Here, on the distinction between healthy optimism and dangerous boosterism – and how both the Harper and Wall governments are dragging Saskatchewan toward the latter.
Continue readingTag: Psychology
Politics, Re-Spun: Joe Fresh & Loblaws: Perpetuating the Early Marginalization of Women
Not so long ago, my friend Becca was shopping at her local Loblaws store (Real Canadian Superstore, for those of us who live in the West.) Like many people I know, Becca approves of their Joe Fresh clothing line, which offers Canadians the opportunity to buy stylish and seasonal clothing
Continue readingThings Are Good: Play Tetris to Reduce Traumatic Flashbacks
Playing games is tons of fun and enterprising people are finding ways to better humanity through gameplay. I just found out that Tetris can be used to help people deal with traumatic experiences – cool! Research tells us that there is a period of up to six hours after the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: My Canada Does Not Include Militarizing Canada Day
I have a great deal of respect for Canadian Forces personnel. I have generally disagreed with virtually every one of their foreign deployments in my lifetime, but that is a criticism I make of our political leaders who order our forces to go here and there. I support our troops
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Three of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: My notes are here. Sunday: Opening Panel Radical Squares: Reflections on
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons Silvia Federici
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Opening Panel from the Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people. The basic premise is not so much that capitalism is broken, and we just need to fix it, but that neoliberal market fundamentalism is inherently broken
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Our fears of airplanes, and terrorism
Many of us have a fear of flying; it ranges from a mild discomfort to a paralyzing fear. For the most part, this fear is not rationally founded. On a per kilometer basis, flying is far safer than driving which usually elicits no fear among us at all. It is
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Oh, Canada? Our Home and Racist Land
Canadians’ racist neglect of our first people’s seems unshakable. We had Davis Inlet, and we didn’t wake up to any systemic problems. That was just a one off? And now Attawapiskat? Perhaps it was just a tragedy of homelessness that happened in the last few weeks, so we couldn’t expect
Continue readingRed Tory v.3.0.3: The Guilt Trip
Can a wholly innocent man be manipulated into confessing to a murder he didn’t commit? That’s the question posed in this edition of Darren Brown’s program, The Experiments. Brown, a British illusionist and mentalist, describes his latest series as an … Continue reading →
Writings of J. Todd Ring: Occupy Wall Street: The emerging global pro-democracy movement, where it stands, what it means, and where we go from here
The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has already become a global grassroots populist pro-democracy movement, if we have eyes to see, has clearly already won a broad and growing base of support. What is needed now, I believe, is to further clarify and…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Saskatchewan’s election campaign pits a party pushing instant gratification against one basing its policies on an appeal to voters’ altruism.
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: The schizoid nature of the Western world: Overcoming the root paradox of Western civilization – and our own minds
The Western world is still trapped in a paradox and a self-contradiction of our own making: we are schizoid with regards to the body, the material world and to our physicality. On the one hand, we have, as people of the modern world, embraced our physi…
Continue readingThe Skwib: Pirate Therapy
Laurence arrived a few minutes late for his regular Thursday morning session, but his therapist usually ran late, so he wasn’t worried. From behind the door of his therapist’s office, he heard a blood-curdling scream, and then a thump. A door opened somewhere, and Laurence heard a strange sound, almost as though something heavy was […]
Continue readingWritings of J. Todd Ring: Word to the bland, blasé and banal – apathy is living death
A song came on the radio today that I have loved all my life – except this time, it was a cover, and it spoke something to me that I would like to share. It was a jazz cover of “Ode to Billy Joe.” That might be fine, and might work well, but the …
Continue readingDeath By Trolley: Buddhism for Skeptics of Religion
A non-Buddhist skeptical atheist with background in psychology, scientific research, healthcare and mindfulness meditation shows how many of the central tenets and practices of Buddhism can appeal to other skeptics. 
Death By Trolley: Kicking Addictions: Commentary on What It Takes and What Helps
Work on getting past addictions by setting effective, personally-valued goals, exercising discipline but tolerating lapses, accessing support, finding substitutions, distractions and adaptive strategies, and cultivating mindfulness and insight into emotions and thought. 
Accidental Deliberations: Be a commenter
Susan Delacourt points out some fascinating research on voter turnout – with the key finding being that citizens are more likely to turn out when prompted to think in terms of “be(ing) a voter” rather than merely voting as a one-time action.And I have …
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Austerity Leads to Suicide Rate Increase
Friday’s Vancouver Sun had a short item that you might have missed, “Suicides up, road deaths down due to recession.” It’s in the bottom corner of page B5: Suicides rates rose sharply in Europe in 2007 to 2009 as the financial crisis drove unemployment up and squeezed incomes, with the worst hit countries like Greece […]
Continue readingLeftist Jab: The Sociology Behind Unsportsmanlike And Aggressive Behavior Of Fans
Because every columnist, sports commentator and pundit decided to weigh-in on the Vancouver sports riot, I thought I’d look at it from a sociological and psychological point of view. Firstly, it needs to be pointed out that a sports riot will occur in …
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