Reality Show

(Originally published 17 July 2008)

My increasing years have apparently had the effect of making me too impatient and/or intolerant to have political discussions with people whose observations and interpretations of events in the real world are determined NOT by what they observe but rather by their unwavering and slavish devotion to a set of principles, opinions or theories. They seem to understand reality not as a vastly complex system mostly beyond human understanding and comprehension, wherein sensible people try to understand what they see and experience using whatever guidelines, principles, or theories are needed to best make sense of the confusion, but as some sort of tunnel-vision proving ground for their pet theories and opinions. They don't see what's happening, and are not actually interested in reality; instead, they see what they HAVE to see.

Anything that doesn't fit the paradigm is ignored, rejected, discounted and otherwise made to not have any impact. Things that DO fit the paradigm prove, beyond any shadow of doubt, over and over and over again, that the ideology in question is correct, true, justified, righteous, clear, truthful and the only possible interpretation.

God save us from the idealogues.

On second thought, nevermind. It's obviously too late.