When our belief in our own health or goodness—or the goodness of the community of which we are a part—is endangered by the evidence of something contrary, the discomfort often leads us to dismiss the evidence,9 defend the behavior, or dismantle our self-concept by shaming ourselves. We have a neural bias to rationalize bad behavior to reduce discomfort,10 which serves like an anesthetic against the pain of seeing ourselves or our communities as having less health than we believed. But like any narcotic, dampening pain does nothing to treat the disease causing it. We also feel the discomfort of
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