Don’t believe everything you think: cognitive dissonance | Politics and Insights

Cognitive 
dissonance 
warfare 
is one 
weapon 
of
 choice.
 It isn’t just UKIP and the Tories that use this method, I’ve seen the SNP, Green Party and other fringe groups claiming to be “on the left” use the same strategy, often.

We 

are
 subjected
 to an overwhelming barrage of contradictory, often vicious lies, smears and ferocious mudslinging – negative campaigning in the media. It’s like being trapped in a hall of mirrors with Beelzebub, a few of hells’ myrmidons and your best friends, all in fancy dress.

A good approach is to look for consistency and coherence in narratives, as well as evidence to support and refute the claims being made. And it’s increasingly important to examine the scope of what those narratives accomodate – how comprehensive they are, how much they connect up, how much they make sense.

If a person believes, for example, that they are not racist, but then they discriminate against someone on the basis of race, they are then faced with the discomfort of acknowledging that they are racist after all. In an attempt to escape this discomfort, they may seek to rationalise (explain away) their behaviour on some other grounds, which may be spurious, but which allow them to hold on to their otherwise discredited belief.

Many Ukip supporters, for example,  say something like: “I’m not racist though, my brother-in-law/ friend/ uncle’s wife is actually Indian/Chinese/African” and so forth.

Another example is the “allthesame” myth. When you present people with evidence that refutes what was originally a Tory propaganda soundbite,  rather than acknowledging that verifiable evidence, some people choose to start a hate campaign aimed at trying to attribute all kinds of bizarre “motives” to the person simply telling a truth.

Look at where we are: we have Tory small minds attempting to justify the Tory notion of a small state. But small states reduce us all. Small states disconnnect us from others, sever any sense of social responsibility and obligation we have towards others.

Iain Duncan Smith’s “magical elitism” thinking – he’s just knows he’s right – is another indication that we don’t have a democratic government that is willing to engage in dialogue: we have an authoritarian one that is interested only in imposing its own incoherent monologue on the masses.

Cognitive dissonance theory is being used as a means of thought micro-management to ensure that we don’t move and progress.

Source: Don’t believe everything you think: cognitive dissonance | Politics and Insights

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4 thoughts on “Don’t believe everything you think: cognitive dissonance | Politics and Insights

  1. Mr.Angry

    Bit heavy I need time to digest these scientific theories, the penultimate paragraph reveals many truths, will pass comment tomorrow after a nights sleep, reading and watching the protests in Manchester has drained me. PS I still hate them with avengeance.

    1. Sandy

      This cognitive dissonance stuff describes exactly how I felt approx. a couple of years ago, and to some extent still do.

      I knew nothing about disability social security until I was asked by a friend to help his severely disabled friend out regarding his electricity bills.

      I nodded politely whilst this disabled man described his horror story about the WCA, bedroom tax, etc. But what I was really thinking was, “No ways! This is England, it must be down to error. After all, errors will happen in any large organisation.”

      I really could not compute this man’s contention of the disabled being deliberately targeted – as a softening up exercise no less to target others – other than ‘tin foil’ hat stuff.

      Despite being polite, and despite sorting out his lecy problems, perhaps he sensed my scepticism because, unasked, he sent me a couple of email links about DPAC and Black Triangle.
      Just a couple, but that was enough to get me curious. One link led to another. What I was finding out so did my head in that I’d also click onto the Daily Mail to get the opposite view; I still do.

      I now know he was/is right. As a result I’ve turned up at two demos. No great shakes but every earthquake starts off as a tremor.

  2. Bookworm

    I totally agree with this having read a little about their nudge units.
    A lot of thought has gone into setting the scene for mind manipulation.

  3. mrmarcpc

    The tories are excellent at spinning the truth and so explains the reason why the idiots of this country have believed in everything that they’ve said and agreed with all of their policies, even though in reality they are hurting them, but they’re too thick and bewitched to see it!

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