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The room hummed with giggles and mutters of “one, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war,” as a few dozen educators thumb-wrestled their way through a presentation on systems thinking.

Sound strange? Imagine, then, doing it with your students to illustrate how preconceived notions can influence actions. Instructor Joan Yates, project manager for systems thinking in the Catalina Foothills School District in Tucson, Arizona, asked the teachers to thumb-wrestle for one minute with the goal of getting the most pins as possible.

Most took that to mean the goal was to win. After all, a game requires a winner – right? In systems thinking, the answer is: Not necessarily. Yates pointed out that her instructions were to get the most pins; to actually get the most, the participants should have cooperated and taken turns getting pins, without a winner.

The exercise is just one example of how teachers can introduce systems thinking concepts to students. It’s an approach that incorporates instructional tools to enhance learning about literature, history, current events, and science, and uses exercises to train students to think differently.

In a nutshell, Yates says, systems thinking considers the relationship between the parts of a system, and the “dynamics those relationships produce.” A system can be anything – a novel, a historical event, a culture, a scientific formula. All are made up of different pieces that form the “system.” In systems thinking, you look at the whole of something, the individual parts of that whole, how those parts make the “whole” what it is, and how one action to a piece of the system can affect the entire thing.

Change those habits

Systems thinking in education helps develop students who can understand the value of other opinions, and see things from a different perspective, Yates says. Introducing mental modeling, which is ingrained assumptions that ultimately influence how we see things and what we do, can be a good place to start.

The thumb-wrestling exercise, and others, such as asking students to fold their hands or cross their arms in the opposite way they normally do or walk up stairs starting with the opposite leg, encourages students to throw off their own mental models. They have to step out of their comfort zones and try new ways of looking at things.

Yates says it’s important to take time to do these physical activities because the more senses that are engaged, the more likely someone will retain the material and really get out of those comfort zones. “It shocks people,” Yates says. “It discombobulates people enough that they physically feel. It gets them on more than one level. You increase the likelihood that someone will retain it, the more senses you engage.”

Systems thinkers also develop certain “habits,” or ways of approaching problems and situations. The Waters Foundation, which supports systems thinking in schools, has 13 habits. If you use some of the systems thinking lessons and tools, students will start to develop these habits, but you can introduce them specifically.

The habits of systems thinkers include: considering long and short-term consequences of actions (such as, if you have money, thinking both about what happens if you spend it immediately and if you put it in the bank); recognizing there might be unintended consequences to your actions; identifying the circular nature of complex cause and effect relationships (the bee buzzing around the flower is a system, where the bee needs the flower and the flower needs the bee); and looking at things from different angles and perspectives.

Tools for teaching

Practicing systems thinking in schools can be a big or small thing. In Yates’ Arizona district, systems thinking is integrated into all the classrooms, beginning in kindergarten. But there are a number of tools individual teachers can use to give their students the benefits of a systems thinking approach.

Useful for literature and social studies classes in particular is the “ladder of inference.” It helps students understand how they and others get to certain conclusions or form certain opinions (their own mental models). Literally a ladder, it starts at the bottom rung with what you know about yourself and works up: first you notice certain things, then you add your own meanings to what’s around you, then you develop beliefs based on those meanings, and finally, you doing something because of your beliefs. It’s a reinforcing loop, since the beliefs you develop are based on your personal experiences, and your beliefs affect what you notice about things and the meanings you apply.

Use that ladder to analyze why a character does something. Take any character – say, Huck Finn – and start with what you know about him, what he does and notices in the story and how his experiences and background affect what he does. It’s a great way for students to understand how cultural and other experiences shape a character and why they might behave peculiarly, Yates says. Social studies teachers also can use this to study a character in history.

A behavior over time graph is another systems tool to increase understanding. Simple line graphs that can be used with kindergartners on up, they look at what is changing and how it is changing. In English class, students do this in response to practicing by examining how a character or situation changed over the course of several chapters. In social studies, a current events teacher can use it to give students an understanding of how a world event unfolds. Take a newspaper article on a global issue and ask students to create a graph to illustrate the events in the story and what happened.

Creating a deeper understanding

Systems thinking isn’t just about the tools to help students see the world with a better lens; it also can give them a greater grasp of why things happen a certain way. Things are circular in systems thinking, and recognizing the complex nature of cause-and-effect relationships can help students understand why things happen.

One practice useful for students is called “fixes that fail.” Fixes that fail loops start with a problem and a solution to that problem. But rather than solving the problem, the solution creates an intended consequence, which reinforces the problem, perhaps making it even greater.

