How cognitive biases prevent social progress

 

I find it amusing that those who insist a thing cannot be known with any certainty will often attack those who are informed only to insist that they too must share in their willful ignorance by ignoring what is happening right in front of their eyes. Demonstrating yet again that there are none so blind as those who refuse to see. All tyrannies, no matter how one might define the ideology which possesses the tyrants behind it, count on our willful blindness! In fact, they will invariably weaponize the 4^th Estate to carry out their deceptions to keep us blind to their actual designs!

The other day I had an old friend tell me that I must be a conservative since he laboured under the misapprehension that I wish to return to a former time when things were better thereby rejecting social progress. Since I taught process improvement and transformative business practices in my former career prior to my retirement I focused on helping my clients to reduce waste, cost, and variation, I found it rather galling to have a friend whom I care about misunderstand my position so badly. Perhaps due to the fact I reject the ideological possession of the radical left some folks might falsely assume that I am against social progress. Yet nothing could possibly be further from the truth. So first we must agree on what constitutes progress to ensure it is both positive and transformative in nature. First it must be both measurable and provable in terms of its actual results. All processes are measurable, quantifiable, and knowable to ensure that our ability to measure success must not be restricted by our biases. So, let’s look at the root causes for these cognitive biases.

Tunnel vision, in a metaphorical sense, can be caused by a variety of factors:

1. **Lack of Empathy**: Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. If a person lacks empathy, they may have difficulty seeing things from another person's perspective⁵.

2. **Cognitive Bias**: This is a systematic error in thinking that affects the decisions and judgments that people make. Some cognitive biases can lead to tunnel vision. For example, the confirmation bias can cause people to pay more attention to information that confirms their existing beliefs and ignore information that challenges them⁵.

3. **Emotional State**: When a person is in a highly emotional state, they may be so focused on their own feelings and experiences that they struggle to see things from another person's perspective⁵.

4. **Cultural Differences**: Sometimes, cultural differences can lead to misunderstandings and make it harder to understand another person's point of view⁵.

5. **Lack of Experience or Knowledge**: If a person has limited experience or knowledge about a certain topic, they may find it difficult to understand someone else's perspective on that topic⁵.

In terms of improving one's ability to see things from another person's perspective, there are several strategies that can be helpful. These include practicing empathy, being aware of and challenging one's own biases, managing one's emotional state, learning about other cultures, and seeking to broaden one's experiences and knowledge.

There is an old saying in “Hávamál | Odin's Words of Wisdom from the Poetic Edda” that, “en vitløs mann vet alt han tror mellom fjellene hvor han bor!” or “a foolish man believes everything he knows between the two mountains where he dwells!”

I believe Odin’s warning applies quite well in this instance despite it not originating from a Biblical source!

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2024-03-22

(1) Perceptual Positions - Seeing Other Points of View - Mind Tools. https://www.mindtools.com/aaryn61/perceptual-positions.

(2) 3 counter intuitive ways to take on another person’s point of view. https://psychologycompass.com/blog/point-of-view/.

(3) 3 Ways to See Things from Different Points of View - wikiHow. https://www.wikihow.com/See-Things-from-Different-Points-of-View.

(4) What is Tunnel vision and its causes and related conditions?. https://bing.com/search?q=causes+of+tunnel+vision.

(5) 7 Causes of Tunnel Vision: Plus Symptoms, Treatment & More - Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/tunnel-vision.

(6) Tunnel Vision (Peripheral Vision Loss): Causes & Treatment. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/24435-tunnel-vision-peripheral-vision-loss.

(7) Tunnel Vision: Causes, Treatment & Prevention | MyVision.org. https://myvision.org/eye-conditions/tunnel-vision/.

