustice and inequality.

Dealing with scapegoating

Preventing scapegoating requires recognizing its underlying causes and addressing them. This can involve promoting empathy, understanding, and open communication, and fostering a sense of community and shared responsibility. It can also involve challenging the narratives that promote scapegoating and promoting a more nuanced understanding of complex issues, with less black and white thinking. Educating people about the dangers of scapegoating and the benefits of cooperation and collaboration can also help to prevent it.

Scapegoating is a harmful and unjust practice that involves blaming individuals or groups for the problems of a larger community. It can have serious consequences for the scapegoated individuals or groups and perpetuate injustice and inequality. Preventing scapegoating requires recognizing its underlying causes, promoting empathy and understanding, and challenging the narratives that promote it. By working together and taking responsibility for our collective well-being, there’s no reason why we can’t build a more just and equitable society.

February 20, 2023

GOP Big Lies

The Big Lie about the 2020 Election was hardly the first or even the Biggest of the Big Lies in American history — fomented in vast majority by the right wing. Call it a personality trait, an ideology, or perhaps a financial preference — but Republicans seem to lean towards the disingenuous end of the truth scale.

What are Big Lies?

A Big Lie refers to a propaganda technique that involves repeating a falsehood or exaggeration so frequently and convincingly that people begin to accept it as truth. The term was popularized by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf, where he wrote that propaganda must be based on a “big lie” because people are counterintuitively more likely to believe a colossal falsehood than a small one because of its sheer audacity.

The technique of the Big Lie is often used by authoritarian leaders, political parties, and movements to manipulate public opinion and gain power. It relies on the psychological phenomenon known as the “illusory truth effect,” which suggests that people are more likely to believe something if they hear it repeatedly. Ironically, even a debunking of the Big Lie can contribute to the illusory truth effect by keeping the content of the falsehood top of mind in the eye of the believer.

Examples of Big Lies

Examples of the Big Lie include the election denial claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, the false assertion that vaccines cause autism, and the Nazi propaganda (blood libel and global cabal theory, among other hateful ideologies) that blamed Germany’s problems on the Jewish people, scapegoating them unfairly and setting up a justification for the horrific murder at scale known as the Holocaust.

The danger of the Big Lie is that it can lead to widespread disinformation, polarization and hyper partisanship, and even violence. It is essential to fact-check claims and resist the impulse to accept information at face value. Instead, critical thinking, fact-checking, and seeking out multiple sources of information can help individuals and society avoid falling prey to the Big Lie.

The following table is a compendium of GOP Big Lies known so far.

