Are Terrorists Really Muslim?


Every religion can be read as promoting peace or violence. This is my latest Psychology Today blog: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201512/violence-in-the-name-god

Who Let the Genie Out of the Bottle: Why Trump leads the pack


Politics has entered a new era, something we’ve not witnessed since the McCarthy era more than a half-century ago. Just as McCarthyism fed on anxieties of the Cold War, the new brush with anti-democratic forces is fueled by fears of terrorism. McCarthyism’s roots reached back to the Palmer Raids of the 1920s and the Red … Continue reading →

My School District Is In Crisis: A Legacy of Racism


My school district is in trouble. Newsday reported that “[t]he cafeteria at Westbury Middle School is so crowded that students avoid it. They try for space in guidance counselors’ offices or other rooms in the 91-year-old school. To accommodate everyone, lunch is often, and early, beginning at 10:30 a.m. Some of the school’s classrooms are … Continue reading →

The Paradox of Forgiveness


From my Psychology Today blog: After the shooting deaths of nine parishioners during a church service in Charleston, some survivors and relatives of the victims expressed the Christian virtue of mercy: they forgave Dylann Roof, the murderer. Were they right to forgive him? Or are there some actions that are beyond the pale of civilized … Continue reading →

How Long Will They Let Trump Go On?


Two items this week about Donald Trump make me wonder whether the candidate can sink any lower. First, in an article in the NY Times about one of his golf courses and a plaque indicating a bloody river crossing during the Civil War, which historians claim never happened, Trump said, “This was a prime river … Continue reading →

The GOP and Nazis


It’s time to tone down the rhetoric. The GOP is not a Nazi party. Several statements from presidential hopeful frontrunners do smack of anti-democratic sentiments; some are positively frightening. But the Republican Party is not a fascist party. While extremists have taken ahold in ways not imaginable just a few years ago, one hopes that … Continue reading →