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POPSPope Feared Bush Is The Anti-Christ The Pope, who grew up facing the evils of Hitler and Stalin, knows evil when he sees it. An old article from 2003, but very thought-provoking! Now, I'm no Catholic, but if Pope John Paul ll (rest in peace) had such concerns about the "goodness" of Mr George W. Bush, then I sit up and listen. Are there any Catholics out there who know what the Church's or the current Pope's stand on this issue is now?
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POPSRepetition Makes False Beliefs Permanent Politicians and other unscrupulous types have long exploited what psychological studies are now confirming: due to the neurophysiology of the learning process, simple repetitive association between two concepts is enough to make false propositions "feel" true and well-supported. Worse, after enough exposure to such associations, subsequent denials can strengthen the perception of the falsehood instead of weakening it. (This is a major reason why the stigma of a false accusation can persist even after innocence is proven.) Indeed, repetition seems to be a key culprit. Things that are repeated often become more accessible in memory, and one of the brain's subconscious rules of thumb is that easily recalled things are true.
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POPSThe US is its Own Terrorist I wrote this August 01, 2006. How appropriate now after Bush's State of the Union. Please see .... http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/FA485DF5-5A4D-4186-BB58-BA93A0C85386/
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POPSNative American Wisdom Quotes What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. Crowfoot, Blackfoot warrior and orator 1830 - 1890 Go to the site, read some more, and listen. :)
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POPSWhat if everything you believe is Wrong? Retrospect and reflection are priceless. It's easy to cherish a belief that we are not prepared to challenge. Like a crab that needs to shed it's shell to grow, for a short time is soft and vulnerable. Soon it is harder, stronger and bigger. (unless it's a Hermit crab, with a new shell ready) One of the keys to the manner in which we challenge our beliefs is through learning and experience. Without the unknown to draw us forward, we would run around in circles. Consider the way a child sees the world. It can be valid, but sometimes beliefs belong in the domain of children. Children can believe a man they barely know gives them gifts for Christmas. There comes a time in their life that they have to admit not so much that this is a fiction, but that the truth has been that their parents have had to work to get the money to get the gifts, with absolutely no credit. (Sorry, I should write Recognition. Credit and Christmas are Mortal enemies)
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POPSOh yeah, and don't trust yourself either! The Chinese philosopher Xun Zi said that human nature is not particularly good, but he went on to argue that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make it better. Too many people resign themselves to say "that's just the way things are" because that's easier than challenging their own beliefs. Before we can be an agent for change, our ideas must be relentlessly refined in the furnace of critical introspection. Follow the link to read all these cognitive hazards, and see where you find them in your life!
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POPSYour brain lies to you This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true. Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people often later remember it as true.
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POPSWeird water Discovery challenges long-held beliefs about water's special properties
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POPSConscience versus Belief and Dogma Although those with deep beliefs and expressed values do any amazing job of advertising their compassion and calls for justice in the names of far away people, only conscience cam motivate love for the person next door. Who is my neighbour?
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POPSA Photographic Reaction to the Kinsey Report, 1953
You probably know that "The Kinsey Reports are two books on human sexual behavior, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), by Dr. Alfred Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy and others." "The research astounded the general public and was immediately controversial and sensational. The findings caused shock and outrage, both because they challenged conventional beliefs about sexuality and because they discussed subjects that had previously been taboo." More Kinsey related clips: Kore7: 25 Greatest Science Books of All Time - http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/AC432B63-D3A3-4BBA-B298-981776A00C44/ Willhelm: 10 Books that Screwed Up the World- http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/27353BA7-2B73-4F47-BD5C-77ADE97D7211/ Aribeth: Men aren't all from Mars - http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/968505A2-1FAB-4147-B6F4-AA34156D2341/ debbyski: Is Bisexuality Common or Rare? (over 1,800 views) : http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/FAAE31C0-EAEB-4116-B225-8C2D87123219/
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POPSPolitical Junkies: Why it Feels Good to Be an Extremist In The Political Brain , psychologist Drew Western summarizes fMRI experiments exploring the neuro-psychology of systematic bias and rationalization in the brains of political extremists. Finding ways to dismiss contradictory evidence triggers pleasant emotional releases in partisans' brains, eventually becoming a pleasurable, learned behavior. Once partisans had found a way to reason to false conclusions, not only did neural circuits involved in negative emotions turn off, but circuits involved in positive emotions turned on. The partisan brain didn't seem satisfied in just feeling better. It worked overtime to feel good, activating reward circuits that give partisans a jolt of positive reinforcement for their biased "reasoning." These reward circuits overlap substantially with those activated when drug addicts get their "fix," giving new meaning to the term political junkie.
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POPSWhatever Happened to Online Etiquette? Maybe as the Internet becomes as predominant as air, somebody will realize that online behavior isn’t just an afterthought. Maybe, along with HTML and how to gauge a Web site’s credibility, schools and colleges will one day realize that there’s something else to teach about the Internet: Civility 101. Also see: Why are we so nasty (online)?
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POPSYour brain lies to you This phenomenon, known as source amnesia, can also lead people to forget whether a statement is true. Even when a lie is presented with a disclaimer, people often later remember it as true. With time, this misremembering gets worse. A false statement from a noncredible source that is at first not believed can gain credibility during the months it takes to reprocess memories from short-term hippocampal storage to longer-term cortical storage. As the source is forgotten, the message and its implications gain strength.
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POPSChildhood "ending sooner", survey finds A survey finds that today's children stop believing in imaginary creatures much earlier than their parents did, and that many children are pressured by parents to perform well in school and extracurricular activities (this is new?).
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POPSAbraham Lincoln on religion Two lesser-known pieces of writing from Lincoln that give some hints about his religious beliefs. Lincoln was notoriously cagey about his religious commitments -- he never attended church regluarly, nor did he ever make a public proclamation of faith.
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POPSWhat Would It Take To Prove You Wrong? This is a powerful question to ask yourself when examining your beliefs. Doing so honestly, will make you a clearer and deeper thinker. It can be the difference between a person who simply revels in wishful thinking, and a heroic seeker of truth. Take a deep look into your own belief systems, and ask yourself what evidence it would take to convince you they were wrong. It's an uncomfortable exercise, but an important one.
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POPSDo we want a truly liberal society? A liberal society embraces pluralism, in the sense that it does not seek to impose any one vision of what it means to be virtuous or to lead a good life. Within such a society, approval is commonly expressed for John Stuart Mill’s view that “experiments in living” should not be merely tolerated, but actually welcomed and celebrated (Mill 1974: 120). As Max Charlesworth writes, “In a liberal society personal autonomy, the right to choose one’s own way of life for oneself, is the supreme value.” He adds that this includes what he calls ethical pluralism: members of the society are free to hold a wide range of moral, religious, and non-religious positions, with no core values or public morality that it is the law’s business to enforce (Charlesworth 1993: 1). Accordingly, a liberal society makes a sharp distinction between the sphere of personal moral views and that of the law; no one can use the law to impose their beliefs on others (16-20).
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