No, it's that the practical examples I have in mind are more serious than sartorial judgmentalism.Terrapin Station wrote: ↑January 2nd, 2021, 9:57 amYou're making this more complicated than it needs to be.
So you start with lying *erm, engaging in social niceties* about sartorial issues. Then it is about praising the politically correct films and music. Then you move on to being quiet about your neighbor beating his wife and his children. Then you make the further step to tacitly agreeing to whatever the current opinion about the existence of God is, regardless of how you think about the matter. Eventually, you end up doubting your own sanity. Well, is your neighbor right to let his sewer run onto your property? Well, maybe he is, because he's such a good person (as you have made clear so many times, playing along with social niceties), and so he couldn't possibly do anything wrong, and you're the bad guy in this anyway, deserving any bad thing that happens to you, because you lie and pretend all the time.
This is the way to brainwash oneself!
I forgot the details, you can read more about it in Cialdini's Influence: The gist is that communists held some Americans as prisoners of war. They offered the POW's small benefits (cigarettes, apples) if they would write a positive essay about how great the Communist party is. The reward was even bigger if they would read those essays out loud in front of other American prisoners. Guess what? That's how they brainwashed those Americans!
The point is that denying one's true thoughts on a matter in relevant contexts isn't harmless.