From the New Yorker

"If people can't control their own emotions, they will start trying to control other people's behaviours." (Robin Skynner)

This is basically common sense, but according to the following study, people who have a feeling of insecurity about their lives and a feeling of lack of control, tend to vote for dominant leaders, not admired/respected ones. www.pnas.org/content/earl...

"Evil is just a measure of how much YOUR choices take away other people's." Discuss!

We all live in this echo chamber where we hear what we want to hear and create meaning that makes sense to us. Difficult to overcome and without it, most online discussions would be much shorter and quieter.

"The meaning of good and bad, of better and worse, is simply helping or hurting." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you can, do better." (Maya Angelou) #emotionalintelligence #realisticoptimism

Might it be time to appoint a legal guardian for the US?

"You have to work hard at being happy, just like you have to work hard at being miserable. I wake up every day expecting all to be good and right. And if it's not, I set my mind to making it so by the end of the day" (Dolly Parton) #emotionalintelligence #positivethinking

To paraphrase a quote from the movie Sabrina: "Conservatives think morals are pictures on walls and scruples is money in Russia."

Solution aversion is the idea that if you don’t like a proposed solution for a problem, it’s a lot easier to deny that the problem is really a problem than it is to discuss the solution. This explains a lot of really weird responses to real problems.

Anytime anyone starts a sentence with "It's plain to see" or "It's obvious", they probably have not really thought it through and are just rationalising their gut feelings.

“Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.” (Voltaire)

1/ A major human need is certainty. Change is happening faster and faster, so we want to follow or believe in someone who exudes certainty. Most important issues don't have easy answers, so they are fair game for a psychopath like Trump who has no problem spouting lies.

We just have to be patient! At some point, politeness, decency and education will be cool again!

A short message for those people out there that take everything personally: "Have you ever thought: "Oh, what a beautiful rainbow. Is that for me? Thank you!" ?

“The authoritarian character worships the past. What has been, will eternally be. To wish or to work for something that has not yet been before is crime or madness. The miracle of creation is outside of his range of emotional experience.” (Erich Fromm) #resist #fascism #gop

I only ever seem to hear things like "I'm not sure.", "Let me check that.", "That is a bit too complex for a simple answer." from the most intelligent people I know. Don't fall for people who are peddling simple answers!

Merry Christmas! #fernandez #gegendenstrich #christmas

Merry Christmas to all those who observe! We will be celebrating Christmas the German way - exchanging presents on Christmas Eve: Vorsprung durch Technik! #christmas

Dear @bluesky, Do I really need to receive a notification/message every time some right-wing nutter blocks me?

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows" (Leonard Cohen) #trump #iran #gop

When you google the German word "Backpfeifengesicht" (a face begging to be slapped), one of the first entries is Ted Cruz and has been for years. But JD "Popekiller" Vance is quickly moving up the ranks... #tedcruz #jdvance #republicanssuck #fightfascism

Unearned privilege lowers empathy.

Still haven't finished reading it, so can't comment on its conclusion....

"The real problem of humanity is the following: We have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology." (E.O. Wilson)

New Der Spiegel cover with the heading. Two villains - one goal: How Trump and Putin are attacking Europe. #trump #putin #fascism

Dear @wikipedia.org , I think you are doing a great job and I have donated in the past, but your behavioural economics approach to getting more donations simply sucks! I want to give once a year and don't want to receive emails, that's it! Don't try to push me towards monthly payments. Bad form!

Don't give up. There is a future for you. (Dr. Jane Goodall)

Trump was lucky! #trump #escalatorgate #unspeech

In 1916, a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution called for all declarations of war to be decided by national referendum and anyone voting in favor would be required to enlist. I love the idea! If you want war, you fight it, instead of sending other people to die for your beliefs.

It's easy to forget that just because people agree with our opinions on certain matters does not automatically make them decent human beings. Affinity bias wants us to believe that if someone shares a viewpoint, it means that they must be smart and nice, just because we are.

It's easy to forget that just because people agree with our opinions on certain matters does not automatically make them decent human beings. Affinity bias wants us to believe that if someone shares a viewpoint, it means that they must be smart and nice, just because we are.

I just received a message that something I ordered at Amazon could not be delivered by the Amazon driver, as he was unable to find the location. The adress? Amazon HQ in Luxembourg.

“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” (Richard Bach - Illusions)

Basic rule for billionaires: If people are not able to spend money, they shouldn't be allowed to have it. It's just not okay that we praise the accumulation of money, rather than the use of it. #federer #musk #bezos #billionaires #zuckerberg #trump

We all live in this echo chamber where we hear what we want to hear and create meaning that makes sense to us. Difficult to overcome and without it, most online discussions would be much shorter and quieter.

I think I just destroyed my credit rating...

Study shows that people who view Trump favorably are more likely to score higher on measures of malevolent traits and lower on empathy and compassion. www.zmescience.com/science/news... #trump #fightfascism #empathy #resist

Just read an interesting description of someone who was (most likely) suffering from tertiary syphilis: "Constantly making contradictory claims, mood between euphoria and apathy, emotional instability, delusions of grandeur, extreme paranoia." Sound familiar? Anyway, this was about Hitler...

“Here’s the guy that inherited $200 million. If he hadn’t inherited $200 million, you know where Donald Trump would be right now? Selling watches in Manhattan." (Marco Rubio)

Unearned privilege lowers empathy.

Trump's policies are very much in line with his "Think and grow rich" philosophy. What you focus on, you get more of. Ergo, you should block out those things you don't like. This explains his idiotic ideas about climate change, job market statistics and so on. Fool! #trumpsucks #sciencerules

You are not to blame for the world being the way it is. You are to blame if it stays that way.

"No one likes us, I don't know why We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try And all around, even our old friends put us down Let's drop the big one and see what happens" (Randy Newman - Political Science) #trump #bombing #iran #war #gop

Study shows that people who view Trump favorably are more likely to score higher on measures of malevolent traits and lower on empathy and compassion. www.zmescience.com/science/news... #trump #fightfascism #empathy #resist

Trump's policies are very much in line with his "Think and grow rich" philosophy. What you focus on, you get more of. Ergo, you should block out those things you don't like. This explains his idiotic ideas about climate change, job market statistics and so on. Fool! #trumpsucks #sciencerules

When you google the German word "Backpfeifengesicht" (a face begging to be slapped), one of the first entries is Ted Cruz and has been for years. But JD "Popekiller" Vance is quickly moving up the ranks... #tedcruz #jdvance #republicanssuck #fightfascism