Walter, a thought provoking piece. For a moment, I’d like to explore another aspect of cognitive dissonance.
Can we believe our own eyes? Do you believe your eyes? Do you believe you see things around you clearly? Its not a trick question. I am asking you to dig deep enough to find out, if you do, in fact, believe your own eyes?
The video of George Floyd’s death is a good example. A lot of people who watched that video reached different conclusions. Some people said they watched a cop murder a man. Other people said, they watched a man trying to escape arrest. Some people said they saw a cop doing his job.
Still others said they needed more information before they could reach a conclusion on what they saw in the video. These people concerned me because I believe they are telling the truth. These people do not believe their own eyes and that is the most common symptoms of severe cognizant dissonance.
By age 8 (third grade), one out of every 20 students have learned to turn their senses off and repeat what they know. Instead of learning to trust their senses, they’ve been taught to believe what they are told. These children have learned to trust words (and distrust their own senses).
By age 18 (high school graduation), even fewer students trust their senses. For all intents and purposes, the majority of 18 year old kids, are DIS-abled, (or handicapped, meaning, “a condition that markedly restricts one's ability to function physically, mentally, or socially).
In solitary confinement, sensory deprivation drives people insane – right? By DIS-abling children’s sensory perception, a sense of DIS-ease that ranges from mild to severe settles in. To relieve their sense of DIS-ease, people find comfort in believing, repeating and doing what they are told.
Children start life at a terrible disadvantage. They know what they see, hear, taste, smell, touch and feel, but they do NOT have the experience to know if it was right, wrong, good or bad. When a child tells an adult what they saw, the adult uses words to explain what it meant.
A quick scenario. A child tells his mother, “I saw Dad punch you in the face last night.” Will Mom validate what her son saw, or will she use words to disconnect him from his senses?
Will Mom tell her son, getting punched in the face did not hurt, her husband loves her, or she deserved it? Or will Mom tell her son he was dreaming, or imagining things, or making things up? Or will Mom tell her son, that it really hurt, and explain the reason it was so wrong by showing him her black eye (and validate his instinctive reaction to what he saw).
G-d help us all, if this child’s senses are completely disconnected, for that is the symptom common to mass-shooters, serial killers, rapists, and bullies. We call it a lack of empathy. But empathy is an instinctive reaction to what our senses tell us is happening around us. If a child is told it did not hurt when he got punched in the face, how is he to believe he is hurting someone when he punches them in the face?
Our brains are in a frigging cave, completely dependent on our senses to send it information. If we can’t believe our own eyes, our brain has to find another authority, or sensory deprivation will drive us insane.
Instead of all this blank out the world and get in touch with your inner-self stuff. I think people need to re-connect their senses, then learn to trust their senses.
During the BLM protests, I saw hundreds of thousands of people peacefully protesting. I also saw a few people rioting.
On January 6, 2021, I saw a riot at the Capitol. I also saw some peaceful protestors on the other side of Washington DC.
I believe my own eyes and ears. After listening to people involved in the riot tell their story, I’ve come to believe that anarchists started the riot in order to hide inside of it. The rioters had no plan. When they got inside the capitol, they wandered around like visitors on a trip to Disneyland. The anarchists had a plan – and when they got inside the capitol there were hunting down legislators and Mike Pence. The anarchists failed because they could not make it to the front fast enough to lead the mob to the Senate Chambers. When the anarchists finally breached the Senate Chambers, the capital police opened fire. Babbit fell backwards dead and scared rioters so badly, it gave the capitol police enough time to get everyone left inside the chamber to safety. Since Babbit is dead, no one will ever know if she was leading anarchists or following the mob.
One thing is certain though. The people at the Capital that day were so disconnected from their senses, they could not see what was happening around them.
If you see something beautiful today, believe it. :)
