archive

Taboo impulses can be titillating

A new issue of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication is out. From Psychology Today, Seven Deadly Sentiments: Evolutionary psychology helps us understand why we are ashamed of having forbidden thoughts that make us feel like lousy people — strategies that led to success on the Pleistocene savanna; and taboo impulses can be titillating, but more often they're a source of concern for those who harbor secret wishes or unusual desires. A review of Freedom for the Thought That We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment by Anthony Lewis and Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality by Martha Nussbaum. The censor's dark materials: Censorship is a terrible thing — so thank goodness it never works, says Philip Pullman. When publishers are too intimidated to print even novels that may offend, it shows how far we’ve lost our way on free speech. Quinn Latimer reviews The Virgin Formica by Sharon Mesmer. From Public Ethics Radio, Thomas Pogge on pharmaceutical innovation. From TNR, with America in flames, it's time to revisit the righteously pissed-off work of C. Wright Mills: Alan Wolfe reviews The Politics of Truth: Selected Writings of C. Wright Mills; and Todd Palin, The New Hillary: What Democrats should remember when running against a scandal-ridden, hatred-inspiring, outside-DC couple.