Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

Amy Chua, the "tiger mom" referenced in class yesterday...

We started our new read in Bioethics, Leana Wen's Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health, and the author's account of her mother's strict parenting in the traditional Chinese style inevitably reminded me of the "Tiger Mother" furore stirred up a few years ago by Yale professor Amy Chua... (continues)

==

...one mother's exercise in extreme parenting, revealing the rewards—and the costs—of raising her children the Chinese way.

"This is a story about a mother, two daughters, and two dogs. This was supposed to be a story of how Chinese parents are better at raising kids than Western ones. But instead, it's about a bitter clash of cultures, a fleeting taste of glory, and how I was humbled by a thirteen-year-old." —Amy Chua

All decent parents want to do what's best for their children. What Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother reveals is that the Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that. Western parents try to respect their children's individuality, encouraging them to pursue their true passions and providing a nurturing environment. The Chinese believe that the best way to protect your children is by preparing them for the future and arming them with skills, strong work habits, and inner confidence. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother chronicles Chua's iron-willed decision to raise her daughters, Sophia and Lulu, her way—the Chinese way—and the remarkable results her choice inspires.

Here are some things Amy Chua would never allow her daughters to do:

- have a playdate
- be in a school play
- complain about not being in a school play
- not be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama
- play any instrument other than the piano or violin
- not play the piano or violin

The truth is Lulu and Sophia would never have had time for a playdate. They were too busy practicing their instruments (two to three hours a day and double sessions on the weekend) and perfecting their Mandarin.

Of course no one is perfect, including Chua herself. Witness this scene:

"According to Sophia, here are three things I actually said to her at the piano as I supervised her practicing:

- Oh my God, you're just getting worse and worse.
- I'm going to count to three, then I want musicality.
- If the next time's not PERFECT, I'm going to take all your stuffed animals and burn them!"

But Chua demands as much of herself as she does of her daughters. And in her sacrifices—the exacting attention spent studying her daughters' performances, the office hours lost shuttling the girls to lessons—the depth of her love for her children becomes clear. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is an eye-opening exploration of the differences in Eastern and Western parenting—and the lessons parents and children everywhere teach one another. g'r

==

Amy Chua may well be nuts. What kind of a mother hauls her then-7-year-old daughter's dollhouse out to the car and tells the kid that the dollhouse is going to be donated to the Salvation Army piece by piece if the daughter doesn't master a difficult piano composition by the next day? What kind of a mother informs her daughter that she's "garbage"? And what kind of mother believes, as Chua tells readers she does, that: "an A- is a bad grade; ... the only activities your children should be permitted to do are those in which they can eventually win a medal; and ... that medal must be gold"?

Read An excerpt

What kind of a mother? Why, a mother who's raising her kids the Chinese, rather than the Western, way. In her new memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Chua recounts her adventures in Chinese parenting, and -- nuts though she may be -- she's also mesmerizing. Chua's voice is that of a jovial, erudite serial killer -- think Hannibal Lecter -- who's explaining how he's going to fillet his next victim, as though it's the most self-evidently normal behavior. That's the other gripping aspect of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother: There's method to Chua's madness -- enough method to stir up self-doubt in readers who subscribe to more nurturing parenting styles. Trust me, Battle Hymn is going to be a book club and parenting blog phenomenon; there will be fevered debate over Chua's tough love strategies, which include ironclad bans on such Western indulgences as sleepovers, play dates, and any extracurricular activities except practicing musical instruments ... which must be the violin or piano.

--Maureen Corrigan, NPR

Questions MAR 17

Beyond 16-17; Lifelines 2-3

Beyond

1. What is CRISPR and what does it often produce?

2. What moral imperative does Julian Savulescu say we have?

3. How have efforts to control evolution changed over the last century and a half?

4. What are eutelegenesis and Bokanovsky's Process?

5. What did Matt Ridley say would save us?

6. Who is Ray Kurzweil and what is SU?

7. Who is Raymond McCauley and what did he predict?

8. What is Peter Diamandis's Orwellian vision?

DQ

• Is it bad that CRISPR has received so much attention from science journalists and pundits in popular media?
• Would it be unethical not to use an available AND reliable technology to produce "better" children? How should we understand "better"?176
• Will eugenics become "acceptable and widespread again"? 177
• Is it appropriate for researchers to aim to cure diseased molecules, rather than patients? 179
• What do you think of "procreative beneficence"? 181
• Do you agree that happier, healthier humans are more likely to result from a focus on nurture, not nature? 184
• Is the Singularity near?
• Are medical tricorders coming soon? 190
• Are Singularitarians mostly "confirmed atheists" and "progressive capitalist utopians"? 191
•  Are you thrilled and concerned about the future of "enhancement"? 193
• Are you as dispirited by transhumanists as Corey Pein? 

