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Only 4 in 10 Republicans think the earth goes around the sun.
Republican voters inhabit an alternate reality created by a cable network that apes news but reports far-right lies and white supremacist propaganda as if they were fact.
I’d like to see this phenomenon begin to inform political news stories as a sort of a given.
I’d like to see this phenomenon begin to inform political news stories as a sort of a given.
Tens of millions of people think that untrue things are true, and that true things are untrue, and there’s literally no evidence that will shake them out of that— and there’s a booming market for keeping them in that state.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
The frame shouldn’t have ever been “do we face a climate crisis?”
It should have been “how the reality crisis is preventing us from addressing the climate crisis.”
It should have been “how the reality crisis is preventing us from addressing the climate crisis.”
This is why the “both sides” framework is so insidious.
It’s true to say that we have diametrically competing realities in our political ecosystem right now.
But one of those realities is actually real, and the other isn’t, so it really matters which one wins.
It’s true to say that we have diametrically competing realities in our political ecosystem right now.
But one of those realities is actually real, and the other isn’t, so it really matters which one wins.
It’s also why bipartisanship—usually a good thing in a healthy political environment—is so toxic an idea.
There’s nothing to be gained by finding the middle ground between reality and not reality.
Our central crisis is a Reality Crisis, and it informs all the others.
There’s nothing to be gained by finding the middle ground between reality and not reality.
Our central crisis is a Reality Crisis, and it informs all the others.
And "crisis" isn't hyperbole. It's genuinely a crisis that 10s of millions of Americans don't inhabit reality and have become almost entirely evidence-resistant.
Donald Trump is the most disturbing manifestation of the Reality Crisis yet, but he won't be the last.
Donald Trump is the most disturbing manifestation of the Reality Crisis yet, but he won't be the last.
And it's a crisis that, because 10s of millions don't inhabit reality, an enormous market exists to provide them with the reality they do inhabit.
And that for-profit institutions—who know better—humor their false reality, rather than engage it as a crisis, which is what it is.
And that for-profit institutions—who know better—humor their false reality, rather than engage it as a crisis, which is what it is.
We need to come up with solutions to our problems, but each solution needs to incorporate some solution to the Reality Crisis as a crucial component.
And that has to begin with recognizing the Reality Crisis for what it is. Naming it as false. Refusing to enter it.
And that has to begin with recognizing the Reality Crisis for what it is. Naming it as false. Refusing to enter it.
The alternate reality can win if we don't fight it. People can create an alternate reality for a time, in which slavery is freedom, and ignorance is strength, and war is peace, and the climate crisis is a hoax.
For a time—until evidence-based reality finally has its way with us.
For a time—until evidence-based reality finally has its way with us.
What to do? Start within.
The reason that the Reality Crisis managed to get such a toehold is that its central assumptions—themselves false—have long been shared by the mainstream
• We owe each other nothing
• Life must be earned by being profitabile
• Violence redeems
The reason that the Reality Crisis managed to get such a toehold is that its central assumptions—themselves false—have long been shared by the mainstream
• We owe each other nothing
• Life must be earned by being profitabile
• Violence redeems
The way we can meet the Reality Crisis is by rejecting these lies.
Find them in your own thinking and reject them.
Then reject them wherever else you see them.
And insist on the truth.
Find them in your own thinking and reject them.
Then reject them wherever else you see them.
And insist on the truth.
Every human being is a work of art
Peace is possible
Open borders s/b a goal indicating a desirable friendship between neighbors
We live in a world of plenty, not of lack
Greed kills
These are truths. Insist on them w/o compromise.
That’s how you solve the Reality Crisis.
Peace is possible
Open borders s/b a goal indicating a desirable friendship between neighbors
We live in a world of plenty, not of lack
Greed kills
These are truths. Insist on them w/o compromise.
That’s how you solve the Reality Crisis.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
We can and should mock Jacob Wohl’s idiotic self-humiliating attempt to discredit Sen. Warren, but the truth is if Trump repeated the obvious lie 4 in 10 Republicans would believe it and you wouldn’t be able to convince them otherwise.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
They don't believe lies because they think the lies are true. They believe the lies because they know the lies are false. They believe lies to show us they will believe lies. They do it to menace us, by demonstrating they are allowed.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
Our overarching crisis is a Reality Crisis.
