Denial: How We Hide, Ignore, and Explain Away Problems
- ISBN-10
- 1479815942
- ISBN-13
- 9781479815944
- Series
- Denial
- Category
- Social Science
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2022-07-12
- Publisher
- NYU Press
- Author
- Jared Del Rosso
Description
From climate change to fake news, an entertaining and enlightening look at the widespread phenomenon of denial in our society Donald Trump won the election; climate change isn’t real; America is a color-blind country. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, why do so many of us refuse to admit the truth? In fact, as Jared Del Rosso argues in this thought-provoking book, denial is so much a part of our lives that we deny its existence all the time, even when this works against our best interest, even when we are being choked by its very fumes. Denial is one of those rare books that will change the way you think. In a highly readable style that draws on examples from current events, politics, and pop culture, Del Rosso teases out the complexities of denial, from “not noticing” that someone has food stuck in their teeth, to companies that engage in widespread fraud, like Enron and Wells Fargo, to the much larger-scale denials of climate change or systemic racism. Drawing on classic studies in the social sciences and his own research of the denial of torture, Del Rosso builds a fascinating typology of the forms and meanings of denial, exploring the behavior of those who refuse to acknowledge their actions, and what it means to live in a society where such lying, fraud, and corruption is commonplace. In wide-ranging examples, Del Rosso explores the causes, strategies, and consequences of denial. When scandal hits and accusations of misconduct are made, he argues that individuals like Harvey Weinstein or Brett Kavanaugh, or organizations like the Catholic Church or Penn State, go through a series of moves to try to avoid accountability. Del Rosso focuses on the individuals involved but also asks: how could so many people not know what their priests, or their coaches, or their coworkers were doing? Del Rosso effectively argues that recognizing what denial looks like is the crucial first step in mitigating its effects on us and society as a whole. At a time when powerful people and institutions are increasingly being held accountable for their actions, Denial provides an undeniable reality check.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind
By Ajit Varki, Danny BrowerThere aremanyotherrelevant publications, beginningwith Charles DarwinandThomas Huxley.I citethe late Morris Goodman because he was one of the first to provide molecular evidence for this close evolutionary relationship.
-
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution
By Gerald Markowitz, David RosnerDavid R. Goldfield, Promised Land: The South since 1945 (Arlington Heights, Ill.: Harlan-Davidson, 1987), 203–04. Japanese industries may have been particularly sensitive to the environmental effects of their industries given Minamata ...
-
Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do about It
By Gale M. Sinatra, Barbara K. Hofer... Jeff Greene, Susan Goldman, Michelle McCauley, Krista Muis, Michael Ranney, Viviane Seyranian, and Andrew Shtulman. We thank those who read and commented on earlier chapters: Tim Case, Donna Decker, Mike Gorrell, Jennifer Gribben, ...
-
States of Denial: Knowing about Atrocities and Suffering
By Stanley CohenBlocking out, turning a blind eye, shutting off, not wanting to know, wearing blinkers, seeing what we want to see ... these are all expressions of 'denial'.
-
Denial: A Memoir
By Jessica SternHailed by critics and readers alike, Jessica Stern's riveting memoir examines the horrors of trauma and denial as she investigates her own unsolved adolescent sexual assault at the hands of a serial rapist.
-
Holocaust and Genocide Denial: A Contextual Perspective
By Nicholas Terry, Paul Behrens, Olaf JensenThis book provides a detailed analysis of one of the most prominent and widespread international phenomena to which criminal justice systems has been applied: the expression of revisionist views relating to mass atrocities and the outright ...
-
League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions, and the Battle for Truth
By Mark Fainaru-Wada, Steve FainaruDraws on interviews, e-mails, and previously undisclosed documents to reveals how the NFL has endeavored to cover up evidence of the connection between football and brain damage for the past two decades.
-
Denial: A Novel
By Beverley McLachlinWhen Joseph Quentin asks defense attorney Jilly Truitt to defend his wife, who has been charged with murdering her own mother in what the media are calling a mercy killing, every instinct tells Jilly to say no.
-
The Denial of Nature: Environmental philosophy in the era of global capitalism
By Arne Johan VetlesenIf anything, in the summary of his argument Callicott seems close to the view defended by one of the founding fathers of 'Deep Ecology', the Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss, whose understanding of ecology he cites approvingly: Ecology, ...
-
The Denial: A Satirical Novel of Climate Change
By Ross ClarkA campaign to cut carbon emissions to zero is beginning to bite.