What cognitive dissonance is our culture experiencing today?

**jAZ** · 04-11-2008, 08:24 PM

(Disclaimer: I don't want this thread to be a bash Christians thread or a bash slavery thread or a bash the reparations crowd thread. Please focus on my question.)

I'm watching a documentary on MSNBC about the meeting of two men named David Wilson. One the descendant of a slave. The other the descendant of that salves owner.

The show's just OK so far.

But one question he asked got me thinking. He asked how Christians could justify slavery in their hearts and minds at that time.

The answer to me was pretty obvious, cognitive dissonance.

In simple terms, (cognitive dissonance) can be the filtering of information that conflicts with what you already believe, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce your beliefs. [...]

In popular usage, it can be associated with the tendency for people to resist information that they don't want to think about, because if they did it would create cognitive dissonance, and perhaps require them to act in ways that depart from their comfortable habits. They usually have at least partial awareness of the information, without having moved to full acceptance of it, and are thus in a state of denial about it.

My question on this thread is this...

History is filled with lots of acts of tragic cognitive dissonance like slavery, the holocaust, etc.

What do you think are the acts of cognitive dissonance (tragic or than tragic) that our world is facing today?

04-11-2008, 08:24 PM	Topic Starter
jAZ Supporter Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Tucson, AZ Casino cash: $9817493	What cognitive dissonance is our culture experiencing today? (Disclaimer: I don't want this thread to be a bash Christians thread or a bash slavery thread or a bash the reparations crowd thread. Please focus on my question.) I'm watching a documentary on MSNBC about the meeting of two men named David Wilson. One the descendant of a slave. The other the descendant of that salves owner. The show's just OK so far. But one question he asked got me thinking. He asked how Christians could justify slavery in their hearts and minds at that time. The answer to me was pretty obvious, cognitive dissonance. In simple terms, (cognitive dissonance) can be the filtering of information that conflicts with what you already believe, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce your beliefs. [...] In popular usage, it can be associated with the tendency for people to resist information that they don't want to think about, because if they did it would create cognitive dissonance, and perhaps require them to act in ways that depart from their comfortable habits. They usually have at least partial awareness of the information, without having moved to full acceptance of it, and are thus in a state of denial about it. My question on this thread is this... History is filled with lots of acts of tragic cognitive dissonance like slavery, the holocaust, etc. What do you think are the acts of cognitive dissonance (tragic or than tragic) that our world is facing today?
Posts: 24,800