Myth	Definition
"Antifa did it"	This is a pre-planned "reusable" false narrative for right-wing extremist actions. It's a ready-made "false false flag" conspiracy for repeated deployment as white supremacists and homegrown extremists ratchet up the level of political violence.
"government overreach"	When Democrats pass a law that Republicans don't like
"Makers and takers"	A cynical narrative that splits society into "productive" and "dependent" classes, casting essential public support as a parasitic burden — while conveniently ignoring the subsidies that keep powerful corporations in business.
"National security party"	Self-proclaimed guardians of national defense, the GOP often prioritize partisan agendas over genuine security concerns, blurring the lines between safeguarding Americans and scoring political points.
"Quality" of votes	By emphasizing “quality” over “quantity” in voting, the GOP taps into thinly veiled elitism, subtly endorsing the restriction of voting access to groups who may not support their power hold.
2nd Amendment	The GOP’s devotion to the Second Amendment borders on the sacred, promoting unrestricted access to firearms in the name of "freedom" while dismissing the deadly toll of gun violence as a necessary cost.
Abu Ghraib	The torture and abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison showed how the GOP’s post-9/11 policies spiraled out of control, ultimately staining America's global reputation in the name of a warped version of patriotism.
American Dream	They inverted it away from a sense of social justice and equal opportunity (self-governance) to simply embody the venal pursuit of money.
America First	Invoked by right-wing propaganda campaigns over the past century, starting with Charles Lindbergh in 1939 through to Reagan (1980s), and again with lazy plagiarizing Donnie
American Exceptionalism	A relentless insistence on America's supposed moral superiority, this myth ignores deep-rooted systemic issues and serves as a deflection tactic to dismiss legitimate critiques — because nothing says "exceptional" like refusing to self-reflect.
Anti-gay	Masked as “family values,” GOP rhetoric often undermines LGBTQ+ rights, framing queer Americans as cultural threats while stoking a narrative of moral panic that distracts from genuine issues of equality.
Anti-immigrant	By painting immigrants as scapegoats for economic and social ills, the GOP has turned a nation of immigrants against itself, relying on fearmongering rather than addressing the root causes of immigration.
Anti-Tax	A knee-jerk opposition to taxes serves as the GOP's rallying cry, despite relying on the very social systems taxes support — a contradiction often buried under rhetoric of “liberty” and “small government.”
Be Best	Melania Trump's so-called anti-bullying initiative provided a hollow public image for an administration that thrived on divisive rhetoric, exposing the emptiness of performative kindness undercut by the reality of inflammatory policies.
Black and white thinking	GOP messaging favors oversimplified “us versus them” narratives, reducing complex social issues to crude binaries that stoke outrage, sidestepping nuanced policy discussion to breed tribalism and division.
Blacks are commies	An outdated, racially-charged trope, this smear invokes anti-communist hysteria to demonize Black political activism, relying on fear and racism to dismiss any push for equality as a “threat” to the American status quo.
Cancel culture	A rallying cry against accountability, "cancel culture" has become a GOP catch-all for criticism, conflating consequences with censorship to defend offensive rhetoric and shield high-profile figures from scrutiny.
Christian nationalism	Cloaked in patriotism, Christian nationalism seeks to merge religious and political identity, positioning one faith as the cornerstone of American identity while undermining the separation of church and state.
Cities are bad	GOP rhetoric frequently demonizes urban areas as crime-ridden wastelands, reinforcing class and racial divides while ignoring cities' economic contributions and the diverse lives and communities they house.
Climate change is a hoax	Labeling climate change as “fake news” dismisses overwhelming scientific evidence, allowing the GOP to sidestep environmental responsibility while protecting fossil fuel interests over global health.
Coastal elites	A classic strawman, "coastal elites" are cast as out-of-touch adversaries of "real America," fanning division while distracting from policy issues affecting everyday lives across the country.
Communists	Any left-leaning policy or social progressivism is denounced as “communist” to trigger Cold War fears, as the GOP weaponizes this loaded term to shut down discussions on equity and social reform.
Confederate statues	Defending Confederate statues under the guise of “heritage” ignores the painful legacy of slavery and oppression these symbols represent, perpetuating a sanitized version of history that glosses over systemic racism.
Conscience voters	Dismissed as disloyal by the GOP, "conscience voters" are cast as obstacles rather than principled citizens, downplaying the importance of voting based on integrity, ethics, and democratic values.
Corporate liberals	The GOP paints "corporate liberals" as hypocritical elites more interested in profits than principles, wielding this label to deflect from their own corporate ties while portraying the left as disconnected from "real" Americans.
Covid is a hoax; covid is overblown	By dismissing COVID-19 as either nonexistent or exaggerated, the GOP stoked dangerous misinformation, downplaying a global health crisis that required collective action for the sake of short-term political gain.
Covid is no big deal	Framing COVID-19 as minor trivialized the virus’s severe health impacts, a tactic that encouraged disregard for safety measures and contributed to preventable illness and loss, all in the name of “freedom.”
Crime	GOP messaging inflates crime rates in an effort to spark fear and justify “law and order” crackdowns, often targeting urban areas and minority communities to stoke racial and class anxieties.
crisis actor	Dismissing tragedy survivors as “crisis actors” has become a tactic to discredit those advocating for change, a cruel narrative that undermines empathy and dismisses firsthand accounts as part of a conspiratorial plot.
Critical Race Theory	A recent GOP boogeyman, Critical Race Theory is misrepresented as an attempt to “divide” America, redirecting attention from real racial inequities by framing academic discussions as ideological threats.
Cry more, lib	A favorite GOP taunt, "cry more, lib" embodies an anti-empathetic, combative stance that prioritizes “owning the libs” over constructive dialogue, turning polarization into an entertainment sport.
Democrats are Satanic	Conspiratorial fearmongering at its peak, branding Democrats as "satanic" plays on religious anxieties and paints political opponents as morally depraved rather than simply ideologically opposed.
Drain the Swamp	Rather than rid Washington of its layers of corrupt supplicants as he had promised on the campaign trail, he invited all of his cronies in to benefit from the greatest expansion of corrupt graft under any President we know of thus far.
Economic superiority	The GOP often touts its economic policies as inherently superior, claiming to champion “free markets” while endorsing tax cuts and deregulation that benefit the wealthiest at the expense of average Americans.
Election integrity	Cloaked in concern for “election integrity,” this rhetoric is frequently code for voter suppression, sowing doubt in democratic systems under the guise of preventing fraud that is statistically negligible.
elites should rule others	Though they publicly denounce “elites,” the GOP has long relied on an entrenched hierarchy where wealthy insiders set policy, tacitly endorsing a class structure that keeps power in privileged hands.
Elite resentment	By stoking resentment toward "elites," the GOP strategically channels legitimate frustrations into distrust of institutions, framing experts as adversaries to push an anti-intellectual, populist agenda.
Enemy of the people	Borrowed from authoritarian playbooks, calling the media the “enemy of the people” undermines journalism’s role in holding power accountable, fostering public distrust in factual reporting while insulating the party from critique.
Flawed savior	GOP leaders often frame their candidates as “flawed saviors,” humanizing their shortcomings as “authentic” while expecting voters to overlook misdeeds under the pretense of fighting a “greater evil.”
Free speech	The GOP champions “free speech” as a shield for offensive rhetoric, selectively defending it to legitimize hate and conspiracy while casting opponents’ criticism as censorship.
Freedom of religion	Under the banner of “religious freedom,” the GOP has promoted policies that privilege Christian beliefs, framing inclusivity as a threat and sidelining the rights of non-Christians and secular Americans.
George Soros	Hungarian billionaire whose liberal politics irritate Vladimir Putin. Cast as a shadowy puppet master, George Soros has become the GOP’s favorite boogeyman, allowing them to funnel fears of globalism and liberal influence into a single, often antisemitic, scapegoat for everything they oppose.
Government is the enemy	By branding government as the enemy, the GOP promotes a “small government” narrative that frames public institutions as inherently oppressive, ignoring the role of government in providing essential services that benefit all citizens.
Government spending	The GOP’s criticism of “government spending” rarely applies to military or corporate subsidies; instead, they use it to vilify social programs, pushing a selective austerity that prioritizes profit over public welfare.
Great Man theory	Embraced by the GOP to justify outsized authority, the Great Man theory glorifies “strong leaders” as irreplaceable forces of change, ignoring the systemic contributions of everyday people and fostering a culture of authoritarian admiration.
Guantanamo Bay	Once heralded as a necessary response to terrorism, Guantanamo Bay remains a symbol of human rights abuses and unchecked government power, its continued existence a stain on America’s reputation and a testament to a decade of bipartisan moral compromise.
Heroic redeemer	The GOP often casts its figureheads as “heroic redeemers,” saviors of American values who will “restore” the nation, a narrative that overlooks their own policy failings and breeds an unquestioning devotion to the leader over democratic principles.
Hollywood	Part of an "excuse framework" to ignore or dismiss something, by smearing it with vague "Hollywoodness." A cue to tune out and discredit the source. Prominent in the Qanon ideology.
Identity politics	The GOP decries identity politics as divisive, dismissing the legitimate pursuit of marginalized groups’ rights as “playing victim,” all while promoting their own forms of identity-based rhetoric tied to nationalism and traditional values.
Insults	Rather than engaging in substantive debate, GOP discourse increasingly leans on insults and ad hominem attacks, a tactic that lowers the bar for political discourse while energizing a base attracted to combative rhetoric.
Jim Crow	Modern GOP policies echo Jim Crow tactics in their approach to voting rights and policing, subtly reinforcing racial hierarchies through “law and order” rhetoric and voter ID laws that disproportionately impact minority communities.
Job creators	Framed as economic heroes, “job creators” are often just wealthy corporations and CEOs receiving tax breaks, with the GOP perpetuating this myth to justify policies that favor the richest while sidelining workers' rights and fair wages.
Kyle Rittenhouse deification	Rittenhouse has been elevated as a GOP folk hero, a troubling symbol that valorizes vigilantism and extreme interpretations of self-defense laws while casting violent actions as “patriotic.”
Law and order	The GOP’s “law and order” mantra prioritizes punishment over justice, often targeting marginalized communities and framing police authority as infallible, even as it dismisses accountability for law enforcement abuses.
Leftist apocalypse	GOP rhetoric about a “leftist apocalypse” is designed to incite fear, painting progressive policies as dystopian threats to freedom while diverting attention from their own regressive agendas.
Liberals	“Liberal” has become a GOP catch-all slur, evoking disdain for progressive values and framing anyone left of center as a radical, promoting tribalism over thoughtful discourse on policy differences.
Lost Cause	An American mythology manufactured after the Civil War by the Confederates, to soothe their wounds from the loss and whitewash the role of slavery in fomenting their sedition. In the Reconstruction era and beyond, the retcon held that "states' rights" had animated the southern states to secede from the union when in fact, the bitter contest had been inarguably about whether or not the peculiar institution was to continue in the new nation.
MAGA	More than a slogan, “Make America Great Again” has become a rallying cry for a brand of nationalism that idealizes a past rife with exclusion and inequality, often as a coded appeal to reverse social progress under the guise of patriotism.
Marxism	GOP discourse uses “Marxism” as a catch-all for any progressive policy, conflating social welfare and economic regulation with authoritarianism, and fanning fears that equity is a slippery slope to state control.
minority rule	By leveraging mechanisms like gerrymandering and the electoral college, the GOP has solidified a power structure that enables them to hold influence even without majority support, subverting democratic norms to preserve a shrinking voter base.
Mueller Report	Originally heralded as a potential political reckoning, the Mueller Report was quickly undermined by the GOP as “partisan overreach,” minimizing credible findings to cast the investigation as a witch hunt rather than a check on foreign influence.
Muzzled	The GOP often claims they are “muzzled” by media and tech, positioning themselves as victims of censorship while using the supposed suppression to bolster a narrative that mainstream platforms are hostile to conservative voices.
National debt	Suddenly out of nowhere (aka, when a Democrat comes to town), the national debt is a pressing problem. The GOP selectively decries the national debt to criticize social spending, yet they rarely extend this scrutiny to defense budgets or tax cuts for the wealthy, using debt concerns to mask their true fiscal priorities.
Nostalgia	GOP rhetoric often hinges on nostalgia for a “simpler time,” romanticizing a selective history that erases social struggles, casting the past as a lost ideal in order to resist modern demands for inclusion and justice.
Personal responsibility	The GOP promotes “personal responsibility” as a rationale to dismantle social safety nets, shifting the burden of systemic issues onto individuals and minimizing the need for collective solutions to inequality.
Poll taxes	Modern GOP voter restrictions echo the discriminatory legacy of poll taxes, targeting marginalized groups under the guise of “election security” to limit access to the ballot for those unlikely to support conservative candidates.
Pro-life	“Pro-life” rhetoric is selectively applied to abortion by the GOP, often ignoring broader life-affirming policies like healthcare and social support that ensure quality of life, reducing complex issues to a single, polarizing stance.
QAnon	Once fringe, QAnon’s conspiratorial beliefs have been embraced by some in the mainstream GOP, spreading dangerous misinformation and fostering a distrust in democratic institutions by framing political opponents as part of a hidden, sinister elite.
Racism	GOP rhetoric often denies systemic racism, framing the issue as either exaggerated or solved, dismissing discussions on race as divisive “identity politics” and obstructing efforts toward equity and reform.
Reaganomics	The GOP continues to champion Reaganomics, despite decades of evidence that trickle-down policies have widened inequality, promoting tax cuts for the wealthy as an unquestioned formula for prosperity that largely benefits the elite.
Refuse to recognize the legitimacy of one's opponent	The GOP’s growing refusal to accept opponents’ legitimacy fuels a dangerous precedent of distrust in democratic processes, painting opposition victories as fraudulent rather than respecting the will of the electorate.
Religious freedom	Under the guise of “religious freedom,” the GOP champions policies that often privilege Christian beliefs over others, using faith as a shield to justify discrimination and exclude non-Christian communities from equal rights.
Run the country like a business	The GOP’s push to “run the country like a business” favors profit over people, promoting efficiency at the expense of social welfare and ignoring the unique role of government in safeguarding public well-being over private gain.
Sadism	GOP rhetoric and policies sometimes border on sadistic, reveling in punitive measures that target vulnerable groups, from restricting social services to celebrating harsh sentencing, with cruelty often spun as “tough love.”
silent majority	Invoking the “silent majority” allows the GOP to claim moral high ground for their agenda, positioning themselves as the voice of “real” Americans while dismissing progressive movements as fringe or unrepresentative.
small government	The GOP mantra of “small government” selectively shrinks programs that benefit the public, while expanding government’s reach in areas like policing, reproductive rights, and military spending, revealing a selective interpretation of freedom.
Social Justice Warriors	Dismissed as “Social Justice Warriors,” those who advocate for equality and reform are mocked by the GOP as overly sensitive or “woke,” reframing calls for justice as extremist demands in an effort to downplay systemic issues.
Socialism	Used as a GOP scare word, “socialism” encompasses everything from universal healthcare to progressive taxation, stoking Cold War-era fears to oppose any policy that might threaten corporate interests or reduce inequality.
States' rights	The GOP’s rallying cry of “states' rights” often justifies undermining federal protections, especially on issues like voting and civil rights, rehashing a states-versus-federal government narrative long used to resist progress.
The Big Lie	Propelled by the GOP, “The Big Lie” insists that the 2020 election was stolen, a baseless claim that undermines faith in democratic institutions and sets the stage for voter suppression efforts under the guise of so-called “election integrity.”
The Civil War wasn't about slavery	Reframing the Civil War as a conflict over “states' rights” sanitizes history, obscuring the central role of slavery and excusing the Confederacy’s legacy, which the GOP uses to appeal to certain voter bases.
The New Deal was bad for America	The GOP derides the New Deal as government overreach, ignoring its role in lifting the U.S. out of the Great Depression to push a narrative that prioritizes “free markets” over social welfare programs.
The Swamp	The GOP paints Washington as “the swamp” to capitalize on anti-establishment sentiment, yet often fills positions with insiders and lobbyists, exposing “drain the swamp” as a hollow slogan.
Trickle down economics	Despite decades of evidence showing it widens wealth gaps, the GOP clings to trickle-down economics, framing tax cuts for the wealthy as a benefit to all when, in reality, the wealth rarely “trickles down” to everyday Americans.
Trump "says it like it is"	This GOP defense casts Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric as “honesty,” portraying offensive comments as unfiltered truth rather than harmful language, allowing supporters to celebrate incivility as “authenticity.”
Uberman	Embracing a Nietzschean “uberman” ideal, some in the GOP glorify “strongmen” who embody unyielding authority, justifying authoritarian tendencies as a sign of strength while downplaying the need for democratic accountability.
Venezuela	The GOP uses Venezuela as a cautionary tale for any left-leaning policy, equating social welfare with economic collapse to stir fears of “socialist” policies that threaten American prosperity.
Voting is a privilege, not a right	Framing voting as a privilege, rather than a right, enables the GOP to justify restrictive policies that limit access, aiming to make the ballot box less accessible to certain demographics.
War on Christmas	The perennial “War on Christmas” narrative stokes cultural division by framing inclusive holiday practices as an attack on Christian traditions, positioning the GOP as defenders of religious heritage in a battle that barely exists.
Warmongers	While the GOP often presents itself as “pro-military,” critics see some members as warmongers, eager to engage in conflicts that benefit defense contractors and geopolitical power, sometimes at the cost of lives and diplomacy.
Welfare queens	Reviving Reagan-era rhetoric, “welfare queens” is a thinly veiled racist trope that paints those who need social assistance as cheats, justifying cuts to social programs under the guise of “fiscal responsibility.”
WMDs	The infamous “weapons of mass destruction” justification for the Iraq War became a hallmark of GOP-led misinformation, fueling a conflict on misleading grounds and setting a precedent for policy based on manufactured threats.