Students can use this to examine the Vietnam war, for instance, showing how the United States’ actions led to greater problems rather than solving the original one. Yates says many current and historical events can fit into fixes-that-fail loops. Teachers also can have students look at global events in which bad fixes were avoided.

Using systems thinking approaches in the classroom creates students who can see from another perspective and look deeper to why world events play out in certain ways. “If students develop those habits of thinking systemically, and they look at any global issue, they are going to ask different questions,” Yates says. “They are going to ask questions with a broader perspective.”

When students leave her Arizona school district, Yates says, she hopes they take this way of thinking into everything they do.

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The American people are lost in the Trumpocene – and soon DeSantis World – largely against their own will. But their own bad habits, obsolete thinking, denial and heard headedness got them there. 

These failures include a belief in the myth of American exceptionalism and that America's democracy and society are somehow immune from fascism, authoritarianism and other forms of illiberalism. Americans have also made the error of convincing themselves, contrary to the evidence, that "the institutions" and "the system" are strong, the country's leaders will save us, and that the Age of Trump is just a deviation from the norm – as opposed to a crisis that will last long past that moment when Donald Trump, the man, recedes from public life.

In a particularly gross error, too many Americans still believe, contrary to the empirical evidence, that the many tens of millions of their fellow countrymen and countrywomen who are committed to Trumpism, and support the Republican fascist party and "conservative" movement more generally, are fundamentally good and decent people who will abandon such values if "we just listen to them", and "find common ground" and "educate them" about "the facts." Such an outcome will not happen. Such attempts are wasted energy.

The rot in American society is much deeper than "polarization" and "hyper-partisanship." American fascism and the larger culture of cruelty that helped to birth that abomination will likely only be corrected over time through generational replacement – and there is no guarantee of such an outcome.

There is a unifying theory for why so many of "the Americans" remain lost in the Trumpocene, unable to grasp the scale of the crisis and how to escape it: they have incorrectly convinced themselves that their values and beliefs are shared by most people including Trumpists and other Republican fascists and "conservatives." This is an example of the fallacy that is known as "the false consensus effect" which the APA defines as, "the tendency to assume that one's own opinions, beliefs, attributes, or behaviors are more widely shared than is actually the case. A robustly demonstrated phenomenon, the false-consensus effect is often attributed to a desire to view one's thoughts and actions as appropriate, normal, and correct."

The European Center for Populism Studies adds these details:

Additionally, when confronted with evidence that a consensus does not exist, people often assume that those who do not agree with them are defective in some way. There is no single cause for this cognitive bias; the availability heuristic, self-serving bias, and naïve realism have been suggested as at least partial underlying factors. When faced with uncertainty and a limited demo from which to make decisions, people often "project" themselves onto the situation. When this personal knowledge is used as input to make generalizations, it often results in the false sense of being part of the majority.

The false consensus effect can be contrasted with pluralistic ignorance which happens when members of group privately vary in expectations or disagree with group's norm but feel different from the rest of the group and publicly act similarly as them.

The false consensus effect helps to explain why so many Americans, and especially members of the mainstream political class, the mainstream corporate news media, and self-identified centrists and (white) liberals retreat to the proverbial fainting couch in a constant state of "shock" and "surprise" at the horrible things that Donald Trump and the Republican fascists and their forces have done (and continue to do) in their revolutionary project to end America's multiracial pluralistic democracy.

The false consensus effect also helps to explain why so many of those same people actually believe that cries and complaints that the Republicans and "conservatives" are "hypocrites" and "mean" and "cruel" actually has any deterrent effect on the latter's behavior.

In addition, the false consensus effect provides insight into why so many Democrats, and liberals and progressives as a group, engage in wish-casting, empty idealism, and other delusional and self-soothing behavior about politics in the Age of Trump instead of embracing the realities of how the fight against American fascism is actually a moral crusade against evil.

As is now obvious, Donald Trump is a sociopath if not a psychopath, who is now a confirmed sex predator that was found liable in civil court for sexually assaulting and defaming E. Jean Carroll. She is one of dozens of women who have credibly accused Trump of rape and/or sexual assault.

Here is the "riddle": Trump's MAGA women still remain in thrall to him.

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

In a new essay at the Bulwark+, Sarah Longwell explains:

Yet most of the women voters who backed Trump in 2016 and 2020 aren't walking away. In many cases, his behavior—and Democrats' and the courts' attempts to hold him accountable—only strengthens their support for him. Even those who condemn his misogyny often say it's not a dealbreaker. At this point, eight years into the Trump era, the sexism is internalized by his supporters. And even shared by some of them.

