Collin G Brooke
@cgbrooke
I’m a rhetoric professor in upstate NY.
Collin G Brooke
cgbrooke.substack.com
One of the most intelligent case studies in design is the Chinese tea cup. They’re made without handles simply because if it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to drink.
Humans naturally want to add more. Add a cardboard sleeve, add a warning on the outside of the cup, add a handle. The result of all these things never cools down the actual contents.
... See moreI think we are trained, particularly on the left, to be critical of performance. And I feel we should be more honest in acknowledging that performance is crucial to politics. It doesn't mean it's the only factor––that policy or other factors don't matter. But it is a defining feature.
Conor Friedersdorf • The Charisma-vs.-Charm Election
A common argument for not regulating speech is that “good” speech will defeat “bad” speech. But that will not happen if the fight is fixed to give the “bad” speech so much more voice.
Steven Brill • The Death of Truth
Wisdom lies in discernment, and utopianism and nostalgia alike are ways of abandoning discernment.
Alan Jacobs • Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader's Guide to a More Tranquil Mind
There are three major psychological weapons that combatants often transfer into culture war: scapegoating, deception, and violent threats.
Annalee Newitz • Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind
Discursive rationality is today under threat from affective communication. We allow ourselves to be easily affected by fast sequences of information. It is quicker to appeal to affect than to rationality. In affective communication, it is not the better argument but the most exciting information that prevails. Fake news is more interesting than
... See moreDaniel Steuer • Infocracy
Not knowing and not being able to know is the meaning of irony today. Not saying or doing the opposite of what one means, but refusing to reveal whether or not one really means not to mean it.
Ian Bogost • Play Anything
we distrust to the point that it becomes dangerous to be a judge, a Capitol Police officer, a doctor, a librarian, a poll worker, or someone installing 5G equipment—our civil society cannot function. The winners then will be those who try to rule by force rather than consent.
Steven Brill • The Death of Truth
The platforms’ business model is dependent on the volume and velocity of the inflammatory content being offered. It is not a side issue. It is the driving metric. The more engaging the content, the more eyeballs. The more eyeballs, the more advertising revenue.