And, of course, the opposite of dissonance is harmony. And, so the “painful” revulsion to cognitive dissonance is cured by seeking that which is harmonious. This certainly is the reason why some watch Fox and others watch MSNBC.
The Internet and media in general have long held the promise of uniting diverse communities on several fronts but modern demographic science has invented a Trojan Horse vehicle called “target Marketing” which carves up ages, cultures, sub-cultures, races, classes, neighborhoods, religions, political parties, sexes, etc. etc. and then crafts different messages based upon what still other social sciences have discovered that each of these groups would like to hear, i.e. harmonious messages, and this in order to better sell its products whether political beliefs or deodorant.
The promise of media to unite has therefore had the opposite effect. We have not only become more fragmented but the fragments are at war with each other. Our artificially created consumer mentality now demands to hear only harmonious messages and experiences any discordant message as a personal attack, an “attack” on our “walled in”, harmonious, melodious, comfortable space.
The rage expressed so often today is internally perceived therefore as defensive. It is the other guy who is trying to destroy my world, my country, my religion, my sex, my class.
The way back is hard to perceive. Its like the final scene in “The Wizard of Oz”; there he was the “great and powerful wizard” unable to bring the hot air balloon back to earth because, he said, “I can’t, I don’t know how it works”. We may be in the same boat (or balloon!)