Over the course of hundreds of focus groups, I've seen female GOP voters rationalize, compartmentalize, and defend Trump's treatment of women. They say they "[don't] like his lifestyle and the things he did personally," but "believed that he could do the things he was saying because of his professional background."

When it comes to Trump's conduct, these voters tend to give a lot of leeway. "Does he respect women? No. But can he run the country? Better than Biden," said Judith, a Michigan retiree who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. "If that's all we have to choose from [in 2024]—Biden or Trump—I'm not going to choose Biden."

After Trump's indictment, Autumn—a Republican stay-at-home mom from Pennsylvania—dismissed the former president's actions, saying of Stormy Daniels: "She was a fan. She was a groupie. She followed him everywhere. So she was asking for anything that she got."

Was Trump at fault? What about Alvin Bragg's indictment on 34 felony counts? "That just talks about him personally as a man, not as what he's going to do for our country."

"I'm sure he's not an innocent person by any means," Sandy, a mother of three from North Dakota, said about the indictment. "He's done things. But I feel like it was just like a witch hunt."

On the Carroll verdict, the opinions were similar. In a latest focus group prior to Trump's conviction, just one out of seven had even heard of the case. (Her reaction: "It's kind of stupid.") Those who do closely follow Trump's lawsuits usually take them as a sign of his strength.

"They're making a huge deal of it because they're afraid of him," said Kim, a mother of five from Massachusetts. "They're trying to get him the hell out because they can't control him." These women echo Sen. Tommy Tuberville's line about the verdict: "It makes me want to vote for him twice."

Longwell's findings echo other data which has consistently shown that Trump's support among his followers and other Republican voters endures despite, if not because of, his criminality, racism, white supremacy, law-breaking, treason, corruption, violence, and other examples of antisocial and antihuman behavior.

For those people outside of Trumpworld and the MAGAverse that white women would continue to support Donald Trump and his neofascist MAGA movement continues to be "shocking" and "unbelievable" when it really should not be.

There are a variety of reasons why Trump's MAGA women continue to be so loyal to him and the neofascist movement which include identification with the abuser, as well as internalized misogyny and internalized sexism. The women who support Donald Trump and the Republican-fascists and "conservative" movement are also rational actors who have decided that sexism and misogyny and hatred of women more generally matter less to them than other issues – such as keeping and expanding white supremacy and white privilege.

There is another explanation for Trump's enduring power that too many Americans, especially among the political class and news media, still refuse to accept even though they have now suffered through at least 7 years of the Age of Trump. As psychologists and other experts have repeatedly warned, Donald Trump is a cult leader, a fascist charismatic personality and a demagogue. Trump's MAGA followers will not readily abandon him because to do so would cause them great emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and physical pain and harm. Many Americans give lip service to the reality of Trump as a fascist cult leader but they, to this point, still largely refuse to accept the implications of what that really means for the country's present and future.

On this, in a 2020 conversation with Salon, psychologist John Gartner shared the following prophetic warning:

It's very hard for relatively normal and mentally healthy people to truly understand how Donald Trump's mind works, to empathize with his thought processes, because it is hard to empathize with someone who truly does not care if he's killing massive numbers of children. Such an outcome does not upset Donald Trump. He is more upset by some idle comment made on Fox News. The deaths of children and other people do not have any emotional meaning to him.

It is also very hard for most people to understand how there's a sinister way in which harming, degrading, destroying and, yes, even killing large numbers of people actually excites and arouses Donald Trump. It all makes him feel powerful. That excitement and arousal and empowerment is an antidote to the emptiness that he feels inside and to the humiliation and mockery that he is experiencing from his critics and the public.

The monumental challenge that Gartner described in 2020 continues in 2023. Moreover, I would suggest in many ways that the crisis has gotten worse as Trumpism and American neofascism have become even more normalized across huge swaths of American society – including its political class, news media, and other elites.

Wish-casting, denial, the false consensus effect and other errors in reasoning and thinking keep the American people trapped in the Trumpocene and fascist fever dream. To escape that horrible place and to save themselves and their democracy, the American people are going to have to let go of such childish ways of thinking and behaving. 

