This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
An Interview with Cognitive Dissonance
An Audio Interview with Cognitive Dissonance
This interview will be posted on TwoIceFloes.com Friday, March 21 at 8 PM EDT
and available for playback any time after
Four years and thirty weeks ago I created an alter ego avatar on ZeroHedge.com by the name of Cognitive Dissonance. My thinking at the time was to craft a safe place to go when commenting on Zero Hedge (ZH) in order to help weather the slings and arrows that were, and still are, the hallmark of Fight Club aka Zero Hedge. In addition Cognitive Dissonance was my mentor of sorts, someone I could speak through, and to, while writing about subjects that were at times as unsettling to me as they were to my readers.
A few months after the birth of Cognitive Dissonance, ZH’s Tyler Durden contacted me and asked if I would like to become a contributing editor. While this was a wonderful opportunity to speak to a wider audience, it also opened me up to the full force of the ZH comment section. I learned a lot about myself during that first year as a ZH contributor, most importantly that I did not need to value myself by what others said about or to me.
Four years and much personal growth later Mrs. Cog and I decided the next step in the evolution of Cognitive Dissonance was to create our own play place, a unique web destination in its own right, and TwoIceFloes.com was born on Valentine’s Day, 2014.
Creating ‘Two Ice Floes’ allowed me to expand the range of Cognitive Dissonance’s ‘voice’ while also creating a safe place where others may gather to share their thoughts and experiences. My intention all along was to expose some of ‘my’ background and perspective in order for my readers to better understand Cognitive Dissonance.
The opportunity to do so came quickly when within a week of opening shop an offer was received from Gemini of Time Monk Radio to interview Cognitive Dissonance and the mind behind the avatar. After a week to mull it over and a few deep discussions with Mrs. Cog the offer was accepted and last weekend (Sunday, March 16, 2014) the two hour interview was recorded.
So…….are you interested in hearing the ‘voice’ of Cognitive Dissonance, to sneak a peek into the thinking and mindset behind the anonymous man who is Cognitive Dissonance? If so, please visit TwoIceFloes.com Friday evening, March 21st @ 8 PM EDT to access the two hour recorded interview.
03-21-2014
Cognitive Dissonance

- advertisements -


A Star is born! Way to go, Mr and Mrs Cog.
Best Regards, 24K
While listening to the interview I realized how much humanity comes through with speech that never makes it through in writing (in general). Nice job.
Thank you. Mrs. Cog and I finished listening to it a few minutes before it was released at 8 PM. I was just grateful I was coherent.
I am not a public speaker, worse I'm a bit dyslexic so I stumble and bubble a bit. The interviewer, Gemini, did a wonderful job guiding me through the process and setting me at ease. The energy was good between us which went a long way towards my comfort level.
Thank you Gemini.
No dyslexia detetced...so far...LOL
As an after thought, maybe Mr. & Mrs. Cog, William Banzai 7 and Gemini would be a great cross table chat.
Many of us would love to shake your hand, but we do not need to do it to know you are a friend.
Thank you for your kind words.
I have made many friends here on ZH......including Mrs. Cog, who eventually became my wife. She remains a good friend as well.
Holy shit! That sounds like a book! (Auction the film rights in the comments section so we can all abuse the hollywierd types).
zh and cog,wb7 is like crack to those who still give a shit or at least want to
"While this was a wonderful opportunity to speak to a wider audience, it also opened me up to the full force of the ZH comment section. I learned a lot about myself during that first year as a ZH contributor, most importantly that I did not need to value myself by what others said about or to me."
As it should be ;-)
It is a lesson I re-learn more often than I care to admit. It is difficult at times to slip out of our conditioning.
Hey Cog; remember what I once wrote in a moment of resonance : Spout off when you're drunk and edit when you're sober!
It doesn't work on the radio as it does here on the Hedge.
Thats the difference between being a movie actor and a stage actor. (To use a well honed analogy)
On the radio its YOU with no chance to re-edit your thoughts.
Good luck with that!
Bon voyage to you n Mrs on your new odyssey!
It is very difficult, for most.
You can only be conditioned (for ill) if you submit to it and it is often presented as the path of least resistance...something to keep in mind on your journey. In my experience, that is the path that leads to the slaughter house.
We are not sheep ;-)
The most humbling - but powerful teacher - is people who have OPPOSITE views to what I believe, and teach me where I have a blind spot ...
Very true GW, its that way with all of us.
We're all passionate about what we think we know & believe. Fortunately, there is a place called ZH (and as Chumba says) we test these beliefs against others who are looking at the very same thing but interpret its meaning-consequence-cause or effect completely opposite.
Sometimes its just the term or word used.
For instance, I used to think when someone said "corporatism" it was an attack on personal profit. I came to realize (for many, regardless of who uses it most) they were actually meaning fascism, something we all abhor. It was only because the word omits the state in its very construct that led to my error in reasoning, if it had been "statecorporatism" I would have known what was meant by the usage.
