Mother Nature Shows Off Her Stuff
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Mrs. Cog and I live on the edge of the Blue Ridge Plateau here in Southwestern Virginia. And by on the edge I mean literally on the edge. Our back property line ends where a very steep wooded drop off begins. Five more steps over the property line and it's a one way trip down for well over a quarter of mile.
I call it the ridge.
Control the Narrative and You Control the People
By
Cognitive Dissonance
It is extremely difficult to get where you are going if you don't know where you presently are. And you can't know where you are if you don't know where you have been. Control the narrative and you effectively control the people.
When my son was young (we are talking over 25 years ago when he was around seven years of age) one of the ways I would keep him occupied when on car trips was to place a paper road map (aka a narrative) on his lap and ask him a multitude of questions for the duration of the trip.
The first question when starting a trip was, "Where are we on the map?" Essentially I was asking him to physically and mentally locate us in the present on a two dimensional representation of reality. And unsurprisingly this was initially difficult for my son, since he lives and plays in a three dimensional world. I encountered similar difficulties as a student comprehending plane (two dimensional) geometry. But unlike other students, I quickly understood solid (three dimensional) geometry because it mimicked real life as I perceived it.
Then I would ask "Where are we going?" This was the future, a point in time not yet experienced. Because our perceptual point of view has not yet experienced this (or any) future, the future is infinitely variable. My son had some difficulty with this concept because in his mind the future was set (we’re going to Grandma’s house) but had not yet arrived. While the narrative map represented an infinite number of possible futures, his task was simply to locate one…Grandma’s house. Continue reading Control the Narrative and You Control the People
Impotence and Denial: The Desperate Virtue Signaling Voices
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Regardless of whether we are speaking of individuals or groups, what is not said is often far more important and enlightening than what is. How and why we self censor while conforming to the collective hive mind speaks volumes about whom and what controls, or at least greatly influences, our thinking and beliefs.
While those engaged might argue otherwise, virtue signaling is all about displaying our cognitive compliance to the group think of our adopted tribe or herd. Virtue signaling usually does not require actual activity or productive effort towards whatever we are signaling about, thought it also doesn’t preclude it, only that we inform the clan we are right thinking and obedient to the hive mind. In form and function, it is very similar to the movement of herds of animals and flocks of birds.
On the surface this makes perfect sense, allowing the individual to share in the rewards (physically, emotionally and monetarily) of being a cooperative and accepted member of the group. Even today the opportunity for safety and prosperity rise when we join a group rather than live the solitary life, even if our group is defined as a nation or religion. Living alone in the Outback for example, particularly for those not well adapted, is not conducive to a long healthy life.
But just as the hive mind demands uniformity in speech and thought, so too does it command certain thought and speech to be verboten and not to be broached other than in passing and in a derogatory manner. Continue reading Impotence and Denial: The Desperate Virtue Signaling Voices
A Near Death Experience: Back from the Brink
By
Cognitive Dissonance
In an odd sort of way I am familiar with death, having danced around its perimeter all my life. A few of those waltzes can be attributed to close calls, near misses and other assorted near fatal brushes with death. But those were different from what I wish to describe in this piece.
A head on collision at 50 MPH (before the era of airbags and mandatory seat belts) unintentionally riding a motocross bike off a forty foot cliff, accidentally walking off the roof of a two story building or nearly having my arm swallowed by a whirling roaring mechanical beast, to name just a few, is just not the same as cardiac arrest and cessation of respiration.
While they all might have scared the hell out of me, with a few leaving me severely wounded or scared for life, they are not comparable to the near death experience(s) (NDE) I’m about to discuss in this article. Continue reading A Near Death Experience: Back from the Brink
Bob
By
Cognitive Dissonance
Mrs. Cog has an ironclad rule honed and confirmed by decades of experience raising children. When a child arrives home with animal, vegetable or mineral of any species or variety, in a desperate effort to quickly short circuit any attempt to bond with said creature, the child is immediately informed s/he may not keep ‘it’ as a pet, play toy or school show and tell item.
And most importantly, instead of allowing the child to name the guest, the first and most important step in the bonding ritual, the subject is immediately bestowed with a common generic run-of-the-mill name.
With Mrs. Cog that name is “Bob”. Continue reading Bob
