Classic social psych studies (some of them, involving marshmallows or electric shocks, widely misunderstood) show that the social environment matters more than individual character or personality. I explore the implications for education in a new episode of Kohn's Zone: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

Any day now we can expect a long, breezy piece by #NYTimes fashion reporter Vanessa Friedman analyzing Epstein and Trump's style choices when they wanted to impress underage girls.

Classic social psych studies (some of them, involving marshmallows or electric shocks, widely misunderstood) show that the social environment matters more than individual character or personality. I explore the implications for education in a new episode of Kohn's Zone: www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

emerging reports about possibly imminent US military attack on venezuela. there can be no doubt about it, certainly not in the coverage: such an attack would be an act of aggression, lacking any basis in international law. we'll get sophistic arguments about self-defense but none will be legit.

Completely predictable, but still stunning: A key organizing principle of these people - to the point of animating lunatic conspiracy theories - has been their passionate devotion to rooting out pedophiles. Wait, hold on - the leader of our authoritarian cult is deeply involved? Never mind, then...

Krugman tells you everything you need to know about crypto in a couple of sentences

Short excerpts from an Atlantic article subtitled "The False Promise of AI Companionship": www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...

I've noted that we're in thrall to people who don’t understand the difference between utopia & dystopia, or are willing to conflate the two if there’s a fortune to be made by doing so (www.alfiekohn.org/article/ai/), but now they're really viewing Black Mirror as an incubator. Jesus. Watch this:

Similarly frightening efforts by the GOP to control the content of lessons and command ideological conformity in OH, TX, FL, and elsewhere.

For every surveillance state to function, there must be a critical mass of people who willingly act as snitches to further the regime's ideology. I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer

Normal person in a liberal constitutional democracy: "The state should be judicious in how it uses physical force and these actions seem like overreaches." MAGA: "Any state actions that constrain MY behavior or the behavior of people like me is tyranny, but it can do whatever it wants to THEM."

What exactly is the appeal of being well known? Why are we thrilled even to bask in the reflected glory of celebrities? From the archives: "Fame Is the Name of the Game: A Meditation on Why So Many People Dream of Being (or Even Just Meeting) Celebrities" - www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/fame/

Just sit with this one for a few minutes

It all would have been much easier if, as would have happened if we were remotely a serious country, it all ended with the Access Hollywood interview.

I'm reminded of a headline in the Harvard Lampoon's parody of USA Today: "Chromium Is Heaviest Metal, Poll Finds"

This is what Zuckerberg's Meta stands for. If you're still on Facebook (or WhatsApp or Insta), you're standing for it, too.

Odds of Venezuela getting bombed just went up. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

In case you needed another reason not to: www.pcmag.com/news/ask-cha...

Terrific piece by M. Gessen on the culpability of those appalled by the unspeakable evil being committed by their country (e.g., Israel) but who continue to live there and indirectly benefit. How can one be "a good citizen of a bad state"? Increasingly relevant to Americans: tinyurl.com/377pt6yv

I continue to be astounded not only by his desperate neediness but by the fact that he lacks the self-awareness to be embarrassed by it or the regulatory capacity to conceal it. And this unslakeable thirst for flattery (& inability to handle criticism) drives all his decisions - hence, U.S. policy.

New study: "Participants disclosed more and felt more comforted by a chatbot introduced as a human, even though almost everyone knew they were still talking to a chatbot": tinyurl.com/4h3zvb6r My recent, related essay on anthropomorphism: www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/projec...

This is what everyone should be talking about

Interesting review of research showing that wealthy people are disproportionately likely to be selfish and even psychopathic: theconversation.com/research-sug...

What's striking isn't the growing number of studies finding negative effects from using AI - in this case, to have it summarize research for you (vs. searching individual sources yourself) - but the kneejerk tendency of those reporting them to ask how best to use AI (vs. whether we need it at all).

When ideological purity and loyalty to the regime displace experience, expertise, and all other considerations: Exhibits A and B

Cruelty cubed

Much has been said about Musk's appalling social media posts. Joyce Carol Oates takes a moment to notice what he *doesn't* post.

