Denial. Psychologists come up against the persecution of truth constantly throughout their working lives. We can flatly deny the truth. And this can occur against the most impressive mountain of hard physical evidence. We often want to be deluded, as it is easier than to admit we are a little bit bad, or foolish.
Self-delusion. We carry out little self-delusions inside our minds to try to twist the perception of truth and make it taste better. For example, a wealthy person when confronted with the reality of horrendous poverty in the twenty-first century may try to convince themselves that because they gave twenty pounds earlier that year, they have done their bit. Most of us wealthy people could very easily go without a bit more for the benefit of those really in need. Or we tell ourselves that because we may make regular charitable donations we don’t need to actually visit a charity and do some physical work. We like to massage our own consciences.
Rubbish the opposition. The people who proliferate truth get persecuted. This can be by ridicule. For example, environmentalists are often dismissed as “tree-huggers”. In reality environmentalists would never hug a tree, but the image is funny, and so a group of people who are guilty of not doing their bit for the future of the world can pull themselves together into a clique and laugh at the person doing the right thing. Rubbishing the truth may sound like “that’s just your opinion”, or “you’re a pompous arse” or “you’re mad” or “you’re wrong”.
Seeking out like minded deluded people. When we recognise a group which has the same delusion as ourselves we seek them out, often sub-consciously. We find their company acceptable as they don’t disagree with us. They are equally bad or foolish, and so mixing in those circles allows the truth to remain hidden. In a larger group of equally deluded people we can feel more powerful “our gang is bigger than your gang” which is a throw-back response from our warring roots. In reality it takes greater inner strength to stick to the truth when in a minority, confronted with a larger group of aggressive deluded people. This can happen in groups of criminals who support each other, or amongst racists. Countries often provide another deluded clique which enables a group of people to pull together against the truth. Religious organisations often have the same effect. Political parties provide another place where group delusions can persist. Or companies, or sports and social clubs, many places. (Not that these groups are always in the wrong, but they are all places where group delusion can exist.) Groups like this allow us to try to justify our wrong actions by saying “Well George is doing it.”
Muddy the water with irrelevances. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but guilty people often attempt to do this. For example, a mistake perpetrated by the truth-teller twenty years previously may be dragged up, but it still doesn’t justify any badness in the present. If sufficient muddying is carried out by the guilty person, the truth can be buried in the debate, if the truth-teller is eventually distracted.
There are many tactics we use to avoid the truth.
But in the long run, it is in everybody’s interest to stick to the truth, and do the right thing. As an added bonus, those who live by the truth are able to look back on their lives knowing they did the
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