Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Joe Pierre, MD

@psychunseen.bsky.social

11K followers 640 following 790 posts

Academic psychiatrist at UCSF and author of the Psych Unseen blog at Psychology Today and the book False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True (Oxford University Press, 2025) drjoepierre.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · May 26

Ever wonder "how can someone believe THAT?"

My book "FALSE: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True" (Oxford University Press, 2025) explains why.

Please give it a read, spread the word, and write a review! 🙏

drjoepierre.com/index.php/fa...

4 15 31

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 2d

“Have no false idols before me”

www.foxbusiness.com/technology/t...

Text With Jesus app draws thousands as creator says AI can help people explore scripture

AI chatbot developer Stéphane Peter tells FOX Business he is "not particularly religious" and that the response to the app has been "overwhelmingly positive."

www.foxbusiness.com

2 3

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 2d

“Have no false idols before me”

www.foxbusiness.com/technology/t...

Text With Jesus app draws thousands as creator says AI can help people explore scripture

AI chatbot developer Stéphane Peter tells FOX Business he is "not particularly religious" and that the response to the app has been "overwhelmingly positive."

www.foxbusiness.com

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 6d

I think you might appreciate my book then, in which I emphasize mistrust, misinformation, and motivated reasoning as lying at the core of false beliefs, including those related to politics.

www.amazon.com/dp/0197765270/

False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things that Aren't True

Amazon.com: False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things that Aren't True: 9780197765272: Pierre MD, Joe: Books

www.amazon.com

1 2

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 6d

George Packer hits the nail on the head, describing exactly what has come of American democracy.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

1 6 17

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 8d

Is it not yet another example of hypocrisy in the extreme that Pete Hegseth lectured the military this morning about “fat generals” and returning to the “highest male standard“ while the Commander in Chief’s corpulent physique loomed in the background?

3 1 10

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 15d

"This is based on what I feel" may as well be America's epitaph.

"President Trump on Monday repeated false claims about vaccine safety and called for changes to the childhood immunization schedule...

“This is based on what I feel,” Trump said."

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Trump’s escalating attacks on vaccines shock public health leaders

Trump promoted long-debunked claims that vaccines can cause autism as he called for changes to the childhood immunization schedule sought by anti-vaccine activists.

www.washingtonpost.com

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 16d

Breaking news: Tylenol during pregnancy does NOT increase the risk of autism.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability

This nationwide cohort study with sibling control analysis examines the association of acetaminophen use during pregnancy with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability.

jamanetwork.com

4 16 54

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 17d

Must read:

"The problem with constantly hearing about impending collapse as life goes on looking very much the same is that the urgency tends to dissipate."

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Authoritarianism Feels Surprisingly Normal—Until It Doesn’t

Life in Venezuela was deceptively mundane. Then everything collapsed.

www.theatlantic.com

1 5

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 20d

First they came for the immigrants
And I did not speak out
Because I was not an immigrant
Then they came for the transgendered
And I did not speak out
Because I was not transgendered...
...And then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

Ken Klippenstein @kenklippenstein.bsky.social · 20d

The FBI is preparing to label transgender people as “violent extremists” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/fbi-readie...

FBI Readies New War on Trans People

“We’re looking at the entire web”

www.kenklippenstein.com

2 7

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 20d

Where are all the 1A / 2A supporters now?

www.cnn.com/2025/09/04/p...

Trump DOJ is looking at ways to ban transgender Americans from owning guns, sources say | CNN Politics

Senior Justice Department officials are weighing proposals to limit transgender people’s right to possess firearms, according to two officials familiar with the internal discussions.

www.cnn.com

3 3

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 20d

Unfortunately Dave, that's precisely how authoritarianism "works."

Adrienne LaFrance @adriennelaf.bsky.social · 20d

Just now at The Atlantic Festival in New York, David Letterman to @jeffreygoldberg.bsky.social: “You can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian—a criminal—administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works.”

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 20d

100%

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 20d

100%

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 21d

Precisely. In another version, I included the word "murder" in place of "prosecute."

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 21d

Since Antifa doesn't exist in any structural or organizational way, it seems obvious that designating "it" as a terrorist organization is merely a way to claim that anyone opposing the Trump administration is affiliated and therefore fair game to prosecute under the Patriot Act.

2 2 25

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 21d

People who claim to stand for "free speech" are often perfectly content when voices they don't like are silenced.

1 3 12

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 23d

What is Trump trying to say about the people who do like him?

PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 @patriottakes.bsky.social · 24d

Trump: “Smart people don’t like me”

1 1 8

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 23d

A lot of that discussion was about a polarized America butting heads, as if it was an equal fight between two sides. Or musings about the right using violence to overthrow the Biden left.

Now the authoritarian right is in power and I'm not hearing much about anyone putting up an actual fight.

1 1

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 23d

There's been a lot of talk about Civil War in recent years, but there weren't many who had unilateral violent oppression of liberals by a right-wing authoritarian regime on their bingo card.

And yet, that's where we're headed now.

And in retrospect, it's exactly why Trump was elected.

Alan Elrod @aselrod.bsky.social · 23d

“When certain far-right voices vow retribution in response to Kirk’s murder, they’re seizing on it as a bad-faith pretext to wage open warfare on liberals and leftists who are not guilty of any political violence at all.” @gregsargent.bsky.social absolutely nails it

newrepublic.com/article/2004...

Trump Just Went on Fox and Issued an Unnerving Threat Against Liberals

At a time when right-wing extremists are calling for open season on liberals and the left, the president of the United States just told them: Hey, go for it.

newrepublic.com

9 35 110

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 24d

Lara Loomer's tweet clearly illustrates what I explain here about why people support dictators and authoritarianism—they see it as a way to quash their cultural and ideological opposites, whether real, imagined, or contrived.

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...

1 3 7

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 25d

AI chatbots: garbage in, garbage out

www.semrush.com/blog/ai-mode...

1 1

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 25d

FALSE is now available at Amazon for the insanely low price of $5.

That's cheaper than it would cost me to mail you a free copy.

No better time than now to pick one up and write a review!

www.amazon.com/dp/0197765270/

3 9

Reposted by Joe Pierre, MD

Dan Nexon @dhnexon.bsky.social · Aug 30

🧵 Authoritarianism, Democratization, and Coalition Politics.

The consensus around here is, more or less, that the United States is currently a consolidating authoritarian regime controlled by a mix of reactionary populists and fascists.

65 730 1.7K

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 25d

If, by talking about "civil war" in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, you mean cutting off the more radical, extremist part of MAGA conservatism from the rest of the Republican party, then please bring it on.

1 5

Joe Pierre, MD @psychunseen.bsky.social · 25d

I had a feeling this was coming.

Given what we know about LLMs, it seems like a really bad idea.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/15/a...

They’re Stuffed Animals. They’re Also A.I. Chatbots.

www.nytimes.com

3 1 5