1.) People like to feel like they belong to a group
2.) People like to feel like they are special
3.) People like to feel like they belong to a special group

You see this all the time in society and advertisers try to exploit it. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torches_of_Freedom)

Actually, I'd like to share a recent mundane example of the brain rejecting "negativity". This is taken from the recently uploaded TEDxMileZero - Mike Sheehan - Sociometry: Revealing Hidden Structures in Group Behaviour.

Cross your arms (as normal).

Look at your arms as they are crossed and take note of which arm is on top.

Uncross your arms.

Cross your arms with the opposite arm on top.

Notice how you have a strong tendency to follow your old pattern. Ask yourself if you feel embarrassed? Awkward? "Unprofessional"? Would you feel different if someone was watching you?

This is just the tip of that iceberg. If the question is: Why are we so biased in favour of positivity? The answer is: We model reality mentally with value attached to circumstances revolving around a self-image, with a tendency to view the self in a positive light relative to the circumstances.

Some of this is the result of bad theory in academic psychology. The belief that boosting positive self-image and consequently positive illusions was best or at least better than a negativity bias affected our whole culture. Psychologist now realize that any bias is bad and what we really need to do is be realistic (Twenge, Crocker, Leary, et. al.).

Honestly, I don't think its fair to use real people as symbols of anything, let alone evil. I'm sure Hitler had some good qualities too, its just that none of us want to recognize them.

For that reason I would prefer use of mythical characters like Lucifer or Maya.

We naturally decrease in egoism as we age. Such that, we make better parents. We are less self-absorbed and recognize that our essential self-worth is determined through the eyes of others, and thus it is our relations which bring us the most satisfaction.

Of course this is a largely unconscious realization earned through a life-time of suffering ego-driven disasters.

The human thirst for knowledge only extends to a length inversely proportionate to his/her will to ignorance, which generally extends a lot further. The Will to Ignorance is more palatable than the Will to Knowledge because of it's social value.

When I encounter projects like this I like to wonder, for purely entertainment purposes; What would Freud think?

Anytime you find yourself making a decision to fire or not fire a weapon and are limited to "just a few seconds" it is probably a good idea to not shoot.

This looks like a lot of fun... you can't just slice a melon like that, you have to perform a commisurotomy and a frontal leucotomy then you can slice it.

Samuel L. Clemens said "In the beginning the patriot is a scarce man. Feared, hated and scorn. But in time, when his cause succeeds, the timid join him for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."

People find it easy to laud him now because they have had to reluctantly accept his work. But when his notions were unpopular, just as Bruno, Galilei and so on before him, people derived more sense of self-worth from ostracizing Schechtman. Almost nobody earns pride or status from truth alone, but only from being recognized as a person of truth, which is why it is more important (to many) to appear truthful than to actually be truthful.

If I was one of his cashier's I'd be the next person to be fired. Easy $10 and I'd be outta that guy's way.

Kapla!

It's all about self-image.

Fred you told me everybody was my neighbor
They took advantage of me
And then they took their turns hating me
I wish I would've never watched you
But then you made my childhood a failure
What a f---ing neighbor

Looking back (dumb)
And now I realize (old man)
How much you really liked him (dumb)
This child's mind you terrorized (old man)
You came to him (dumb)
He really didn't know your lies (old man)
Now his innocence gone (dumb)
I'm that child you terrorized (f---er)

- Mr. Rogers, Korn

Something I thought about when I got my new Acer Liquid MT. It allows me to use an "Unlock Pattern" instead of a password. All I have to do is draw the pattern with my finger, but as other commenters have said, this makes it less secure because it is easy to see what I am drawing. And I can only draw something that fits into a 4x8 grid without repeating the same node twice, so my designs are bound to be simple.