There isn't a Biggest Story for Today, yet.
|
There isn't content right now for this block.
|
| |
Psychology: When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like
|
|
By Annalee Newitz
December 18, 2009 - http://io9.com
Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it's about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy. Spoilers...
Whether Avatar is racist is a matter for debate. Regardless of where you come down on that question, it's undeniable that the film - like alien apartheid flick District 9, released earlier this year - is emphatically a fantasy about race. Specifically, it's a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people. Avatar and scifi films like it give us the opportunity to answer the question: What do white people fantasize about when they fantasize about racial identity?
|
Psychology: A Rejoiner to the Refutation of Adam and Eve
|
|
Time to deconstruct the social legacy of the myth
By Corey Gilkes November 24, 2006
My comrade Tyehimba's essay on Refuting the Myth of Adam and Eve raised very important points that in my view are not discussed nearly enough as we set about the business of hammering out a Caribbean civilisation and reconstructing the Africa as we knew it to be. I wish to further add to his contribution by calling into question something I think he himself should have paid more attention to: the psychological, social and political impact of the historicising of the Adam and Eve story, indeed the entire Old Testament as well as the New Testament and its central figure.
Today as the debate rages on over the issue of Intelligent Design vs Evolution - a truly nonsensical debate if there ever was one - I find very few people understand something that should have been quite obvious, glaringly obvious. The Christian argument has no place in any scientific discussion because it is simply not scientific and likewise, the scientific argument has no place in theology because it is not theological. This is one of the proverbial elephants in the room that no one (especially those on the religious side) seems to have picked up on. But then the Christian worldview and Christian teachings has such a deep hold on people's psyche that even though many in the Evolutionist camp dismiss the Creationists, they themselves make very little attempt to analyse and deconstruct the Creationist's foundational arguments. It's almost as if there is a quiet deference to certain articles of faith and the obvious is now anything but that.
|
by Michael C. Ruppert, fromthewilderness.com November 7th 2006
Cultural diversity is not only humanity’s hallmark of progress, but an insurance policy against extinction as a species. Diversity gives not only cultural and economic riches derived from different perspectives on natural resources and what it means to be human, but options to problem solving that are stifled in a homogenized society. When such a society is organized around economic goals that are measured by profit margins for private gain by powerful elites, where the demands of those who bear cash as the ticket of admission to the marketplace rule, rather than the needs of people, then those who are deprived – and those who have never been part of such a global economy – must necessarily suffer. The genocide of tribal peoples, therefore, is symptomatic of a deep malaise in the world’s metropolises. Indigenous peoples will suffer the most, but humanity as a whole will suffer the loss of some of its memory, not only of a unique knowledge of the natural world, but of its ability to cope with the future in various, diverse ways.
Nature protects itself through diversity. It stands to reason then that when threatened – as it is now on so many fronts – Mother Earth will exert itself aggressively; enforcing rigid boundaries that ignore the lives of individuals – plant or animal – in order to preserve the diversity which protects all life. That human beings as a species also show such characteristics is proof of the connection between man and planet. In some ways this is not unlike the point in time when a child must break with parents in order to fulfill its own destiny, with its own unique life path, thus guaranteeing that the evolutionary process – life itself – is protected; that something better and new might follow.
|
Psychology: Refuting the Myth of Adam and Eve
|
|
by Ras Tyehimba November 07, 2006
There is a lot of important information that though cannot be reasonably disputed, is not incorporated fully into the mainstream body of information that comes from mainstream media and the formal education system. One area of subjugated information has to do with the earliest beginnings of humanity. The misinformation and confusion around these earliest beginnings can be attributed to the pervasiveness of Judeo-Christianity. If one is to follow the Bible the age of the earth and humanity are approximately 6000-9000 years old. Understanding historical realities is made even more difficult when attempts are made to reduce the billions of years of earth's life forms into a mere 7000 year span as articulated by the Bible.
|
Psychology: Stealing Back Adam's Rib
|
|
By Ron Jacobs, counterpunch.org
I rarely write about so-called women's issues. I think this is because I don't really feel qualified since I am not a woman. That's the effect identity politics has had on me and much of the rest of the left( and not so left). However, this is one of those instances where what appears to be a women's issue is actually much more than that. Much much more. I'm talking about the recent law passed by the South Dakota legislature outlawing abortions. This law, which makes all abortion illegal in the state of South Dakota, is one of the most reactionary pieces of legislation ever passed in the United States.