February 17, 2023

Blood libel

Blood libel is a very old anti-Semitic myth that has stubbornly persisted for centuries, one of several conspiracy theories that have scapegoating the Jewish people for all of society’s ills at their core. The heart of the false claim is that Jews murder non-Jewish (or Gentile) children to use their blood for apocryphal religious rituals, during Passover and other prominent Jewish holidays.

Originating from a series of stereotypes about Jews amassed through the ages, blood libel is also intimately related to the global cabal conspiracy theory and was heavily used in Nazi ideology to justify the horrors of the Holocaust. Somewhat ironically, the Nazis claimed that the Jewish people were inherently violent and murderous — and used this baseless claim as justification of their own systematic program of violence and murder of over 6 million Jewish people in Germany during the 1930s and 40s.

The outlandish claims of blood libel have been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked by scholars, historians, anthropologists, psychologists, and an armada of dedicated truth-tellers — yet the stickiness of the myth persists, even after the consequences of this toxic belief system of antisemitism became apparent during World War II. Today, the blood libel myth has been given new life in the modern revision known as the QAnon conspiracy theory — a movement which contains elements of blood libel, global cabal theory, and a hodge podge of other fantastical and fanatical belief systems that have hooked gullible populations throughout history.

It’s important to remain skeptical of those who make these claims, and to ask who benefits from the deep virulent divisions and bitter partisanship created by the widespread belief in these toxic conspiracy theories.

February 10, 2023

Psychopaths

Psychopaths are the pinnacle creatures of Cluster B — a group of personality disorders that all include pathological narcissism or NPD as a foundation. A psychopath is a cold-blooded human predator, devoid of empathy — they can be very cruel and very dangerous. They feel no shame — they consider shame the hallmark of Lesser People.

Psychopaths and their slightly-less-chilling counterparts the sociopaths (together: ASPD) make up roughly 5% of the general population — a figure which generally shocks people. That’s right — about 1 in 20 of all the people you have ever met, functionally speaking, have very little conscience. Some of them choose to behave ethically for various purposes, but many do not. They are certainly not to be trusted.

Part of the dark triad

The dark triad in psychology refers to psychopathy along with two other personality traits: narcissism, and Machiavellianism. These individuals exhibit a manipulative and malevolent style with others.

Attributes of psychopaths (this page is a work in progress):

no moral code beyond self-interest; ruthless
emotional predators
transactional worldview; everything and everyone is for sale
emotional black holes
they suck empathy out of the system, destructively; emotional vampires
emotional parasites, feeding off of others’ emotional energies and giving nothing back
the closest thing to pure evil in a human being

Famous examples in history and culture:

Hannibal Lecter
Ted Bundy
Charles Manson
Adolf Hitler
Ramsay Bolton

It’s important to note, though, that not all sociopaths are killers — far from it. These are simply the notable examples most people have heard of, to get a reference point on what these personality types are like.

Most sociopaths — unfortunately — are the guy next door, the woman at work, or the dude who took you home in his Uber. They’re someone you know.

February 10, 2023

📖 Books 📚

I’ve got my books

and my poetry to protect me

I am shielded in my armor
— Paul Simon

Books have been a favorite companion since an early age. There’s nothing like curling up with a good book — and I do mean the old-fashioned dead tree kind, although I’ve been swayed to love Kindle for its portability too.

If you want to go deeply into a subject, there’s pretty much no substitute for a book. In an age of fast food media fare, a book is an entire love affair with a topic, dining out at 5-star restaurants every night. Reading is learning and learning is love. Get you a book that looks at you the way a librarian looks at… a book.

Here are just some of the books that have touched my life; these sets are more recent studies in politics and psychology, and at some point I’ll get around to adding some top fiction lists and books from other genres. Until then, enjoy the deep dives into (mostly) the dark arts of political pathology.

Book Lists

Book Summaries

Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires — Douglas Rushkoff
The Authoritarians — Bob Altemeyer

I’ve also compiled several sets of the books that have especiallyhelped me navigate the current political and cultural climate — check out all the lists here:

https://bookshop.org/shop/livemind

February 9, 2023

Top Mental Models

Top Mental Models for Thinkers

Mental models are different ways of mapping or viewing a system or a problem. They are frameworks that help explain what’s going on, and predict what’s likely to happen next.

Model thinking is an excellent way of improving our cognition and decision making abilities. Thinking in models helps us understand how new concepts fit with older observations, and what theories and metaphors are likely to endure.

They are useful in strategy, decision-making, analysis, planning, and a broad range of applications in both our personal and professional lives. It’s a good investment to spend time learning models — which are most typically extensible outside their original field of interest.

Often more than one model can apply to a situation or problem. Models are useful for picturing the issue in a different way, through a different lens — and perhaps to see something before unseen. They can help us try out different scenarios with ideas or personas.

Top Models and Concepts

We all have learnings in our lives we consider more precious than others — explanations and predictions that endure and keep on giving, versus those that fade away. Our core models form the backbone of our thinking and decision-making throughout our lives; it’s our grab bag of problem solving tools — and we want to have a resilient Swiss Army Knife at the ready at all times. These mental models help us understand a complex world, and prepare for all the changes that are inevitably ahead.

This set of top models below is my personal “desert island” set of model thinking concepts. These are the ones I really wouldn’t want to be caught dead leaving the house without.

Once these are on lock, head over to the unabridged models section for more model thinking goodness!

I will continue to add to this list over time as well as fill in the number of holes that remain in the set. Learning about new mental models is one of my favorite activities — it’s the closest thing to a superpower I can think of.

