Shocker: Is Our World Becoming Less Violent?

Many believe the 20th century represents the pinnacle of human violence, but psychologist Steven Pinker argues that the opposite is true.

January 13, 2012

Humanity's lust for violence has undergone a long, precipitous decline at every level of social interaction, from domestic abuse to violent crime to interstate wars. That's the sweeping and somewhat counterintuitive thesis of psychologist Steven Pinker's new book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. The pacification of humanity, says Pinker, is “a fractal phenomenon, visible at the scale of millennia, centuries, decades, and years.”

Pinker writes that the “very idea invites skepticism, incredulity and sometimes anger.” He sets out to overcome that barrier by surveying a broad swath of data, from examinations of ancient bones unearthed in peat bogs and on long-forgotten battlefields, to homicide statistics based on European coroners' inquests and local records dating back 800 years, to databases of modern interstate conflicts and civil wars.

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Why Is an Atheist High School Student Getting Vicious Death Threats?

Her state representative has called the student "evil" and she has been threatened with violence, rape and death. What gives?

January 18, 2012

If you take away just two things from the story about atheist high school student Jessica Ahlquist, and the court case she won last week to have a prayer banner taken out of her public school, let it be these:

1. The ruling in this case was entirely unsurprising. It is 100 percent in line with unambiguous legal precedent, established and re-established over many decades, exemplifying a basic principle of constitutional law. 
2.  As a result of this lawsuit, Jessica Ahlquist is now being bullied, ostracized and threatened with violence in her community. She has been called "evil" in public by her state representative, and is being targeted with multiple threats of violence, rape and death.

Which leads one to wonder: What the hell is going on here?

Let's get #1 out of the way first. This court decision -- READ MORE

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No, the majority does not always rule.

In a constitutional democracy, people with minority, dissenting, or unpopular
opinions and identities have some basic rights, which the majority cannot take
away.

If the majority thought that everyone had to dye their hair brown, or that all
witches should be burned at the stake, the majority would not rule.

Redheads have the right not to dye their hair brown; witches have the right
not to be burned at the stake. No matter how much in the minority they are.
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