Great read: "No matter how unhinged the position you’ve taken, or paid someone marginally credentialed to sketch out on your behalf—“Can Woman Think?: We Investigate,” “Is the Negro a Man: A Reconsideration”—that opinion will...possess all needed evidentiary gravity for the [NY] Times": is.gd/jeMYql

P.S. Say, what ended up happening to Ceaușescu, the corrupt, narcissistic Romanian dictator? Oh, that's right. He was eventually arrested, tried, and executed.

Killing usually requires dehumanizing one's victims. One of the most vital services the press can perform is to rehumanize them. Profiles of some of the Venezuelan villagers recently murdered by the U.S. military at Trump & Hegseth's direction (and the loved ones left behind): tinyurl.com/28m5muh5

Either that or they believe that Islam is an irresistibly attractive religion

Short answer: Lord, let's hope not! Long answer: This is the kind of framing that capitulates to Big Tech (rather than exercising our critical faculties to ask whether we should be buying what they're selling) and that I challenged in this essay (is.gd/acOSmQ) & this podcast episode (is.gd/LOxdlR).

It shouldn’t be forgotten that a big piece of Mamdani’s campaign was simply “cities are cool and lots of people enjoy living in them” which in and of itself dismantles alot of rightwing talking points

"We are at most a few years away from the mainstream media becoming controlled top to bottom, with a few very exceptions, by...right-wing and libertarian billionaires who want quite simply to destroy the idea of the public weal": newrepublic.com/article/2025...

Close your eyes and imagine a leftist's heavy-handed caricature of American capitalism. Now open your eyes.

Let’s hear more of the dangers of democratic socialism under Mamdani

Empathy and compassion personified

The claim that Mamdani is anti-Semitic rests entirely on the idea that well, surely he *must* harbor those beliefs secretly because of his religion. That's an approach that has itself fueled a lot of *actual* anti-Semitism and is deeply dangerous to push.

Jaw-dropping: Of 102 "U.S. government investigations into universities over antisemitism allegations...including 92 that led to the opening of investigations," would you like to guess how many actually concerned criticism of Israel? The answer is 101. tinyurl.com/24ctn8t9

MAGA comes in two versions for your convenience: (1) Those who embrace authoritarianism, racism, homo- & transphobia, sexism that can shade into misogyny, Islamophobia, and antisemitism. (2) Those who embrace all but the last, piously denouncing antisemitism (along with any criticism of Israel).

Middle East Studies Association and American Association of University Professors: report on US govt investigations into universities "According to the report, only 1 of 102 antisemitism complaints the authors reviewed raises antisemitism claims unrelated to criticism of Israel." shorturl.at/xUeBz

To be absolutely clear, by any reasonable moral standard - and according to international law - the Trump regime has the same right to overthrow the Maduro regime that the Maduro regime has to overthrow the Trump regime -- i.e., none whatsover.

Any time you hear people make a dismissive reference to "DEI," take a moment to reflect on what that says about their character and values. Apparently they're opposed to the very idea of diversity (vs. homogeneity) or equity or inclusion. (Or else they just mean "I'm a racist bigot.")

Maybe pundits should spend more time in densely packed, left leaning urban areas where the "real Americans" live

Wow it turns out the entire country is not permanently reactionary because Trump won an election by 1.5%

This imagined defense by Cheney ("What I Got Right About the Iraq War") from The Onion in 2023 ought to run as a sidebar to every obit that's published this week: is.gd/mzdB9j

From @fotoole.bsky.social's essay in the current Atlantic: "The pleasures that Trump offers his followers are sadistic ones, predicated on his invitation to enjoy the pain of others. His happiness is a zero-sum game: 'Real' Americans can experience it only if others are miserable."

This is funny but not entirely off-base. Research finds the moralism of religious people is harsher about breaches of conventional sexuality/reproductive issues than breaches of prosocial morality; "conservative stances toward sex are close to the core of what it means to be religious."