Term	Type	Topic	Definition
80/20 rule	Model	Economics	Also known as a power law, or the Pareto Principle
absolute advantage	Term	Economics	The ability of a party to produce a product or service more efficiently than any of its competitors.
absolute value	Term	Math	The value of a function irrespective of its sign (positive or negative). Its distance from zero, expressed as a positive.
accessibility	Term	Psychology	How easy something is to call to mind
acquittal	Legal precedent	Law	A judgment of not guilty in a criminal trial
activation energy	Term	Science	A chemistry term that describes the minimum energy required for a chemical system to react; the amount of energy required to get two or more compounds to react.
adverse selection	Term	Economics	Insurance phenomenon in which buyers or sellers in a transaction can use insider knowledge to unfairly get a better advantage over the other party or parties
a fortiori	Logic	Logic	From the Latin, "from a stronger argument," the phrase refers to conclusions for which there is stronger evidence than a previously accepted one.
akrasia	Term	Psychology	A state of mind where someone acts against their own better judgment due to weakness of will.
alea iacta est	Metaphor	Metaphor	In Latin, "the die is cast" -- attributed to Julius Caesar as he crossed the river Rubicon, leading an attack on Rome: a metaphor for a point of no return.
allocation	Method	Economics	Distributing resources, assets, or funds amongs recipients.
"All the world's a stage“	Metaphor	Arts	Shakespearean metaphor likening culture to a theatrical performance: "And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances ..." —William Shakespeare, As You Like It
Amara's Law	Theory	Science	We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.
annuity	Term	Economics	A series of regular payments at equal intervals.
antifragility	Model	Economics	Things that can benefit from disorder, and grow stronger amidst chaos. When something grows stronger under stress; when there is more upside to downside of experiencing a shock to the system.
antimatter	Theory	Science	Antimatter particles are the precise opposite charge and spin from their matter counterparts, but identical otherwise.
appreciation	Model	Economics	The tendency of an asset to appreciate, or grow, with value over time.
a priori	Logic	Philosophy	Information deduced from logical precedents versus empirical observation.
arbitrage	Model	Economics	A method of turning profit via simultaneous purchase and sale of the same assets in different markets, benefiting from the differences in listed price in various geographical regions.
archetypes	Symbol	Philosophy	An ideal type; a model after which others are fashioned.
arrow of time	Theory	Science	Theory of physics stating an asymmetry of time -- that time has a one-way direction in which the entropy of the universe is only increasing. Although human beings perceive the past as being different from the future -- and that we remember the past, but not the future -- intrinsically there is nothing in the structure of the universe that defines past from future. Time is instead an emergent feature.
artificia docuit fames	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	Latin saying meaning, "sophistication is born out of hunger" -- a metaphor for innovation and genius being awakened by challenge, difficulty, and constraints.
ASCII	Term	Technology	American Standard Code for Information Interchange: a standard character translation table used by computers to convert numerical representations into printable characters.
asking a fish about water	Metaphor	Metaphor	There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”
asset	Term	Economics	A valuable object or good.
astroturfing	Method	Politics	The deceptive political practice of paying operatives to pose as members of the public engaging in "grassroots protest" as a way of adding plausible deniability as well as amplification of their point of view.
asymmetric encryption	Term	Computer Science	Also known as public-key cryptography, asymmetric encryption encrypts and decrypts the data using two separate keys that are related mathematically (a public and a private key).
asymptote	Term	Math	The graph of a curve as it is approaching a numerical value or limit, but never quite reaching it.
autophagy	Experimental finding	Biology, Medicine	The body's way of cleaning out damaged cells and replace them with newer, healthier cells. Literally, "self-eating."
availability bias	Model	Psychology	Cognitive distortion arising from the unconscious preference for information that is recent rather than what is representative.
average	Method	Math	A measure of central tendency of a set of data, whether the mean, media, or mode.
balance sheet	Method	Economics	A financial document showing the book value of a company, i.e. how much it's worth.
balancing loop	Model	Systems theory	A balancing loop attempts to move a current state (the way things are) to a desired state (goal or objective) though an action (thing(s) done to reach the goal).The balancing loop is one of the two foundational structures of systems thinking, along with the Reinforcing Loop. A balancing loop is representative of any situation where there is a goal or an objective and action is taken to achieve that goal or objective.
Baldwin Effect	Model	Science	As organisms learn to shape their environment, they can alter the path of evolution. For example, with the advent of dairy farming, selection pressures began favoring lactose absorption genes in humans.
bank reserves	Term	Economics	Cash minimums banks must have on hand to meet regulatory requirements ensuring the financial system is equipped to handle periodic shocks in demand for withdrawals.
bank run	Term	Economics	Economic term for when a large group of bank depositors withdraw their money all at once -- once a common occurrence that rarely happens anymore in the modern world.
base conversion	Math	Math	The base is how many numbers there are in a number system; we use base 10 primarily, and computers use base 2, aka binary. Base conversion is the method of converting numbers from one base system to another.
Base Rate Fallacy	Model	Psychology	A type of fallacy in which people tend to ignore the general prevalence of something in favor of specific anecdotes.
base weighting	Math	Statistics
Bayes' Theorem	Method	Math	A mathematical method of determining the updated probability of a certain event or case, given new information.
bend the knee	Metaphor	Social psychology	Give up one's own opinion and swear fealty to a higher authority.
beta	Method	Economics	In finance, a term that refers to investments tracking the broad market performance of an exchange or industry sector
The Big Bang	Model	Science	The massive explosion which spawned our entire universe, back at the beginning of time.
The Big Crunch	Model	Science
binary numbers	Math	Math
binomial distribution	Math	Statistics
Binomial Theorem	Theory	Math
black hole	Theory	Science
Black-Scholes model	Model	Economics
Black Swan	Model	Economics	A highly improbable and unexpected event -- which yet occurs with more frequency than one might generally assume.
blockchain	Term	Technology	The basis of cryptocurrency, blockchain technology is a kind of public ledger or shared database that records transactions transparently and out in the open, in a way that anyone can access or verify.
boiling frog	Metaphor	Philosophy	A metaphor for the common occurence of slow, gradual changes over time not being noticed, like the (contested) legend of a scienfitic experiment that boiling a frog alive by starting with tepid water and slowly turning up the temperature.
bond	Method	Economics
Boyle's Law	Scientific Law	Science	A scientific law that describes the relationship between the pressure and the volume of a confined gas.
boundary object	Theory	Technology	Information science concept describing information used in different ways, by different communities, for collaborative work through scales.
bounded rationality	Experimental finding	Psychology	A central challenge to the c. 1776 ideas of Adam Smith regarding the Invisible Hand of markets, this 20th c. psychological theory posits that rather than making optimized rational decisions, at most times the average person is "satisficing" or making the most expedient choice under considerable constraints and lack of available information
bricolage	Method	Arts	Combination of many types and forms into one piece; a pastiche or mashup of style and cultural referents
broken windows theory	Theory	Law
Butterfly Effect	Model	Science
bystander effect	Experimental finding	Psychology
cadence	Term	Arts
camel's nose	Metaphor	Philosophy	a metaphor describing how allowing a smaller innocuous act may lead to larger acts that are undesirable
capital gains	Term	Economics	Money that is earned as a result of a stock investment appreciating in value — the capital "gains in value"
capital requirements		Economics	Actual cash on hand for banks to theoretically offer at a given time, with the rest lended out as leverage
carbon-14	Scientific Law	Science
carbon dating	Method	Science	A way to scientifically determine the age of an organic object by radioactive decay.
carpe diem	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	In Latin, "seize the day" -- a reference often used to motivate oneself and others to act boldly and live vigorously in the moment.
cartel		Economics
catalyst	Model	Science
categorical data		Math
causa-sui project	Theory	Psychology
cause and effect	Model
caveat emptor	Ancient Wisdom	Strategy	"Beware, the buyer" in Latin -- a reference to a warning about what one is getting into.
cellular automata		Math
Central Limit Theorem	Math	Statistics	In probability theory, the CLT establishes that independent random variables when measured will tend towards the normal distribution.
central tendency	Math	Statistics	A measure of the midpoint of a data set; includes mean, median, and mode.
ceteris paribus	Method	Economics	"All other things being equal"; holding the effects of other variables constant to determine the effects on a single variable of interest.
charge preservation		Science
charlatan		Psychology	one who aspires to wealth &/or fame through trickery and deception
Chesterton's Fence	Model	Metaphor
chilling effect	Term	History	The inhibition of one's legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights by threat of legal sanction.
cognitive bias	Experimental finding	Psychology
collapse	Model	Systems theory
comparative advantage		Economics
composite events		Statistics	in probability
compound interest	Model	Economics
conditionals		Math
Condorcet Jury Theorem	Math	Statistics
confidence interval		Statistics	the range of values over which a predicted outcome may lie; the amount of certainty one has about the predicted value falling within the estimated range
confirmation bias	Experimental finding	Psychology
conflation		Psychology
