I am a Star Trek fan, and one of my favorite episodes was
the 8th episode in the 3rd season, “For the World is
Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.” As a
planet is on the verge of dying the humanoids there build an asteroid to launch
their species into space. From inside
the asteroid it appears that the survivors are standing on the surface of a
planet looking at the sky, so after generations in space the humanoids do not
know they are inside a fabricated asteroid controlled by a computer hurtling
through the cosmos. But one elder member
of the group, just before his death, confesses to Captain Kirk that he knows
the truth. “For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky.” Only he knew the real truth. Only he knew the others suffered from a
perception they believed to be true.
This notion of perception is repeated throughout all kinds
of literature. The Emperor’s New Clothes
is a classic fairy tale about a king who believes he is wearing gorgeous
garments when in fact he is naked and only a young child is willing to
challenge the universal perception.
Plato’s Republic recounts an anecdote where men are chained to a wall in
a cave and can only see their shadows on the opposite wall. They come to believe the shadows are
real. One man escapes, makes it to the
surface and understands that what they have been seeing is just shadows, not
reality. He returns to the cave but
fails to convince his peers of the truth.
Joel Barker, futurist, describes in his video, “The Business
of Paradigms” how the Swiss, who manufactured most of the watches in the world,
rejected the design of the first digital watch because it did not exhibit the
attributes they believed were critical for a timepiece. It had no gears, no springs, no face, no
hands. The Swiss loss their preeminence
in the market as the Japanese bought the rights to the watch the Swiss rejected
and began to mass produce digital watches.
We are in the middle of such a time in America. There are groups of Americans who base their
decision-making, their support, their view of the world on falsehoods, naked
kings, shadows and erroneous paradigms.
As long as those among us remain committed to viewing the world through
false lenses we are in serious trouble.
It is as though I awakened one morning to discover that about 35% of
American citizens believe Santa Claus is real and Zeus is the Supreme Being.
Worse, to try to convince my peers of the error in their
perspective generates hate, vitriolic speech and name calling. I have lost friends trying to show that their
perception is a shadow, not reality.
They so desperately cling to their view that they will continue to stand
on the deck of the Titanic convinced the ship cannot sink. How do we reach these folks? What logic, what facts will prevail against a
belief so totally rooted in falsehoods?
Perhaps identifying the source of the falsehoods would help.
Our current President is a compulsive liar beyond anything
ever seen. There are over 2,000
documented lies that he has perpetrated on the American people. He is not to be believed. The simple fact that he is waging war on the
Justice Department, the FBI, and anyone who may be sharing truth with the
collusion and obstruction of justice investigation is the reveal of ill intent,
and surely not of democracy.
Fox News has an entertainment charter, not a news
charter. They can say anything they want
and not be held accountable because it is “info-tainment.” They consistently repeat and support the
President’s lies. They are not to be
believed.
Russia continues to unleash “bots” or automated social media
responses supporting the President and his policies. Their mission is to destabilize our
democracy. Those posts and tweets are
not to be believed.
Sadly, to accept that these sources are false requires a
simple fact-check, something the true supporters are not willing to do, so they
continue to believe shadows are real and the sky is real.
But it is getting more serious. Today a reporter was banned from a press
conference because he refused to edit an article to be more favorable to the
Trump administration. That is unheard of
in a democracy. If what is reported is
false, then there are all kinds of legal ramifications and consequences. But to censor a reporter because he is not “loyal”
is not a democratic practice.
The same with a host of previous appointed officials now
unemployed. If one is an official in the
Justice Department one pledges allegiance and loyalty to the Constitution and
the law of the land, not to an elected President. Loyalty to an elected person as the only criteria
for maintaining your job is a 3rd World practice, not a democratic practice.
If our nation is no longer based on the Constitution, on
law, on the checks and balances of the three branches of government, and on the
protection of civil liberties including a free press and free speech, then we
no longer qualify as a democracy. So I
literally beg those of you who continue to support this man to do two
things. One, get your news from
somewhere other than Fox, Brietbart and the like. And fact-check everything the President or
his spokespeople say. If that does not
convince you that you have grown to believe shadows are real then I see little
hope for our democracy to survive. I
believe in my heart of hearts that the truth will win out over the lies and that
justice will prevail over conspiracy.
But the more of us who believe and constantly check reality better off
we will be.
If it helps, I did not feel this way when either Bush was
President, or Ford or Reagan or Nixon.
Just Trump.
Please abandon the falsehoods for truth.
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