I remember the first time I heard the term "cognitive dissonance." I had just started grad school and taking an Educational Psychology class. I had just returned from a year abroad, studying in France, and was struck by the crassness of American culture--everyone everywhere selling something: products, beliefs, politics, religion. Nothing subtle about it.
I had been attuned to this while still in Europe when I went to see the 1975 Robert Altman film, "Nashville" (aware how this dates me!) with some French and Swiss friends. The film, per film critic Roger Ebert, "is a docudrama about the Nashville scene. It is a political parable, written and directed in the immediate aftermath of Watergate (the scenes in the Grand Ole Opry were shot on the day Richard M. Nixon resigned). It tells interlocking stories of love and sex, of hearts broken and mended."
I remember feeling so embarrassed by this America. Surely, this was not who we really were?
The cognitive dissonance set in in-full once I came home. Nothing like seeing ourselves through the eyes of others to open your own. [Trailer: https://youtu.be/47Z0yA4Ce6A]
Of course, Altman was satirizing America--showing us a version of the truth of who we are--in the ways only art can.
This is why leaving is so important! It reminds us that this is not baseline. We don't have to normalize it or accept this as status quo. Thank you for sharing that story and video with me!
💔 Tomorrow is The Day. We rise up together, 4 to 5 million strong, all over the Divided States of America, to show our displeasure at fascist authoritarianism. 💪🏾 ✌️🫶🏽
well said as always Summer. and yes, i feel the same confusion when i'm reading an article online about poverty, war, etc and then some ad follows about being posh. i'm like "really?" read the room!!
i looked at the map of planned "no king" events for this coming Saturday and the US was awash in overlapping dots. may the message of "not on our watch" be made clear.
Summer, this must have been an easy piece to write and a very hard piece to write...breaking thru the normalized veneer that is giving cover to the lives of most of us. Even admitting that you are caught, trapped by its opaqueness in order to hold family intact, is huge testimony to the damage that has been inflicted on our ability to see, recognize what is real! You bring a guiding light to us that should sear the conscience of those lacking the will to stand up!
Cognitive dissonance is the perfect description of what America life has been for years. Normalizing the “not normal” has crept into the psyche of so many who prefer denial over reality for the sake of what they consider survival. It weighs heaviest on those of us who are hyper sensitive to the reality we feel for ourselves, others and the environment. Greta is right.
"Rage against the dying of the light."
I love that quote!
I needed this in my inbox today. Thank you for putting words to the Upside-Down we’re all in.
Thank you, Linzi!
I remember the first time I heard the term "cognitive dissonance." I had just started grad school and taking an Educational Psychology class. I had just returned from a year abroad, studying in France, and was struck by the crassness of American culture--everyone everywhere selling something: products, beliefs, politics, religion. Nothing subtle about it.
I had been attuned to this while still in Europe when I went to see the 1975 Robert Altman film, "Nashville" (aware how this dates me!) with some French and Swiss friends. The film, per film critic Roger Ebert, "is a docudrama about the Nashville scene. It is a political parable, written and directed in the immediate aftermath of Watergate (the scenes in the Grand Ole Opry were shot on the day Richard M. Nixon resigned). It tells interlocking stories of love and sex, of hearts broken and mended."
I remember feeling so embarrassed by this America. Surely, this was not who we really were?
The cognitive dissonance set in in-full once I came home. Nothing like seeing ourselves through the eyes of others to open your own. [Trailer: https://youtu.be/47Z0yA4Ce6A]
Of course, Altman was satirizing America--showing us a version of the truth of who we are--in the ways only art can.
Absurd.
Not normalizing now, when nothing is "normal."
This is why leaving is so important! It reminds us that this is not baseline. We don't have to normalize it or accept this as status quo. Thank you for sharing that story and video with me!
I feel like I always read you at exactly the right time! Thank you!
I love that! What do they call that? substacknicity? I feel like there's a better name there somewhere...
💔 Tomorrow is The Day. We rise up together, 4 to 5 million strong, all over the Divided States of America, to show our displeasure at fascist authoritarianism. 💪🏾 ✌️🫶🏽
It was amazing, wasn't it? They say it was 13.1 million!
Yay America 🇺🇸. And we had 1500-2000 show up here in Fort Bragg California, pop. 7,000. 💪🏾🫶🏽
Brilliant. Well done.
Thank you, Frank!
well said as always Summer. and yes, i feel the same confusion when i'm reading an article online about poverty, war, etc and then some ad follows about being posh. i'm like "really?" read the room!!
i looked at the map of planned "no king" events for this coming Saturday and the US was awash in overlapping dots. may the message of "not on our watch" be made clear.
SO MANY PROTESTS! My friends and I will be performing at one!
Summer, this must have been an easy piece to write and a very hard piece to write...breaking thru the normalized veneer that is giving cover to the lives of most of us. Even admitting that you are caught, trapped by its opaqueness in order to hold family intact, is huge testimony to the damage that has been inflicted on our ability to see, recognize what is real! You bring a guiding light to us that should sear the conscience of those lacking the will to stand up!
Thank you, Frank!
🎯
Thanks, Gary!
Cognitive dissonance is the perfect description of what America life has been for years. Normalizing the “not normal” has crept into the psyche of so many who prefer denial over reality for the sake of what they consider survival. It weighs heaviest on those of us who are hyper sensitive to the reality we feel for ourselves, others and the environment. Greta is right.
One hundred per cent!
Thank you Summer. So appreciate this. The normalization I see in some of my family and friends is deeply disturbing and intractable.
I feel this!