I've cleaned this up a little more to my liking (generic if you will), since as soon as I saw immigration mentioned in the post I was sure the left would immediately freak out and say that invalidates the whole argument. Here is is.
"Cognitive dissonance" is not the solution to the problem of believing one idea and its opposite at the same time. It's the psychological DISCOMFORT you feel when you try to hold these contradictory ideas together in your head. Since the current government establishments' identitarian ideology is based on contradictions, lies and doublespeak reinforced by the media, the ideology would fall apart with a little reality-testing. So you have to do a lot of repressing to avoid confronting the truth, and engage in a lot of avoidant behavior, like staying away from alternative sources of information, i.e., doing independent research.
This is the psychology of the cult. Thinking independently might alienate you from your peers and lead to ostracism (like the current fear of ostracism those not masked now experience daily). You might wake up and realize that you've been living out a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, identifying with people who are insulting your intelligence and abusing you with their policies. For example, shuttering small business and churches to 'prevent the spread', while simultaneously allowing 350+ people to sit shoulder to shoulder for hours on end on an aircraft or flood big box stores with patrons in hours long lineups.
Repression of the truth doesn't make it go away, it only shoves it down into the unconscious: but the truth will still nag at you with inklings of self-doubt. Unconsciously you can't help but perceive what's being done to you and resent being abused by the very people who claim to be your benefactors and demand your loyalty. But since you can't admit this to yourself, you end up living a lie and BECOMING a lie.
You can discharge the discomfort of clashing "cognitions" by projecting it onto any who disagree with you, labeling them as anti-this or anti-that, racist, phobic etc., even if this traps you in the insider/outsider, friends/enemies dichotomy that blunts your intellect and stunts you emotionally, encouraging simplistic thinking and irrational hatred. At this point the cult has thoroughly weaponized you. For example the redirected aggression of AntiFa's and BLM physical clashes with Trump-supporters acts out these psychological clashes by turning them into armed assaults. "Going on the offensive" is a kind of defense-mechanism. Spewing hatred and engaging in violence are twisted forms of therapy.
Unity with our fellows from all walks of life and tolerance for their intellectual diversity is the only remedy, not allowing ourselves to be divided by a disingenuous media and bad actors on any side of the aisle.
I've cleaned this up a little more to my liking (generic if you will), since as soon as I saw immigration mentioned in the post I was sure the left would immediately freak out and say that invalidates the whole argument. Here is is.
"Cognitive dissonance" is not the solution to the problem of believing one idea and its opposite at the same time. It's the psychological DISCOMFORT you feel when you try to hold these contradictory ideas together in your head. Since the current government establishments' identitarian ideology is based on contradictions, lies and doublespeak reinforced by the media, the ideology would fall apart with a little reality-testing. So you have to do a lot of repressing to avoid confronting the truth, and engage in a lot of avoidant behavior, like staying away from alternative sources of information, i.e., doing independent research.
This is the psychology of the cult. Thinking independently might alienate you from your peers and lead to ostracism (like the current fear of ostracism those not masked now experience daily). You might wake up and realize that you've been living out a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, identifying with people who are insulting your intelligence and abusing you with their policies. For example, shuttering small business and churches to 'prevent the spread', while simultaneously allowing 350+ people to sit shoulder to shoulder for hours on end on an aircraft or flood big box stores with patrons in hours long lineups.
Repression of the truth doesn't make it go away, it only shoves it down into the unconscious: but the truth will still nag at you with inklings of self-doubt. Unconsciously you can't help but perceive what's being done to you and resent being abused by the very people who claim to be your benefactors and demand your loyalty. But since you can't admit this to yourself, you end up living a lie and BECOMING a lie.
You can discharge the discomfort of clashing "cognitions" by projecting it onto any who disagree with you, labeling them as anti-this or anti-that, racist, phobic etc., even if this traps you in the insider/outsider, friends/enemies dichotomy that blunts your intellect and stunts you emotionally, encouraging simplistic thinking and irrational hatred. At this point the cult has thoroughly weaponized you. For example the redirected aggression of AntiFa's and BLM physical clashes with Trump-supporters acts out these psychological clashes by turning them into armed assaults. "Going on the offensive" is a kind of defense-mechanism. Spewing hatred and engaging in violence are twisted forms of therapy.
Unity with our fellows from all walks of life and tolerance for their intellectual diversity is the only remedy, not allowing ourselves to be divided by a disingenuous media and bad actors on any side of the aisle.