Lifelines

1. Leana started college and med school at what ages?

2. What is xiao xun?

3. What drove Leana's decision to enter the PhD program?

4. Leana suffered from what syndrome?

DQ

• Do you think Leana is being falsely self-deprecating when she denies being very smart? 30
• What do you think of Leana's parents subjecting her to dental care without anesthesia?
• What do you think of  xiao xun?
• Are you an aspiring physician? Have you had adequate institutional support for that? Is med school too expensive? 36, 38
• How can financial considerations be made less pivotal in students' educational/career decisions? 39
• What do you think of Leana's mother's "disparaging comments" etc.?
• Do you feel a responsibility to make a difference and "give back"? 41

Quizlet #2 A-go!

 Hello again! 

I'll be watching today's class remotely, so I wanted to go ahead and let you guys know!

Here is the quizlet link: https://quizlet.com/_b92nlm?x=1qqt&i=1lm7h8

Same as always, lemme know if you catch me missing something! 

I also had a question for Dr. Oliver to answer in class. When do we need to declare our Final Presentation topics? 

See you all remotely! 

-Patricia Hummel

Why we need a feminist approach to bioethics?

A brief summary of my presentation:

We need to adopt a more feminist approach in bioethics because of two integral points:

1. It impacts the kind of policies that are made and the questions that are asked in this field.

2. It can help bioethicists rethink the tools used in bioethics in order to develop what can be considered a theory where the distorted view of gender does not affect anyone.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-9CpnjDfKNZ8UP4JtnQrFcqJWwcBT0FgoNdpekvDyVA/edit?usp=sharing

Excited for Spring?

 

With all the bad in the world right now, it nice to take a step back and remember the joys of Spring. 

This picture is the result of me leaving for Spring Break and visiting with family. It got me in the spirit of rebirth, evolution, new life, and growth, these are the themes surrounding Spring, and while I typically take the side of the pessimist, I find myself hoping for a much better world situation when we say goodbye to Spring and welcome Summer. 

Maybe I'm just being a Shrek and loving onions. Who knows. 

Is anyone else looking forward to the Spring? 

 From The Tennessean newspaper March 15, 2022:

No proof official sent herself muzzle

Former Tenn. vaccine head was involved in heated debate in 2021

Mariah Timms

Nashville Tennessean |

District attorney’s office investigators found no evidence linking Dr. Michelle Fiscus to the purchase of a dog muzzle sent to her office amid heated controversy over COVID-19 vaccines for children last year, a memo from the office said.

The DA’s Fraud & Economic Crimes division sent a memo to Fiscus’ attorney on Thursday detailing the extensive review of the case that picked up where Homeland Security stopped last year.

Previous investigations by the state agencies found a credit card in Fiscus’ name was used to purchase the item.

But in this week’s memo, Assistant District Attorney Chadwick W. Jackson confirmed Fiscus’ personal identifying information was 'compromised, exposed and used,' possibly for years, before the package was sent.

'It has been a long seven months waiting for the truth to be reported,' Fiscus said in a statement sent to The Tennessean on Saturday.

Questions over who did send the muzzle linger...

Substance use during pregnancy raises ADHD risk in children, study finds

It has long been known that the use of tobacco, opioids, alcohol, and other substances have negatively impacted children in the womb. A recent study done by JAMA Network Open has resurfaced this issue by drawing a strong correlation between substance use during pregnancy and development of ADHD in children as they age. 

The article explains: 

"Opioids include prescription pain medications such as oxycontin and morphine, as well as illegal drugs such as heroin and opium, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. People who used more than one substance during pregnancy, combining tobacco and marijuana or opioids and alcohol, for example, raised their child's risk for developing ADHD by nearly 50%, the researchers said." 

What are your thoughts? What are steps that can be made to solve this issue? Is this a matter of lack of education? What changes can be made to better educate expecting mothers?

