2.25.2019

good observations from the surface of the net

"How do you get people to say, “I don’t know”? I don’t know." -- david dunning

“As artists, our job is to look where others don’t. This responsibility becomes even more important at times when we are told to look away.” -- Alfonso CuarĂ³n

"A subject is scientifically controversial when actively debated by legions of scientists, not when actively debated by the public, the press, or by politicians." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson

Americans: "everything in Australia can kill you."
Australians: "probably not an ar-15."

“Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others.” -- ta-nehisi coates

"This might be a good time to note that “Judeo-Christian” is not a thing and we Jews would like you to stop conflating our tradition with your American Christianity." -- rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

“History has had its ways of teaching once-dominant "exceptionalist" nations harsh lessons, but as this  involves a span of generations, citizens of those "empires" often haven't been able to perceive it happening.” — william gibson


body lets down the mind,
mind lets down the body.
it comes to us all.
— jocelyn knight [“broadchurch”]

"Fundamentalism is authoritarian by definition–it accepts a vision of “the Truth” that is sacrosanct, unquestionable, and, when found to be incompatible with reality, protected through the generation of “alternative facts,” which themselves become unassailable truths within the enclave community that is built up to sustain the fundamentalism in question." -- christopher stroop ["Educated Evangelicals, Academic Achievement, and Trumpism: On the Tensions in Valuing Education in an Anti-Intellectual Subculture"]

“The main thing we learn from studying history is that nobody ever learns anything from studying history. Not long-term, I mean, not longer than people who are in a position to do things can remember the previous round. Or, the lessons of WW2 are gone, gone, gone. Let alone Rome.” — Harry Turtledove

"if it's not worth doing, it's not worth doing well." -- donald hebb

"Someone tweeted to me that my father “didn’t offend people.” At the time Daddy was killed, a poll reflected that he was the most hated man in America. Most hated. Many who quote him now & use him to deter justice would likely hate him too if they truly studied #MLK" -- Bernice King