The truth is subjective it seems. Mine is
different from yours. What we want to believe greatly influences what we will.
We are each living in our own version of reality.
Facts are incidental since we all find our
own, only accepting the ones that support our world view. We want to live in the bubble of perpetual
affirmation, sharing our righteous views with the lovely and like-minded.
Stepping outside your own worldview is an uncomfortable thing to do, so we don’t.
In my own lust for logic I have been
bewildered why those who have a duty to do so, frequently fail to give us the
real story however unpalatable. The truth is that it is not in their interests,
hence they choose not to. Teresa May can’t tell us that we’re going to hell in
a handcart as people might hold her at least partly responsible. Any decisions
that might be in our long-term interests but cause some short-term hardship are
blatantly avoided. This short-termism has got us to where we are today, but
some of us seem to like it that way.
Funding the NHS? They dare not raise taxes
because people don’t like that. Instead they blame GPs for not operating a 24/7
service, whilst knowing that this is impossible. Nor will they ever admit to
underfunding health, education, the prison service, policing, etc. even when it
seems transparently obvious. Instead they’ll point to the money (or
occasionally some ‘miraculous’ extra money) that they have ‘promised’.
We all know what Government promises look
like. Many unaccompanied young refugees know it far too well. Abandoned in
France during a bitter European winter they may wonder how the tide turned so
quickly against them. It was essentially the tale of two photographs. A dead
boy on a Greek beach had even the Daily Mail in their corner, some months later
and a photo of a few arriving refugees who looked older than 10 led the borders
to be bricked up again. Politicians promised to honour their duty to these
unfortunates, it didn’t last long. Who wants to be led by those who abandon the
less fortunate for the minor political gains in appeasing the ignorant?
Facts are often uncomfortable. They
conflict with the stories we want to hear. We want to know how fabulous our
country is, how brilliantly our economy is performing, how we lead the world
and are so ridiculously independent. The age of spin has led us to a darkened
corner of alternate facts and blatant lies. Those who’ve led us there have a
duty to do better but they never will unless we hold them to account.
We must decide what kind of world we want
to live in: blinkered or open, kind or cruel, real or fake. Do we want big
ideas or tiny tantrums, future-thinking or history-worshipping? Logic or spin,
fact or obfuscation, rationality or rigidity? Do we yearn to be led by those
with massive brains or little hands, passionate optimists or vicious bigots?
Nothing is as simple as that. It is no left
or right, yes or no. We have forgotten how to compromise for the greater good.
Instead we have become polarised, rigid in our opinions and unflinching in the
face of alternate arguments or opinions. It doesn’t matter how we got here, we
just need to find the way out.
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