The mob mentality revisited

You Are Not So Smart is a fascinating blog “devoted to self-delusion and irrational thinking”. Launched by its resident brainiac David McRaney (who is also the author of a book by the same name), YANSS reminds us that, no matter how smart we may like to believe we are, the intriguing reality is likely that “we have no idea why we act or think the way we do.”

And what McRaney wrote recently about mob behaviour helped to make some  sense out of something that until now has made absolutely none to me: the moronic behaviour of the thugs who burned, looted and trashed the beautiful streets of downtown Montreal this year, and Vancouver last year. Continue reading

Anti-gay? Anti-Jew? Anti-Muslim? It’s those atheists we trust least

Some people, for some reason, just don’t like gays. Others have no time for Jewish people. And don’t even get me started on Muslims. But when it comes to being open targets of hostility, consider the poor atheist – apparently among the least-liked people around. That’s what Vancouver’s Will Gervais found in his study on anti-atheist sentiment published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology recently.  The University of British Columbia doctoral student’s study was among the first explorations of the social/psychological processes underlying this hostility towards those who don’t believe in a god.  Gervais, who co-authored the study with UBC prof Ara Norenzayan along with Azim Shariff of the University of Oregon, explains:

“This antipathy is striking, as atheists are not a coherent, visible or powerful social group. Where there are religious majorities, atheists are among the least trusted people.”

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The Quantified Self meets The Urban Datasexual

Lately, I’ve been writing about the Quantified Self movement on my other site, Heart Sisters. Usually this mention is merely in passing as I’m exploring what separates the average plugged-in person and the Quantified Selfers’ tracking of everything they think, or do, or think about doing.
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Committed (or self-absorbed) Quantified Selfers regularly use their computers, smartphones, electronic gadgets or simply pen and paper to record work, sleep, exercise, diet, mood, sweat, caffeine, memories, social  habits and pretty well anything else that’s trackable in life.  Continue reading

Texting shortcuts for Boomers

I’m so old that my grown children had to actually explain texting to me when I got my new cellphone. As a longtime writer, my keyboard speed is impressive, but as a texter, I’m dismally slow with my thumbs.  For any of you Boomers who share this challenge, here are a few shortcuts to help boost your texting speed:     Continue reading