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sapinker's profile
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Verified account
@sapinker

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Steven PinkerVerified account

@sapinker

Cognitive scientist at Harvard.

Boston, MA
pinker.wjh.harvard.edu
Joined January 2010

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    Steven Pinker‏Verified account @sapinker 14 Nov 2017

    Pervasive pessimism leads to an amoral and destructive siege mentality (David Brooks).https://nyti.ms/2jqk4Pr 

    5:11 AM - 14 Nov 2017
    • 51 Retweets
    • 106 Likes
    • Roksteady Kaяma 🌀 swight Mean Meme Machine Robert Wilson Ian Ronald L. Willson Andrew Houghton Sissa Benedet Juan Gómez
    16 replies 51 retweets 106 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. John Lilburne‏ @gt_carter 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        The world is irredeemably hostile, that's the point. We build civilisation as a means of fending off the abyss, the dark howling nothingness of the wilds. When civilisation breaks down we can see the monsters moving in out of the shadows.

        2 replies 0 retweets 2 likes
      3. John Lilburne‏ @gt_carter 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @gt_carter @sapinker

        People aren't just making it up when they feel this way, the discontents are always there in civilisations and people are aware of them so they know what they are seeing.

        1 reply 0 retweets 2 likes
      4. John Lilburne‏ @gt_carter 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @gt_carter @sapinker

        In normal times those ghosts are held at bay by the pillars of tradition, mutual reciprocity & trust and a collective understanding of common a first person plural.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      5. John Lilburne‏ @gt_carter 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @gt_carter @sapinker

        Pull these things from under people and they have nowhere to look but at the wild, broiling ferment of chaos and destruction that encompasses the world.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
      6. End of conversation
      1. Krème de la Krèmlin‏ @ztarasj 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        1) Brooks is a boob. 2) Inane, narrow optimism, such as the stuff you peddle, is just as corrosive, as it distracts from urgent problems and minimizes real crises.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. SpragueD‏ @SpragueD 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        As an academic, I'd expect you to link to Hofstadter rather than Brooks... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paranoid_Style_in_American_Politics …

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. goonies bone organ‏ @jdt217 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        This is utter nonsense.

        0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. New conversation
      2. The Hand and Foot‏ @VeryJonesVery 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        You know what else leads to a "siege mentality?" Looking outside the castle window and seeing that you're surrounded by hostile forces intent on forcing your capitulation.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      3. 1 more reply
      1. Joseph Farnsworth‏ @JosephFarnswort 15 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        I Siege, you Siege, we all Siege. Better to give up the Siege Mentality and just bend over and enjoy it. So we're not dysfunctional, you see...and David Brooks will approve...

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Victoriya Volk‏ @reason4vic 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Right. Because there’s no reason to be extremely pessimistic in a world dominated by irrationality and dangerous ideology. The NYT is complicit in destroying this country.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Elblanc0‏ @el_blanc0 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Lol... this explains your irrational responses to the changing power dynamics on campus. The question is, how strong is your siege mentality? Can you see the hypocrisy?

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. PJ‏ @hall_peak 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        I think you’re right on @nytdavidbrooks in this article, but possibly missed an opportunity to discuss the role of social media as a catalyst in this phenomenon.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. MrSecular‏ @GodsaPox 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Being under siege is what leads to a siege mentality. Only the western world is pervaded by this sense because only the western world is under siege by those who take more stock in an anarchist poem on the Statue of Liberty than the Constitution.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. Frank Zollo‏ @FrankZollo 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        Brooks' solution has already been tried. Obama bent over backwards rhetorically and policy-wise. They wouldn't even accept his surrender on birth control by signing a simple statement.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. Loosey Loo‏ @Redirect2learn 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @sapinker

        //apocalyptic fear// Yes!! Edgy atheists have an apocalyptic view that mirrors theist's : religion is a virus that poisons everything. CC alarmists: we're all drown/burn (two fer one special)

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. Elblanc0‏ @el_blanc0 14 Nov 2017
        Replying to @Redirect2learn @sapinker

        The problem is, edgy atheists are a minority of their group whereas alarmist believers constitute the majority of theirs.

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. End of conversation

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