“COGNITIVE DISSONANCE”, big words that most people cannot clearly define. Obviously, we are speaking of issues that determine how and why the brain works. There is much we do not know about the brain. If we did, we could prevent Alzheimer, and cure dementia. How and why “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE” exists is a mystery. We can define it. We can recognize it. But finding a cure is illusive. We’ll start first with simple definitions. “COGNITIVE” – “. . . means of or relating to the mental processes of perception, memory, judgment, and reasoning . . .” (dictionary.com.) This sounds like a very positive state of being. “DISSONANCE” – “Lack of agreement, consistency, or harmony; conflict.” (Wikipedia.) This sounds like a very negative state of being. When the two words are put together, they seem to be somewhat opposing. Like two posts on a car battery, one negative, one positive. If you touch both of them together sparks will fly and you’re likely to get quite a jolt. Together, they function if used properly. It’s the Yin and Yang, “. . . a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces.” (Wikipedia.) It can be similar to right and wrong, good and bad, love and hate. While not similar in meaning, they define opposing ends of the same spectrum.
For years we have wondered why some people feel strongly about one end of a particular spectrum, while others feel strongly about the opposing end. Is it brain chemistry or composition? Is it a brain defect or anomaly? While this may be true in some cases. as we explored in our series of blog posts on “TRANSPHOBIA” (April 3 – June 5, 2022), we believe that this may have to do more with early childhood development, teaching, training, experiences, and influence. We are more convinced each and every day that what we experience when viewing people on opposite sides of issues is more a form of the Stockholm Syndrome, where a hostage develops feelings and sympathy toward their captor. At first glance, this may seem to be quite a stretch, but let us explain. For example, if you are a student in a class, you are basically a “hostage” to the one who is teaching who has “captured” you for that class. If you are being taught a hard subject like calculus, over time you develop the same understanding as that of the one teaching you. You have learned calculus, and it becomes part of your mental makeup. You may or may not have chosen to take the calculus class, but the end result is the same, you have learned calculus. For a person who never had to learn calculus, but who was taught psychology, there undoubtedly will be issues they may not agree with the one trained on calculus, because how they were trained makes them approach issues differently. Much of what we believe has been part of our lived experience through many years. Some of that by choice, and some not. Our brains have retained those experiences, and we act and react to stimuli based on what we have mentally retained.
With a little background now as to why some people may not agree with your beliefs, we can now attempt to delve more deeply into the concept of “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE”. More examples are in order. People who smoke are, almost universally, aware of the dangers of smoking. You run the risk of personal lung and throat cancer, and if pregnant, smoking can have an impact on the developing fetus. Smoking can impact those around you in a negative way as well. The smoker KNOWS all of this and of the potential harms, but the pleasure derived from smoking outweighs the knowledge of the harmful effects. Similarly, a drug addict usually KNOWS of the harmful consequences of this habit, but for the perceived joy, pleasure, and respite from reality, they go against what they KNOW to be true, that doing drugs is harmful, not only personally, but to those with whom they come in contact. You don’t have to smoke or be a drug addict to experience “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE”. If your cholesterol is high, and measures to reduce it are directed by your doctor, you KNOW you should follow the doctor’s orders, but you may deny the professionally trained, reasoned advice since you love greasy, fatty foods. If you covertly slip some company pens into your pocket or purse at work for personal use at home, you KNOW this is stealing, but you rationalize this as maybe something the company owes you. Maybe you tell a lie. You KNOW this is not the truth, but in order to save face, or win your argument, you proceed anyway with your lie. You may have been told by so many of your social media contacts that something is true, that when you encounter opposing facts, even though you KNOW those facts to be true, you dismiss them as being false so as to not be shunned by your acquaintances. Jesus once said, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41, NASB.)
Do you believe that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks? It is so much easier to stay in your “rut in life” once in it. Why take the effort to get out? It’s so much more comfortable in your “rut”. You are aware of your boundaries on your left and right. The road ahead has already been chosen for you. Besides, so many have gone before you in the same “rut”, so it must be the only way to go. When it comes to facts, truth, or even simple ideas contrary to your lived experiences, to not explore outside your “rut” is to be a “mental sloth”.
Our great Nation is in danger of collapse. There are those among us who inwardly KNOW the correct road ahead, but who have become accustomed to “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE” and find it easy to ignore options beyond their lived experiences. They have been so indoctrinated, that ingrained within them is their “rut”, dug out for them by elitists, oligarchs, Marxists, socialists and Communists. We believe there are some 34 percent of our Nation’s voters who have severe “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE”. We may never be able to dislodge them from the “rut” in which they find comfort, solace, and social acceptance. The only sure way to counter those who have “mental sloth”, is to out vote them, out work them, out fund them, and stop supporting them in any way possible. If we are successful in overcoming those with extreme “COGNITIVE DISSONANCE”, we can expect their anger, hostility, destructive behaviors, and aggressive conflict. Our Founding Fathers put everything on the line to establish our Nation, their fortunes, their reputations, their very lives. If you treasure your FREEDOM and LIBERTY, it is incumbent upon each one of us to do our part, to be counted among them as National Patriots, FREEDOM and LIBERTY warriors, to boldly and unabashedly proclaim truth, practice justice, and live accountable lives.