consent of the governed	Philosophy	Politics	Concept of political philosophy in which a government's legitimacy and right to use state power is only justified if consented to by the people over whom said power is wielded.
consequentialism		Philosophy
conservation of energy	Scientific Law	Chemistry	In a closed system, total energy remains constant.
conservation of mass	Scientific Law	Physics	In a closed system, mass remains constant.
conservation of momentum	Scientific Law	Physics	In a closed system, momentum remains constant.
constraints		Math
Consumer Sentiment Index		Economics
continuous vs. discrete variables		Statistics
Copernican theory of the solar system	Scientific Law	Science
correlation		Statistics
correlation coefficient		Statistics
correlation is not causation	Scientific Law	Statistics
cosine	Math	Math
counterfactual
countervailing power		Economics	Economist John Kenneth Galbraith's concept for how collective worker power is needed to balance against growing corporatism in the economy.
creative destruction	Model	Economics	Economist Joseph Shumpeter's idea for how the business cycle works: by innovation disrupting established processes and industries and forcing change into markets, often destructively and swiftly.
credo quia absurdum			"I believe because it is absurd" — Tertullian's defense of belief in the miracles attributed to Christ
critical mass		Science
crossing the Rubicon	Metaphor	History	Making a decision from which there is no turning back; a reference to Julius Caesar's overthrow of the Roman republic to found the Roman Empire in 49 BCE.
cross-sectional data		Math
crowdfunding		Economics
crowdsourcing	Method	Systems theory
cryptocurrency		Economics
Dark Matter	Theory	Science
dead hand of the past	Philosophy	History	Problem inherent in constitutional political philosophy, where eventually a people becomes ruled by "masters" no longer alive, who rule by "fiat" via a document, from beyond the grave (Thomas Jefferson's concept)
death spiral
decision theory		Systems theory
decision tree	Method	Computer Science
de minimis	Legal precedent	Law
depreciation	Method	Economics
derivatives		Math
diminshing marginal utility (DMU)	Model	Economics
directory structure		Computers
dispersion	Math	Statistics	the amount of variation within a set of data; how spread out the data points are from each other
distributions	Math	Statistics
divergent thinking		Psychology
diversity	Experimental finding	Science
Diversity Prediction Theorem
dividend payments	Method	Economics	Periodic, usually quarterly, payouts to stockholders of the company when posting profits. Along with capital gains, one of the 2 primary reasons to invest in stocks.
Dodd-Frank Act of 2010	Legal precedent	Economics	definitive financial regulation of the financial industry following the 2007-8 financial crisis
domain dependence
Doppler Effect	Scientific Law	Physics
double helix
doxa		Social psychology	common belief or opinion
Drake Equation	Model	Science	Estimation of the number of technological civilizations that might exist in the universe.
dualism		Philosophy
Dunbar number	Theory	Psychology
Dunning-Kruger Effect	Experimental finding	Psychology	A cognitive bias in which people mistakenly assess their cognitive ability as higher than it actually is, because they cannot recognize their incompetence in comparison to others.
Duverger's Law	Model	Politics	Holds that plurality-rule elections within single member districts — such as the structure found in the U.S. — tend to favor two-party systems
Easterlin paradox	Experimental finding	Economics	Beyond a certain point, countries don't get happier as they get richer.
economies of scale		Economics
edge case	Metaphor	Science
elasticity; price elasticity	Model	Economics	The ability of pricing mechanisms to respond quickly or less quickly to changes in prevailing conditions.
elasticity of demand	Model	Economics
elasticity of supply	Model	Economics
electromagnetic spectrum	Scientific Law	Science
electron cloud	Model	Science	Refers to the true nature of an electron's existence around an atom, wherein its location in space is not a definite point, but a fuzzy region of probable occurence.
elephants and flies	Metaphor	Economics	Sales concept to quickly segment leads into size buckets, from elephants > deers > rabbits > mice > flies.
elephant and rider	Model	Psychology	Psychological idea about how our unconscious and semi-conscious desires dominate us, but can be directed by reason (Jonathan Haidt et al)
embargo	Legal precedent	Economics
Emperor's New Clothes	Metaphor	Government
encryption		Math
ensemble learning	Method	Technology
entropy	Scientific Law	Science	The disorder of a system increases over time.
epistemology		Philosophy
e pluribus unum	Symbol	Politics	Latin: "one out of many" — one of several phrases on the American dollar bill, it refers to the unity of the nation as made up of its many peoples and as such, signifies the republic.
equality under law	Legal precedent	Politics	An ancient principle of vital importance to almost every constitution in the world, stating that all people should be treated equally in the eyes of the law, and that all individuals are subject to the same set of laws
equilibrium		Science	A resting condition all systems seek, in which all competing inflows and outflows are in balance.
equity		Economics
equity crowdfunding		Economics
error-embracing		Psychology
event horizon	Scientific Law	Physics	A boundary beyond which events cannot affect on observer, such as the edge of a black hole.
evolution	Scientific Law	Science
exception handling	Method	Computer Science	The process of responding to the occurrence of exceptions -- unexpected conditions that throw the application into an error state and must be resolved before continuing.
exchange rates		Economics	The value of one country's currency as measured against another
existentialism		Philosophy
exit strategy	Method	Economics
externalities		Economics
extrapolation		Statistics
factorial		Math
factum tacendo, crimen facias acrius		Philosophy	He who does not stop a crime is an accomplice.
fact /value problem		Philosophy
fake news		Media
false negatives	Logic	Science
false positives	Logic	Science
false consensus effect	Experimental finding	Social psychology
falsifiability	Logic	Science	Ability to be proven untrue; a requirement for a theory to be called scientific.
Feynman Technique	Method	Science	A method of learning and remembering difficult concepts by simplifying them until you can explain it to a new student or layperson who knows nothing about that concept.
fiat money		Economics
fiduciary duty	Legal precedent	Economics
fifth column	Model	Politics	A group who unites in secret to undermine a larger group from within.
file system	Metaphor	Computer Science
filter bubble	Metaphor	Social psychology
first mover advantage	Experimental finding	Strategy
first principles	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy
fishing expedition	Metaphor
fitness function	Term	Science	In AI, refers to a set of selection criteria applied to a set of potential solutions to a problem to allow only the better candidates to survive to the next generation.
flâneur	Term	Arts
force multiplier	Model	Science
fractals	Math	Computer Science
fractional lending	Method	Economics	Fractional reserve banking is the traditional way of doing business, in which banks loan out multiples of the assets they actually have on hand. This falls apart if there is ever a run on the bank, when every client demands their money back at the same time.
fractions	Term	Math
fragility		Philosophy
framing		Psychology
free trade	Method	Economics
free will	Philosophy	Philosophy
freshwater vs. saltwater economists		Economics
Friend of the Court filing		Law
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt)		Social psychology
fundamental attribution error	Experimental finding	Psychology
future value		Economics
gain	Term	Arts	In audio recording, a control that allows more or less of the source sound into the channel being recorded.
game theory		Math
Gates' Law	Theory	Philosophy	The idea that software development speed halves every 18 months, negating the acceleratory effects of Moore's Law and preventing computing from leaping greatly forward.
Gaussian distribution	Term	Statistics	the Normal distribution
GDP (Gross Domestic Product)	Model	Economics	The sum of all public and private goods produced within a given period; a measure of a country's economic health.
general relativity	Theory	Science
general will	Model	Government
generalists and specialists		Philosophy
genetic algorithms		Science	An approach to AI based on evolutionary models, in which multiple candidate solutions to a problem are generated randomly by mutation and recombination, then iterated over thousands of generations through fitness functions to weed out the best of each generation.
germ theory of disease	Scientific Law
Gettier problem		Philosophy
gilding the lilly	Metaphor	Arts	Speaking so floridly of a subject that one actually tarnishes its natural beauty.
GOFAI		Technology	"Good Old-Fashioned Artificial Intelligence" — reference to the style and general algorithmic approach of early artificial intelligence work, which fell out of popularity over the decades in favor of more organic neural net and evolutionary approaches.
Golden calf
Golden Mean	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	Aristotelian theory of an ideal balance point between the many extremes we face in life; he advocated harmony between the various spheres of life for an experience of happiness.
Golden Rule	Ancient Wisdom	Culture	"Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you" is the essence of this ancient wisdom, often used as a shorthand version of Jesus's core teaching.
Goldilocks Zone	Model
gold standard	Legal precedent	Economics
gravity	Scientific Law	Science
gravity waves		Physics
habeas corpus	Legal precedent	Law
habitus	Theory	Social psychology
Hanlon's Razor	Model	Philosophy	never attribute to malice what is adequately described by carelessness
hard determinism		Philosophy
harmonics		Arts
hearts and minds		Politics
hedge funds		Economics
hedonism	Philosophy	Philosophy
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle	Theory	Science
hexadecimal numbers	Term	Math	base 6
heuristics	Model	Psychology	Mental shortcuts that we do as a matter of routine, especially when we're stressed or under other types of cognitive constraints.
hormesis		Science	When a small dose of a toxic substance is actually beneficial to the living thing that ingests it
hydra		Metaphor
iatrogenics		Health	harm done by the healer
ice core dating	Method	Science
id, ego, superego	Model	Psychology	Freud's psychological model of the conscious and unconscious mind.
implicit cost		Economics
Imposter Syndrome	Model	Psychology	A psychological pattern in which one doubts their own accomplishments and has a generalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.
index number; indexing		Statistics
