Dwain Northey (Gen X)

The Incredible, Gravity-Defying Art of Cognitive Disconnect

There is a special kind of intellectual yoga happening in this country right now, the kind that should require a waiver and a spotter. It’s the sort of mental contortion that allows someone to say, without irony or shame, that Renee Good deserved to get shot, because reasons—while simultaneously clutching pearls about “law and order” and the sanctity of American justice.

Because obviously, in this version of reality, bullets are just consequences with better marketing.

Let’s admire the logic on display. Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, ends up dead after an encounter with federal agents, and the immediate reaction from a certain crowd is not “What went wrong?” or “Why did this escalate?” but instead:

“Well, she must have done something wrong.”

Of course she did. Someone always must have. Otherwise we’d have to admit that the system—our system—can be reckless, brutal, or wrong. And that would be uncomfortable.

Now, here’s where the cognitive disconnect really earns its merit badge.

We’re told, repeatedly and loudly, that all undocumented people are drug dealers, murderers, and existential threats to the republic. Not some. Not a statistically demonstrable portion. All. Every nanny, farmworker, dishwasher, and construction worker is apparently running a cartel in their spare time. And therefore, they should be “dragged out by their hair,” expelled, or worse—because cruelty, when branded as policy, suddenly becomes patriotism.

And if an American citizen gets “wrapped up in that”?

Well… that’s just the way it is.

Collateral damage, baby. Freedom isn’t free, but it is apparently very cheap when the wrong person is paying.

But now—now—enter the plot twist that short-circuits this entire moral universe:

The man sitting in the White House is a 34-count convicted felon, found guilty by a jury of his peers. You know—that jury system everyone claims to revere. The cornerstone of justice. The sacred process.

Funny how that works.

When a jury convicts someone you don’t like, it’s “proof the system works.”

When a jury convicts someone you worship, suddenly the courts are rigged, the jurors are corrupt, and reality itself is fake news.

It’s almost as if “law and order” was never about law or order at all.

And here’s the truly magical part:

If you’re a Democrat, or if you’re Brown, or—God forbid—both, you’re automatically a demon. No trial required. No nuance allowed. You’re a threat, a parasite, an invader. Deportable. Executable. Disposable.

But if you’re powerful, wealthy, loud, and politically useful?

Thirty-four felonies are just “technicalities.” Sexual assault verdicts are just “opinions.” Accountability is just “persecution.”

The same people who scream that undocumented immigrants don’t “respect the law” will bend themselves into philosophical pretzels to explain why their guy should be exempt from it. The same people who justify death over alleged wrongdoing will suddenly discover the concept of mercy when it benefits them personally.

This isn’t hypocrisy anymore. Hypocrisy implies shame.

This is moral bankruptcy with a flag sticker slapped on the bumper.

And so we arrive at the final conclusion of this twisted logic maze:

Some people deserve due process.

Some people deserve bullets.

And which category you fall into has less to do with what you’ve done and more to do with who you are, how you vote, and how much melanin you have.

If that makes you uncomfortable, good.

It should.

Because a society that can justify killing a citizen while excusing criminality at the top isn’t confused—it’s revealing itself. And what it’s revealing isn’t strength, patriotism, or justice.

It’s fear. Wrapped in slogans. Armed with excuses.

And desperately hoping no one notices the disconnect.