As the nation emerges from Covid’s isolation, an equally debilitating infection surfaces: cognitive dissonance caused by gaslighting.
The polls opened. The polls closed. Ballots were mailed in, and ballots were counted. For two hundred plus years, our nation has held elections without incident. One candidate always wins, one candidate always loses. Never have American’s done any more than complain until now. A group of our own rallied and stormed the heart of our country—the capitol building—in an armed and deadly insurrection. When did American’s forget it’s possible to disagree peaceably?
“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they still rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.”
~ Frantz Fanon
How did America contract this disease?
In an article published in a Medical News Today newsletter titled, What is gaslighting? the cause of infection was diagnosed as, “when a political figure or group uses lies, denials, or manipulates information to control people. Examples include downplaying or hiding things their administration has done wrong, discrediting political opponents based on mental instability, or using controversy to divert attention from important events.”
Furthermore, In an article posted May 24th, 2021, Sherry Gaba of Psychology Today, defined cognitive dissonance as, “a sense of deep and profound confusion [, and] is very common in emotionally abusive situations.” Plain and simple, people have abused their freedom of speech; thus, our nation has turned into a warzone filled with bullies and victims. Bullies browbeat others with their core beliefs. Whether they are right or wrong, justified or not is irrelevant. Freedom allows for diversity maintained by compromise. Without civil compromise, the nation is sick with victims who:
- Doubt the verity of events, conversations, and experiences
- Second-guess decisions and choices
- Become paralyzed with indecision
- Unable to trust science and specialists
Freedom of Speech is not a platform for distortion!
This distortion, misrepresentation, falsification, and misinterpretation of information has left the nation’s people in a quandary—who and what information can we trust? I honestly can’t say, but a tell-tale sign is not sharing the whole story or offering facts with a slant or bias.
“Gaslighting is implanted narratives cloaked in secrecy.”
~ Tracy Malone, the founder of NarcississtAbuseSupport.com
What happened to integrity, peaceful protesting, agreeing to disagree? I do believe, this nation is on the precipice of change, but as we’ve already witnessed things are going to get ugly before we reach a common goal and anything remotely close to unity. American’s pause, breathe, and let us come to the table with compromise as our goal and before we speak or act remember:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. “
Preamble to the United States Constitution