The great problem we have in combating totalitarianism is that we have never come to terms with how truly infectious the parasitical ideas are which possess our ideological enemies. There can be no underestimating the hold that parasitical beliefs have on people's minds, nor can what people think be defeated on the field of battle. Here in the West, we have returned like a dog to its own vomit embracing illiberal and authoritarian ideas which have been kept alive by the very institutions that we have entrusted to guard us from them. By doing so we have managed to place the fox in charge of the hen house that lays the eggs which hatch our liberties. All the worst ideas which originated in the 19th Century that led to the murder of millions in the 20th Century are still possessing the lecture halls of the Academy in the 21st Century. This has led to parasitical ideation capturing the hearts and minds of many today. We are being confronted with an imminent ideological disaster which we are ill prepared to face, a social and spiritual ruin where even our own families and friends will become our ideological enemies! Remarkably there isn't a single example among any of the ideologies to which I am referring that will not require us to surrender our individuality and autonomy to the state run collective. These include the Neo-Marxist Critical Theory being taught in every university as viable political theory, the Corporate Fascism on display in the WEF among other unelected globalist organizations who dictate to sovereign nations how they must conduct their internal affairs, or even to political Islamism and the Islamic caliphates they intend to establish under Sharia Law. Oddly all appear to cooperate with one another despite their differing agendas!

So, I promise by the power of the Almighty to commit myself as long as God gives me breath to find the right words to expose the dreaded false doctrines which are now possessing the minds and hearts of a great many here in the West. I will never allow myself to remain silent in the face of them. My Godly ancestors came to Upper Canada long before we had become a Dominion to help found a Christian nation under God where peace, order, and good government would be its legacy! There is much that could have been done to build upon the foundation they laboured to lay yet we as a nation have chosen to do the diametric opposite!

The role of the Church is to resist Satanic lies:

In the face of this attack on Godly beliefs the Church has remained largely ignorant and silent about the leading ideological lies of our time. It is the very task of churchmen and women to stand against all false doctrines which fly in the face of the Truth of the Gospel yet today we have a weak church looking for escape from persecution. I want to remind you of that great martyr of the church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer who began to oppose the Nazi regime from its early days. He was involved in protests against the regime, especially its anti-Semitism, from the first days of the Nazi accession to power in 1933¹. Despite an 18-month absence during which he served as pastor of two small German congregations in London (1933–35), Bonhoeffer became a leading spokesman for the Confessing Church, the center of German Protestant resistance to the Nazi regime¹. His opposition to the Nazis was based on their godless ideology, which was in direct conflict with his Christian beliefs¹.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2024-03-23

(1) Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Biography, Theology, Writings, Death, & Facts .... https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Bonhoeffer.

(2) Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer.

(3) Dietrich Bonhoeffer remembered – DW – 04/08/2015. https://www.dw.com/en/dietrich-bonhoeffer-pacifist-religious-reformer-and-victim-of-the-nazis/a-18366798.

(4) Biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Theologian - Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/dietrich-bonhoeffer-4771872.

More on Bonhoeffer’s legacy:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. He was a key founding member of the Confessing Church and his writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential¹.

Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with the July 20^th plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was tried along with other accused plotters, including former members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office). He was executed by hanging on April 9^th 1945 during the collapse of the Nazi regime¹.

There's also a biography about Bonhoeffer written by Eric Metaxas. In this book, Metaxas explores both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life—the theologian and the spy—and draws them together to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil⁵.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 2024-03-22

(1) Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer.

(2) Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - Eric Metaxas. https://ericmetaxas.com/books/bonhoeffer/.

(3) The Troubling Truth About Bonhoeffer’s Theology. https://www.equip.org/articles/troubling-truth-bonhoeffers-theology/.

(4) Dietrich Bonhoeffer remembered – DW – 04/08/2015. https://www.dw.com/en/dietrich-bonhoeffer-pacifist-religious-reformer-and-victim-of-the-nazis/a-18366798.

(5) Anti-Nazi theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged - HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/defiant-theologian-dietrich-bonhoeffer-is-hanged.

(6) Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas - Goodreads. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7501962-bonhoeffer.

(7) Bonhoeffer - 10th Anniversary Edition - Marketing Pages. https://www.thomasnelson.com/p/bonhoeffer/.

(8) undefined. http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/.

