Category Archives: Political Science

Can You Feel the Love?

Posted on January 30, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Can you feel the love? It’s kind of a cliché, sometimes said as a joke. But it points to a real problem. For any society to survive, its people need to cooperate. That requires at least a minimum level of … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Diversity, Empathy, Homogeneous societies, Kipling, love, Mutual understanding, Social Conflict, Social harmony, The Stranger, Tolerance | Leave a comment

Whose Welfare Counts, and How Much?

Posted on January 27, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

This blog post isn’t about what you’ll at first think it’s about. So bear with me. The United Kingdom’s National Trust was established in 1895 to showcase and protect Britain’s national heritage. Among other things, it gives tours of historic … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Philosophy, Political Science, Society | Tagged Britain, Entertainment Media, Gays, History, Minoritarianism, Minority rights, National Trust, News Media, Special interest groups, Utilitarianism | 2 Comments

Coping with Clickbait

Posted on January 24, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Call me naïve (“You’re naïve!” “Thank you.”), but I believe that most people want to be good. That doesn’t mean that all people want to be good, or that most people are good all the time. Obviously, they’re not. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Bias, Careful thinking, Clickbait, Confirmation Bias, Covington, Evaluating credibility, Mass Hysteria, Outrage, Social Media, Stop and think | Leave a comment

Three Ways to Understand People

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

If you want to understand why people believe and act as they do, three ideas will get you a long way: People want the world to make sense They make sense of the world in various ways, based on different … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Cherished beliefs, Feeling important, Getting along with others, Human motivation, Respect for others, Respectful debate, When to argue | Leave a comment

Remain Calm, Even If All Isn’t Well

Posted on January 8, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

It’s easy to remain calm when everything is going well. But it’s more important to remain calm when everything isn’t going so well. One way I’m lucky is that I have friends and family members who disagree with me about … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Judaism, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Animal House, Calmness, Communication, Communication Problems, Debate, Disagreement, Diversity, Miscommunication, Misunderstanding, Rational, Rationality, Reasonable Debate, Serenity | 2 Comments

Can We Measure the Quality of Debates?

Posted on December 16, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

As an undergraduate mathematics major, I had to take three semesters of statistics. I’m pretty good at mathematics, but statistics is a different animal. To adapt the famous last words of English actor Edmund Gwenn, “Mathematics is easy. Statistics is … Continue reading →

Posted in Epistemology, Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Einstein, Logical argument, Logical fallacy, Measurement, Operationalization, Political Debate, Special Relativity theory, Statistics | Leave a comment

Visit a Foreign Country

Posted on December 5, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

“The past is a foreign country,” advised British novelist L.P. Hartley. And it’s true: Most of us have quite enough trouble keeping up with the present. We’re too busy to think much about the past. Of course, there are different … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Human Relations, Judaism, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Classic radio, Common good, Courage, Heroism, Lone Ranger, Morality, Patriotism, Rule of law, Self-reliance, Westerns, Wisdom | 2 Comments

Abnormal Isn’t Normal, But It’s OK

Posted on December 3, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

“Abnormal” is not an insult. And “normal” is not a compliment. People bend over backwards these days to avoid calling anything “abnormal.” Apparently they think it might hurt someone’s feelings. For example, Robert Plomin’s recent book about human DNA argues … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Abnormal, Bell curve, DNA, Empirical rule, Human difference, Normal, Normal distribution, Plomin, Population genetics, Social harmony, Standard deviation, Statistics, Us versus Them | 2 Comments

Not Hard To See It Coming

Posted on November 29, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

Viewed from 2018, the world of pre-9/11 America looks like a model of peace and sanity. It wasn’t, of course, but compared to what we’ve had since then, it seems that way. As of now, America’s crisis du jour is … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Caravan, Globalism, Globalization, Migrants, Nationalism, Open borders, Soros | Leave a comment

We Can Have Unity Without Unanimity

Posted on November 24, 2018 by N.S. Palmer

Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was Prime Minister of England during World War II. He rallied his people to fight back against Nazi Germany even though some of them advocated surrender. Faced with such disagreement, Churchill said something that’s still relevant in … Continue reading →