The cognitive dissonance evidenced by the recent election is becoming more obvious to me. Polls continue to show that people support the right to choose abortion, the rights of women, the continuance of social security, etc. These are all policy positions not supported by a majority of those elected.
The electorate seems to be influenced not by what their rational thoughts dictate, but more by malice, bigotry and misogyny. It makes as much sense as someone announcing their intent to lose weight as they reach for a second piece of cake.
In all of us, there are the residuals of trauma. I am aware that my trauma is a combination of my inheritance and experience. The trauma constantly induces fear, and that fear can overpower what my cognition is sorting out. I act based on my deep fears sometimes, not what my rational mind is saying. Some aversions and attractions overcome what I rationally think.
Some people who think progressively, who know how to act progressively, act in a way that is not guided by their ideas and ideals. People who are insistent that they are not racist, who think benevolently about people of color, still act in ways that are rooted in racism.
I have grown up in an atmosphere that promotes bigotry and misogyny. Fearing the power and presence of people different from me, fearing the power and presence of women is part of my inheritance, culture and early experience. I think this is true of many people living in the USA. Men learn that they must dominate woman and women yield to an atmosphere of patriarchy. White people fear people of color and feel the need to dominate them, to stay in charge.
These trauma based fears promote cognitive dissonance. People think they have no malice, no bigotry, no racism, no misogyny. But it is a powerful, often unacknowledged part of them. So people act contrary to what their cognition tells them. They act contrary to what they think they intend to do, or what they think they should do. They even elect individuals who do not support their ideals.