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mk  ·  3674 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Are Politicians Too Dumb to Understand the Lyrics to ‘Born in the USA’?

Cognitive dissonance is a mainstay of politics, conservative politics in particular. Exercising control of a populous means that you will do damage. To believe that you are doing a greater good by exercising harm requires the kind of buy-in that allows you to rock out to the chorus while ignoring the verse.

This is not about being smart or being dumb. It is about empathy.