Notices by Alfie Kohn (alfiekohn@sciences.social)

The American Public Health Assn. has declared that racism is a public health crisis. Ordinary bigots might try to deny that this is true. But the ubervillains of the Trump-Musk regime have responded, in effect, "What that tells us is that we need to destroy not just antiracist projects but the entire enterprise of public health."

Being a buffoon isn't incompatible with being a dangerous tyrant. Similarly, we should resist the temptation to laugh off the "Gulf of America" thing. Yeah, it's pathetic and ripe for mocking memes, but the historical precedents are deeply worrisome: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/26/trumps-gulf-of-america-authoritarians

Pushing back on the absurdity of making young kids work a second academic shift when they get home from school: At the beginning of the year, a mom explains to her child's teacher, respectfully but firmly, that the child simply will not be doing any homework: https://www.alfiekohn.org/opting-out-of-homework/

Another parent, meanwhile, responds with pointed satire, patiently helping her kids' teachers to understand that home tasks (e.g., laundry, pet care) will have to spill over into school time: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/thirty-minutes-tops_b_3861853

In case you weren't convinced by the Nazi salute or his outspoken support for the neoNazi party in Germany, here's more evidence of just how monstrous this guy is - the guy to whom Trump has given carte blanche to destroy our government:

https://bsky.app/profile/sharonk.bsky.social/post/3liia43mlms2a

MAGA to-do list:
1. Decimate Gesellschaft
2. Poison Gemeinschaft

The optics of this are so bad that you have to figure that's the whole point: It's a swaggering declaration that the administration will be corrupt from top to bottom, no one can stop them, and they don't care who knows it.

Anyone who's reasonably psychologically minded and has watched macho MAGA males like Hegseth has figured this out already, but research confirms that "extreme demonstrations of masculinity" are driven by a need to overcompensate: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/668417. We're all suffering for their insecurity.

Other studies have shown that fragile masculinity correlates with voting for Trump (& for other Reps in '18) (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-justice-pacifists/202107/why-do-some-men-support-aggressive-policies-and-politicians), and w/ the # of evangelicals in a state (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12717).

Lily Zheng, author of "Reconstructing DEI," observes that if a company is able to eliminate its DEI initiatives overnight (in deference to the Trump-Musk regime), that raises serious questions about the depth and sincerity of those initiatives.

For purposes of resistance, we need to realize that the regime in power is bent on destroying not only a diverse, pluralistic democracy but a *secular* democracy. This march to authoritarianism is very much a religious crusade.

I can't bring myself to check out investment forums or financial websites these days because I know the chatter will be all about "how to play [i.e., figure out how to profit from] the demolition of democracy." (Which is pretty much the worldview that helped to bring this about in the first place.)

Calling the end of democracy "populism" or "an end to wokeness" boosts positive feelings and improves perceptions, unlike labeling it "fascism"

Following a (rare) mass shooting, Sweden responds the way any rational country would, tightening its "already strict gun laws" in order to protect human life and to avoid the nightmare scenario: coming to resemble the United States

A perpetual sense of grievance on the part of the dominant group: whites, men, and Christians. "Wahh! We're the real victims!"

From four years ago: The current Supreme Court "suffers from the same Christian-fragility disease as does Trump’s base—as though Christianity is under attack when others ask for equal treatment”: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/12/how-supreme-court-champions-religious-liberty/617284/

It takes all the emotional resources I can marshal to live with the fact that the answer appears to be no

The Trump regime's reign in one photo

Sort of like saying GoogleMaps worked well until we tried to find the Gulf of Mexico?

When elected officials lie on social media, it's not because that's just what politicians do. It's not due to "polarization" or "the times we live in." A large, new, international study finds that fake news is disproportionately spread by far-right populist parties: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19401612241311886

When too much money (and therefore power) ends up in the hands of emotionally stunted boys with repulsive values:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/16/i-knew-one-day-id-have-to-watch-powerful-men-burn-the-world-down-i-just-didnt-expect-them-to-be-such-losers

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Want more? Start with (and share) this accessible animated video: https://youtu.be/wD4IRdeR0tE.
For the supporting research (i.e., the *real* science of reading), see these books and articles:

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Prof. Constance Weaver: “Overemphasizing phonics may be especially damaging for children who have had few experiences with books prior to school” - a caution that will ring true with good teachers (even if it eludes those holding forth far from classrooms).

"The problem with systematic & comprehensive teaching of any literacy skills is that the goal...become[s] the acquisition of the skills...instead of...fostering eager, independent, and critical students who read": https://radicalscholarship.com/2023/04/18/beyond-reading-skills-phonics-vocabulary-and-knowledge/