The Future of CRISPR is Now

 

I found this really good article posted by the AAMC in December 2021. It gives a nice summary of the current research/clinical trials going on with CRISPR as well as ethical considerations. In particular, it was nice to see that the issue of equally distributing technology is starting to be discussed and addressed:

One of the most remarkable things about CRISPR technology is how rapidly it has developed. But as exciting as this is for the advancement of science and medicine, experts in fields ranging from research to bioethics, including Doudna, have cautioned that the advancement should not outpace the tackling of ethical complications that arise.

Among these is determining who will have access to advanced gene therapies.

“We have to really grapple with equity and accessibility,” Doudna said at the AAMC annual meeting. “We have to be cognizant of how to be sure that everyone who can benefit from this technology has access to it.”

This is an issue that Eric Kmiec, PhD, had on the top of his mind in 2015, when he became the founding director of the Gene Editing Institute at ChristianaCare in Newark, Delaware, the only institute of its kind that is based in a community health system.

“All due respect to major medical centers — they do amazing work — but somehow the community cancer center always felt to me to be on the ground in cancer,” Kmiec says. “We ought to think about how those technologies are going to affect all people.”

The Gene Editing Institute has what Kmiec calls a “bench to bedside paradigm.” He and his researchers have offices in the same building where the oncologists are seeing patients. They attend grand rounds and have an open-door policy with the physicians. A surgical oncologist regularly attends lab meetings where research is discussed.

“Interacting with the clinicians almost daily taught me a lot about how challenging this damn thing [treating cancer] is,” Kmiec says. “A lot of really bright people have worked on cancer therapy for years … we have to sculpt our approach on what the clinicians are telling us … usually [researchers] come in and tell clinicians how to use tech. We did the opposite.”

Article continues

 This devastating disease is preventable, but Texas leads the nation in new cases

BY CIARA MCCARTHY UPDATED MARCH 11, 2022 4:34 PM

Texas is leading the nation in new cases of a devastating and completely preventable disease: congenital syphilis. Congenital syphilis refers to cases of syphilis that are passed from a mother to child during pregnancy. Left untreated, the disease can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, and early infant death. For the children who do survive, untreated syphilis can lead to meningitis and other brain infections, blindness and deafness, liver disease, severe anemia, and more, said Dr. Kjersti Aagaard, an expert in obstetrics and infectious diseases. But each case is preventable. “The fact that we still have congenital syphilis is one of the great public health failures of our time,” said Aagaard, a professor and maternal fetal medicine specialist at the Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. “We have had a test for it for decades, we’ve had a treatment for it for decades, neither of which are expensive.”... 

Read more at: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crossroads-lab/article259282329.html#storylink=cpy

Forget fear?

We Will Forget Much of the Pandemic. That's a Good Thing.

As we approach another anniversary of the pandemic's onset, many of us are reflecting on the past two years and thinking about the ways the virus has altered our lives. More than 950,000 Americans have died. Many more have lost a loved one, and millions are still grappling with the lingering aftereffects of infection.

As we begin to move toward a postpandemic future, it is vital that we remember the toll this virus has taken. The lessons of this pandemic should be carried with us so that — unlike what happened after the 1918 flu — it doesn't fade from history and so we can honor and memorialize those we have lost.

It is also inevitable that over time, many of our memories of these difficult years will fade. As a neuroscientist who studies memory and memory disorders like Alzheimer's, I find this fact — perhaps counterintuitively — comforting. I have come to understand, through new research, that there is a danger in remembering too much and that forgetting is not only normal but in fact necessary for our mental health…

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/09/opinion/pandemic-memory.html?referringSource=articleShare

Two Years Into the Pandemic, Relief, Frustration and Fear as Mandates Ease

Quotation of the Day:

"Everyone is worn out. Everyone is exhausted. I am as well. But we lost 1,400 Americans yesterday to Covid and we'll probably lost another 1,400 today. And I don't think anything has happened that suggests to me that vaccine mandates and mask mandates should be lifted."

THOMAS LaVEIST, dean of public health at Tulane University who also serves as co-chair of Louisiana's COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/13/todayspaper/quotation-of-the-day-two-years-into-the-pandemic-relief-frustration-and-fear-as-mandates-ease.html?referringSource=articleShare

 How Millions of Lives Might Have Been Saved From Covid-19

March 11, 2022  Top of Form

Bottom of Form

By Zeynep Tufekci, Opinion Columnist

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/11/opinion/covid-health-pandemic.html

This article is part of Times Opinion’s reflection on the two-year mark of the Covid pandemic. Read more in a note from Alexandra Sifferlin, Opinion’s health and science editor, in our Opinion Today newsletter.

