Two links

[ironphoenix]

You Are Not So Smart: A blog of articles about how our minds (don't) work. Quite a few people I know need to read this.

How do they get to be that way?: A n article by Roger Ebert about racism as it's exemplified in people's reactions to a mural on a school in Arizona.

Comments

[beable]

"“Wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair and all the terrible things that happen to us, come because actually deserve them? So now I take comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the Universe”" - Marcus Cole (Babylon 5)

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

It strikes me that this is kind of the only sane way to deal with reality. Lots of folks who try to believe that everything has a plan and a purpose find that idea breaks pretty badly when confronted with some of the really bad stuff out there.

Squaring this with religious belief in a benevolent God is hard, and I don't think I have a complete answer. What I've got is a general sense that it relates to what free will is, and what has lasting importance as opposed to what is ephemeral.

[ancalagon-tb.livejournal.com]

I sometimes wonder if it's not an excuse to avoid being compassionate... Poor people are poor because they deserve it, it's ok if I don't do anything to help them.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Alain de Botton gives a very good talk on of how our individualism leads to this kind of thinking, and what to do about it.

TED is just full of awesome stuff. I could watch for days.

[soul-diaspora.livejournal.com]

Sometimes. But it's possible to believe that suffering has a purpose, and also to be moved to compassion by the suffering.

[blinkus2000.livejournal.com]

17/20 spotting fake smiles woo!

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

I missed that quiz!

[soul-diaspora.livejournal.com]

Loved the article about smiling. I am (as you doubtless know) absolutely terrible at social smiling. It causes me a lot of difficulty. Especially when I try to make jokes :-P

"For example, a study in 2005 at Minot State University revealed women are more likely than men to smile in most social situations. They postulate this is because testosterone alters the brain and inhibits showing off the pearly whites."

So that's it! PCO, you did it to me again.

[ironphoenix.livejournal.com]

Interesting... my mom has the same trouble with being taken seriously when she's joking, at least by people who don't know her well.

PCO... hmmm, I wonder if this feature of how you interact is an element of my "type".