Woodruff wrote:Loved that post, Patches - I have to admit it was funny.
That being said, I genuinely don't understand all of the angst over Trump being elected.
I'll tell you why, you might not agree, but at least give it a thought.
Cognitive dissonance.
Consider, the typical anti-Trump protester believes three things-
1. They believe they are smart and well informed.
2. Their good judgment told them that Trump is Hitler or something equally as bad.
3. Half the voters in the US, including plenty of smart people, voted for Trump anyway.
This is what went on in the minds of these anti Trump people and since all three of those facts can't be reconciled something has to give. In comes the cognitive dissonance.
You see they have to view this in one of two ways, First, they could accept that half the voters don't view Trump as a monster and that perhaps Trump isn't a monster.
The problem with that option is that conflicts with the person's own self image as being smart and well informed.
So, in order to explain a way Trump got elected while also believing you are smart, well informed and think it is
obvious Trump is a monster, you have to go to option number 2.
Option number two is to
literally hallucinate that Trump supporters know Trump is a monster and that they prefer the monster Trump.
A rational person can understand that there are a lot of people who voted for Trump who are smart, well informed voters who given the choices they had went with Trump over Hillary. This fact is completely lost on the anti trump protester who are not able to even entertain the idea that their perceptions could be so wrong. They therefore must, for the sake of their own self image, assume that trump voters must be defective in some moral or mental way.
The protesters are living in a world where they are fighting an evil monster called Trump and Trump voters are living in a world where they got the President they hope will make the changes they prefer. The same world, two different realities.
Kinda makes one question the whole concept of reality for a second, but hell, reality doesn't make a damn bit of difference in the end. Everyone makes their own damn reality no matter how crazy or irreconcilable those realities are with facts.