Cognitive dissonance regarding terrorism

Submitted by John Maloney (United States), Jul 9, 2002 at 16:14

Psychologists have a term for the persistent assertion of an interpretation of reality that is clearly at odds with facts; they call it "cognitive dissonance". We are clearly engaging in cognitive dissonance when we disavow that terrorist acts are being committed against us by individuals who are Muslims, usually of origin in or connection with the Middle East.

It is a futile exercise in appeasement to avoid stating the obvious, and will simply handicap our own effort to achieve security. If there are those who can not differentiate between an attack on terrorism and an attack on Muslims and Islam, our PC statements will be unlikely to teach them the difference.

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