Notices by Alfie Kohn (alfiekohn@sciences.social), page 2

Can you find the common denominator?

The psychoanalyst Erich Fromm recalled that, as a boy, "whenever someone told me he was a businessman I always felt a little embarrassed. I'd think: God, he must feel awful having to admit that he's not doing anything else with his life except earning money."

Much has been written about Trump's fascist aesthetic: gold and marble everywhere, an enormous arch, huge banners featuring Dear Leader's scowling face on government buildings, and so on. But a spectacle sponsored by the regime in which two people in a cage savagely pummel each other, the goal being to cause agony and/or injury to the point of immobility, for our entertainment? This brings us closer to the core of a true fascist sensibility.

If you've ever taught, had a child in, or just attended high school, you won't want to miss the new episode of Kohn's Zone: "'Progressive High School' Is Not an Oxymoron," featuring a conversation with democratic education scholar and longtime principal George Wood: https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

I mean, sure, when you list what Paxton has done like that, he doesn't look so hot. But weigh all his crimes and scandals against the facts that his opponent doesn't always eat meat and thinks trans people are human beings.
https://thebarbedwire.com/2026/02/17/ken-paxton-scandal-timeline/

When xenophobia trumps science:
https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-researchers-face-new-restrictions-publishing-foreign-collaborators

Intriguing: Research finds that the rank-and-file workers who carry out the immoral orders of authoritarian regimes usually aren't motivated by either ideological commitment or fear. They're "loyal losers" who are offered a way to salvage their careers: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/world/americas/actually-democracy-dies-in-hr.html?unlocked_article_code=1.j1A.A767.yRU-KeNoO9i_&smid=url-share.
Obvious implications for the U.S.:

The NAACP is suing Musk's A.I. company for polluting neighborhoods by illegally running gas turbines. So of course Trump's DOJ is intervening....to defend Musk: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/climate/elon-musk-xai-data-center-doj.html

It makes perfect sense that we're witnessing efforts to undermine multiethnic democracy (with the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act) and secular democracy (with a taxpayer-funded Christian nationalist spectacle) simultaneously. Racism and state-sanctioned religion go hand-in-hand.

Conservatives who are outraged about "grade inflation" never actually prove that A's are inflated (i.e., undeserved); they seem to think that many students getting A's is inherently objectionable.
The new episode of Kohn's Zone - "Grade Inflation Is Not the Problem" - unpacks the troubling assumptions behind their indignation: https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

The universe - and all known principles of human psychology - again make sense now that our initial assumption has been confirmed: No one has ever loved Stephen Miller.
https://www.rawstory.com/stephen-miller-2676875552/

Drinking salt water when you're thirsty just makes you thirstier.

Competing to feel better about yourself ultimately makes you feel worse about yourself (even if you win).

And guess what new research finds about the effect of interacting with chatbots when you're lonely?
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09567976261427747

"Some conservatives have recognized the huge benefits of progressive classroom practices, but they only want them for their own children" - or for those those who can afford them. (For the masses: direct instruction and worksheets.) Short, thoughtful essay by historian Adam Laats: https://iloveyoubutyouregoingtohell.org/2018/02/06/the-tortuous-triumph-of-progressive-education/

"Cold calling" puts students on the spot and forces them to perform on command. But even making willing students raise their hands and wait to be called on is problematic. What's the alternative? Listen to the latest Kohn's Zone episode: "The Best Class Discussions, Hands Down" - https://www.alfiekohn.org/podcasts/

I mean, if Big Tech is going to commit to anthropomorphizing chatbots, they might as well go all the way: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-executive-suggests-ai-agents-buy-software-licenses-seats-2026-4

Four out of five fascists recommend having another big helping of Orbán when you're hungary

RE: https://fediscience.org/@petergleick/116364648954666281

Ah - you must be thinking of the pre-MAGA United States, a country that also ratified climate-change agreements

https://newrepublic.com/article/208322/pete-hegseth-religion-war-iran-sadism-rage

Corrupt insider trading on the war -- bad.
Surge in fuel prices and resulting worldwide economic dislocation - bad.
But neither of these should distract us from the primary evil: the U.S. and Israel's mass killing of Iranian civilians. (Pictured here: not a military target but an apartment building in Tehran.)

I'm often asked whether I've seen any tangible results from all the hundreds of research-informed presentations I've done at schools and universities. Well, I don't want to brag, but let's just say that it's been many years since I've had to buy a coffee mug or a sweatshirt.