Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  QAnon offers a religious worldview, that has won the minds of some conservative American Christians. Katelyn Beaty ( 2020, August 17 ) opines “Once the fascination of far-right commentators and their followers, QAnon is no longer fringe.” Argentino calculates a huge increase in QAnon content ( 2020, July 8 ). I have been researching the QAnon movement since 2018. Based on my most recent social media analysis, QAnon has seen a 71 per cent increase in Twitter content and a 651 per cent increase on Facebook since March 2020. New Religious Movements (NRMs) used to be called cults, but behavioral scientists have dropped the term cult because of its negative connotation. Religious scholars remind us that at one time Christianity was considered a cult. QAnon appears to be an NRM with a strong attraction for some evangelical Christians concerned about their faith and their country. Hypotheses about the growth of QAnon are not in short supply . Pastor Jon Thorngate of Wiscons...

Why I don’t post about religion on my personal page.   I  have friends who have various religious beliefs or none at all on all continents except Antarctica. I respect their cultural traditions and I want the same respect. Friendship is about good relationships. I enjoy sharing news about family and friends, experiences we have in common like places we lived or schools we attended, and interesting places to see or visit. I’ve never cared for intrusive salespeople— religious or otherwise. If I want advice, I will do my own research or ask a friend. Perhaps that's why I like shopping online--I never liked sales people trying to push me into buying something I didn't really want. It's so damned annoying! It's worse when religious people want to force their books and pamphlets on you at your home or in your face in public spaces. The whole problem is one of disrespect. I have an interest in religion and I write about that. Interested friends can read my blogs about Cu...

Democratic Party Values Previously, I wrote about several Republican Party Platform issues and general Republican values. Then I brought the post up-to-date with the 2016 platform . In this post I look at the Democratic Party. My focus in primarily on culture rather than on party politics. But clearly, culture can change to the extent more people from a particular party govern according to their espoused values. Here’s a link to the previous platform . Taxes Democrats are known for tax structures that take less taxes from low income workers and more from those who earn more. This is referred to in the platform as paying a “fair share.” If you check the Republican platform, you will see a focus on closer to equal sharing of tax burdens, sometimes referred to as flatter . The question is “What is a fair share of taxes?” And the answer is it is up to you to decide! But here’s more about fairness . I think most Americans are willing to conced...