SHOOT: Reality is becoming an interesting concept. I use the word 'concept' because nobody seems to agree what reality is. Everyone has their own version of it. I like Kunstler's. I don't mean I like it in the sense that I like chocolate icecream, I mean he calls chocolate icecream chocolate icecream, where other people give it other names and colors. That's a dangerous game - you end up deceiving yourself.
It is sure to get worse, and there are going to be a lot of disappointed people out there who will be suffering terrible losses and real pain in daily life. Societies don't do well when the public falls into the broad despair that is the opposite of hope. That's when the long knives and the tribal animosities come out and things get smashed. The trouble with self-delusion, either in a person or a society, is that reality doesn't care what anybody believes, or what story they put out. Reality doesn't "spin." Reality does not have a self-image problem. Reality does not yield its workings to self-esteem management. These days, Americans don't like reality very much because it won't let them push it around. Reality is an implacable force and the only question for human beings in the face of it is: what will you do? In other words, it's not really possible to manage reality, but you can certainly choose to manage your affairs within reality. We won't do that because it's too difficult. |
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