2020 January Links

This post is my list of links for January 2020. My intellectual trade deficit every month is usually massive - I import a lot more information than I output. Link posts largely, though nowhere near entirely, track my intellectual imports.

Link posts give me a log to look back on. Moreover, the act of writing these links posts is a practice that helps embed the information into my head.

In a lot of ways writing these link posts throughout the month is one of my favorite things about keeping this blog.

Now the links:

Modern and Historical Superstitions about Teething

While reading research on teething pain, I came across several shocking historic superstitious beliefs about the topic. Ready for this?

Bigots and Bullshitters

In my travels through idea land, I often cross paths with people I consider bigots and people I consider bullshitters. They're on different ends of the intellectual domain, but they have something in common, their membership seems to be an overresponse to the other. Bigots slip into bigotry because they hate the bullshit, and bullshitters embrace the bullshit because they fear becoming bigots. They both think they're protecting society from the other, but in fact, they unknowingly maintain a symbiotic relationship.

Spanking and Vaccines

Earlier, I wrote a post called Short Term Pain Long Term Trauma. It said that when parents make their children suffer, the potential for long-term trauma should be the same regardless of whether the suffering was justified. Two examples of this might be spanking and vaccinations. I want to zoom in on these examples now.

No Pain No Trauma

Story 1: Mr. bad parent pushes his 4-year-old son to the ground for no reason. The son scrapes his elbow and bangs his head. After a trip to the emergency room finds that the son will be fine, the child wonders, "why would daddy do this?" Although the incident resulted in no physical trauma to the child's head, the psychological trauma takes a toll. The child goes on to get fewer years of education, receives a lower income and is more likely to end up in prison.

Story 2: Mr. good parent pushes his 4-year-old son to the ground and out of the way of a moving vehicle. The son scrapes his elbow and bangs his head. After a trip to the emergency room finds that the son will be fine, the child, too young to understand what happened, wonders, "why would daddy do this?" Although the incident resulted in no physical trauma to the child's head, the psychological trauma takes a toll. The child goes on to get fewer years of education, receives a lower income and is more likely to end up in prison.

Memecraft: Social Media Outrage