We cannot step into the same river twice, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus is said to have observed. We’ve changed, the river has changed.

That’s very true, but it doesn’t mean we can’t learn from seeing what other course the river could have flowed. As the pandemic enters its third year, we must consider those moments when the river branched, and nations made choices that affected thousands, millions, of lives.

What if China had been open and honest in December 2019? What if the world had reacted as quickly and aggressively in January 2020 as Taiwan did? What if the United States had put appropriate protective measures in place in February 2020, as South Korea did?

To examine these questions is to uncover a brutal truth: Much suffering was avoidable, again and again, if different choices that were available and plausible had been made at crucial turning points. By looking at them, and understanding what went wrong, we can hope to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

(Continues at link above)

Questions MAR 15

Beyond 13-15; Lifelines Prolog-1; Presentation Pranithi, The need for a feminist approach in Bioethics...

1. What do Athanasiou and Darnovsky fear we're at risk of losing, if the human genome is privatized?

2. What future social classes does Lee Silver predict will effectively become separate species? Who are some prominent figures who endorse his views?

3. What published opinion do our authors cite as committing a "naturalistic fallacy"?

4. Brave New World was what, "first of all"?

5. What practice continued into the 70s in "that liberal paragon Sweden"?

6. People with congenital disabilities typically feel ____.

7. What's the logical conclusion of the "Kinsley-Sullivan thesis" and what does it conflate?

8. CRISPR is an acronym for what?

9. What's needed most, to reduce the incidence of monogenic disease?

10. Scientists have a responsibility to debate _____.

DQs

• Do you agree with the "biotech boosters" that possible advances in medical science trump all other considerations, and that the prospect of progress is worth the risk of  inheritable genetic modification?
• "Designer babies": do you want one?
• "Post-humans": do you welcome them?
• Why don't techno-utopians like Lee Silver (et al) deplore the prospect of a social gap between those who've been genetically enhanced and those who haven't? Do you?
• Was James Watson right about "what the public actually wants"? 160
• Is it alarmist to invoke Huxley's dystopia as a harbinger of things to come? 
• Are there any spheres of medicine, or indeed of life, in which perfectionism is an appropriate state of mind and plan of action?
• Who has the right to decide when, whether, or how to edit a child's genome?
• How would you respond to any of the questions posed in the first paragraph on p.173?

Lifelines

1. What could medicine not do for Tony?

2. How is public health a lifeline, and what are some of its tools?

3. What does Duo Duo mean? (And what did it mean for Leana)?

4. What happened to academics during the Cultural Revolution?

5. What led Leana's mother to retrain as a public school teacher?

6. Why did Leana's mother choose to relocate to Canada?

DQ

• Are there enough leaders like Elijah Cummings to ensure our children's hopeful future?
• Do too many Americans accept that "life is like this for some people"? 3
• Do you agree that threats to public health should be understood to include racism, mass incarceration, gun violence, childhood trauma, inadequate housing, ignorance, poverty etc.? 5, 7
• Do you think most younger people consider health care a (neglected) human right?
• How do we "bend the arc of justice"? 8
• Do you think Americans generally accept the premise of chi ku? 11
• Why do you think people in Utah are so nice? 20 
• Why do you think Leana's family met with such adversity in LA? 25
• 
  

Public Health as Urban Solution (TEDx)...

Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health

From medical expert Leana Wen, MD., an insider’s account of public health and its crucial role—from opioid addiction to global pandemic—and an inspiring story of her journey from struggling immigrant to being one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People

“Public health saved your life today—you just don’t know it,” is a phrase that Dr. Leana Wen likes to use. You don’t know it because good public health is invisible. It becomes visible only in its absence, when it is underfunded and ignored, a bitter truth laid bare as never before by the devastation of COVID-19.

Leana Wen—emergency physician, former Baltimore health commissioner, CNN medical analyst, and Washington Post contributing columnist—has lived on the front lines of public health, leading the fight against the opioid epidemic, outbreaks of infectious disease, maternal and infant mortality, and COVID-19 disinformation. Here, in gripping detail, Wen lays bare the lifesaving work of public health and its innovative approach to social ills, treating gun violence as a contagious disease, for example, and racism as a threat to health.

