Working on a longer post that still needs some development and more thoughts, but I wanted to share some of my weekly readings. I love politics, and Sarah makes fun of me all the time for watching Meet the Press. Many times I’ve seen talking politics on social media go wrong, and as a rule I try to keep my mouth shut (which I sometimes break), but saw this interesting article on Americans ignoring facts. I don’t see this as a left or right issue, just one when we get our mind set,  it is very hard to keep an open mind:

As a rule, misinformed people do not change their minds once they have been presented with facts that challenge their beliefs. But beyond simply not changing their minds when they should, research shows that they are likely to become more attached to their mistaken beliefs. The factual information “backfires.” When people don’t agree with you, research suggests that bringing in facts to support your case might actually make them believe you less.

In other words, fighting the ill-informed with facts is like fighting a grease fire with water. It seems like it should work, but it’s actually going to make things worse.

Even more than politics, I love Southwest Virginia and the Appalachian region. So anytime I can read some article about the history of the region, economic development, or some hillbilly hit piece on how uneducated, impoverished or any other stereotypes “big city” journalists write, I must consume it. Here are a few from this week:

Also started The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy by David M. Smick. Only made it to chapter 1 so far, but very interested to read after some time has played out since the book was written.

Oh in other news I saw a deer today

A post shared by Josh Sawyers (@jsawyers) on


Have a good week!