At the end of the day we all want the same thing, an end to the abuse of power entrusted to the few who have been proven corrupt and are very good at turning our attentions in opposite directions. How we get there is a matter of personal taste ;-)
Just remember one thing: this is Fight Club mother fuckers.
I am Chumbawamba.
Not that I disagree at all with what you usually have to say
CD but my attention deficit order keeps nudging me you want to talk me to death. I have a restless mind that wants you to come to the point while you are enjoying your well worded
thoughts .
And this being fight club: you forgot to mention your cat and your dog ! "The Mrs. and I" thing is bad style. Pathetic. Do you have to sleep on the couch when you fail
to mention her ?
No offense to the Mrs., but you just don`t walk into a pub pushing your lady in front of you. Too much exposure to the staring crowd and you don`t want her to be attention whoring
neither.
"I have a restless mind that wants you to come to the point while you are enjoying your well worded thoughts."
Understood. The short and to-the-point response is to look within for the answers. If you would like some pointers along the way on how to do that, or at least how I do that, please keeping reading me.
"No offense to the Mrs., but you just don`t walk into a pub pushing your lady in front of you."
Yeah......well, my old lady can beat up your old lady. :)
Your pointed response makes me think trice.
You sound wounded animal. It was not my intention to hurt you but I obviously did. My apologies.
Understood is for denial mode, critical thinking disabled.
Well worded offenses that could be thrown upon anyone.
Self assumed individual never ever read comments of
other ZH`ers, above the crowd thinking and therefore
lacking any sense for original thought of others.
But I did love you CD, dig deeper and we have a grave
coming up.
I`m so glad you my soul friend CD backed off for good.
We would only hurt each other.
Log in with a new nick and see what your comments are
trading at without privileges.
Come back to earth, CD, or to our common stratospheric
conspiracy wave length or whatever got us here...
Disclaimer: I only post drunk and overdosed on the red pills...
And the first rule of Fight Club is?
Amen.
External conditioning never ends, is never escaped by anyone, they can only negate the internal mechanism ... if they're lucky.
yeah i want some of that.
Excellent! ZH is still evolving. I check it EVERY DAY. Truth, bitches.
Mrs. Cog hasn't been around very long. What happened to Marla?
I have no idea what happened to Marla, but she is greatly missed by those such as yourself who are old school Zero Hedgers.
She was writing essays on a blog called finem respice for awhile, but shut it down at the end of last year.
http://www.finemrespice.com
No idea if she's doing anything new.
The voice behind the words....this'll be good !
It would be a little funny if you spent the first 10 minutes speaking like a sweedish chef. I'm not saying you have to, i'm just putting it out there.
He rather should be cooking like the Swedish Chef: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVCM3jdIMJM ;-)
Swedish chef reminds me of an old joke that's a favourite of mine. I don't know if it will work as text (You will have to imagine the Swedish accent) but here goes:
An englishman man walks up to the counter in a Swedish drug store and says, "I'd like a deodorant please" to the clerk.
The Swedish clerk asks, "Ball or Aeros-ole? "
The man says, "No, it's for my armpits".
Shit, that is an old one!
An all-time favourite of mine was from Tommy Cooper.
A man walked into a bar..
He said OUCH.
It was an iron bar.
But it was the way he told them!
I used to do drugs
I still do, but I used to, too.
(Mitch Hedberg - R.I.P.)
Hugs from a brother, CogDis ;)
-Chumblez.
A man walks into his son's bedroom and yells, " Son, if you keep doing that you're gonna go blind!"
Waving his arms in the air, the son exclaims, " But dad! I'm over here!"
Nice to find you gracing the thread Chumba.
Chumba is one of the original old school Zero Hedge'rs folks. He held my hand on more than one occasion.
Oh FFS, you needed no hand holding, my friend.
Listening now, nice to hear you :)
-Chumblez.
This chick should do an interview with CHumblz. It would be highly entertaining - and rater R or higher.
I'd rate that a doubleplus A ... ;-)
I second that motion.
I've lived with him for more than two years and just found out he "does voices". I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks lol.
5 moar years before you hit the 7 year itch button!
Your problem there is that you don't HAVE 5 more. What else ya got besides kids??
I got a sense of Marilyn Monroe in that movie; what else!
Unlike you she was no sour puss without boots.
Tune in for a great conversation with Cog where he talks about Zero Hedge, the creation and purpose of the new website and the genesis of Cognitive Dissonance.
We should have this posted by 8pm. :-)
dissonance
trissonance
quadrasonance
whatever
multisonance
zerosonance
hugs,
georg hegel
"thesonance. antithesonance. synthonance."
This should be even more informative than fonestar!
... thereby setting quite a low bar for 'informative', dontcha think?
(and no, I did not red-arrow you)
I'd just say that sets a new low and leave it at that.
I am Chumbawamba.
"You guys....stop playing with your food and just eat it." - Dear mom's best advice. :)