Wen also tells her own uniquely American story: an immigrant from China, she and her family received food stamps and were at times homeless despite her parents working multiple jobs. That child went on to attend college at thirteen, become a Rhodes scholar, and turn to public health as the way to make a difference in the country that had offered her such possibilities.

Ultimately, she insists, it is public health that ensures citizens are not robbed of decades of life, and that where children live does not determine whether they live. g'reads

“Doctors end up adopting the role of automaton, following recipes and doing as directed, but no longer empowered to listen, to think, to diagnose, and to heal. Patients end up believing that their role is to help speed the checkbox ticking as quietly and as obediently as possible. Worse still, they begin to internalize that this is the best and only way to receive medical care.”

“These “social determinants of health” play a major role, in fact, the major role, in determining a person’s health and well-being. Studies have shown that as much as 90 percent of a person’s life expectancy depends on these factors, and only 10 percent on medical care.”

― Leana Wen, When Doctors Don't Listen: How to Avoid Misdiagnoses and Unnecessary Tests

Health Care and Insurance Industries Mobilize to Kill ‘Medicare for All’

• Doctors, hospitals, drug companies and insurers are intent on strangling the idea before it advances from an aspirational slogan to a legislative agenda item.
• Their tactics will show Democrats what they are up against as the party drifts to the left on health care.
• ==

Genetically modified mosquitoes could help eradicate malaria — by eradicating themselves

Scientists recently released genetically engineered mosquitoes into a high-security lab in Italy. The insects carry a sterilizing mutation that spreads to progeny, meaning the modification would be lethal to the species — and potentially reduce the spread of malaria. Some are worried, though, that releasing the engineered mosquitoes into the wild could have unforeseen consequences, such as eliminating important crop pollinators.

But one evolutionary engineer says: "The known harm of malaria ... outweighs the combined harms of everything that has been postulated could go wrong."

60 Minutes (@60Minutes)

2/24/19, 10:24 PM

Last year alone, more Americans died of drug overdoses than in the entire Vietnam War. Who is responsible for the opioid crisis? 60 Minutes' three-part investigation: cbsn.ws/2NtOCut

 China sees new surge in COVID outbreaks

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Seen in The Tennessean

March 8, 2022

BEIJING – China is seeing a new surge in COVID-19 cases across the vast country, despite its “zero tolerance” approach to dealing with outbreaks.

Mainland China reported 214 new cases of infection over the previous 24 hours, with the most, 69, in the southern province of Guangdong bordering on Hong Kong, which has been recording tens of thousands of cases per day.

Another 54 cases were reported in the Jilin province, more than 1,200 miles to the north, and 46 in the eastern province Shandong.

In his annual report to the national legislature Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang said China needs to “constantly refine epidemic containment” but gave no indication Beijing might ease the “zero tolerance” strategy.

“Zero tolerance” requires quarantines and lockdowns on entire communities and sometimes even cities when as few as a handful of cases have been detected. Chinese officials credit the approach – along with a vaccination rate of more than 80% – with helping to prevent a major nationwide outbreak, but critics say it is taking a major toll on the economy and preventing the population from building up natural immunity.

No new cases were reported in Beijing, and the city was largely back to normal, although masks continue to be worn in public places indoors.

The latest daily case numbers mark some of the highest since the initial outbreak in the central city of Wuhan in late 2019 that is believed to have sparked the pandemic.

Gary writes:  "Is this a new Premonition?"

Enjoy

 

 

Group of physicians combats misinformation as unproven COVID-19 treatments continue to be prescribed

The group wants state boards to discipline doctors who spread misinformation.

By Soo Rin Kim,Laura Romero,Dr. Mark Abdelmalek, and Steve Osunsam

ihttps://abcnews.go.com/US/group-physicians-combats-misinformation-unproven-covid-19-treatments/story?id=83097330 

March 4, 2022

In July 2020, as the country faced its first summer wave of coronavirus cases, a group of physicians stood in front of the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court and held their first self-titled "White Coat Summit" to tout the unproven benefits of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment.

"It is called hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax," Dr. Stella Immanuel, a Houston-based primary care physician, told the crowd. "I know you people want to talk about a mask. Hello? You don't need a mask. There is a cure."