inferior goods		Economics
inflation	Model	Economics
inflection point		Math	The point of a curve at which a change in the direction of the curve occurs.
intellectual property	Legal precedent	Economics	IP
interest	Model	Economics
interest rate		Economics
internal rate of return (IRR)		Economics
Internet of Things (IoT)	Term	Technology
intersection		Math
interventionism		Social psychology
Invisible Hand	Theory	Economics
IP addresses	Term	Technology
iron law of oligarchy	Theory	Politics	Political theory positing that no matter how democratic a group may start out, over time it will develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a small handful.
It from Bit	Theory	Physics	John Wheeler's theory about the fundamental informational nature of the universe
Keynesian economics	Theory	Economics
Keynesian Put	Model	Economics
keystone
Kronos Effect	Model	Economics	the tendency of a successful corporation to seek to acquire and/or drive its upstart competitors out of business
Laffer Curve	Theory	Economics
law of excluded middle
Law of Large Numbers	Scientific Law	Math	As the number of coin tosses approaches infinity, the number of heads encountered will converge on 0.5; helpful in calculations of probability.
least-barricaded gate	Metaphor	Politics	Trotsky's metaphor of how social revolutions can take hold more easily in already weakened societies.
lecturing birds how to fly	Metaphor	Metaphor
length contraction	Model	Physics
less is more	Philosophy	Metaphor
L'etat c'est moi	Philosophy	Politics	"I am the state“
leverage		Economics
lifeboat ethics	Philosophy	Philosophy
light-weight process		Computer Science
limit of a function	Term	Math	if the graph of an equation seems to approach a numerical value but never quite reaches it, we say that number is the limit of the function (approaching from the negative or positive direction; sometimes directionality is important)
limiting factor	Model	Systems Theory
linear regression	Method	Math
liquidity		Economics
local min	Model	Systems Theory	idea that to grow out of a stasis or plateau, you likely have to endure a period of "setback" that is a lower dip or minimum value from where you are now, but is what's required to get over the activation energy to reach the next level
locus of control
logarithm		Math
logical fallacies		Philosophy
long tail	Model	Math	In a power law distribution (of population, ages, items, etc.), the region of the graph that tapers off quickly after the initial segment of high data points
loss aversion	Experimental finding	Psychology
Lost Einsteins	Theory	Culture	http://doctorparadox.net/models/lost-einsteins/
loyalists and mercenaries	Metaphor	Systems Theory
maker's time and manager's time	Model	Systems Theory
M1		Economics
M2		Economics
mandala	Ancient Wisdom	Religion	Introcate and elaborate patterns created with colored sand by Buddhist monks, who blow away their creations at the end to signify their celebration of impermanence.
Manichaean	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	a narrowly-defined dualistic worldview of good against evil
man on horseback	Metaphor		Synonym for a demagogue. Comes from French general Georges Ernest Boulanger, and refers to a military leader who presents himself as the savior of the country during a crisis and either assumes or threatens to assume dictatorial powers.
map is not the territory	Metaphor	Metaphor	A phrase reminding us that our mental picture of a thing is not the same as the actual thing itself
margin of error	Math	Statistics	How much uncertainty there is in the results; a percentage the estimate may be bounded by.
marginal benefit		Economics
marginal cost		Economics
marginal returns		Economics
marginal utility		Economics
market share		Economics
Markov chain	Term	Math
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs	Model	Psychology
mean	Math	Statistics	The average value of the numbers in a data set; take the sum of all values and divide by the total number of values in the set.
median	Math	Statistics	Like mean, another way to describe the central tendency of a data set.
Median Voter Theorem	Theory	Politics
megalopsychon	Philosophy	Philosophy	Concept in Aristotelian ethics of living with grandeur and taking risks with dignity; being nonsmall
mens rea	Legal precedent	Law	"guilty mind" — establishing the intent of a perp can help to establish criminal liability
mercantilism	Theory	Economics
meritocracy	Model	Systems Theory
metaphysics	Philosophy	Philosophy
mirror neurons	Experimental finding	Science
mode	Math	Statistics	The frequency with which each data point exists in the set.
monopoly	Model	Economics	Market condition in which there exists only one seller of a resource.
monopsony	Model	Economics	Market condition in which there exists only one buyer of a resource.
Moore's Law	Theory	Technology	Named after Gordon Moore, the model predicts the doubling of transistors on a circuit of equivalent size every 18 months to 2 years. This has many consequences for both technology and economics, including the predictable drop in price of generating the same amount of computing power each period.
moral hazard	Model	Economics	when one party takes on additional risk, knowing that other parties will bear the brunt of the risk in event of a loss
Moravec's Paradox
MVP (minimum viable product)	Term	Economics
naive cynicism		Psychology	State of mind in which people believe others to have more egocentric bias than is warranted or is actually the case.
Narcissus & Echo	Ancient Wisdom	Metaphor
Nash Equilibrium	Theory	Math
nasty, brutish, and short	Theory	Philosophy
natural laws		Science
natural selection	Scientific Law	Science
necessity is the mother of invention	Common Wisdom	Culture
negative externalities	Model	Economics
negative interest rates	Method	Economics
neomania	Experimental finding	Social psychology	love of the modern for its own sake
neural net	Term	Technology
net present value (NPV)	Model	Economics
neuroplasticity	Experimental finding	Science
Newton's first law	Scientific Law	Science	An object in motion will tend to stay in motion, unless acted upon by a force.
Newton's second law	Scientific Law	Science	F = ma, or an object of mass m feeling a force F will tend to accelerate by an amount a.
Newton's third law	Scientific Law	Science	When 2 objects interact, they each apply force on the other in equal amounts magnitude, in the opposite direction.
nodes	Term	Math
noosphere	Thought Experiment	Data science	Sphere of human thought — all interacting minds on earth. An early 1900s concept from Teilhard de Chardin
nominal figures		Economics
nonlinearity		Math
Normal distribution	Scientific Law	Math
normal goods		Economics
normalized weighted average		Statistics
normative and descriptive		Philosophy
noumena		Philosophy
novus ordo seclorum	Symbol	Government	A new order for the ages; Latin phrase seen on the American dollar bill.
null hypothesis	Method	Science
observer effect	Experimental finding	Science
Occam's Razor	Theory	Philosophy	A philosophical rule of thumb that favors the simplest explanation. Also known as the "law of parsimony."
octal numbers	Math	Computer Science	base 8
oligopoly	Term	Economics
omphalos		Politics
opportunity cost	Model	Economics	What you miss out on by using a resource in a certain way -- what you would have done with the resource otherwise; what alternative use you would have put it to.
options		Economics
orders of magnitude	Scientific Law	Math
ordinally ranked data		Statistics
organizational debt		Economics
oscillations		Science
out-group bias	Experimental finding	Social psychology
outlier	Model	Math	Data points that fall well outside of the normal distribution or expected distribution of a data set.
paradox	Model	Logic	A self-contradicting statement or logically impossible event.
paragon	Model	Culture	A standard against which something can be judged — an exemplar example of a thing
Pareto Principle	Experimental finding	Economics	Another term for the 80/20 Rule
path dependent	Math	Computer Science
Pavlovian response	Experimental finding	Science
pax Romana	Legal precedent	History
pearls before swine	Metaphor	Culture	The sense of wasting one's efforts for people who don't really appreciate them.
P/E Ratio	Method	Economics	Price to earnings ratio: standard measure of relative stock performance
permutations	Math	Computer Science
Peter Principle	Theory	Systems Theory	Theory that individuals within corporate and other organizational hierarchies will rise to the highest level at which they become incompetent in their job duties.
phase shift	Scientific Law	Science	The ability of matter to change phases, most famously water from liquid to ice to vapor and back again.
philosopher kings	Ancient Wisdom
Philosopher's Stone	Unsolved Mystery
phonemes	Experimental finding
plant a seed	Metaphor
Platonic forms	Model
Platonicity		Philosophy	adherence to crisp abstract theory & forms that blind us to the mess of actual reality
Plato's Cave	Model	Philosophy	Allegory in Plato's Republic about a cave dweller whose only picture of reality is the shadow on the cave wall thrown by the fire.
pluralism		Government
point of no return	Metaphor	Culture
polling	Method	Statistics
Pollyanna Principle	Model	Psychology	The tendency for people to remember pleasant events more accurately than unpleasant ones.
populism		Government
positron	Scientific Law	Physics	an antimatter electron
Potemkin Village Effect	Model	Systems Theory	Tendency of systems to create the appearance of functioning normally — to appease the operators who wish it so — even when they are not.
precision		Math
present value		Economics	The expected current value of an income stream.
price ceiling		Economics
price floor		Economics
prima facie
principle of indifference		Statistics	In probability, when there is no basis to choose some outcomes as more likely than others, they are given equal weight (1/2 chance of a particular side of a coin, 1/52 to get a particular card from a deck, etc.).
Prisoner's Dilemma	Thought Experiment	Math
private equity (PE)	Method	Economics
probability		Math
probability distribution	Math	Statistics
Procrustean bed	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	Synonymous with ruthlessly enforcing conformity, the phrase comes from a Greek tale of extreme "form fitting" on the part of Poseidon's son Procrustes, a robber who is said to have attacked victims by cutting off men's legs or stretching them on racks accordingly to fit an iron bed size.
profit	Legal precedent	Economics
propaganda	Method	Social psychology	originally, a way to "propagate" any idea; used by both sides in WWI, it thereafter took on a sinister connotation when American & British citizens felt hoodwinked by their govt's use of it
proper frame		Physics	in physics, the frame of reference that accelerates with you and determines your age
proportionality	Model	Math
prospect theory		Psychology
proximate cause	Logic
proxy war	Term	Politics
pseudoscience	Method	Culture
PTSD		Psychology
