In the United States, February brings “Presidents’ Day” and some familiar stories, such as George Washington chopping down ye olde cherry tree, circulate anew. Sweet as it may sound about not lying to one’s father, this story is not true. Nor, to bite into a story of more recent vintage, did he have wooden teeth. Let’s skeptically consider a few of the many fables that regularly appear about current and past presidents, and critically think about the purposes they may serve. First, we need to address the initial fable of a “Presidents’ Day.” Yes, Martha, there is no such ... Read More
The Science Behind TGIF
November 4, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
As Charlie Brown has said for decades, happiness is a warm puppy. Researchers, however, say it’s really spending 1.7 hours more with family and friends. With help from Gallup, John F. Helliwell, an economist at the University of British Columbia, has discovered what seems, well, obvious: Americans are significantly happier on weekends and public holidays than during the workweek. In a recent study for the National Bureau of Economic Research, Helliwell and his colleague, Shun Wang, take a careful look at people’s daily emotions. Based on data that was collected by Gallup in a random ... Read More
All I Want for Christmas Is the Truth
December 20, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
By now, if you hear just one more elevator-version of "The Christmas Song," you may be ready to throw something other than those chestnuts on the open fire and bemoan the unending commercialization of the holiday season. Yet we should not throw our skeptical skills also on the Yule log and look uncritically at the stories and customs we may hold dear this time of year. When did Christmas become such a commercial event? Quite some time ago. Many holiday traditions are secular in origin and not religious at all. For example, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer began as a promotional character ... Read More
Bah! Humbug! And Other Traditions
December 1, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
Audio portions for this week's Wonking Week were from from: Outro from first story: Outro from third story: Outro to interview with Emily Badger ... Read More
What Would Jesus Buy?
November 22, 2010 • By • Leave a Comment
The editorial was blunt and caustic: Christmas, it complained, had become "a festival for store-keepers." Retail was replacing religion as the holiday's focus, and the editors of Ladies' Home Journal felt compelled to protest — in 1890. Six decades later, a group of French priests made a similar point in a literally more inflammatory way, hanging and burning an effigy of Santa Claus in front of several hundred children on Christmas Eve. The clerics condemned the bringer of presents as "a usurper and a heretic," according to an account by anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. As these ... Read More
The Meaning of ‘Boo’
October 29, 2009 • By • Leave a Comment
Unmasking Halloween Sadism Being frightened is part of the Halloween experience, but when it comes to sending our kids trick-or-treating, several studies suggest we're worrying about the wrong threat. Joel Best, a professor of sociology and criminal justice at the University of Delaware, has been tracking "Halloween sadism" — the practice of giving contaminated candies to trick-or-treaters — since the early 1980s. In a short paper summarizing his research on the subject, which he updates annually, he reports that poisoned treats are best seen as legend. "I have been unable to find a ... Read More
