Normalcy bias reduces feelings of anxiety, but does not manage the actual triggers that evoke anxiety. Being accurate enough makes normalcy bias persuasive. The inaccuracies make it dangerous.
It takes intention, effort, and open-mindedness to set normalcy bias aside and evaluate anxiety triggers as objectively and thoughtfully as possible. Diversity of thought provides both distracting static and "canaries in the coal mine" that are signaling danger.
Mike, normality is a dream we aspire to without realizing it’s usually a dream, and our bias towards normality keeps us sane in hard times but unprepared in a genuine crisis.
Prophets are vilified throughout history, perhaps because their truths are uncomfortable, and perhaps because they use the same language as the crazies who are wrong.
It’s easy to dismiss what is almost impossible to accept — a world view fundamentally at odds with our hopes.
People see a train coming at them with no way to get out of its path. They desperately want to change where they are or the direction of the train, but no one is helping them do either, with a captive Congress and no citizen recall mechanism for elected officials. There’s an unprecedented situation with no clear mechanism to stop it; those who could constrain the administration simply decline to do so and even go home just to avoid a vote.
You’re not crazy. Some conspiracies are real. Some horrible truths are hard to face. And yes, it’s normalcy bias — but we need leaders who lay out the evidence for and the consequences of what’s actually happening as well as the specifics of what we can do to change the trajectory.
I see the ancient Greek character of Cassandra as an archetypal description of what you are describing. You didn't say in the essay if you expected this response or not, but I do hope you can expect it now. It's as predictable as the other monsters you predicted.
Thanks for such an insightful post.
Normalcy bias reduces feelings of anxiety, but does not manage the actual triggers that evoke anxiety. Being accurate enough makes normalcy bias persuasive. The inaccuracies make it dangerous.
It takes intention, effort, and open-mindedness to set normalcy bias aside and evaluate anxiety triggers as objectively and thoughtfully as possible. Diversity of thought provides both distracting static and "canaries in the coal mine" that are signaling danger.
Thank you being willing to take the fire so that we (I) can know the truth. Your courage is needed and appreciated.
As the normalisers in 19th-century Vienna, with dark clouds on every horizon, put it: "The situation is hopeless, but not serious."
Mike, normality is a dream we aspire to without realizing it’s usually a dream, and our bias towards normality keeps us sane in hard times but unprepared in a genuine crisis.
Prophets are vilified throughout history, perhaps because their truths are uncomfortable, and perhaps because they use the same language as the crazies who are wrong.
It’s easy to dismiss what is almost impossible to accept — a world view fundamentally at odds with our hopes.
People see a train coming at them with no way to get out of its path. They desperately want to change where they are or the direction of the train, but no one is helping them do either, with a captive Congress and no citizen recall mechanism for elected officials. There’s an unprecedented situation with no clear mechanism to stop it; those who could constrain the administration simply decline to do so and even go home just to avoid a vote.
You’re not crazy. Some conspiracies are real. Some horrible truths are hard to face. And yes, it’s normalcy bias — but we need leaders who lay out the evidence for and the consequences of what’s actually happening as well as the specifics of what we can do to change the trajectory.
You are NOT crazy. You see parrerns and connect dots no one else does.
We are partly in this mess because we do not have people that can extrapolate the present to give possibilities for the future
And the ones that exist, many are captured by the Project 2025 group
I get the same reactions from my friends. I said he would build camps. I said he wants to kill people- foreign or domestic.
They said I was a crazy old hippie lady
HANG IN THERE
Some Bodies are for Easing our Grievances or Outing Animus and So.
“Conspiracy Theory” as a Sorting Mechanism is Right On.
I see the ancient Greek character of Cassandra as an archetypal description of what you are describing. You didn't say in the essay if you expected this response or not, but I do hope you can expect it now. It's as predictable as the other monsters you predicted.