Social Elephant

Human beings are primates, and primates are political animals. Our brains, therefore, are designed not just to hunt and gather but also to help us get ahead socially, often via deception and self-deception. But while we may be self-interested schemers, we benefit by pretending otherwise. The less we know about our own ugly motives, the better - and thus, we don't like to talk, or even think, about the extent of our selfishness. This is "the elephant in the brain".

Rogue Elephant traces the radicalization of the Republican Party over the past 50 years, arguing that its subordination to Donald Trump was not an anomaly, but rather the culmination of processes at work for decades. Providing a new perspective on figures from Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush to the Tea Party and Donald Trump, it shows that the party's lurch to the far right was the product of a volatile mix of a disorganized party structure and a divided and fractious class of American business owners.

Completely revised and updated to tackle today’s issues, the 10th Anniversary Edition not only explains what framing is and how it works but also reveals why, after a brief stint of winning the framing wars in the 2008 elections, the Democrats have gone back to losing them, and what can be done about it. In this powerful new volume, George Lakoff delves into the issues that will dominate the midterm elections in 2014, the coming presidential elections, and beyond.

Training is created with the goal of changing learners' behaviors, but anyone who has created learning experiences knows that there's a big gap between knowing and doing. You can create an engaging learning experience that informs and helps people remember, but often those people go back to their regular world and continue to do things the same way they always have. In the last few decades, the fields of psychology, behavioral economics, and other behavioral sciences have brought an enormous amount of scientific research into helping people with behavior change.

As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption - even murder and genocide - generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie. In Lying, bestselling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie.

You see the giant footprints the moment you walk through the door. The conference room is a swirling mess of tension, heaviness, anxiety, and peanut shells. Something is very wrong with your team. Everybody knows it, but nobody is talking about it. It’s obvious there’s an elephant in the room. Is it an Avoidephant, feeding off the fears of retaliation and exclusion? Perhaps it’s a Blamephant—whom we love to feed because it makes us feel better about ourselves. In Don’t Feed the Elephants!, Sarah explores how you can address the true elephant in the room: avoidance.

'But Hillary is a known Luciferian,' he tried. 'She's not a known Luciferian,' I said. 'Well, yes and no,' he said. In The Elephant in the Room, Jon Ronson, the New York Times best-selling author of The Psychopath Test, Them, and So You've Been Publicly Shamed, travels to Cleveland at the height of summer to witness the Republican National Convention.

When 11-year-old Jack Martel crawls out of his pup tent on the first morning of his camping trip with his mom in Acadia National Park, he notices right away that something isn’t right. Where is his mom’s tent, and their rental car? And where is his mom? Any other kid might panic, might even go to the police. But Jack isn’t like other kids. And his mom isn’t like other moms. Jack knows that it’s up to him to find his mom before someone figures out what’s happened and separates them forever.

Starting school can be exciting—but making friends? That’s the tricky part! Join Ellie the Elephant in this funny and heartwarming rhyming adventure as she faces her fears about meeting new kids. With a little courage, some deep breaths, and a big dose of laughter, Ellie discovers the best trick of all: being herself! Perfect for kids entering preschool or elementary school, “Ellie the Elephant Makes a Friend” is packed with: ✅ Relatable lessons about friendship and overcoming shyness ✅ Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques like reframing negative thoughts and deep ...

This New York Times best seller is the authoritative guide to comprehending what happened in the 2004 elections and understanding how progressive thinkers can wrest control of America's political dialogue away from the conservatives who have it now.

Do you feel exhausted by tribalism? You aren't alone. As culture warriors divide the world into us and them—fracturing families, friendships, and churches—most of us long for an end to the constant fighting. But does a practical path exist? Jesus lived in a culture split by tribalism, but he resisted its allure by choosing something bigger: truth. He's now inviting you to apply his ancient path to the modern culture war. How would your community change if you became a catalyst for Christlike unity? Rejecting tribalism is the first step.

Exposing the dark secrets of welfare abuse ... or a handbook for living on the dole? An insider’s look at the inherent flaws of the American welfare system. Written as an irreverent critique in the form of a “how to” or “self-help” guide, it lays bare the techniques and motivations of the entitlement subculture, and it skewers all the sacred welfare cows ... and elephants. No preaching, just some disturbing truths sandwiched in among the humorous stories and unique characters written by someone with thirty-two years of experience in the field of public welfare. “The Department ...

Like one in six people in India, Sujatha Gidla was born an untouchable. While most untouchables are illiterate, her family was educated by Canadian missionaries in the 1930s, making it possible for Gidla to attend elite schools and move to America at the age of 26. It was only then that she saw how extraordinary - and yet how typical - her family history truly was.

Schools and systems face unprecedented challenges, such as falling attendance, recruitment, and retention issues; the validity of external monitoring of schools; and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI). In The Awkward Questions in Education, Al Kingsley tackles the tough, often-avoided issues plaguing the sector today. Drawing on over thirty-five years of experience, Kingsley explores the deep-seated challenges that many in education encounter daily and opens critical conversations that we need to have if we're to enact real, sustainable change.

Shooting an Elephant describes the experience of the English narrator, possibly Orwell himself, called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant while working as a police officer in Burma. Because the locals expect him to do the job, he does so against his better judgment, his anguish increased by the elephant's slow and painful death. The story is regarded as a metaphor for colonialism as a whole, and for Orwell's view that 'when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys'.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is the one who is credited with saying "The only thing that is constant is change." In the world of giving speeches this is especially true. One does not just suddenly become a great speaker. Rather, what happens is that we start to give speeches and gradually over time we get better at doing it. However, we'll never get any better at speaking in public if we don't know how to change.

Thirteen-year-old Nandu lives in the newly established Royal Elephant Breeding Center on the edge of the jungle. Here, the King's elephants are to be raised under the protective watch of the stable. Nandu - along with his adoptive father Subba-sahib, his mentors, friends, and the rest of the elephant drivers - is tested by man and nature as earthquakes, drought, wild herds, and rumors of poachers threaten the center.

Sometime in the future, when social scientists begin to write the first books about the failures of the West and the defunct American experiment, they will all confront this basic truth. Despite all the proclamations of freedom and equality, the realities of racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, and gross economic inequalities constantly belied these ideals. The narcissism and the racism the US and the West harbors through their blind commitment to individualism is destabilizing enough on its own to terrorize and implode nation-states.

Abandoned in the jungle of the Nepalese Borderlands, two-year-old Nandu is found living under the protective watch of a pack of wild dogs. From his mysterious beginnings, fate delivers him to the king's elephant stable, where he is raised by unlikely parents - the wise head of the stable, Subba-sahib, and Devi Kali, a fierce and affectionate female elephant. When the king's government threatens to close the stable, Nandu, now 12, searches for a way to save his family and community. A risky plan could be the answer.

Ella's counting the days until the first day of school, but not because she's eager to start! On the contrary, as the littlest elephant on Elephant Island, she's terribly nervous about the other kids she'll meet. Then she receives a beautiful red hat that belonged to her grandmother - her new lucky charm.