Second Anniversary Post
An index to a year's worth of weekly essays
"Bao Bao Celebrates Her Second Birthday" by Smithsonian's National Zoo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Sharpen Your Axe made another year without missing a single weekly essay! Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, who reads the essays and who shares them on social media. Today’s post, which is actually a week late, will summarize the essays we have published since the first anniversary.
The highlight of the year was no doubt publishing the revised version of the Sharpen Your Axe e-book at the lowest price Amazon would allow in October. The new version of the book looks at why arguing on social media is a toxic hobby and how to do better. The blog post announcing the launch is available here.
You can find the US version here, the UK version here and the version on Spanish Amazon here. Other versions are available on your local Amazon store. The book has been formatted for the Kindle, but if you don’t have a Kindle device, don’t worry! You can read it on your phone, tablet or computer. You just need to download the Kindle software for Android, Apple or Windows for free first.
The origins of this project began around 2015, when I first became concerned that unfounded conspiracy theories were leading people astray. My first attempts to argue with conspiracy theorists on social media just triggered cognitive dissonance and were no use to anyone. I tried to develop a better way.
More recently, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory have tried to hold a coup in the US on 6th January 2021. Believers in the conspiracy cult have also tried to organize a coup in Germany; and former President Donald Trump (the movement’s hero) has threatened to revoke the US Constitution. I think my fears seven years ago were fully justified!
Sharpen Your Axe is meant to provide an alternative - skepticism tempered by Bayesian statistics and intellectual honesty, with plenty of storytelling to keep you interested. You can find links to a year’s worth of essays below. I hope you enjoy them!
Amateur Research
Conversational underperformers
Catalan Nationalism
Why do people incorrectly think that Catalan nationalism is progressive?
How are Catalan nationalists able to spread such questionable narratives?
Confidence tricks
Deep Issues
Finance, Business and Macro-Economics
Health
Left-Wing Politics
Socialism and social democracy
Liberalism
Building the innovation society
Populism, nationalism and extremism
Racism
Family secrets (follow-up to previous post)
Social Media
Spanish politics
Some of the posts are likely to trigger strong emotions in Catalan nationalists, many of whom think that the path to victory involves being annoying on the internet. I have switched off the comments for the week. Life is too short! See you next week!
Further Reading
The post to celebrate the first anniversary
Sharpen Your Axe is a project to develop a community who want to think critically about the media, conspiracy theories and current affairs without getting conned by gurus selling fringe views. Please subscribe to get this content in your inbox every week. Shares on social media are appreciated!
If this is the first post you have seen, I recommend starting with the first-anniversary post. You can also find an ultra-cheap Kindle book here. If you want to read the book on your phone, tablet or computer, you can download the Kindle software for Android, Apple or Windows for free.
Opinions expressed on Substack, Twitter and Mastodon are those of Rupert Cocke as an individual and do not reflect the opinions or views of the organization where he works or its subsidiaries.