If you're like me, you don't spend a lot (or, um, any) time thinking about your kidneys. In fact, many of us only have the vaguest idea what our kidneys actually do—we just know we need at least one of them in order to live. For a more technical explanation, Best Life turned to nephrologist Kalyani Perumal, MD, Medical Director of Dialysis, Renal Diseases Department at Cook County Health.

"Kidneys are bean-shaped organs located in the upper part of the back of the abdomen, and they play a crucial role in maintaining our health and well-being," Perumal says, noting that the kidneys' main job is removing waste from our blood, which is then excreted in our urine. "In addition, they produce very important hormones to stimulate new red blood cells and maintain bone strength," she explains. "They [also] play a vital role in water balance, and regulate the levels of important minerals in our body like sodium, potassium, and calcium."

Perumal says kidney disease is one of the fastest-growing epidemics in the U.S., with one in three adults at risk of developing the condition. "About 37 million American adults have kidney disease and most are unaware of it," she says. "Kidney disease is often referred to as a 'silent killer,' as many do not have any symptoms until it has reached late stages."

Could you be hurting your kidneys without even knowing it? Read on for five common habits that could be putting these vital organs at risk, so you can start taking better care of them today.

READ THIS NEXT: Margaret Cho Went Into Kidney Failure on Set After Being Pressured to Lose Weight.

You probably already know that staying hydrated is key to good health—and that includes your kidneys.

"One common habit that can damage the kidneys is not drinking enough water," says board-certified family physician Laura Purdy, MD. "Dehydration can lead to the buildup of toxins in the body, which can put a strain on the kidneys. It is essential to drink enough water to keep the body hydrated and help the kidneys flush out waste and toxins."

If you're thirsty, then your kidneys are, too—so drink up!

"Another common habit that can damage the kidneys is consuming too much salt," Purdy says. "Salt can cause high blood pressure, which can put a strain on the kidneys."

Perumal recommends eating a diet rich in fiber, such as fruits and vegetables, and limiting both salt and fat. "Limit animal protein and substitute with plant-based protein in your diet, particularly if you are at risk of developing kidney disease," she tells Best Life. "Choose low-salt options, and use herbs for increasing the flavor of the foods. Try to cook your own foods so you can choose the ingredients that are beneficial to you. Rinse canned meats, vegetables, and fish with water before eating. Pay attention to the nutrition fact labels and select foods that are low in salt and fat."

She says practicing mindful eating—focusing on the flavor of your food and avoiding distractions—can boost not just your kidney health, but your overall wellness.

Whether you've got a headache, a backache, or some other nagging complaint, popping an Advil or Tylenol can knock it out like magic. That's why many of us keep a bottle handy, relying on it for everyday use. However, it's best to avoid actually taking it every day, Purdy and Perumal agree. "Over-the-counter pain medications such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen can cause damage to the kidneys if used excessively," says Purdy. "It is important to follow the recommended dosage and not use these medications for extended periods."

Perumal adds that home remedies can be dangerous, as well. "Over-the-counter painkillers and herbal preparations can cause severe kidney injury, particularly in people having diabetes and high blood pressure," she explains, urging readers to consult their healthcare provider before taking any medication or nutritional supplement. ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

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It's not news that tobacco use is bad for you, but in case you weren't crystal clear on that fact, Purdy and Perumal are happy to tell you again. "Smoking can cause high blood pressure and damage the blood vessels, leading to decreased kidney function over time," says Purdy. "Quitting smoking is crucial for overall health, including kidney health."

"High blood pressure and diabetes are the leading causes of kidney disease in United States," Perumal says, adding that "smoking causes various toxins to enter the body and is a risk factor for various cancers in the body." If you're struggling to quit, she encourages you to call the national quit line at 1-800-QUITNOW (1-800-784-8669) for help. "You are not alone!"

Stressed out? Join the club. A 2022 poll sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA) found that "a majority of adults are disheartened by government and political divisiveness, daunted by historic inflation levels, and dismayed by widespread violence." The APA wrote that people in the U.S. are "facing a barrage of external stressors that are mostly out of personal control."

What does that have to do with your kidneys? Plenty, says Perumal. "Chronic stress leads to various medical conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and mental illness, which negatively affect kidney health." She recommends stress-reduction methods such as deep breathing, practicing mindfulness, and making time for gentle exercise like yoga, chi-gong, and tai-chi. "Self-care is very important in your daily routine," she says. "Take 10 minutes out of your daily life just for your self-care."

Best Life offers the most up-to-date information from top experts, new research, and health agencies, but our content is not meant to be a substitute for professional guidance. If you have health questions or concerns, always consult your healthcare provider directly.