The Reality Divide

The most disturbing division in this country is not black and white, blue and red, or even, as I often assert, urban and rural.  It is reality versus unreality.  Reality is not what I think or what I feel.

We all know about Bruce Jenner, the former Olympic Decathlon winner, who is part of a "reality" television show. His most recent picture on the cover of a magazine is both sad and revolting.  I feel sorry for a man whose view of reality has become so skewed and warped.  I am revolted by the demand that I "applaud his courage".  Are we also supposed to applaud the actions of another reality star, Josh Duggar, who molested his younger sisters when he was fourteen?  I'm not hearing many calls for that.  Given that Duggar himself could be considered a child at the time, one would normally not hold him to the same standards as an adult in terms of judgment.  Bruce Jenner is around 66 years old.  I think we have to question both his judgment and his sanity.

Of course, if I had been paying any attention, I would have already questioned his sanity for marrying into the Kardashian family.

Bruce Jenner is not "Caitlyn" -- I don't care that his Wikipedia has been changed.  He is not a woman, and he never will be.  This is what I mean by a reality divide.  Some people seem to think you can change something by calling it something different.  You can call your Rottweiler "Fluffy", but he can't climb trees.

Now we have the Trans-abled, which is to say that there are crazy people who want to mutilate and cripple themselves.  We can call them trans-abled, but crazy works just as well for me.  There is something wrong with people who cut their arms off because they "feel" as though the limb should not be there.  There is something wrong with a man who "feels" like he's a woman, or a woman who "feels" she is a man despite her genetic and physical endowment.

If I say I "feel" like I want to kill myself, most sane people will suggest that I seek counseling and perhaps medication.  People who "feel" depressed are not told that they are heroic.  They are offered help to deal with their problem until they return to a better, more normal state of mind.

I'm not suggesting that we persecute or prosecute people for feeling weird or acting weird so long as they do harm to no one else.  I am suggesting that it might be a good idea to stop lying to them, to tell them the truth, to refuse to agree to their twisted view of reality.

Sometimes young children will don superhero costumes and get the idea that this gives them the power of flight or invincibility.  As adults, we do our best to help them understand the difference between fantasy and reality.  I'm all for encouraging children to exercise their imaginations.  When I was growing up, some of my best friends were imaginary.  However, normal, sane, healthy people learn to distinguish between the imaginary and the real, between our fantasies of how things might be and how things really are, between daydreams and rational, reality-based hopes and plans.

Calling Islam "the religion of peace" does not end the conflict in the Middle East.  Saying that the Islamic State is not Islamic doesn't turn them into Methodists.  The problem is everywhere. 

We can no longer come to an agreement on some of the most obvious and basic issues because those of us on the side of reality are not allowed to state the obvious lest we offend, "trigger", or "micro-aggress" the deluded.

Wealth and prosperity and technology have been allowing a lot of us to get by without facing up to the truth.  Truth will triumph.  Reality will get its due.  Too many of us refuse steadfastly to put aside our lies and delusions; therefore, these illusions will be forcibly stripped away --  perhaps by war, by oppression, by famine, by financial collapse, the collapse of society in general, or something else.  It will happen because that is the nature of reality.