This past week has been unreal, but, not much more unreal than, say, the last 100 or so weeks since November 9, 2016.
That is when a good portion of this country lost their collective minds. We all know what happened, so, there is no point in rehashing all of that. One of the lasting effects of this “loss of mind” as it were, has been the redefinition of the word “reality”
What is “reality” anyway? If you ask your average person, they will tell you that reality is way the world is right now. It is how things are. What is reality to me? Reality is, that I have a job I am responsible for, kids, a house, a car, and I have bills to pay. I have friends who are going through tough times, I am getting older, my health is changing, and not totally for the better. My kids are growing up, I am not going to be on this planet too many more years, and, the world moves along, things happen, and life does what life does.
For many people “reality” is what they want it to be. Too many people out there want a “Trump-free” reality, or a “Forever Trump” reality. If you follow the stories in the “news”, or, if you are like me, and follow, and read multiple stories on the same issue, or event, lump them together, sort the details, and then, decide what is really going on. Too many people seem to have a “personal reality” that goes along with their “personal truth”. I see it all of the time on Social Media. If anyone has been following the major stories this week, they are replete with examples of people seeing things the way they want to see them, despite having facts, and evidence in front of them. Take the story that broke today about the curtains in the residence for Nikki Haley, Ambassador to the United Nations. Twitter was alive with people going on and on about the Trump admin spending so much money on curtains (52,000.00) and rent (135,000 a month) so Mrs. Haley can live in New York. Throughout the day, as more facts came to light, it turns out that Mrs. Haley had nothing to do with the purchase of the curtains. Because the residence is used for official entertaining, it has to be at a certain level of luxury, because that is how diplomacy is done. It just is. Been that way for a couple of hundred years. The main fact is, that the curtains, and etc. were ordered under the Obama Administration. Now, before you go getting all lathered up about that, it turns out that ordering expensive curtains, furniture, place settings, what have you, is kind of a standard thing that the State Department does for our ambassador’s residences all over the world. There is even a budget for it. Imagine that.
Jake Tapper, of CNN, posted this thread to Twitter regarding the expensive window treatments. Read it here
That still didn’t stop people from going on and on about it. Even the following from the New York Times, who broke the story, did little to end the pile on. @NYTimesPR
The facts are there. Nikki Haley had nothing to do with it, and yet, garbage politicians like Rep. Ted Lieu (D) of California insist on calling for an investigation. It’s no better on the Pro-Trump right either. Pro-Trumpers were out in force decrying the supposed excesses of the Obama Administration. Both sides live in their own bubbles, and it is because of that facts that do not fit their narrative are discounted out of hand. It goes something like this:
Person: (shouting up the stairs from the basement) Hey man what’s the weather like out there?.
Me: Sunny and warm.
Person: I heard it was raining really bad out there.
Me; Nope, warm and sunny. take a look.
Person: I was told it was raining. You are saying it’s sunny. why are you lying?
Me; Not lying, look, see out the window, sun, and blue sky.
Person: It is rain. I was told it was raining really hard, and that it wasn’t going to stop for a while. It may even flood.
Me:: Look, man, it sunshine and blue skies. Look outside.
Person: Don’t give me that, I am not looking outside, be cause you are lying. Look man, the fact is someone down here said it was raining real hard. Just because you want it to be sunny doesn’t mean it is. I don’t need to look outside to know it is raining. You know, you people need to get out of your echo chamber and join the rest of us in reality. I know it is raining, and you need to understand it is raining, everyone down here agrees it is raining real bad out there.
Me: Do you hear any rain, or any thunder?
Person: No, that doesn’t matter. You don’t have to hear it to know, and besides, it doesn’t always thunder when it rains, so the lack of thunder isn’t proof that its not raining. One of the people down here heard last week that today was going to be a rainy day.
Me; Yes, but weather changes.
Person: That is exactly what an insulated and ignorant resident of an echo chamber would say. Weather doesn’t change that much, and you are stupid,….
