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

[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.