On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart thinks that the bellicose language about war with Iran is the result of politicians pandering to their own constituencies, and tries to lower the intensity of the war rhetoric.
(This clip appeared on March 6, 2012. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
Some years ago, two friends and colleagues of mine in different academic departments, both divorced, started living together and had children. They did not pretend they were married nor did they advertise that they were not. The female member once told me that since they were not married, she referred to the other person as her ‘partner’. She discovered that when she did so, people assumed that her partner must be female as well, [Read more…]
Scott Horton goes into more detail in analyzing attorney general Anthony Holder’s speech justifying the killing of US citizens abroad. [Read more…]
I have noticed that when I make calls on Skype, I sometimes hear a small echo of my voice. This has a remarkably discombobulating effect, making it almost impossible to continue speaking.
I learned that a Japanese company has used this effect to create a speech jamming gun that you can use to silence speakers whom you find annoying. [Read more…]
Political scientist James Q. Wilson died last week at the age of 80. He was most famous for his ‘Broken Windows’ theory of urban crime that postulated that small signs of neglect in a community can be the trigger for crime, and that if the police ignore minor crimes that leads to more major crimes.
Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo explains the theory. [Read more…]
Pat Robertson thinks that marijuana should be legalized, saying that he could not see the difference between that and the use of alcohol.
If he says that same sex marriage should also be legalized, then the end of the world is truly imminent.
Who knew that today would be Pat Robertson day on this blog?
While most of us tend to predict the outcome of presidential elections based on perceptions of the viability of candidates and what happens to be the hot issues of the day, it is useful to bear in mind that the real professionals (like political scientists) look at different things in their crystal balls. [Read more…]