Cognitive dissonance is not only having two non-complementary beliefs that clash, the contradiction producing anxiety about who you are and what you value, but the antagonistic beliefs are handled by doubling down: over investment rather than correction.
While doubling down may protect the self image (ego) it is merely a temporary soothing of the psychological disjunction, more of a means to displace and distract by acting out and blaming others.
The longer cognitive dissonance is held, the more pathological the response: to remain traumatically blind we become defensively aggressive; protecting the internal battle through external histrionics.