RATIONALIZATION

The power of the mind to rationalize behavior is amazing. When psychologists looked at the German guards who were mistreating Jews during the holocaust, they were amazed to discover that these men went home at night to a family and were loving parents to their children and good husbands to their wives. Yet, during the day they were participating in the beating and torture of prisoners.

Studies found that they were able to compartmentalize their behavior because they did not believe the prisoners were fully human. Their concept of Jews as being a lower class of human being and not deserving the same respect as themselves allowed them to live dual lives. This is an extreme example, of course, but I have to ask myself, “Am I rationalizing my behavior in the same way?” Is there any group of people that I look at as less valued than my own group? If so, then I am opening myself up to the possibility that I am compartmentalizing my life in the same way as the German guards.

Some of the groups I struggle to see as fully deserving are the homeless, those who are disabled, skinheads, and even Democrats (just kidding). But it doesn’t stop there. Do I compartmentalize the small things? Perhaps I am telling myself that “just once” won’t hurt anything. It could be cheating on taxes. After all, the government won’t miss it. It could be shoplifting. The store has all the money it needs. Besides, I deserve it.

Perhaps the answer is to stop rationalizing behavior altogether. Call a spade a spade. Call a human a human. I think Jesus was the best example of someone who valued every human life and contemplated the effects of every decision. I found an example of rationalization in the book I reviewed earlier. Here is the quote:

A few night later, another one of the mujahidin told a story that had taken place as the Soviets were retreating from Afghanistan. Just before dawn, he had snuck up on one of the Najibullah’s garrisons and launched a grenade through a window. But just as the grenade left his hand, he heard a voice from inside call out “Allahu akbar!” It was time for the sunrise salat.
Seconds later, the grenade exploded, killing everyone inside. At first, the man said, he was worried. He was troubled by the fact that he had killed Muslims during prayer. So troubled, in fact, that he sought out a highly respected scholar of the Kur’an. The scholar reassured him. “Brother,” he said, “you are fighting under the flag of Islam. They are fighting under the flag of infidels. In the end, God will decide.”

I don’t go to a mujahidin, because I am not a Muslim. However, do I seek out philosophies that justify my lifestyle choices? Do I choose my religion to justify my lifestyle, or do I conform my lifestyle to the Truth?