Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance just doesn't hurt individuals, it hurts entire nations. We must act responsibly, and act now. The reckless policies, politicians, and corporations are taking America down and taking the average American people with it. One thing about it, though, the average American isn't going to let the recklessly powerful take 'em down without a fight.

Another realization I discovered as a young adult involves actions. Actions by many Americans going in the opposite direction of the principles of the Declaration of Independence create cognitive dissonance. Where cognitive dissonance is associated with the individual, a society itself can become likewise, for example, a neighborhood turning an eye to the drug and prostitution activity going on in the neighborhood. It is the same as the family unit knowing something is wrong and no one opens a discussion about what is wrong--and instead act as if nothing is wrong. A pink elephant in the living, an ostrich with its head in the sand: no matter how the problem is sliced or expressed, the problem will stick around UNTIL someone does something about it. For instance, the activists currently on Wall Street is one way to do something about the economic woes in this country. Activists are carrying signs that say, "No Corporate Welfare," and "Tax the Rich," and "Where are the Jobs?" Up until now (Oct. 8, 2011, this hub was originally published Spt. 2011), the national news had not covered the story much because they didn't want the public to know of the unrest. If the public knew about the unrest, many would drop what they were doing and go join them. When the news reported only 200 people, there were really 2000. Today, Oct. 8, 2011 there are about 108 cities nationwide that have organized Occupy Wall Street in their neck of the woods. You should too! Doing something about something is always better than doing nothing about something. Keep it assertive, and just remember--assertiveness isn't necessarily "nice as a door mat" for people to walk all over you and kick you around, and it isn't agression or passiveness. Assertiveness is about telling what you will and will not do in an assertive, respectful, and dignified tone. Assertiveness is also being honest with yourself and others, and it is what the American people want the president of the United States to be when it comes to acknowledging our Congress is bought by big money, as Dylan Ratigan explains in the YouTube clip shown below. He goes on to comment that we cannot begin to fix the problems until we acknowledge the problems at hand. We cannot fix the problems by kicking the can further down the road just to get through a presidency or be voted in for the next term; thereby, screwing the American people in the process.

We go to a football game full of passion for our team and we make noise to let our team know we are with them. Go to Wall Street to let corporate America know you don't approve. Know your rights, get in with a group that has integrity and not greed on its mind. Let those controlling our economics and mismanaging our money know by telling them, "No More!" If you don't go, just be ready of more of the same and let corporate America and Congress get away with cognitive dissonance, an unhealthy mind set that is sinking America.

Often many do not learn about the ways of this life until after the fact. Observation was a keen sense that I had going for me whenever I was a young adult. From what I had observed, I coined a phrase, "living in an after-the-fact society," an expression that made more sense to me than my grandma's expression of "don't get the cart before the horse." Too often in life many do not learn about the ways of this life until after the fact, for example, getting pregnant at a young age before getting established in a career, getting pregnant before getting married, continuing in an uncooperative attitude before seeing the toll on a parent's patience, getting in guranteed student loan debt before acquiring a job, topping out credit cards before talking it over with a spouse. The results or lessons learned from living in an after-the-fact society would be living in poverty, living in broken relationships, and living in the stress of debt. So before these reckless results ever have a chance to take hold on a person's life, what is needed is trust and viable communnication between adults and children, children having the ability to say, "no" to peer pressure, and children giving themselves permission to think and act responsibly along with an understanding of their own value so they can make better decisions "on purpose."

One method I used to teach in Learning Strategies is called the COPE method. Identify the CHALLENGE, make a list of OPTIONS, choose an option and make a PLAN, and once the plan is in motion EVALUATE it to see how the plan is working. Often, people are good at planning but not so good at acting on those plans. It takes real guts to act on plans, especially when more doubts are expressed than praises. It also takes real guts to be realistic about abilities: what a person can do and cannot do. But facing the reality of what a person cannot do is just as important as validating what a person can do. Once a person realizes what he/she cannot do, then he/she knows to reach out for help and accept it. Reaching out for help can be part of a person's plan. It's just a matter of searching and reaching for it.

For instance, if a student is weak in math or English, instead of avoiding the subject, the student should first admit the weakness to him/herself and then admit it to a stranger. It is better to get help in a weak area than to change a major completely. With practice, according to Dr. Howard Gardner, a person can turn a weakness into a strength. Discipline, effort, and practice are required to get good at calculus, trigonometry, physics, or writing, reading, or spelling. But if a female believes she cannot do math, then her assumption tells her she cannot become a scientist, so she avoids math. And if a male believes he cannot write, then his assumption tells him he cannot be a good engineer or researcher, so he avoids writing classes altogether. The result of both students is they become less than what they could have become. If only they had stretched themselves a little bit further, had gotten the tutoring they needed to close that gap of understanding, they could have become something greater than they had realized. So with cognitive dissonance, fear keeps many from persevering and busting through glass ceilings, marching on Wall Street and Capitol Hill to create real change, or just build a life. So people settle for living an after-the-fact life, and before they know it the entire social scene becomes the normal of mediocrity and an excuse for living in an after-the-fact society. Instead of a person purposely putting controls into place to influence his/her own path, society then depicts life for the multitude.