“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” F. Scott Fitzgerald
I’d like to think that I am able to sit with unresolved cognitive dissonance longer than anyone I know.
Sure, but not hold them both as true, using them to validate or justify certain situations when convenient, which is what double think means.
Absolutely, that is manipulation.
Several people have asked me whether using psychological concepts is being manipulative. I only see the manipulation in having that knowledge, if it is used for relatively immoral purposes. But, in that is the word relative--who judges how someone handles that knowledge...what actions the person takes. How are we to know if they are purposely being manipulative for ill will, learned or necessary self protection, or attempting to have a multi-faceted approach?
In my original statement, I guess I am talking more about being able to understand that truths on one side can be falsehoods, when looked at from a different perspective. Personally or culturally.
But, yes. We must all check ourselves, before we wreck ourselves ;)