A “fear monger” is someone who seeks to generate fear in you in order to gain control over you. “Control” can mean many different things. It can mean a sense of seeing you afraid, which makes a (sick) person happy. … Continue reading
Radio/television host Sean Hannity, advocate of capitalism, and movie producer Michael Moore, advocate of socialism, sat down to debate the merits of capitalism the other night. Michael Moore began by saying he’s primarily a Christian, not a socialist or liberal. … Continue reading
Advocates of socialized medicine keep saying a “public option” is “simply a little competition for the greedy insurance companies.” Excuse me — what private insurance companies actually exist? The ones I know of are all regulated by the federal government … Continue reading
I don’t see any point to labeling yourself with a psychiatric disorder. What does it do, other than imply that a mental state is something that happens “to” you rather than something that comes about because of a series of … Continue reading
When you drive over a bridge, you don’t say, “Oh, I hope the engineers were not too rigid in their approach to building the bridge correctly. That would be ideological, and extreme.” When you cook or eat a meal you … Continue reading
A reader wrote in with the comment, in essence, that just because you think you’re thinking, doesn’t mean you’re thinking. This was in response to my column about the virtue and necessity of thinking (see The Glory of Thinking, Daily … Continue reading
I blame a lot of anger management problems on supernaturalism. Yes, you read that right. Supernaturalism refers to any variation of the belief that reality has a will and consciousness of its own. All of religion is based on this … Continue reading
How does one negotiate with a dictatorship — such as Iran? The dictatorial government does not represent the people; the government exists to enslave the people. How or why does the government of a basically free country negotiate with a … Continue reading
Achievement does not mean unfair power over other people. It’s simply proof of the power the achiever already has, over his own mind and actions. If someone exercises power improperly, they’re not achieving anything — and all they’re displaying is intimidation.
So many people don’t want to think — especially about personal concerns. Denial is the opposite of thinking. To most people, not thinking feels easy. But it’s not easy. Life is going on around you, whether you think about life … Continue reading
“Stop barging into my office and infecting me with your anxiety.” (Peggy Olson from the television series, Mad Men) This is a great quote. It illustrates how you can send both anxious people — and sometimes anxiety itself — on … Continue reading
It’s not what you think that causes psychological distress so much as HOW you think. Ideally, as a child in school, you would have learned the laws of logic and reason. You would have learned them so well that you’d … Continue reading