What's on your mug?

The act of trying to justify actions or validate opinions not supported by any facts. A means of dealing with cognitive dissonance.

"Hey Jessica, you're really pretty today." "Oh so you're saying that yesterday I was looking like shit. Also you're saying that because I'm a white fit woman. That makes you a pathetic misogynist and racist. Let's not mention the fact that if I didn't pander to your sexuality, I would be called unattractive and ugly. You, John, are a dumbass and a patriarchal pig, do you know how stressful it is to be a woman and having to look sexy 24 7 just so men get horny in this society? You don't, because you are such a privileged white male." "Wow Jessica that was some serious mental gymnastics you did right there..."

By DaHelpR

a slang term for the mental ability that can be very effective in dealing with cognitive dissonance

A Bible researcher can do mental gymnastics to convince himself the timbers he found in a snowy Russian mountain were remains of Noah's Ark.

By robbie38903849

Complex mental acrobatics done to quell one's cognitive dissonance.

That guy sure did some wild mental gymnastics just to justify his hate towards muslims.

By Mary Mary Quite The Contrarian

a miraculous mental process of weaving intricate threads of reasoning in complex, tangential, and often contradictory ways to give the mental gymnast the illusion that they has resolved the cognitive dissonance stemming from objective facts debunking their firmly held beliefs, thereby allowing the mental gymnast to continue on with life still holding onto the flawed beliefs while still acknowledging the objective facts.

Person1: God is the creator of EVERYTHING, all knowing, all good, and present in all things everywhere at all times. Person2: So then if people are evil, then at least one of those divine attributes must be false. Person1: No, because of the concept of freewill. Person2: Dude, now that there is some MENTAL GYMNASTICS.

By zerO_One

The mental ability to distort the truth even in the face of overwhelming facts

When presented with factual data that President Obama is an American and not a Muslim, the Trump supporters performed all sorts of mental gymnastics to deny the truth.

By deenw