Cognitive dissonance is the schism between principled values and objectionable behaviors. It permits legislators to express and employ two contradictory values. For example, Democrats rightly speak out against the interrupted education of immigrant children at the U.S. Mexico border, and ignore Israel’s decades long policy of denying Palestinian school children their right to education. Thankfully, cognitive dissonance is not a terminal condition. The blind acceptance of this irrational practice that spreads hate and suspicion among Americans, Palestinians, and Israelis is being tested and challenged.
mai abdul rahman February 2019
Since January 2017, the Democratic party has expanded considerable time and effort to deny the use of taxpayers money to build Trump’s separation wall, but eagerly commits our taxes to fund Israel’s separation wall that snakes through and annexes Palestinian lands cutting off their access to their families, villages, fields, water, olive, grape, and almond groves, schools, churches, mosques, social networks, and medical facilities. And much like Trump’s separation wall, Israel’s separation wall disrupts the natural flow of water and streams, and the roaming range and sustainability of 16 species including, toads, low flying birds, larks, leopards, gazelles, and wolves.
Likewise, the vast majority of Democrats claim that the NRA is influencing Republicans and restricting the national debate on guns, and almost all find it offensives to suggest AIPAC does the same. How is it possible for members of Congress in tandem to project the upholding principled values, and sanction Israel’s prejudicial laws, deliberately weaken Americans’ constitutional rights, and allow Israel to violate the rights of Americans who employ non-violent means to protest Israel’s illegal settlements and military occupation? What are the specific innate attributes and processes that make it possible for legislators to hold two conflicting moral standards? How does it work?
Cognitive dissonance is the innate capacity to hold disparate thoughts and beliefs. It allows individuals to assume ethically sound values, and the strong proclivity to internalize simple generalizations and prejudicial attitudes that help validate objectionable behavior. The acceptance and application of inconsistent values requires group conformity, shared complicity, and the cyclical production of negative thoughts and perspectives. These tactics are meant to enforce suspect values, group compliance, and protect group members from being challenged or singled out.
Why is cognitive employed, its effects and control tools? The selective features of cognitive dissonance adjusts the ability of group members to accept suspect values. Reflexive prejudicial thoughts helps legislators justify Israel’s merciless outcomes on young children, whether they may be held hostage or sieged. 
Embedded bias facilitates the dehumanization of young Palestinian children. It promotes legislators’ capacity to develop false justifications, unethical values, and immoral behavior. The dehumanization of Palestinian children cultivates legislators’ high tolerance for their mistreatment, maiming and life long disablity, mental anguish, trauma, death, and imprisonment. The dehumanization of Palestinians allows legislators to accept Israel’s indefensible tactics, rationale, and outcomes.
Operating under the influence of two conflicting values, legislators selectively ascribes a set of negative characterization that indiscriminately debases Palestinian children as sub-humans, not deserving of care or compassion. Defending the indefensible requires group conformity, strict adherence, and shared complicity. It is a formidable tool that dictates pre-agreed upon positions, and a sequence of internal and public responses to control dissent and public debate. Group conformity provides individual legislators the political cover to deflect criticism. The collection of these internal processes ensure group members’ compliance, and minimizes public disclosure if some privately disagree.
Fear of upsetting the accepted subjective norms were on full display soon after Congresswomen Ilhan Omar (MN) and Rashida Talib (MI) arrived to Washington. Unfortunately, that was expected. Anyone who challenges commonly accepted inconsistencies would face the same treatment. Likewise, those who express principled values and congruent logic when objecting to Israel’s separation wall and Trump’s separation wall would also face push back.
The corrupting influence of cognitive dissonance is easy to detect. It is manifested in legislators’ seamless ability of projecting universal belief in principled moral standards, while selectively and instinctively employing suspect values. Historically, American legislators claim to be proponents of social equality and human rights, and supporters of Israel’s structural inequities. They rush to address human rights violation worldwide, but refrain from addressing Israel’s human rights violations.
Justifying these conspicuous inconsistencies is becoming more difficult, especially since their reflexive use is threatening the quality of our democracy and national values. However, for legislators to discontinue their robotic employment of deep seated bias and contradictory principles depends on public awareness that challenges their hidden prejudice and embedded innate and overt systems that drive legislators’ inconsistent values.
Fortunately, the number of Americans who are critical of Israel’s separation wall, Gaza wars and siege, illegal settlement expansion, and occupation policies is rapidly growing. American Jews, Muslims, and Christians are coupling their prayer with action to end the segregated societies that the Israeli government created and we funded. They recognize our complicity in fabricating and spreading ignorance, suspicion, and hate. Today, more than ever, legislators and Israelis need the moral fortitude of ordinary Americans to help usher a new political paradigm where young Palestinians and Israelis live free of fear and wars.
Peace for friend and foe 