But as those doctors were promoting unproven COVID-19 cures like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, and denouncing proven non-pharmaceutical mitigation measures like mask-wearing and lockdowns, another group of physicians was emerging.

No License for Disinformation, a group of doctors motivated by the unproven claims of the White Coat Summit, came together with a mission to call on state medical boards and other governing bodies to take disciplinary measures against doctors spreading dangerous misinformation.

"They were anti-mask. They were anti-lockdown. They wanted everybody to believe that it was safe to continue life as normal," the group's founder, California physician Dr. Nick Sawyer, told ABC News. "It was anti all of the public health measures that had been put out as guidance to help prevent the transmission of this novel virus."

Calling the group that spoke on the steps of the Supreme Court "very well-funded physicians who are essentially weaponizing the white coat in order to spread disinformation," Sawyer said there has been an "institutional failure" by state medical boards to protect patients by not going after doctors more aggressively.

In Pennsylvania, Texas and Maine, some physicians have faced repercussions for spreading misinformation about coronavirus vaccines and treating COVID-19 patients with unproven drugs like ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine -- but Sawyer says there's still a long way to go.

"Disinformation is needlessly killing Americans. And the people who have the authority to stop just information, whether it be the social media platforms, legislators, the medical boards need to step up and protect the public from this dangerous, conspiratorial information that's being pushed out in a massively coordinated way," Sawyer told ABC News.

'We see it in real life'

(Continues at link above)

 National narcissism identified as a robust predictor of belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories

by Eric W. Dolan

 March 4, 2022

https://www.psypost.org/2022/03/national-narcissism-identified-as-a-robust-predictor-of-belief-in-covid-19-conspiracy-theories-62663

 

New research published Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin provides evidence that national narcissism is strongly tied to the spread of COVID-19 conspiracy theories. National narcissism, a type of collective narcissism, refers to the belief that one’s nation is exceptional and entitled to special treatment.

“We were interested in the role that conspiracy theories might play during the pandemic. The United Nations and the World Health Organization began using the term ‘infodemic’ during the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 to communicate the risk that misinformation might play in addressing the pandemic,” said study author Jay J. Van Bavel, an associate professor at New York University and author of “The Power of Us: Harnessing Our Shared Identities to Improve Performance, Increase Cooperation, and Promote Social Harmony.”

“I also wrote about the key role of misinformation and conspiracy theories, as well as collective narcissism, in my initial paper on COVID a few weeks later. This paper was a way to study those issues with a global sample and help understand what might predict the belief and dissemination of conspiracy theories during the pandemic.”

The researchers found consistent evidence that greater national narcissism was associated with stronger belief in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Those who scored higher on a measure of national narcissism were also more willing to disseminate conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. The findings were based on a survey of 293 U.S. adults, a survey of 637 U.K. adults, and a survey of 50,757 participants from 56 countries.

In all three surveys, the participants were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “I will never be satisfied until [my country] gets the recognition it deserves” and [My country] deserves special treatment.” They also indicated the extent to which they endorsed conspiracy theories about COVID-19, such as the belief that the Chinese government deliberately engineered and spread the virus as a bioweapon.

“People should understand that social identity plays a central role in how people construct beliefs,” Van Bavel told PsyPost. “This can, of course, be a good thing if you are part of a group that values accuracy and the well being of group members. Alternatively, it can be a bad thing if your identity involves inflated views of your group and an obsession with dominance or image management.”

“In this case, we found strong evidence across 56 different countries that this more narcissist form of collective identity is a very strong predictor of a bad outcome–the belief in conspiracy theories about the pandemic. And I want to underscore that this is a pretty big effect size, much larger than other factors we’ve explored in the domain of conspiracy theories and misinformation.”

The findings held even after the researchers controlled for national identification, belief in conspiracy theories unrelated to COVID-19, and political ideology. But the study, like all research, includes some limitations.

“The single biggest caveat is that we have no clear evidence of causation,” Van Bavel explained. “We tried to rule out a number of alternative explanations by statistically adjusting for relevant variables, but future research needs to find a way to experimentally manipulate collective/national narcissism. I think that is the most obvious future direction.”

The study, “National Narcissism predicts the Belief in and the Dissemination of Conspiracy Theories During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From 56 Countries“, was authored by Anni Sternisko, Aleksandra Cichocka, Aleksandra Cislak, and Jay J. Van Bavel.

