“You know, the first question is very easy. It’s a lion, a giraffe, a bear, and a shark. They say, ‘Which one is the bear?’” Trump said. “And everybody says ‘Oooooh.’" Keep my name outta your mouth... www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump...

This is the bear I go to in times of need. www.bbc.com/news/article...

“Getting one another to do things without the application of physical force is a necessity for human life.” (Elizabeth Anscombe, “On Promising and Justice”) Anscombe likely says it better than I do. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

The inability to bring something from abstraction to action is perfectly fine. Cognitive violence lies where some one, some company, some movement takes an abstract slogan/motto/image and seeks unthinking action from you. The inability to spot this is not fine. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

So many things these days run on just vibes. Vibes economy, vibes social policy, vibes foreign policy, vibes war. This has to stop. And this article starts a conversation on how. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

A few articles in: a reintroduction. This Substack is about building human-ing tools. A small bear layers on methodologies from all sorts of disciplines that are tied back to the philosophical tradition and from which he can derive the tools of human-ing. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Humans made imagery of my kind: Paddington, Gummi Bears, Yogi. And then, the imagery from red hats and American flag pocket squares and names in all caps starting with T. I don’t think I can trust you with representing bears ever again. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Humans do strange things with symbolism. This week we look at how symbolism is used for cognitive violence and then how lawyer-ing provides some defensive tools. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

It isn't ideas that are dangerous. The human ability to apply abstraction irresponsibly, even maliciously (from misplaced nationalism to feeble minded ideas of masculinity) is what requires disciplining. See latest post. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Guys…I’m a bear trying to be a human. Don’t make a mockery of my process. Also, there is no reason to break into a luxury car. The 1% don’t taste good. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

When I grow up, I want to be Marina Hyde. Is the pope Catholic? JD Vance thinks he has an answer | Marina Hyde www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This part 3 is a rallying cry for all disciplines to contribute tools to defence against cognitive violence. I'll start first with bear lawyering methodology. Cognitive Violence Part 3 open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Here is part 2 of 3. Perhaps, some food for thought on how we choose what is allowed to enter and do stuff in our minds. Cognitive Violence open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

A refresher on the work I am trying to do: defence against cognitive violence posed by authoritarians, tech-oligarchs, bros, machines and ourselves. Cognitive Violence: Part 1 open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Since beefing with the Papacy is a thing these days, us bears would like to revisit an old one. Bears had been victims of vicious slander by the medieval church. P.S. my next Substack posts will discuss imagery and cognitive violence. Stay tuned. newrepublic.com/article/9214...

Orban has fallen; but not the distinctive language of populism or the linguistic tools of the populist.. Formulaically: “good people vs bad elites and dangerous others”. Pay attention to the continuing effect of language as cognitive violence. Language & Human-ing open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Well that's one way to do human-ing. Way to go Paddy! www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/a...

“The rest of us just learn to live with it a little bit better as we grow older.” - that is genuinely a bit comforting as a bear pretending to be human. It takes gratitude and work…this human-ing business. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...

The final post in the series on Cognitive Violence and where our work on this Substack will take us. Cognitive Violence open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

The manosphere/male mental health issue is about new media of cognitive violence on fresh targets. Cognitive violence itself is not new. It’s just getting scarier tools. substack.com/@newyorker/n...

Cognitive Violence In this new part 2, I talk about agency and human-ing and the difference between cognitive violence and just, life. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Understanding cognitive violence as forces that distort how we choose: from who votes for whom to what we scroll to which AI agent we choose to talk to or ignore. First of three posts this week. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Why I write about cognitive violence this week? The main medium of the force is language. It isn’t just messaging; as the behavior of certain world leaders would show. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Remember the "Hey Hey LBJ" chant, guys? By most accounts, LBJ felt a good amount of shame. Where are we at now? Threat of civilizational erasure? Don't bother putting together a rhyme. The language of shame can only work on people who are endowed with it. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Big or small: bald faced lies of "winning" of "wars" to adults talking all day to AI, cognitive violence may explain a lot of the failings in human-ing these days. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

I have a new post introducing the idea of cognitive violence. Sun bear violence tends to be limited to vigorous cuddles. open.substack.com/pub/thebadfa...

Sun bears are capable of mimicry in the wild. This sun bear ups the ante: the most astonishing feat yet, trying to mimic you. thebadfaithbear.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

Iris Murdoch, Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot and Mary Midgley (the Wartime Quartet) are honorary bears. Each of them fierce, thoughtful and understanding of the graft of existence. As different as sun bear to polar bear. Inspired, I've started a Substack: thebadfaithbear.substack.com.