Let us examine the following, “Letter to the American Church” by Eric Metaxas which may be found at the following link; https://www.christianbook.com/letter-to-the-american-church/eric-metaxas/9781684513895/pd/513892?kw=letter%20to%20the%20american%20church&mt=e&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1229926&cb_src=bing&cb_typ=search&cb_cmp=70217467&cb_adg=1229254328660772&cb_kyw=letter%20to%20the%20american%20church&msclkid=df774ee2c8e716d26abe2b1cc7f66d4b

From that book’s forward:

“The author of a bestselling biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Eric Metaxas reveals the haunting similarities between today’s American Church and the German Church of the 1930s. Echoing the German martyr’s prophetic call, he exhorts his fellow Christians to repent of their silence in the face of evil.

An attenuated and unbiblical "faith" based on what Bonhoeffer called "cheap grace" has sapped the spiritual vitality of millions of Americans. Paying lip service to an insipid "evangelism," they shrink from combating the evils of our time. Metaxas refutes the pernicious lie that fighting evil politicizes Christianity. As Bonhoeffer and other heroes of the faith insisted, the Church has an irreplaceable role in the culture of a nation. It is our duty to fight the powers of darkness, especially on behalf of the weak and vulnerable.

Silence is not an option. God calls us to defend the unborn, to confront the lies of Cultural Marxism, and to battle the globalist tyranny that crushes human freedom. Confident that this is His fight, the Church must overcome fear and enter the fray, armed with the spiritual weapons of prayer, self-sacrifice, and love.”

About a decade ago while still residing in Norway I read Mikkel Clair Nissen’s book, “Manipulism and the Weapon of Guilt: Collectivism Exposed” which Mikkel calls the utmost controversial exposé and carefully detailed description of the awful emotional mind game that facilitates communism, socialism, fascism, and social-liberalism, known as collectivism. My personal experiences of life in Norway and my encounters with the authorities convinced me that I could no longer ignore what had confronted me on a daily basis while living there. The book itself exposes Denmark, the supposed happiest nation on earth, for what it truly is: collectivism’s biggest propaganda hoax but all of Scandinavia was in the grip of the same mindset. Norway was certainly little different in its cloying social demand for conformity to the state-run consensus. Yet the state itself could never make its demands clear in such a manner that would permit me to know my next move to avoid running into trouble. In his book Danish author Mikkel Clair Nissen tells the hidden facts and realities of life in Denmark’s democratic socialism that they never want you to know. I am here to tell you why I abhor social collectivism but moreover to define the hideous godless nature of it.

Like Bonhoeffer I am witnessing an attenuated and unbiblical "faith" based on what he called "cheap grace" which has sapped the spiritual vitality of millions of Americans, Canadians, and indeed a disturbing many throughout the West. Paying lip service to an insipid "evangelism," they shrink from combating the evils of our time. Repeatedly I have offered my help to pastors to assist them in developing speaking series on the prevailing culture wars, but not one of them has accepted my offer although it obviously still stands. Today we have a destructive escapist theology that teaches people to hunker down until Jesus returns to take them out of persecution. But they do not hold God’s clock. We are admonished to be about the work of God until He returns. By ignoring this the church is choosing to sit on the fence forgetting of course that the Devil owns the fence! Bonhoeffer warned the German Churches in the early 30’s when they still had the power to stop Hitler, yet they refused to listen to his warnings. Today is our Bonhoeffer moment. If the Church should only choose to take a clear stand against the culture war, we have the spiritual power to stop this emergent tyranny since the very gates of hell cannot prevail against us. However, if the church continues with its current silence and pandering to the wicked rhetoric being fomented by the critical theorist culture warriors what remains of the Christian West will sink back into an unspeakable tyranny. A tyranny which will far exceed the worst horrors of the 20^th Century. I will not keep silent no matter how many addle brained musicians demand that I hold my tongue. The lie that these idea pathogens constitute social progress is such a fallacy that I find it remarkable anyone can succumb to them, let alone my fellow Christians!