Do Men Prefer Purity – The Need for Cognitive Awareness and Focus Part 2

Important Terms and Concepts

False Dilemma: A logical fallacy that presents two allegedly mutually exclusive options when there are multiple options and possibilities. Often the false dilemma presents two extremes as the only options when there are many choices between the two extremes.

Note on Power and Value: People often want power over things because they value those things. Valuing something and wanting power over it are not mutually exclusive.

Weaponized Empathy (A response to the “compassion” discussion in this segment): A misuse of the concept of empathy in which the person calling for empathy is either

1 Demanding empathy out of the need to control you behavior rather than help another person

2 Is actually attempting to eradicate pain that could be a source of personal growth

3 Both of the Above

Another example of recognizing separate statements: “We owe on another compassion.” “We should give one anther compassion.” “Owe” represents a higher level of obligation which one can demand from another. “Owe” can easily be used to tell you to whom you are obligated and to whom you are not when it comes to compassion (and lots of other things).

A moral contest is a competition in which two or more people compete to determine who is morally superior. Moral contests are ancient, but the frequency, quality, tone, subjects, and stakes of such contests can be highly contextual and change based on time and place. Moral contests can be rational or irrational. The irrational and the manipulative aggressors often treat moral contests as opportunities for control. These people and groups tend to inadvertently reveal themselves to others through constant moralizing and ever more restrictive demands. To the aggressor, moral authority is power.

Social/Cultural Values and Physical/Biological Reality: In many cases, from the valuing of toughness and readiness among cowboys in the American old west, to the value of honor in ancient Sparta, to the value of chastity among women in many societies, moral imperatives are influenced by physical and biological reality. That which is conducive to survival is good. That which hinders the society is bad.

Guilt can be used to manipulate. Many people are subject to (and some are particularly vulnerable to) guilt. A modern wording might be that guilt can be a mental hack; therefore, don’t get hacked! It’s useful to recognize that the manipulator is using your conscientiousness against you. The idea is to convince you that, if you do not do as the manipulator says, then you do not adequately care and/or that you have things easy, perhaps easier than you deserve. The goals is to convince you to feel bad, to doubt yourself, to be anxious, and to become submissive. Also, the manipulator wants to engender in you the need to prove you are not a bad person (perhaps to both yourself and others) by granting his or her demands.

Seek nuanced differentiation!