A Window Into Our World
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Every year during the early spring awakening I quickly begin to feel like I am way behind on my list of tasks. Worse, the deficit is rapidly growing. This year it feels particularly acute because, in addition to all the normal tasks, we are replacing 3 entry doors, 2 storm doors and 5 windows.
We.....as in me.
Deaf, Dumb and Blind
Who Is Better at Conceding They Are Wrong - Conservative or Liberal Extremists?
By
Cognitive Dissonance
For those readers who wish to confirm their cemented bias or simply don’t read past the first paragraph or two, here is the down and dirty answer to the question posed in the title.
And it gets worse from there. Those who harbor extreme and strident political points of view also maintain similarly strong “opinions” (though nearly all will righteously declare them as ironclad facts) in nearly all facets of their life and are unlikely to change their point of view regardless of the contrary evidence presented. I base my statement upon personal experience and an interesting study recently published which examined this very subject.
Here is the first sentence of the study’s Result and Discussion. “An unjustified certainty in one’s beliefs is a characteristic common to those espousing radical beliefs, and such overconfidence is observed for both political and non-political issues, implying a general cognitive bias in radicals.”
Are you surprised to be told this? Or have you quickly spotted a loop hole in which you may escape from the overall generalization of the statement? The wonderful thing about denial is it’s infinitely customizable and completely flexible; enabling the user to deny anything and everything including the nose on his/her face.
Of course, the only way many can accept uncomfortably too-close-to-home assertions is to declare it doesn’t apply to them, just everyone else. Continue reading Deaf, Dumb and Blind : Who Is Better at Conceding They Are Wrong – Conservative or Liberal Extremists?
The Apology: From baby boomers to the handicapped generations.
by David Holmgren
Re-posted from Holmgren.com.au
Editor's Note: Despite my mixed feelings with regard to this piece by David Holmgren (one man cannot apologize for an entire generation, nor shoulder the responsibility for all its sins) ultimately it unfolds many of the cumulative socioeconomic ills plaguing our society and culture.
Twenty years ago, maybe even ten, I might have used the word "Western" when speaking of the cultural corruption, as if to hold harmless "Eastern" countries for the infection that was beginning to ravage and overwhelm their civilizations. I am much less inclined to do so now, for they too are welcoming with open arms the mass insanity of Wetiko.
Please, suppress any cognitive triggers you may encounter when reading this piece and allow the overall information to permeate your mind and soul.
Cognitive Dissonance
David Holmgren is an Australian environmental designer, ecological educator and writer. He is best known as one of the co-originators of the permaculture concept with Bill Mollison. - Editor
It is time for us baby boomers to honestly acknowledge what we did and didn’t do with the gifts given to us by our forebears and be clear about our legacy with which we have saddled the next and succeeding generations.
By ‘baby boomers’ I mean those of us born in the affluent nations of the western world between 1945 and 1965. In these countries, the majority of the population became middle class beneficiaries of mass affluence. I think of the high birth rate of those times as a product of collective optimism about the future, and the abundant and cheap resources to support growing families.
By many measures, the benefits of global industrial civilisation peaked in our youth, but for most middle class baby boomers of the affluent countries, the continuing experience of those benefits has tended to blind us to the constriction of opportunities faced by the next generations: unaffordable housing and land access, ecological overshoot and climate chaos amongst a host of other challenges.
But We Need the Eggs
Re-posted from
Ben Hunt of Epsilon Theory is one of those rare minds who not only can think outside the box while simultaneously standing inside, but personally grow and prosper while doing so. I suspect his secret springs from the fact he did not enter the "financial" field thru the traditional doors, windows and dungeons nearly all others are directed towards as the price of entry.
The article below, which was posted by Ben over a week ago, is in my opinion a must read, even for those who care little to nothing about the "financial" world. He hits the nail squarely on the head in a manner anyone can understand.
Bottom line...we have been, we currently are, and we will continue to be lied to about the "state" of our financial affairs in order to further enrich and empower a small select group of people. And our most effective defense is not to understand the minutia of the lie, but to simply see the lie for what it is, a lie, and not participate.
Please, invest 10 minutes of your time and read the article in its entirely.
Cognitive Dissonance.
About That Liberal Media....
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Charts and Info from Business Insider
I dislike labels, particularly political labels. Their primary purpose is to categorize "others" in order for you and I to then apply a down and dirty cognitive shorthand, determining in effect if the "other" is one of "us" or one of "them". The only people who "win" when this type of thinking is applied are those who promote, and benefit from, a divide and conquer/control strategy.
As I've stated before, rarely have I found anyone who identifies as fully belonging to one ideological group or another. In America we are presented with two major ideological/political choices, Democrat or Republican, along with a host of minor parties who are consistently minimized by both the major political parties and the mainstream media.
In practice, most people identify with a political party based upon one or more specific beliefs or ideas promoted by "their" party. But in effect, both Democrats and Republicans are essentially the same political party with slightly different factions squabbling over power within the main body.
On subjects which support the Imperial mindset and the Empire, such as endless war, government overreach, the police state, fractional reserve banking and the endless money creation of the Federal Reserve to name just a few, both parties are in near full agreement.
More is better! Continue reading About That Liberal Media…