punctuated equilibrium	Model	Science
putting legs on a snake	Metaphor
Pygmalian Effect		Social psychology
Pyrrhic victory	Metaphor	History	A victory in which the costs of winning far outweigh the rewards.
quantum computing	Method	Computer Science
quantum entanglement	Theory	Physics
quantum physics		Science
qubit		Science
quid pro quo	Legal precedent	Law
quota
r > q	Model	Economics	Thomas Piketty's elegant demonstration of the rise of inequality
random walks		Math
range		Statistics	In a set of numbers, the difference between the highest value and the lowest value in the data set.
rara avis	Ancient Wisdom	Culture	"Rare bird" in Latin; similar to an outlier. Someone who stands out.
rate of return		Economics
Reagonomics		Economics
realism		Philosophy
reality testing	Model	Psychology	Discerning the difference between inner and outer, and seeing events as they really are, and not just what we want them to be.
received wisdom	Ancient Wisdom	Religion
recursion	Method	Math
red shift	Scientific Law	Science
reductio ad absurdo	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	Collapsing things too far, in a way that destroys real significance.
reductio ad finem	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	To analyze to the end — break the concept down into its conponent parts.
redundancy	Method	Systems Theory	Having multiple pathways within a system to accomplish the same task or achieve the same objective.
reference frame		Physics	A frame that does not accelerate; also known as a Lorentz frame.
regnat populus
regression analysis	Method	Statistics
reincarnation	Unsolved Mystery	Religion
reinforcing loop		Systems theory
relativity	Theory	Physics	Einstein's central insight that the experience or perceived passage of time depends greatly on the conditions of the observer, particularly with respect to velocity and gravity
resilience	Model	Systems Theory	Ability to bounce back into shape after having been pressed or stretched; elasticity. The ability to recover quickly.
respice finem	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy	"Consider that you will die" — i.e. live life as you would in order to be proud of it by the time it's over.
res publica	Ancient Wisdom	Government	pertaining to the state
retrodiction
revenue		Economics
ripple effect	Experimental finding	Science
risk	Legal precedent	Economics
risk-weighted assets (RWAs)		Economics
root cause		Philosophy
Rosetta Stone	Experimental finding	History	Metaphorically, a key to unlocking the secrets of a given thing.
rounding	Method	Math
rounding error		Math
rule of law	Legal precedent	Philosophy
run on the bank
sampling	Method	Statistics
samsara		Religion
scarcity		Economics
Schelling's Tipping Model
Schrödinger's Cat	Theory	Physics
search intent	Term	Media
second-order thinking
selection bias	Experimental finding	Psychology
self-governance	Philosophy
set theory		Math
ship of Theseus	Ancient Wisdom	Metaphor
SIFI		Economics	systemically important financial institution; post-2008 financial crisis designation for banks deemed "too big to fail" (currently, firms holding more than $50b in assets)
sigma		Statistics	standard deviation, named for the Greek letter denoting the statistical term
signal path		Physics
significant figures		Math	aka "sig figs"
simulation		Philosophy
sine	Math	Physics
sine wave	Math	Physics
Single point of failure (SPoF)	Term	Computer Science	A part of a system that, when it fails, brings down the entire rest of the system or stops it from working properly
singularity	Theory	Science	A black hole.
SIR model	Model	Science	contagious disease modelling based on possible patient states (susceptible, infected, recovered)
site navigation	Method	Computer Science
six degrees of separation	Experimental finding	Psychology
six sigma	Method	Strategy	Motorola-originated concept of ensuring quality control to a very fine point, by ensuring that parts or other production outputs are manufactured to be within a certain quality range up to 6 times the standard deviation.
situational preparedness	Method	Strategy
skew	Math	Statistics
skin in the game	Ancient Wisdom	Economics	When someone has a stake in the outcome, they are more likely to keep their word in assist its fruition.
slope of a line	Math	Statistics
social contract	Legal precedent	Philosophy	Profoundly impactful document in political philosophy from Jean Jacques Rousseau in 18th c. France, refuting the rights of monarchs to rule the people
Socratic method	Method	Philosophy	Technique of instruction or conversation where the teacher or moderator proceeds by asking the student or pupil a serious of questions, enticing her or him to come up with their own answers to the issues related to the subject at hand.
solipsism
sorting		Math
special relativity	Scientific Law	Science
speech act theory	Theory	Philosophy	British philosopher J.L.Austin's concept that all uses of speech carry a performative aspect.
speed of light (c)	Scientific Law	Science	approx. 300 million meters per second
spread		Statistics
squaring the circle	Unsolved Mystery		A notorious philosophical problem first posed by Plato, the phrase has come to be used to allude to the grandiosity and infeasibility of someone's plans.
standard deviation	Math	Statistics
standing waves	Term
stare decisis	Legal precedent	Law	"It has been decided" — terminology used by a judge or court to indicate that the matter before them has already been decided by a previous ruling.
state of nature	Thought Experiment	Philosophy
status quo	Term	Culture	The way things currently are.
stochastic terrorism	Term	Social psychology
stocks and flows	Model	Systems Theory
Stoicism	Ancient Wisdom	Philosophy
Streisand Effect	Metaphor	Social psychology	When the act of attempting to hide information only makes it more prominently spread, especially via the Internet.
strict father morality			George Lakoff's terminology to describe the conservative worldview.
strict liability		Law	Crimes which have no mens rea requirement, such as rear-ending of another vehicle (where it is always the rear-enders' fault no matter what the circumstances.
subsidy		Economics
success to the successful		Systems theory	A reinforcing loop within complex system — especially economies — wherein the spoils of victory include the means to alter the rules of the game further in the favor of the previous winners.
summum malum	Ancient Wisdom	Politics	ultimate evil — some posit cruelty as this ultimate evil
supply and demand	Model	Economics
supply chain	Term	Economics
sword of Damocles	Ancient Wisdom	Metaphor
symmetric encryption	Term
tabula rasa	Ancient Wisdom	Metaphor	Blank slate
tachyon	Experimental finding	Science	hypothetical particle that travels faster than the speed of light
tangent	Method	Math
tariff	Legal precedent	Economics
tempus edax rerum	Ancient Wisdom	Arts	"Time devours everything." — Ovid
tempus fugit	Ancient Wisdom		Time flies
tempus neminem manet	Ancient Wisdom		time waits for no man
Third Story	Thought Experiment	Philosophy	the story an impartial third-party observer might tell; a version of events any unbiased person could agree on
Thucydides Trap
tilting at windmills	Metaphor	Arts	A reference to the novel Don Quixote, denoting the ongoing pursuit of useless attacks against an implacable enemy. Ineffectual activity undertaken strenuously and loudly.
time dilation	Thought Experiment	Science
time series data	Method	Statistics	A collection of measurements taken over time that create a graph when plotted.
time value of money	Theory	Economics
tipping point	Model	Systems Theory
Tit-for-Tat	Method	Strategy
too many cooks in the kitchen	Metaphor	Culture	A metaphor connoting that too many people are currently involved in the decision-making process.
touchstone	Metaphor	Myth/Metaphor	A black stone once used to judge the purity of gold or silver — now signifying a standard against which something should be judged.
Tower of Babel	Metaphor	Religion	A tale in the book of Genesis in the Bible that purports to explain the origins of different languages, via narrative about God confounding the speech of humans trying to build a tower to reach Him.
trade-offs	Model	Economics
tragedy of the commons	Experimental finding	Economics	An economic term for a situation in which unfettered access to a resource can lead to resource depletion through uncoordinated behavior -- a classic example is overfishing. A commonly-pooled (aka public) resource is overconsumed, but underinvested in.
transitivity	Term	Math
trickle down economics	Method	Economics	Right-wing economics, also known as Reaganomics, supply side economics, fiscal conservatism, tax cut policy, and austerity.
trolly problem	Thought Experiment	Philosophy
turtles all the way down	Theory	Philosophy
twin paradox	Thought Experiment	Science
tyranny of choice	Experimental finding	Systems Theory	The paradoxical effect that having too many options to choose from actually decreases the likelihoof of being able to reach a decision at all.
Unicode	Term	Computers
union	Term	Math	In set theory, a union of sets is a set which consists of all the members of all the sets.
universal law	Philosophy	Philosophy
usury	Term	Economics	The act of charging interest on borrowed money; for thousands of years there have been religous proscriptions against lending money with interest in various societies.
utility	Theory	Philosophy
variance	Math	Statistics	The amount of variation within a data set.
Veil of Ignorance	Model	Philosophy	Philosopher John Rawls' model for making better ethical decisions, in which the decider chooses a course of action based on the predicate that s/he will not know which of the groups or persons affected by the decision they personally would be. This method creates natural incentives to find the fairest outcome for all groups, since the decider doesn't know which group they will "end up in" on the other side of the decision.
Venn Diagram	Model	Math
via negativa	Method	Philosophy	An indirect description of a thing by describing what that thing is not.
Volcker rule	Legal precedent	Economics	Financial rule preventing consumer lending banks from speculative trading in securities for their own profit.
vulnerability	Experimental finding	Psychology
wave function	Scientific Law	Science
wave-particle duality	Experimental finding	Science
wheel of life	Symbol	Religion
when life gives you lemons	Metaphor	Philosophy	You try to make lemonade! Another way of saying, "let's try and make the best of this unfortunate situation."
winner-take-all market		Economics
wisdom of crowds	Model	Social psychology	Derived from the Diversity Prediction Theorem: the average prediction of a group of individuals will be more accurate than the prediction of one average member.
wolves and sheep	Metaphor	Philosophy
wormhole	Theory	Physics	A sort of tunnel formed on the surface of a black hole that may connect two different regions of space
worst case scenario	Model	Systems Theory
zero sum game	Model	Math
z score	Term	Statistics

