“Idée fixe” is a term that everybody should know. It means a viewpoint that will never change. One such idée fixe is that terrorist groups with opposing ideologies will never work together. This is false. Because they have converging interests, terrorists engage in “coopetition” or “cooperative competition.” I knew that Iran supported the Islamic State….
This is why the world is a mess
October 17, 2015
I’m an optimist. My view is that in the long run, we’re destined for improvement as a species. The reason that the world is a mess is that far too many people are crippled by idées fixe. They know nothing, but they have strong opinions and act on them. These are the classic low-information citizens…
The Great Ham Debacle of 1993
December 20, 2013
When I read news articles and listen to the radio, the one constant is the state of confusion people have about what motivates the bad decisions we see being made daily. Our government is utterly dysfunctional, companies do really crazy things that alienate their customers, individuals mess up their lives to a level of parody,…