Truth and consequences: For about a decade, we’ve been shocked by reports from social scientists finding that people are likely to believe falsehoods (like “side effects of the flu vaccine are worse than the flu” or “Obama is a Muslim”) even if they’re explicitly debunked. Dan Engber takes a second look at some of those studies, and wonders how real the terrifying “boomerang effect” really is.
This guy: Heard the latest installment in the Bannon vs. Trump saga? Take it with a grain of salt, Ben Mathis-Lilley advises; consider the source.
Loving something: The Last Jedi is really about fandom and its considerable perils, Andrew Kahn argues.
New firmament: The Movie Club (2017 edition) is underway. Amy Nicholson looks at last year’s offerings and finds that the criteria for megastardom seems to have shifted considerably; K. Austin Collins wishes for an end to the curse of “timeliness.”
For fun: Poor drones didn’t have a great holiday.
Good old drone dads,
Rebecca
