Why Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals
“Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.”
The Unintended Consequence of the Economic Stimulus Plan
Guess how people are spending their economic stimulus checks.
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
“As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.”
Our Little Emperors: Does Worrying Do More Harm Than Good?
“Our child-centred society means we fret over what our kids eat, what they wear, their friends, their exam grades and their safety. A US academic has coined the term kindergarchy – a new (affluent) world order in which children rule.”
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Phil Gramm may not be as eloquent as Obama, but it is hard to deny on an objective level that the media has created/worsened a “mental recession.” If things were truly that rough people wouldn’t be spending money on porn, movies, or baseball games. It disgusts me to see polls saying x percent of Americans say we are in a recession. I’ve got news for you, I don’t think the average American is qualified in the least to make that assessment.
Also, why does Obama keep refusing to debate McCain?
@ Max
Have you bought gas lately? It is not a mental recession. I live in a fairly well off neighborhood (upper middle class), and many people around us are facing forclosures, etc. The stock market is crashing. These are not things the public can telepathically will into existance. They are real. People are losing money. Stop being a blind idiot.
I don’t take the Fox News study to be anything more than propaganda. The statement “inequality takes a greater psychological toll on liberals than on conservatives” should not be a negative critique of liberals. It seems like Fox News is the EricCartman of journalism. Totally full of it, and will manipulate anything to make their own selfish interests furthered. Caring about inequality is not a bad thing. Saying that “liberals lack ideological rationalizations that would help them frame inequality in a positive (or at least neutral) light” is reprehensible.
@Rather not give a name:
While Fox is the Cartman of News TV, I was surprised to read “Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person’s tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.”
“Explain away” doesn’t normally have a positive connotation.
Yeah, that was ridiculous.
@Rather not give a name:
“These are not things the public can telepathically will into existance(sp).” Actually, the economy is driven largely by consumer spending, so consumer confidence also plays a part which is a mental thing. The question then becomes is it possible for the media to manipulate public perception?
Also I don’t understand why you resorted to name calling which is oddly ironic because you didn’t give a name. All he said was “It disgusts me to see polls saying x percent of Americans say we are in a recession.” I can’t really blame him there, when the term recession has a very specific objective definition in economics.
I don’t believe anyone here is suggesting the economy is in good shape and thriving. The fact remains we are not by definition in a recession, and you’re the idiot if you disagree with that statement. On a side note, business is booming in Iraq if you actually take the time to look at the latest figures (particularly in the energy sector).
It is an interesting thing to ponder. If things are so terrible, why are Americans spending so much money on these things?
Obama says “We need somebody to actually solve the economy.” Is there such a thing as “solving the economy?” I can’t blame Obama for not wanting to debate McCain, it’s very smart on his part.
Maybe conservatives are deluded, but at least we are nicer…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1026442/Dont-listen-liberals — Right-wingers-really-nicer-people-latest-research-shows.html
P.S. McCain is not a conservative.