What would you do if you were Joe Paterno? If it was reported to you that your assistant coach was sexually abusing a minor, would you act differently? In his recent op-ed for the NY times, David Brooks suggests that the answers to these questions are not as straightforward as we might believe. While we wish to think that we would speak up, the data says otherwise. When pressed to act by a moral dilemma, the vast majority of people do nothing at all (humorously illustrated below). Brooks details numerous explanations psychologists give to this inexplicable human failure: Normalcy Bias,…
Hieronymus Bosch, Animal Altruism and Bottom-Up Morality
A thorough, at times exasperating, at times inspiring, and at times challenging look at science, morality and religion over on The NY Times’ Opinionator by Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal entitled “Morals Without God?”. De Waal uses Hieronymus Bosch’s painterly obsession with the pre-Fall human nature as a touchstone for his objections with what he sees as the reductionism of the Veneer Theory of human motivation (“morality is just a thin veneer over a cauldron of nasty tendencies”). Among other things, he views altruistic behavior in animals as supportive of a “bottom-up” approach to morality. But for our purposes, I…
Is Miss California Good Enough To Be A Christian?
The following quote appeared Wednesday on a tabloid website:
“Exclusive: Self-proclaimed bible thumper Miss California, Carrie Prejean, should start pointing the finger at herself for her own indiscretions. [We have] received exclusive images of the homophobic debutante that would clearly strip her of her Miss California crown. So much for being a good role model for the state of California Carrie. Looks like your photo shoot makes you a sinner too.“
I am not bringing this up because I’m interested in commenting on Miss California per se (I think the media has that covered!). I bring it up because this snippet brilliantly…
Emily: Amazing!...
Jim Kress: This is an outstanding post. Thank you for the courage and risk. I app...
mark mcculley: The one percent has never been liberal when it comes to winning the cl...
Zach: The Brooks piece is typically silly, as his work on political issues g...
Cal: Ever hear about the recent video game "Gods Among Us"? It's a take on ...