December 21, 2022

Fascists became conservatives in the 1930s and 40s

Who were the early conservatives? They emerged out of the group of former fascists and Nazi sympathizers in the US.

1930s opposition to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal

2 main right-wing factions then:

libertarians — right-wing economics faction led by Milton Friedman, Ludwig von Mises, & Friedrich Hayek. Favors dramatically cutting taxes (aka trickle down economics), reducing social spending, while increasing the military budget dramatically — a math that does not add up, numerically or historically speaking.
anti-communists, antisemites, and Nazi sympathizers — Fred Koch, William Randolph Hearst, Henry Ford, Father Charles Coughlin, Charles Lindbergh, McCarthyites. Culminating in the 1944 Great Sedition Trial and the end of WWII shortly thereafter, without real consequences handed to the perps.

After the Allies won World War II, a number of the early Hitler sympathizers “hid out” in anti-communist circles, allowing them to cloak their underlying fascism inside of the American Cold War project and give it a semi-presentable face in conservatism.

In the 1950s and ’60s we saw the emergence of the reactionary backlash:

3. traditionalists — William F. Buckley, National Review (1955), the John Birch Society, Robert Welch, Barry Goldwater

In the 1970s, 2 more conservative groups emerged for a total of 5 main sects:

4. neoconservatives — Ronald Reagan, Dick Cheney,

5. the religious right — the Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell Sr. & Jr., Jimmy Swaggart, Jim & Tammy Fae Baker, Pat Robertson, Jesse Helms, Paul Weyrich, Paul Regnery, William Rusher, prosperity gospel

Evangelicals
fundamentalism
- relationship between fundamentalist thinking and authoritarianism
- rejection of science and empiricism
- rejection of the liberal political order
- limitations of received wisdom
Christian nationalism
- Biblical law
- End Times

Conservatives welcomed fascism again in 2016

The ascension of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States gave permission to all the closet fascists practicing ketman as conservatives to come right on out and let their freak bigotry flags fly.

All the little white power sleeper cells and now networked anti-government militia groups were let off the chain and invited to take a swing at our national sovereignty and see if they could steal the American government for him. Thanks to the strength and integrity of numerous civil servants and others they did not succeed — however, the festering mass of fascism isn’t going anywhere much just yet.

The Founders were agile

The American Founders, by me and Midjourney

The Founders meant for the republic to be agile in philosophy — always changing to meet the new demands of the next generations. They meant for us to be self-governing, and empowered to create policy for problem-solving in new eras they themselves could not even conceive of. Thomas Jefferson wrote forewarningly of the Dead Hand of the Past and how critical it would be to not remain trapped by it. The Founders were agile not in the sense of software development (obviously!), but in the same spirit: they embraced responding to change over following a plan, and in continuously uncovering ways to develop a more perfect union.

Conservative ideology on the other hand — and in particular, Originalism — flouts the actual intentions of the Framers while cloaking itself in nationalist symbology. It tries to claim that our modern hands are tied by the dead ones of the past. The Originalist doctrine currently holding sway at The Supreme Court, The Federalist Society, and the majority of right-wing judiciary maintains that the best we can do is peer feebly into the distant past and try our best to squeeze ourselves into the minds of the men who inked our Constitution some 235 years ago.

The Founders wrote things. A lot of things.

Leaving aside for a moment the impracticality of that theory as an actual practice of interpreting the law, some consideration of materials on hand shows us that we needn’t go to all that trouble in the first place — why? Because the Founders left a lot of writings behind about exactly what they meant, and the principles they were thinking about, at the time of the nation’s founding and the drafting of our Constitution.

July 16, 2022

Why do people believe conspiracy theories?

Conspiracy theories are not new. Covid-related conspiracies may be new, but conspiracy theories about pandemics and contagious diseases have been around for centuries. Anti-vaccination hysteria goes back decades. The QAnon conspiracy theory may be new (or maybe not really?!), but conspiracy theories themselves are a tale(s) as old as time — or at least time as we know it, from the start of recorded history.

What is a conspiracy theory?

Conspiracy theories are simple explanations for complex phenomena, that often involve a secret group (often some type of global cabal) who are pulling the strings of world events behind the scenes. There is most commonly little to no credible evidence supporting the beliefs of the conspiracy theory, instead relying on superstition, speculation, coincidence, or simple rumor to back up their claims.

QAnon flag epitomizes modern-day conspiracy theories — *_{Image credit: Anthony Crider}*

A large body of psychological research has shown that there are some deep cognitive reasons that conspiracy theories tend to resonate with us, and especially in particular types of people, or people in certain types of circumstances.

We are fundamentally wired to be storytellers. It’s intuitive why this ability might be hard-coded into our brains, as it so clearly relates to survival, self-preservation, and our ability to navigate and succeed in a complex world. We need to be able to understand cause and effect in an environment of many rapidly shifting variables, and storytelling is a framework for weaving coherent narratives that reduce our anxiety about the great uncertainties in the environment around us.

Conspiracy theories tap into psychological needs

Conspiratorial thinking is far more common than we think, and can ebb and flow in populations based on prevailing conditions. Our ability to see patterns in randomness and dissemble stories on the spot, along with numerous other cognitive and psychological biases, make us vulnerable to belief in conspiracy theories.

May 26, 2022

End mass shootings now

Freedom is freedom from the fear of death.

Freedom is freedom from fearing you’ll be gunned down at school.

Freedom is freedom from fear your kids won’t come home from school.

Freedom is freedom from fear of going to the grocery store.

Freedom is freedom from senseless violence.

Freedom is freedom from murderous rampages replayed night after night.

Freedom is freedom from domestic warfare.

Freedom is freedom from weapons of warfare in our communities, in our churches, in our schools, in our stores, on our playing fields, on our streets.

Freedom is freedom from injustice.

Freedom is freedom from inaction.

More public displays of empathy please pic.twitter.com/Rf0itRHCrB
— barb dybwad (@doctorparadox) May 27, 2022

History

History of cancel culture

Cancel culture vs. political correctness

Cancel culture vs. censorship

Authoritarian personality studies

Partisan and racial gerrymandering

Effects of gerrymandering

American Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism Dictionary

The modern scapegoat

The illusion of control

Dealing with scapegoating

What are Big Lies?

Examples of Big Lies

Part of the dark triad

Attributes of psychopaths (this page is a work in progress):

Famous examples in history and culture:

Book Lists

Book Summaries

Top Mental Models for Thinkers

Top Models and Concepts

1930s opposition to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal

Conservatives welcomed fascism again in 2016

Other topics

The Founders wrote things. A lot of things.

What is a conspiracy theory?

Conspiracy theories tap into psychological needs