Links – 07/31/2017

  • According to a Pew Research Center survey, Democrats and people who lean Democrat in the US are way more intolerant of political disagreement than Republicans and people who lean Republican, at least when it comes to Trump. Interestingly, but not surprisingly (at least not if you’re used talking to them), this is mostly true because of white, educated Democrats.
  • Ilya Somin published a very good piece on why Nancy MacLean’s book on James Buchanan is conceptually misguided. He also links to several other articles which show that, even as a work of history, it’s completely worthless. I listened to her interview on Democracy Now a while ago and I was astonished by how stupid it was, even by the standards of American so-called progressivism. In a blog post, Jason Brennan said that she was either incompetent or a liar, but those are not mutually exclusive and it’s clear she is both.
  • Lee Jussim has a good piece in Psychology Today in which he argues that, if women are underrepresented in STEM fields, it’s mostly because they have different interests and skills than men rather than because of discrimination. I defended a similar view in my essay about women in philosophy.
  • Many people, including me until recently, think the Gulf Stream explains why North America is so much colder than Europe. However, as this article explains, this is a myth. You should read this if you want to know what factors really make the climate in Europe so mild compared to North America.
  • Tod Lindberg wrote a very good piece in the Weekly Standard in which he argues that “the idea Donald Trump is going to be removed from office is about the most farfetched fantasy in the rich history of Washington partisan delusion”. Perhaps the most important point he makes is that, when they predict Trump’s imminent impeachment, Democrats only consider the cost Republicans would have to bear by continuing to support him, but they never consider the cost they would have to bear if they went after him, which is and always will be greater.

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