Festinger developed a cognitive dissonance theory that exclaimed people feel uncomfortable with inconsistency in their actions and morals and will work to either alter their actions or their opinions to reconcile this dissatisfaction. Avoiding scenarios that exacerbate these feelings is a tactic used to reduce dissonance. Many factors influence how much power this dissonance has over someone. I will be addressing cognitive dissonance and critical thinking issues related to racism and police brutality.
One of the factors that affect dissonance is how trapped someone feels in their decisions. This raises the likelihood of someone rationalizing the decision. For example, someone might purchase a motorcycle instead of a regular vehicle and hate …show more content…
However, there were almost 2 police killings every week, about 102 unarmed black people in 2015 in all (Mapping Police Violence, 2015, 1). "37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13% of the population" (Mapping Police Violence, 2015, 1) and only 10 cases were charged. Currently, there are protests and riots in Baton Rouge. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that two officers will not be charged for shooting of an unarmed black man named Sterling. He was selling CDs on the side of a store, when an officer told him to place his hands on the hood of his car. When he refused, one officer tackled him. The other officer said he had a gun and shot him 6 times (Ruiz, 2017). People deny that these acts are one of many that form a trend of systematic racism because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Black Lives Matter is a movement that campaigns against systematic racism, especially focusing on police brutality. This movement was first ignited after Treyvon Martin was shot and his shooter was acquitted, as well as Garner’s death in New York. He was choked and then arrested. Uncomfortable feelings are always associated with change, but that does not mean we should not act. An example of recent brutality is a 15 year old boy in Dallas was killed by an officer last weekend and false reports were given by the police about the incident. The first report said that the car was reversing quickly in an attempt to maim the officer. However, the video shows that the car was moving forward as the officer approached the car. The boy did not have a weapon or act aggressively. It is not receiving much media attention and the police are continually denying the importance of reprimanding the
One of the factors that affect dissonance is how trapped someone feels in their decisions. This raises the likelihood of someone rationalizing the decision. For example, someone might purchase a motorcycle instead of a regular vehicle and hate …show more content…
However, there were almost 2 police killings every week, about 102 unarmed black people in 2015 in all (Mapping Police Violence, 2015, 1). "37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13% of the population" (Mapping Police Violence, 2015, 1) and only 10 cases were charged. Currently, there are protests and riots in Baton Rouge. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that two officers will not be charged for shooting of an unarmed black man named Sterling. He was selling CDs on the side of a store, when an officer told him to place his hands on the hood of his car. When he refused, one officer tackled him. The other officer said he had a gun and shot him 6 times (Ruiz, 2017). People deny that these acts are one of many that form a trend of systematic racism because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Black Lives Matter is a movement that campaigns against systematic racism, especially focusing on police brutality. This movement was first ignited after Treyvon Martin was shot and his shooter was acquitted, as well as Garner’s death in New York. He was choked and then arrested. Uncomfortable feelings are always associated with change, but that does not mean we should not act. An example of recent brutality is a 15 year old boy in Dallas was killed by an officer last weekend and false reports were given by the police about the incident. The first report said that the car was reversing quickly in an attempt to maim the officer. However, the video shows that the car was moving forward as the officer approached the car. The boy did not have a weapon or act aggressively. It is not receiving much media attention and the police are continually denying the importance of reprimanding the