It is one of the most interesting questions of our time, isn't it ? Perhaps people would rather go crazy ( they allow themselves to have a kind of "scissors" in their heads - maintaining this certainly takes a lot of energy... ) than suffer from an overdose of stress. I have not yet found a better explanation for this. The feeling of security seems to be so fundamentally important that it cannot be given up at the cost of one's own madness? Obviously, the long-term release of (too many) stress hormones can be fatal... Is madness (psychic disintegration) a kind of solution to the problem and a lesser evil ? If madness is the new normal, then goodnight, sanity. Cognitive dissonance is probably also a psychological profile of the perpetrators' lackeys, who introduce this madness and monitor its progression. They are crazy and this seems to be "contagious".
I have heard an explanation that seems to fit. It’s called “the staircase of disbelief”.
At the foot of the stairs is everything you know, trust & are familiar with.
Even the first tread up the staircase is a situation is total conflict with the narratives you hold about ground level.
For example, a lone gunman could not have killed JFK. Another example, in U.K., the nation was drawn into invading Iraq by what’s known as “the dodgy dossier”, well known lies about the situation. Some people “committed suicide” because they publicly challenged the contents of the dossier. Others “died suddenly”. The bottom line is that many people know full well that prime minister Tony Blair lied to everyone in order to force a vote in parliament to support the decision he’d already made.
Once you’ve recognized that governments tell lies whenever it suits them, the floodgates are opened.
But if someone on the ground floor is offered evidence of serious wrongdoing, the person detects this is up the staircase of disbelief. If they step on those treads, they instinctively know they will never regain the ground floor. They’re frightened by this. They also know that they’ll be ejected from their friend group, their professional circles, their leisure pursuits. And choose not to allow that evidence to be heard.
Thank you.
Gosh, that was powerful! Piotr Bein's question is one I muse upon frequently.
Hi Monica,
It is one of the most interesting questions of our time, isn't it ? Perhaps people would rather go crazy ( they allow themselves to have a kind of "scissors" in their heads - maintaining this certainly takes a lot of energy... ) than suffer from an overdose of stress. I have not yet found a better explanation for this. The feeling of security seems to be so fundamentally important that it cannot be given up at the cost of one's own madness? Obviously, the long-term release of (too many) stress hormones can be fatal... Is madness (psychic disintegration) a kind of solution to the problem and a lesser evil ? If madness is the new normal, then goodnight, sanity. Cognitive dissonance is probably also a psychological profile of the perpetrators' lackeys, who introduce this madness and monitor its progression. They are crazy and this seems to be "contagious".
Best wishes,
Suavek
I have heard an explanation that seems to fit. It’s called “the staircase of disbelief”.
At the foot of the stairs is everything you know, trust & are familiar with.
Even the first tread up the staircase is a situation is total conflict with the narratives you hold about ground level.
For example, a lone gunman could not have killed JFK. Another example, in U.K., the nation was drawn into invading Iraq by what’s known as “the dodgy dossier”, well known lies about the situation. Some people “committed suicide” because they publicly challenged the contents of the dossier. Others “died suddenly”. The bottom line is that many people know full well that prime minister Tony Blair lied to everyone in order to force a vote in parliament to support the decision he’d already made.
Once you’ve recognized that governments tell lies whenever it suits them, the floodgates are opened.
But if someone on the ground floor is offered evidence of serious wrongdoing, the person detects this is up the staircase of disbelief. If they step on those treads, they instinctively know they will never regain the ground floor. They’re frightened by this. They also know that they’ll be ejected from their friend group, their professional circles, their leisure pursuits. And choose not to allow that evidence to be heard.