 

MALA

 

 Middle Tennessee State University

College of Liberal Arts

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts

http://www.mtsu.edu/mala

MTSU’s Master of Arts in Liberal Arts is an innovative program allowing students to earn a graduate degree through a course of study built around the subjects that they find most interesting and captivating. Anyone holding a bachelor’s degree can pursue long-held or new passions through a personally customized program developed around individual interests. Lifelong learners, professionals, students returning to school after a break, and recent graduates can find flexibility to fit their educational needs through this unique master’s program. Students attend engaging courses and have opportunities to participate in projects in the region or even enroll in education-abroad courses around the world. Top-quality professors bring varying research and teaching interests to the classroom through inspiring instruction. The M.A. in Liberal Arts allows students to refine skills, expand horizons, learn for the joy of it, and obtain the graduate degree they have always wanted.

• Preparation for further graduate study, a new job, pursuits after retirement or lifelong learning

• 30 hours with full-time and part-time opportunities; evening and online classes available

• Specially designed courses taught by some of MTSU’s most engaging professors

• Flexible course selection to customize the program around your needs

• Options for studying independently with faculty on a particular topic and/or participating in MTSU faculty-led study abroad programs

• Customized advising to help you succeed

Interested? 

For more information contact:

MALA Program Director, Dr. Janet McCormick, Janet.McCormick@mtsu.edu

SUMMER 2022 MALA course offerings:

MALA 6030 (crn 51096) Monsters w/ Joan McRae online A-term 3 weeks 5/18-6/6

MALA 6040 (crn 51271) Health Comm w/ Mary Beth Asbury online A-term 5/26-6/26

MALA 6050 (crn 51937) Rationality w/ Phil Oliver web assist Tuesdays 5:15-8:15 in JUB 202 B-term 6 weeks 6/29-8/7

MALA 6040 (crn 50467) the Medieval Book w/ Laura Cochrane web assist MWF 5-7:30 in Todd 339 B-term 3 weeks 7/18-8/7

FALL 2022 MALA course offerings:

MALA 6000 (crn 83559) Foundations in Liberal Arts I Thursday evenings 5:15-8:15

MALA 6010 (crn 83561) Foundations in Liberal Arts II Thursday evenings 6-9

MALA 6040 (crn 84555) Rhetoric and Race w/ Roberta Chevrette Tuesday evenings 6-9

MALA 6030 (crn 86294) Oral History Methods w/ Louis Kyriakoudes Monday evenings 6-9

 

You could also do study abroad (MALA 6060) or independent study (MALA 6070), work on your thesis (MALA 6640) or Capstone project (MALA 6020) or work on any number of electives across the College of Liberal Arts (up to 6 hours can actually be from outside the CLA if needed).

Email me for more info and to request permits to register (janet.mccormick@mtsu.edu).

Dr. M

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President Biden will call for more limits on social media.

article : https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/us/politics/state-of-the-union-biden-social-media.html 

 Is the filtering of social media constitutional? Could such restrictions limit freedom?

“streaming platforms like YouTube are designed to get their users hooked by feeding them content the sites know will hold their attention. In turn, the critics say that young people can be fed increasingly extreme content or posts that diminish their self-worth.” 

Should the Government be responsible for taking care of our mental health? Would allowing them control based on your location prompt more illegal activity?

Times Square billboard urges Biden to reject Russian oil amid war with Ukraine Times Square billboard urges Biden to reject Russian oil amid war with Ukraine

ARTICLE: https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/times-square-billboard-biden-russian-oil

Do you agree with the notion Biden’s actions have caused the US to be dependent on foreign oil? 

Many argue “This is not the time to be debating global warming or talk about "save the environment." “ do you agree? Is the most effective way to end Russia by ramping up oil, gas drilling and production? (From the idea Halting Russian imports would drown the money driving the Russian government economy. Additionally, our own energy costs will drop as well.)

Does this conflict unveil the shortcomings of alternative energy as a short-term solution?

From this conflict it is obvious America requires oil and gas for national security, is the new protocol on energy since Biden practical? Do we have a choice?

although this article is politically charged (from FOX news)- I would appreciate the debate to be steered toward the realism of alternate energy replacing oil and the long term benefit despite the short term cost.