It seems like it came from another country--perhaps a protofascist version of Superman's Bizarroworld. Or maybe Hitler's Germany. You know, the place of the three K's (that's right KKK). Those K's stood for Kinder, Kirche und Kuche (Children, church and kitchen)--the only three places women belonged in the mind of the Nazis.. The sad truth is it did not originate in either of these places. It's happening here in the United States. And the opposition is quiet. Or at least it isn't being heard.
|
Psychology: The Psychology of Christian Fundamentalism
|
|
By Walter A. Davis
"I know you're a Christian, but who are you a Christian against."
--Kenneth Burke
In Apocalypse, a patient study of Christian fundamentalism based on extensive interviews over a five year period with members of apocalyptic communities Charles Strozier identifies four basic beliefs as fundamental to Christian fundamentalism. (1) Inerrancy or biblical literalism, the belief that every word of the Bible is to be taken literally as the word of God; (2) conversion or the experience of being reborn in Christ; (3) evangelicalism or the duty of the saved to spread the gospel; and (4) Apocalypticism or Endism, the belief that The Book of Revelations describes the events that must come to pass for God's plan to be fulfilled. [1] Revelations thus becomes an object of longing as well as the key to understanding contemporary history, to reading the news of the day and keeping a handle on an otherwise overwhelming world. Each of these categories, Strozier adds, must be understood not doctrinally but psychologically. What follows attempts to constitute such an understanding by analyzing each category as the progression of a disorder that finds the end it seeks in Apocalyptic destructiveness.
|
Psychology: Intelligence and IQ testing
|
|
By Reuben Albo
Psychologists have attempted to define, measure and understand the nature of intelligence for many years now. I will argue that intelligence is by no means a simple construct that can be simply measured by an IQ test, but rather it is a very complex and culturally-based concept as suggested by Robert Sternberg in his 2004 APA Presidential Address. Proponents of an excessively genetic understanding of intelligence often have racist agendas or are simply ignorant of the challenges facing the marginalized people of the world such as members of the African-American community. Herrnstein and Murray exemplify this ignorant bias in their articles from their controversial publication in 1994, The Bell Curve. We will examine intelligence with respect to these and other theorists and discuss some of the implications and changes that come with a broader understanding of intelligence.
|
Psychology: Bush, Religion and Eurocentric Geo-Politics
|
|
By Corey Gilkes
March 18, 2003
It has been said almost like a mantra since talk surfaced about the US plans to invade Iraq that Bush was after one thing, Iraqi oil. Many also argue that a lot of the present rhetoric is fuelled by the profound influence Israel has over Washington. All this is alarming enough. But there is another aspect that is even more disturbing and needs to be seriously looked at. On Thursday 6th March I read on MSN an article on Bush and his intense religious beliefs. It explored in some detail the extent to which he relies on his (fundamentalist?) Christian beliefs to guide him in virtually every major decision, including his intentions with regard to Iraq. After reading it I was convinced that I was justified in arguing that in its Western interpretation, religion and matters of faith have no business whatsoever in politics or other matters involving the state. It is chilling how relevant the works of Diop, Marimba Ani and Frances Cress Welsing are today.
|
Psychology: Thoughts on Cognitive Dissonance
|
|
By Ayanna
September 03, 2003
"…humans have a deep abiding need in their psyche to be consistent in our attitudes and behaviors; we want to feel in agreement and unified in thought and action. Inner harmony sounds good to everyone, and so it was Festinger's view that when we feel a disharmony, or dissonance, within ourselves, between two factors, we strive to decrease this tension by either changing our original thought, giving strength to the opposing thought, or letting go of the behavior. All three techniques are in the name of decreasing dissonance because it is threatening to experience such a large crack in our rationale that dissonance often creates" (colorado.edu)
While I agree with the conditions that cause people to experience this phenomenon, I must say I do not think they have got it absolutely right. Festinger insists that in order to minimize or erase the tension created by cognitive dissonance, humans either change or modify their original thoughts to accommodate the new information or abandon the old ideas completely.
|
| |
There is a problem right now with this block.
|
|