Saw the news yesterday (an unusual enough event at this time of year) and they were doing a vox pop about the continuing American involvement in Iraq.
The reporter stopped this woman on the street and asked her if she supported the war in Iraq.
she said she did.
He asked why.
She said cos she voted Bush.
He asked why she voted Bush.
She said cos he supported the war on Iraq.
This is not a post about the war in Iraq, it's a post about how we think and how we rationalise decisions, we get caught in a loop, not always as obvious as this one... but we just do.
"So Michael will we sack John?
No
Why?
Cos I appointed him"
"So Phillip will you close your business?
No
Why?
Cos I started it"
I know i'm not getting this across very well and that my thinking is still fuzzy, but it appears to me that logic has less and less a role to play in our society.
By the way I really hope the Madeline McCann thing is not going in the direction the Portugese press thinks it should be going, I don't think our psyches would be able to handle the fact that people invested real sympathy and real tears in a lie.
If it turns out they did it, nobody will ever look beyond the parents in anything similar ever again, lets wait and see.
