When I wander into using terms and concepts that are more complex and obscure that your run-of-the-mill facts, I sometimes wonder if I should explain them more often.  Then again, I don’t want to come off as a lecturing pedant. And don’t think that I walk around with terms like ‘pedant’ rolling freely without effort out of my brain: I have a vague idea of what it means, and then I go and google it, just like everyone else. For the record, pedant means “a person who is excessively concerned with formalism and precision, or who makes a show of his or her learning.”

But all of that is beside the point. I want to talk about a psychological concept that tries to give a partial answer to the question ‘humanity, why you so crazy?’: Cognitive Dissonance.

Cognitive dissonance is the uncomfortable mental state where you are trying to believe in two conflicting ideas at the same time. They both can’t be right, but somehow you’re supporting both of them. Smoking is a good example. Every smoker knows that smoking is terrible for them, and  yet they continue to smoke, even though they believe that they are a smart person who makes good choices.

So, faced with the conflict between the two ideas, our clever and adaptive mind creates a scenario where those two ideas can live in a simulation of harmony. We rationalize our behaviour, as being right anyway. We downplay or ignore the negative consequences.  These adaptive capabilities are a big part of how we learn and survive in a chaotic world that doesn’t follow any strict logic, but it also allows very bad behaviours to get rooted into our psyche and stay there.

Consider this for a moment: we are a society of law and we expect everyone to follow the rules, but the News Of the World scandal reminded all of us that some people will see no punishment at all for disobeying those rules that are meant to apply to everyone equally. This creates cognitive dissonance. Some might wonder “Why should I follow the rules and accept their place in life when the wealthy use their fortunes to ignore their obligation to society? Why not take it into my own hands to rebel against the law and acquire some wealth of your own?”

I don’t give anyone absolution for the stupid and evil choices they make, in this case the choice to riot and loot. The responsibility for the action always rests on the shoulders of the individual. But it’s vital to look at the environment that encouraged that decision-making process, and the conditions that created it. When we accept a systemic disrespect for the rule of law from our leaders, we weaken the structures that allow our complex society to thrive.

(Note to the defenders of the English language: if I’ve used ‘irony’ in an incorrect way, I don’t want to hear about it. I am not in the mood)

By blogging and being all in and about social media, the entrepreneurial writer builds his brand, his platform, and the increased visibility and connectivity with the audience will pay off in the future (or so I’m told). Knowing that it helps the future (supposedly) I feel compelled to get here and blog it up, especially on a day where I am keenly aware of the need for ‘money’ to ‘ keep my chubby butt fed’.

And, as always, when I’m feeling the money pinch, my spirits plummet and my previous stockpile of sage observation/witty observations vanish into the ether. So, I need to keep talking to my faithful audience to keep our relationship strong and healthy, but I’m only able to talk about money woes and moping. Hardly seems fair to you, gentle reader.  Well, you’re already here, so settle down and I’ll try to scrape together something interesting.

I did venture out of the house to attend a general meeting of Emerging Leaders, a group dedicated to gathering potential leaders and teaching leaderly things to them (as well as getting them to network and maybe find them some jobs). Once again, this was a big social occasion with very few familiar faces, and I navigated it with relative ease. I’m on the cusp of being able to totally abandon the ‘socially awkward’ descriptor that I append to my character bio.  That counts as a victory.

I also got to hang out a little bit with my new tall friend Scott. Scott is about an inch taller than me, just tall enough that I’m not the biggest guy around at 6′ 2″, but not so much taller than me that I’m frightened. For some reason, there’s something comforting about lurking around in his shadow. I don’t get a lot of shadow-lurking opportunity.

In the subject of ethics: I don’t think I could ever lie as a part of an election campaign. My dad oath wouldn’t let me do it. Sure, you can be viciously incisive to your opponent, and you can (and should) mercilessly dismantle their policies, but trying to lie your way into power is absolutely shameful. There’s a local political enthusiast who volunteers for a candidate as their social media coordinator and when I read his twitter posts and facebook posts, I feel an incredible rage. He’s a new dad. He has the responsibility to teach his child that winning through dishonesty doesn’t count. By accepting and embracing these sleazy tactics, he’s waiving a portion of his parental moral authority, and his kid deserves better. I think it’s best that I never meet this man in person, because I won’t be able to keep my yap shut.

For my footloose and fancy free readers who currently have no small children in the house, there is a good chance that they have never read “Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She was Extinct”, by Mo Willems. It’s a shame they haven’t read this gem, because there is profound wisdom within its text.

Here’s the story: Edwina is a well-loved member of the community, and she brings happiness and cookies to all of the townsfolk. There is one boy who has an issue with this: not with the cookies part, but with the dinosaur herself.  The boy with the fantastic name, Reginald von Hoobie-Doobie, is a lad of science and reason, and he knows that dinosaurs are extinct. He cannot understand why no one else seems to care about this. Assuming the townsfolk are simply uninformed, Reginald goes to great length to try to explain to the townspeople that they are friends with a creature who is supposed to be extinct, but no one pays any attention to his lecturing. Finally driven to a state of sullen moping, Reginald sits and pouts. Edwina, ever the good and friendly dino, tries to help him by sitting and listening intently to Reginald’s very long and detailed explanation. And when Reginald has finished talking, Edwina gleefully skips out of the classroom to go make cookies. The final line of the story tells you that Edwina understood what Reginald had said but “she just didn’t care.”

Chilling. well, okay, not really chilling. More adorable than anything else, but there is a message in there. There are going to be times when there is no value to correctly a matter of fact. You can champion reason and knowledge, but you’ll break your brain if you argue over every trivial point of order. Yes, Edwina is a dinosaur, and yes that means she should be a fossil in the ground, but the truth of the situation is that she is very much alive and non-extinct. Reginald is only making his own life harder by pedantically trying to convince people of a fact that is not relevant to the circumstances.

It’s a lesson that every intellectual or “smarty pants” has to learn: let some things slide. Some times, the popular perception is too strong to correct with a simple speech. And, above all, if every one is having a nice time while eating cookies and helping each other, it doesn’t matter who is extinct. And I speak from experience for you see, I have been that “smarty pants”. I have been Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie.