self-deception

Ugly War, Pretty Package

by Brian on 01-04-2011

in belief,civics,global,media

Here’s a fascinating article about the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue at Firdos Square in 2003 – a great case to examine how our desire for compelling stories and images makes us deceive ourselves. Some argue it may have made things worse — enabling the infamous “Mission Accomplished” announcement and causing people to overlook real problems. (More [...]

Processing Deliberative Democracy

by OpenConceptual on 07-28-2009

in concepts

I’m becoming a real fan of Daniel Little’s UnderstandingSociety blog. Here he considers “how good is deliberative democracy?”: The approach that starts and ends with voting among alternatives has a major shortcoming: no one gets a chance to make persuasive arguments to other citizens; no one has the opportunity of having his/her own beliefs challenged; [...]

Anyone who attended Strathroy District Collegiate Institute in the 1990′s (such majesty) and took OAC Economics with Mr. Hughes will recognize the title. I think he used to say it at least once every class. I mean, bless him for it because it stuck with me and I remind myself of it all the time. It’s [...]