Beyond Intractability in Context Blog
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Posts ordered from most recent to earliest.
- A look at the complex psychology underlying the ability to distinguish truth from often more comforting falsehoods. -- Why do people believe true things? Ignorance and misperceptions are not puzzling. The challenge is to explain why some people see reality ac -- Aug 15
- The review of the latest political science insights into the forces that produced the United States' contemporary political crisis. -- How Trump and Black Lives Matter Combined to Change American Politics -- Aug 15
- An article comparing the world's reaction to the sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 and by ISIS against the Yazidis. -- The Sabaya: How the advocates of Palestine erased the experience of the Yazidis in order to deny the rape of Jewish women -- Aug 14
- Evidence that we are, in fact, making significant progress toward addressing racial inequities. -- The declining significance of race, quantified -- Aug 14
- An in-depth look at the complex and difficult choices facing the major players in the ongoing Gaza conflict. -- Israel on the Brink: If the Israelis find themselves facing difficult choices, so do their enemies. -- Aug 14
- An overview of the strategy that those targeted for political cancellation can use to to defend their freedoms and help provide society with access to a robust debate on controversial issues. -- The Cancellation Playbook: It is time to rewrite the playbook. It will take a collective effort to restore balance within arts institutions -- Aug 14
- Another step down the slippery slope of dehumanization, runaway escalation, and catastrophe. -- JD Vance Just Blurbed a Book Arguing That Progressives Are Subhuman -- Aug 13
- A look at the subjective, emotional side of the battle for the US Presidency. -- Harris is winning the all-important battle — of vibes -- Aug 13
- A reflection on the upcoming US election that contemplates the complexities of human thought, today's high-tech information systems, and the minor role being played by rational policy debate. -- Kamala Harris can't meme her way to victory. Or can she? -- Aug 13
- More information about the murky boundary between democracies internal dysfunction and efforts by outside powers to promote that dysfunction. -- Putin’s New Agents of Chaos: How Russia’s Growing Squad of Saboteurs and Assassins Threatens the West -- Aug 13
- With respect to the ongoing crisis in Great Britain, an essay exploring the uncontrollable nature of runaway escalation and hyperpolarized conflict. -- Once things get out of hand, there is no handling things -- Aug 12
- An argument for diffusing the right wing, populist threat to democracy by seriously addressing the legitimate concerns they raise about immigration. -- How Not to Hand Populists a Weapon -- Aug 12
- The first part of a longer, in-depth exploration of the the ways in which the governmental bureaucracy is contributing to democracy's problems (as well as thoughts about possible remedies). -- What's Really Wrong with the "Deep State" Part: I: Purging career civil servants will not make government more democratic. -- Aug 12
- A thought-provoking discussion about the rise and fall of political ideologies and the future of the "woke" left's political agenda. -- Freddie deBoer on “Peak Woke” -- Aug 12
- In the wake of the Democrats' long refusal to consider the fact that age was undermining the President's capabilities, news that Republicans may be making a similar mistake. -- The truth about Trump's press conference -- Aug 11
- An argument that liberal democracy is one of humanity's greatest accomplishments – an accomplishment that we ought to do a much better job of defending. -- Why You Should Feel Good About Liberalism: We need to get better at standing up for the greatest social technology ever devised. -- Aug 11
- A first-rate article on the ongoing violence in Great Britain that we found to be especially illuminating (and worrying). -- What’s Behind the Violent U.K. Riots -- Aug 11
- The ongoing civil unrest in Great Britain is a warning about where hyper-polarized politics in the US (and other countries) could take us. We ought to pay attention. -- The Machiavellian cause of Britain’s disorder -- Aug 11
- Thoughts on the complex psychological processes that people use to make decisions about what political candidates to support and what factors to consider (and not consider). -- Kamala Harris and the Election of Laughter and Forgetting -- Aug 10
- An overview of worrying Democratic plans to dramatically transform the role of the Supreme Court (and the role of the judiciary, more generally) in US society. -- Chuck Schumer’s plan to create a constitutional crisis -- Aug 10
- From Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch, a summary of his new book and a compelling argument that the United States is an over-regulated society -- something that those on the left should consider seriously. -- America Has Too Many Laws -- Aug 10
- Tolerance and coexistence are key to making a diverse democracy work. This essay explores one of the big challenges facing promoters of tolerance -- the need to tolerate the intolerant. -- Yes, You Do Have to Tolerate the Intolerant: It has become fashionable to invoke Karl Popper’s “paradox of tolerance” to justify restriction -- Aug 10
- A thought-provoking (and doubtless controversial) interview with one of Israel's most prominent experts on Islam with thoughts about the current crisis which are worth considering. -- 'We need to flip the equation: Land for peace? Yes, but they should pay us with land for the peace we grant them' -- Aug 06
- As Democrats decide to brand their Republican opponents as "weird," a thoughtful, in-depth analysis of the complex issues that this raises. -- Who's "weird"? -- Aug 06
- An explanation of the positive role that political parties can play in moderating the extremes of popular opinion. -- A case study in why political parties matter -- Aug 06
