Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary defines “cognitive dissonance” as a
psychological conflict resulting from incongruous beliefs and attitudes (as a fondness for smoking and a belief that it is harmful) held simultaneously
Of course, being cognitively dissonant is an occupational hazard of being a Leftist, and no issue has brought this into focus better than the Iraq war. How else to explain the hysterical juxtaposition of two bumper stickers I saw recently on the same car:
“Free Tibet” and “No War in Iraq”
While one is tempted to dismiss this sighting as comic relief during heavy traffic, there is more here than meets the eye. Certainly, China’s suppression of political and religious freedoms in this strange mountainous land has garnered much criticism and protests by human rights organizations. In October 1950, the Chinese invaded Tibet, overwhelmed the ragtag army, and a Tibetan delegation summoned to China in 1951 had to sign a treaty dictated by the conquerors. The Dalai Lama, spiritual and administrative leader of the Tibetans, appealed to the United Nations, but was quickly rebuffed. Yes, the UN was completely useless even then.
If the plight of 6 million Tibetans can pierce the bleeding hearts of the Left, why not the arguably worse subjection of more than 20 million Iraqis? And then, what is the solution? After all, the “Free Tibet” movement has been active since before Saddam Hussein took power in Iraq. Can the Chinese be removed by bumper stickers alone?
What can one conclude but that all this Leftist drivel boils down to three things: Hating “Amerika”, spouting platitudes, and reveling in icons—most of which are dubious at best.
Remember the endless talk about liberation movements and liberation theology? Now that a sizable country actually HAS been liberated, where are all the usual suspects? Still blathering about oil, imperialism, and the rest of the tired clichés. You’d think they would update the Gramsci playbook by now. But the problem is that the ideas were not even novel when Commie guru Antonio Gramsci was trying to win the hearts and minds of his fellow Italians, way back in the 1920’s.
You’d also think that they would be a bit more careful with the platitudes and icons. Attempting to deflect criticism of her ridiculous quest to break the all-male policy of Augusta National, Martha Burk, chairwoman of the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO) replied:
“When the KKK comes on your side, you have officially lost all argument.”
However, as was brilliantly reported by Dan Coyne, Burk evidently forgot that her hero, Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, a proud member of NCWO, was, in fact, a guest speaker at a KKK rally in Silverlake, New Jersey, in 1926. If you need more convincing as to Sanger’s racist bona fides, check out these gems:
“We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten that idea out if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.”
“Negroes and Southern Europeans are mentally inferior to native born Americans.”
“…apply a stern and rigid policy of sterilization and segregation to that grade of population whose progeny is already tainted, or whose inheritance is such that objectionable traits may be transmitted to offspring.”
Yet, Sanger is a liberal icon. But, then, so is CNN.
The cognitive dissonance was in toxic overload after Eason Jordan, CNN’s chief news executive, bared his soul for the New York Times. In a confessional piece entitled “The News We Kept to Ourselves,” Jordan recalls a number of spine-tingling events that occurred in Iraq over the last 12 years, none of which, he says, could be reported, lest the safety of his sources be compromised.
What good is freedom of speech or freedom of the press if it can’t be exercised by internal prior restraint? Surely, Jordan could have alluded to some of these events, even if the exact details were not revealed. If CNN’s coverage has been less than truthful in this connection, why should we trust it in any connection?
Yet, the timing of his confession is appropriate, coming as it did just before Holy Week. Let the Leftist phonies reflect on the greatest icon of all time—the Cross—and how this sign “that will be contradicted” (Luke 2:34) means more than an infinite supply of their spin, punditry, editorials, and bilious ruminations.