People want to be liked. So we try to be "normal", following normal
rituals and believing normal things. We are also troubled by "tall
poppies" who "rock the boat", so others cause similar discomfort.
Regardless of truth or falsehood, the accusation of "conspiracy
theory" has become a simple shorthand for shaming outliers back into
line. After a while we learn to self-censor and regulate our
own opinions.
The cognitive dissonance of confronting an outrageous fact
causes disbelief. I can think of my own edges, for example Noam
Chomsky. He is really hard to take at times.
When I read and watched Chomsky talk about The Trilateral Commission's
"Crisis of Democracy" [0], I dismissed him as a nutcase. For years I
wouldn't read or watch him.
That there could be a high level international conspiracy to undermine
democracy, involving leaders of the US, Britain and Europe - that just
seemed crazy. Especially after WW2. I became completely blind to the
fact anyone could just download and read the report. I "refused" to
click the links.
Years later I read and confirmed the authenticity of it, studied the
message and proposals. Somehow this time I was ready to accept it;
"Yes, there are prominent traitors to "our way of life" walking around
in plain sight and actively conspiring to destroy it."
How could I square this? In China they would be called dissidents, and
be shot. Here we call them "leaders of industry". What we have to
celebrate is the non-irony that in a tolerant democratic society they
are free to openly meet and plot its overthrow. Non-contradiction.
And like that... the dissonance evaporated.
Why didn't I just realise that earlier? On reflection I am
disappointed in myself for having been so easily trained into
blindness. I think of myself as a sceptic, a scientist, an "evidenced
based" thinker. But the evidence is that I am just as easily led by
emotional bias and social pressure to ignore the truth as anyone else.
Today I think of this internal self-censorship is something one must
strive to overcome. It's part of the project of being a rationalist
and sceptic. A true sceptic is also a contrarian because one has to
overcome the desire to be "liked".
Regardless of truth or falsehood, the accusation of "conspiracy theory" has become a simple shorthand for shaming outliers back into line. After a while we learn to self-censor and regulate our own opinions.
The cognitive dissonance of confronting an outrageous fact causes disbelief. I can think of my own edges, for example Noam Chomsky. He is really hard to take at times.
When I read and watched Chomsky talk about The Trilateral Commission's "Crisis of Democracy" [0], I dismissed him as a nutcase. For years I wouldn't read or watch him.
That there could be a high level international conspiracy to undermine democracy, involving leaders of the US, Britain and Europe - that just seemed crazy. Especially after WW2. I became completely blind to the fact anyone could just download and read the report. I "refused" to click the links.
Years later I read and confirmed the authenticity of it, studied the message and proposals. Somehow this time I was ready to accept it; "Yes, there are prominent traitors to "our way of life" walking around in plain sight and actively conspiring to destroy it."
How could I square this? In China they would be called dissidents, and be shot. Here we call them "leaders of industry". What we have to celebrate is the non-irony that in a tolerant democratic society they are free to openly meet and plot its overthrow. Non-contradiction. And like that... the dissonance evaporated.
Why didn't I just realise that earlier? On reflection I am disappointed in myself for having been so easily trained into blindness. I think of myself as a sceptic, a scientist, an "evidenced based" thinker. But the evidence is that I am just as easily led by emotional bias and social pressure to ignore the truth as anyone else.
Today I think of this internal self-censorship is something one must strive to overcome. It's part of the project of being a rationalist and sceptic. A true sceptic is also a contrarian because one has to overcome the desire to be "liked".
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crisis_of_Democracy