Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: April 25, 2004 – May 01, 2004 Archives
Interesting discussion about why so many people — voters — still believe in the myths of a Saddam Hussein/Osama bin Laden connection, the stores of terror weapons in Iraq, etc.
Juan Cole takes the academic approach and looks at this as epistemology in action. I don’t think that’s necessarily relevant.
It seemed to me I had encountered this before, as cognitive dissonance:
According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior.
If you give up on something as essential as Iraq war, what other beliefs will have to be examined? As these things go, wars are not terribly subtle: if someone can get that wrong, what more refined elements of statecraft might have been fumbled?
I sympathize with anyone who is still clinging to the increasingly threadbare justification for the war, the patriot act, and the other assorted affronts to the founders’ legacy. I just hope they let go and get hold of the truth before their beliefs unravel completely.