Hilarity Ensues in Wake of Op-Ed Piece on Haidt’s Book

In today’s Globe and Mail, Margaret Wente has penned a column about Jon Haidt’s The Righteous Mind.  In it she more or less sums up his book and its main message, but the real joy is the comments section!  Lots and lots of doublethink going on there: e.g. an offended left-leaning individual suggests that we needn’t pay attention to Haidt’s book because he doesn’t really know what he’s talking about, even though: 1) he is the one with the PhD and 2) in all other cases we ought to accept what PhD’s tell us about their areas of specialization. I think this also counts as wouldthink, too (even if it does not, a friend pointed me toward this notion and I just love it).

I will comment that she doesn’t do the most splendid job of summarizing his case (I haven’t read the book yet, but I did attend a lecture of his, so I know the 55 minute run-down of the book), but that is probably in part owing to every columnist’s bane: the dreaded word limit.

Up-Coming Talks by Jon Haidt

Jon Haidt is going to be on campus this Monday giving two talks.  The first is at noon and is about his most recent book, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.  The second is at 5 PM and is about ‘hive psychology’.  I’m definitely going to make it to the first, probably the second.  In any case, I’m quite looking forward to it and will probably post some of my thoughts about it afterward!