Psychology for human rights
The publishing process in academic psychology journals isn’t typically known for its drama or intrigue. It’s true that there can be frustrations and challenges for aspiring authors. These include obtaining timely feedback from peer reviewers; adequately addressing often-disparate concerns and revision recommendations; and waiting the many months that frequently elapse between submitting a manuscript and …
Continue reading “Censorship at the American Psychological Association”
Recently, there have been troubling revelations about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — a leading 2024 GOP presidential aspirant — concerning his conduct as a Navy JAG officer at Guantanamo Bay. His responsibilities at the detention facility apparently included responding to claims of mistreatment from the war-on-terror prisoners there. Relatively few of these detainees had any connection with …
Continue reading “Ron DeSantis: Yet Another Cog in Guantanamo’s Torture Machine”
January 11, 2023 marks Guantanamo’s 21st anniversary as a “war on terror” prison where hundreds of men and boys have been subjected to degrading treatment, indefinite detention, and, in some cases, physical and psychological torture. In my view and that of my colleagues at the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology, one of the defining tragedies …
Continue reading “New Timeline: Torture, Psychology, and the War on Terror”
Given the horrific toll of the Iraq War, that disastrous misadventure hardly seems like a good template for combating COVID-19. Yet in key ways, recent pronouncements from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis—whose state is experiencing an overwhelming surge in cases and hospitalizations amid his prohibition on mask requirements—should remind us of the propaganda we once …
Continue reading “Rumsfeld Then, DeSantis Now: The Lies That Bind”
The following brief excerpt is from Political Mind Games: How the 1% Manipulate Our Understanding of What’s Happening, What’s Right, and What’s Possible by Roy Eidelson. A free PDF version of the book is available here. With the Change-Is-Dangerous vulnerability mind game, today’s plutocrats defend their agenda in a different way: by insisting that their …
Continue reading “Status Quo Bias and the “Change Is Dangerous” Mind Game”
In professional wrestling circles, the Legion of Doom is a name that conjures up the fearsome physiques and painted faces of one of the great tag teams of all time. In the political arena today, the same moniker aptly describes an even more daunting and dangerous duo: the profits-over-people corporate wing of the Democratic …
Continue reading “Beware the Bipartisan Legion of Doom: Corporate Democrats and Trump’s GOP”
“They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby The Outrage of Billionaires The data are stark and compelling. The richest …
Continue reading “Psychology’s “Dark Triad” and the Billionaire Class”
It has now been four years since the “Hoffman Report” presented extensive evidence of secret collaboration between leaders of the American Psychological Association (APA) and psychologists working for the Department of Defense (DOD). According to that independent review, the goal of collaboration was to ensure that APA ethics policies would not prevent psychologists from participating in war-on-terror detention …
Last month I had the opportunity to share some thoughts at a Divest Philly from the War Machine event, hosted by Wooden Shoe Books and sponsored by World Beyond War, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, and other anti-war groups. Below are my remarks, slightly edited for clarity. My thanks to everyone involved. ******** In late …
Continue reading “Give Peace a Chance: Don’t Believe the War Profiteers”
Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. — …
Continue reading “Stoking Fear: We Must Remember How the Iraq War Was Sold”