Friday, March 02, 2018

Two very different worlds to live in.

On the same day that I read yet another depressing article in the New York Times - Thomas Edsall on the increasing polarization and demonization in our society:
Hostility to the opposition party and its candidates has now reached a level where loathing motivates voters more than loyalty. The building strength of partisan antipathy — “negative partisanship” — has radically altered politics. Anger has become the primary tool for motivating voters.
I get an email from the Berkeley Greater Good Science Center that feels like a reality warp to a different world, as they offer a “March 2018 Happiness Calendar” with daily homilies on various topics: mindfulness, kindness, gratitude, relaxation, sociality, resilience, etc.

If only we could salt the first of these realities with a bit of the second....

2 comments:

  1. Am I being snarky, when I object to the vague affiliation with UC Berkeley touted by the BGGSC? I can't trace any direct connection to or with UC Berkeley. [Sigh. I am an alumnus of both Brown Univeristy and the University of California, Berkeley.}

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  2. Perhaps a bit snarky. Keltner, who started the thing up, is Berkeley faculty, and if you give them money, the U.C. Berkeley Foundation acknowledges it.

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