The shattering of self-image can be a very serious matter

It’s always fascinating to watch somebody deal with information that challenges their view on an issue. Doubly so when it’s somebody really, really smart. And when it’s information that challenges one of their core beliefs, or some notion they hold about themselves such as their self-image, the multiplying factors of cognitive dissonance can really start to stack up.

I witnessed it the other day. I won’t say who or on what subject, but it involved the sneery dismissal of a book and its author. There was no attempt to rebut the book’s evidenced claims or offer an alternative explanation for the very serious issues it addresses. Just the sneer and the personal slight of its author.

I know this kind of thing can be standard behaviour on social media, but you have to wonder about the dynamics of the reaction. Why would a smart, successful person react in such an emotive, personal way to a book? Why not form an argument against it?

The answer could well be that the magnitude of the dissonance is so great, that accepting the premise of the book on any level would come at a great personal cost. In this case because the individual was once a significant figure in a sector that we now understand has had serious, harmful effects on individuals and societies around the world.

Absorbing information and arguments that challenge one’s views can be very hard. They might even shake the very idea that one is a moral creature. The shattering of a self-image is a very serious matter. And so is the shattering of a curated self-image.

This is something for which we all need to be on the lookout. Especially in a world in which it is easy to use words to portray a particular idea about ourselves, while the facts might suggest something else. And it can be an especially difficult challenge for the big-brained.

As Bertrand Russell once said: Some modern philosophers have gone so far as to say that words should never be confronted with facts but should live in a pure, autonomous world where they are compared only with other words. These authors tell us that the attempt to confront language with fact is ‘metaphysics’ and is on this ground to be condemned. This is one of those views which are so absurd that only very learned men could possibly adopt them.

Main image: From Affe vor Skelett, Gabriel von Max, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons