Category Archives: Human Relations

America and China Can Work It Out

Posted on June 5, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Tensions between America and China are as predictable as they are, well, stupid. Their tensions are predictable for two reasons: The United States and China are rival world powers, vying with each other for status and influence in the world. … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Political Science | Tagged America, Balance of payments, China, Ethnocentricity, Free trade, Group bias, Han Chinese, International Trade, Kin Selection, Tariffs, Trade, Trade dispute | Leave a comment

X Marks the Spot

Posted on May 28, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

“Latinx?” What the heck is that? I see the word a lot lately. I finally figured out why media people have started using it. A Latino is a male Hispanic. A Latina is a female Hispanic. The words look like … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged English language, Gender ideology, Hebrew language, Language, Latinx, Newspeak, Political correctness, Spanish language | 4 Comments

Follow Courage and Good Sense

Posted on May 16, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

I’m an optimistic kind of guy. I can usually find the “half full” in any glass, no matter how empty it is. But even I get discouraged sometimes. Most often, it’s because of human irrationality. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Bertrand Russell, Courage, Existential courage, Gloom, Irrationality, Optimism, Social decline, Winston Churchill | Leave a comment

Thinking Sideways

Posted on May 7, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

There are three kinds of people I like most in the world. First, the ones who tell me how incredibly good-looking I am. Even though I worked on Capitol Hill, I still haven’t met anyone who’s able to lie that … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Creativity, Dimensions of morality, Incomensurable, Incommensurability, Jonathan Haidt, Modes of thinking, Moral dimensions, Moral foundations, Moral intuitions, Moral Psychology, Multiple intelligences, Mysticism, Pragmatism, The Righteous Mind, Thinking, Tolerance, Viewpoints | 2 Comments

My Two Transgender Encounters

Posted on May 5, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

I’ve known a couple of people who these days would be called “transgender,” though I’m not sure if they themselves would embrace the term. Using the grammatical term ”gender” as not-quite-a-synonym for “sex” creates an anti-concept that confuses any discussion in … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Psychology, Society | Tagged Anti-concept, Eccentricities, Feminism, Gender, Political correctness, Sophistry, Transgender, Transsexual, Women’s sports | Leave a comment

Note to Self

Posted on May 2, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

What advice would you, as an adult, give to your 10-year-old self? Yes, a lot of people have written about that. The latest is psychologist Damon Ashworth, whose blog I read. Dr. Ashworth’s advice to himself is good, but rather general. … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Psychology | Tagged Advice, Child psychology, Childhood, Growing up, Human Relations, Kindness, Life experience, Note to Self, Respect, Wisdom | 4 Comments

Don’t Mistake Hate for Logic

Posted on April 23, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

We’ve probably all made the error of mistaking hate for logic. Of course, we didn’t realize it at the time. But that’s what we were doing. Yesterday’s blog post got me thinking about the problem. On my “Top 10” list … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Human Relations, Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology | Tagged Affirming the consequent, Belisarius, Bias, Byzantine Empire, Empress Theodora, Hate, Hatred, History, Justinian, Logic, Logical fallacies, Loyalty, Modus Ponens, Ostrogorsky, Rationality, Reason, Social Conflict, Syllogism | Leave a comment

How To Be Crazy — Constructively

Posted on April 11, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

A while back, I wrote about “How Not To Be Crazy.” And if you must choose between being totally crazy and being totally sane, it’s better to be sane. But let’s face it: total sanity is kind of a barren … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Evolutionary Psychology, First-world problems, In-Group, Insane, Manichaean, Manichaeism, Out-Group, Quixotic, Simplistic thinking, Social Conflict | 2 Comments

I Did Something Stupid Today

Posted on April 4, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

I did something stupid today. I got mad at my phone. And that’s a big part of what’s wrong with the world. Not the fact that I got mad. I’m obviously not that powerful. And thank goodness that I’m not: … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Psychology, Society | Tagged Anger, Blaming, Externalization, Irrational behavior, Irrationality, Projection, Social Conflict, Stupid, Stupidity | 2 Comments

Democracy for Dinner

Posted on April 2, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.” — Winston Churchill It’s dinner time. You and your spouse decide to vote on dinner. Happily, you both love pizza with anchovies. The vote … Continue reading →