Apparently, collective guilt is an issue for Germans and for Russians (eg, German collective guilt, Russians And Collective Guilt). However, it might only be a media and/or a political topic (eg, DW-2019, Hungarian Conservative-2022). At least, guilt is an emotion rather than ratio. How about individual and/or collective victim roles?? “Victim mentality is...
To me, the above is without question. It was even written on the back of one of my neckties. My title is also a slogan of Logan Roy, a fictional character in HBO's tv series Succession (2018-2023). For others, it's not. Recently, I noticed this quote by Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale: “You may not be able to alter reality, but you can alter your...
A recent Aeon-Psyche article stated that "language both enables and interferes with our grasp of reality". Indeed, our language enables our communication and/but will also result in confusion (eg, meaning, translation). Actually, everything that enables will also interfere (eg, life vs death). This phenomenon may relate to dualism (eg, knowledge = power) and/or...
My latest blogs were about ideology versus reality. It occurred to me that this difference may provide a fundamental explanation for collective stupidity vs individual wisdom. Before, I assumed that pragmatism was the antidote for ideology. My latest insights are in my diagram below. Our ideology is represented by our beliefs and in particular the 7 Belief systems...
There's a Dutch saying that translates like the shore will stop the ship (ie, #16). There's no English equivalent. To some extent, it means that you can only push someone or things so far before they break (eg, source). I was reminded of this saying after reading that the GOP in Alabama ignores court rulings. My blog title has an implicit question: Is reality (eg,...
When reality is different from our assumptions, beliefs, or expectations then we will get confused. A recent and excellent Aeon-Psyche article argues that Confusion is a symptom of learning. In my view, our confusion will either result in (internal) curiosity, a prerequisite for learning, or be ignored. In "2003, the psychologists Paul Rozin and Adam Cohen asked...
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