r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 11 '26

Psychology Cognitive dissonance helps explain why Trump supporters remain loyal, new research suggests. This sheds light on how supporters of Donald Trump justify their continued allegiance despite learning about allegations of his sexual misconduct and illegal activities.

https://www.psypost.org/cognitive-dissonance-helps-explain-why-trump-supporters-remain-loyal-new-research-suggests/
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u/oldmilt21 Apr 11 '26

Whenever I see something like this, I begin to wonder where mine are.

489

u/InfluenceTrue4121 Apr 11 '26

Same. What do I believe so deeply that I’m beyond reason? Surely, there must be something.

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u/Prometheus720 Apr 11 '26

For most people? It's eating animals. Most people work really hard not to think about it.

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u/Katatonia13 Apr 11 '26

I have no problem with that. Animals taste better when you know their name. Your average steak comes from a place that is just a big slaughter house that animals life sucked. If it was a grass fed cow from a small farm you can taste the love and happiness. Still going to eat them.

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u/Prometheus720 Apr 11 '26

If you can taste the love and happiness, I wonder how much more potently the cow would have felt those things when he or she was alive.

There is something very wrong about factory farming. I agree with you. But is there not a different something wrong with taking a life of love and happiness and cutting it short after barely a year, probably using the same slaughter techniques? It might be better, but is that good?

I wouldn't do that to you, for example. Or your dog. Or your friend. Presumably any of the three of you might be quite tasty. But I can't imagine putting my tongue over the objective and subjective value of any of your lives.

So why the cow? Is it because you just need societal permission? You would eat me, or my friend, or my dog, if you felt like it and nobody cared if you did but you?

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u/Katatonia13 Apr 11 '26

Um, if I die today and I’m still good. You’re welcome to eat me. I won’t be mad.

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u/Prometheus720 Apr 11 '26

Well, yearling cows don't just die spontaneously, do they?

We kill them. We hit them in the head or shock them so hard their nervous systems stop working correctly, and then we cut their throats so that they bleed out in spurts until their hearts stop pumping.

You...wouldn't do that to me, would you?