The Denial File
What We Can't Think About—and Why
Addiction and Rescue: The Pledge Goes Viral
Kirby Farrell | November 7, 2015
If you’d like to be rescued from death, vote for me. That’s the gist of a video clip Huffington Post put on Facebook. In it a …
Rampage as a Team Instinct: When symbolism breaks down
Kirby Farrell | October 18, 2015
We’re social animals, with an instinct for group competition that’s evolved to intensify solidarity, as in team spirit. Cooperation to win makes the group stronger …
The Self as Schtick: Life as a Bad Movie
Kirby Farrell | September 11, 2015
Spoiler alert! If a story can be spoiled by knowing “the ending,” then the ending is likely to be an entertaining surprise, the answer to a puzzle or …
Superman needs you: Do you have a super need?
Kirby Farrell | August 27, 2015
Great leaders, they say, have “magnetism.” Their “charisma” casts a spell. But it’s really a collaboration. Hitler staged the Nuremburg rallies, but thousands had to show …
Hunting Bwana the Dentist
Kirby Farrell | August 27, 2015
A Minnesota dentist has paid tens of thousands of dollars to “hunt” a rhino, an elk, a leopard, and lately Cecil the 13 year old celebrity lion …
Lethal Absurdity
Phil Hansten | June 26, 2015
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind. H. L. Mencken We …
The Worm at the Core
The Denial File | June 12, 2015
Of Recent Interest… is the new book The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life, by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg and …
Don’t Be Fooled by Arresting Logic
Kirby Farrell | June 10, 2015
It was bound to happen. Protests against police killings have triggered a propaganda backlash. In the Wall Street Journal—now part of the Fox news empire—Heather …
Tattoos and Identity: Choose not a life of imitation
Kirby Farrell | May 29, 2015
Believe it or not, there’s actually a website pitching “nine brilliant lyrical tattoo ideas that will have leave an indelible impression on your skin and your soul.” Even …
The Bear Hug and the Boogie Man: Are You Asleep Yet?
Kirby Farrell | April 26, 2015
WW2 didn’t end, it came back from the graveyard as the zombie Cold War. Instead of demobilizing, armies pumped up threat displays that brought the …
Murder in a Locked Room: When fear is more dangerous than an open door
Kirby Farrell | April 11, 2015
You’ve read about the young Germanwings co-pilot who apparently locked the pilot out of the cockpit, took over the controls, and killed 150 people in a ghastly crash. …
Boston Strong: Engendering Self-Examination
Edward Mendelowitz | April 4, 2015
The 2014 Boston Marathon took place, like last year’s, on Patriot’s Day on a glorious spring day here in transcendentalist New England. It was a …
When Love Kills: The Romance of Hero-Worship
Kirby Farrell | March 27, 2015
In every relationship, as the saying goes, one person agrees to love, the other to be loved. It’s heroes and hero-worship: the parties agree to make …
Killing the Cartoon: Terrorism and the Struggle to be Real
Kirby Farrell | February 6, 2015
Headlines make the terrorist massacre in Paris a monumental “clash of civilizations.” Play by play, the police kill the killers. World leaders link arms for the cameras …
Killing Me Softly: In a hair-trigger society, the stress is quicker than the eye
Kirby Farrell | December 28, 2014
Last week as I was doing a live podcast with Dr. Sophy, a listener called in wondering if Americans today are less trustworthy. This got …
Guilty Games: Even law officers can behave like children when found guilty (Part Two)
Kirby Farrell | December 13, 2014
If you ever doubted that humans are childlike creatures, watch the video that shows New York City police arresting—and killing—a 42 year old black father …
The Child Cop and the Monster: Police Killing and the Psychology of Abandon
Kirby Farrell | December 3, 2014
Police stops are scripted to minimize the chance of an emotional blowout. Stick to the rules and roles and nobody gets hurt. In Ferguson Missouri, …
The Placebo Diet: Thinking through the paleo principle
Kirby Farrell | November 15, 2014
The Paleolithic or Stone Age Diet, they tell me, really works. By eating like our ancestors before Farmer Brown started planting about 10,000 years ago, folks …
Who Can You Trust?
Kirby Farrell | September 25, 2014
“Only one-third of Americans say most people can be trusted,” according to a 2013 poll. “Half felt that way in 1972.” These days, “a record …
Antonin Scalia and the Sleep of Reason
Phil Hansten | September 17, 2014
“…the gallows is not merely a machine of death, but the oldest and most obscene symbol of that tendency in mankind which drives it towards …