And that is how it goes. All of the time. Every day. There is not getting through, and it is people from both sides, not just one. Along with the Russian Collusion business that is going on, we also have the investigation by the intelligence committee on what happened with the infamous “Steele Dossier”. The narrative keeps shifting with each and every new bit of news comes out. On the left, and the Never Trumpers, they will tell you it’s smoke and mirrors, and that it is a, to coin a popular phrase, “nothing burger” . On the right, and the “Trumpists” they are saying that this is going to be “Bigger than Watergate” and that people are going to jail, and that Sessions is getting closer to unsealing the indictments, and that Trump is going to de-classify the FISA applications, and then everyone will know just how dastardly the cabal was that tried to prevent Trump from winning. The stories, theories, and suppositions have gotten so convoluted, that the logic is turning in on itself. Try pointing that out to either side, and that maybe what they are going on about is probably not what they think it is., and you get a variation on the conversation above.
The problem with people living in their own bubbles, or echo chambers, is that they give no other theories, facts, or anything else any consideration. Information contradictory to their views is ignored, and worse, they react with anger to anything that challenges their beliefs, which is problematic, because anger can lead to violence. So many people out there consume news only from one side. Very few of them are willing to even consider another viewpoint. They believe what they believe to be true, because they want it to be true. Facing what is really going on is difficult for many people. There is a big difference between what is true, and what you want to be true. Children live in this kind of world, small children will tell you that there is unicorns in the sky, and rainbows, and clouds of cotton candy. As an adult, you know it not to be true, and in time, little children learn that as well. It is quite apparent that some adults have not gotten past that phase, and that is part of the problem. Reasonable people take information in, analyze it, and come to a conclusion. Unreasonable people, immature people do not do that. It also leads to the same people wishing violence on those who share different beliefs, or wanting to commit violence on others of different beliefs.
We have gotten here from many directions. The insulation of the American mind in my opinion started about twenty five or so years ago. If you go back in history, the “mainstream media” has always been biased to the right, or left to some degree. It has only been over the last twenty-five to thirty years that a left-leaning bias became more apparent. It wasn’t only the news though. With the rise of computers and the internet in the early ’90’s people began to gravitate to online communities that shared their views. First it was websites, and message boards, with CompuServe and AOL online communities became easier to form and publicize. As electronic media grew, so did it’s influence, and it’s hold on the American mind. What really led the isolation was the advent of the smart phone. People are tied to their “bubble” all day, every day. Having such a device allows easier rejection of anything that doesn’t conform to their world view.
As further proof, take the upcoming midterms. All signs point to these mid-term elections being even more contentious than the 2016 Presidential race. Democrats are convinced of a “Blue Wave” that will give them Congress, and they will be able to impeach Trump, and somehow, install Hilary as President. On the other side, Trump supporters are touting a “Red Wave” and Congress has GOP super majorities, and they are going to lock up Hilary, and the rest. The thing is, the “reality” if you will, is the midterms are going to be somewhere between the two. Reasonable people expect this, reasonable people understand, that given the current climate, GOP majorities may take a hit, and they may either lose one house of Congress, or barely hang on with a slim majority in the House. Try offering that compromise on Twitter, and see what happens. I have seen many a person get savaged by both sides.
Another element of this has been the rise of, for lack of a better term, “Tweet-bloggers” people who, instead of writing a blog, (like this) post long threads about what they think to Twitter, quite often they are thirty of forty entries. Many of these folks position themselves as knowledgeable people, and basically write opinions that they pass of as fact. A couple of them in a short period of time, have gained in excess of 100,000 followers. The reason is, they say things people want to hear. Because of that, their followers will rise up and defend anyone who has the slightest disagreement with any element of their latest thread. They can (and do) post absolute pony-pucks, but their followers believe it to be the absolute truth, and they insulate themselves further.
Reality is indeed up for grabs. Unfortunately, there seem to be multiple realities, depending on one’s political bent. The fact is, there is only one reality, and it is the one we live in. Reality, like truth, is not “personal” it is universal. One doesn’t get to shape the world to what they perceive as reality. Children do that. Adults know better. What is real, is real. It’s not open for debate. Like the conversation above, a sunny day is not a rainy day just because someone heard it is. Evidence that it is a sunny day is proof that it is not a rainy day. In other words, just because someone wants to believe that something is a certain way, doesn’t mean the world is going to conform to that belief. Unfortunately too many people cannot let that go. Many people need to. Otherwise, both sides are on a collision course, and it’s not going to end well.