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[–] 6 points 7 months ago* (3 children)

you refuse to see yourself as bad, so you justify your bad actions with “everyone does bad stuff like this”

I've heard the neat phrase ‘reverse cargo cult’ in regard to such views. Applied to a group of people, though, as cults typically require.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Wow, gotta read that paper now:

    The Reverse Cargo Cult metaphor explains why dictators tell their citizens lies that citizens know to be lies: a verifiable lie told by a politician changes citizens’ perceptions of politicians and reduces their willingness to replace them

    Source: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-papers/the-reverse-cargo-cult-why-authoritarian-governments-lie-to-their-people/

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    People in some places are just convinced the rest of the world is just as bad — this is the context in which I've heard the term.

    USians' incessant belief that travelling to other countries is very unsafe is probably one example of this.

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