Some interesting links from around the Internet:
- If you’re a news junkie, then more likely than not your diet is full of bad news. Add a little variety with this recap of twenty things that got better in 2018 from Lucy Purdy at Positive News: What went right in 2018.
- When we want to know what the American people think, we turn to public opinion polls. But are those polls really accurate? What incentive do poll respondents have to be honest in their answers? Are they influenced by political correctness and virtue signaling? And how firmly do they support one position or another when they have haven’t given the question any considered thought or reflection? Scott Sumner at The Library of Economics and Liberty makes the case that maybe we shouldn’t pay much attention to public opinion polls in The many problems with public opinion.
- Peter Jackson’s new movie They Shall Not Grow Old is an amazing technical achievement that brings to life old footage from the First World War like never before. But did Jackson take too many liberties to put together a story? And what about the stories of the soldiers that Jackson leaves out? Tim Carmondy at Kottke critiques the film in Against Peter Jackson’s “They Shall Not Grow Old”.
- Commenters on the Internet often confuse giving offense with imparting truth. Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal explains the YouTube Commenter’s Fallacy.