Believe your eyes: Perception is not always reality
In the song, “Who are You Guna Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes,” by Day At
The Fair, …”Who do you trust in believing, me or your lying eyes? Give me the words you took as promises. Look in my eyes, stop asking them questions. What do you want from me?”
The truth.
It is difficult to be truthful when your life has not produced any worthy achievements. People who have not been trained to be honest with themselves or others often have to rely on lying to gain any positive recognition. It is becoming easier to pretend to be something you are not in a disconnected society.
In the modern world of self-promotion and inflated “false esteem” there are many people who believe their worth is much greater than it is. Their expectation far exceeds their abilities and perseverance to obtain what they desire.
These modern day narcissistic individuals are going to have to resort to some form of chicanery to get what they seek. They have to create a persona that is very different from what they actually are. This perception they have created may work for a considerable time but eventually reality reveals itself.
In the same way telling a child how great he is when he is not, distorts his reality and usually results in a pathetic loser. Our country is also losing our bearings because we are becoming soft after years of affluence. We are producing less and saving less. Our nation enters a danger zone when it is living off its past laurels and ignores obvious signs of decay.
There are intellectual experts who assure us the signs of economic deterioration we are experiencing are not real. We just have to prime the economy’s pump with government stimulus money. The names for modern day apologists who advocate living beyond one’s productivity are called Keynesian economists. These economists tell us that if everyone thinks the economy is healthy, then it will be. This is an example of, “perception is reality.”
This phrase “perception is reality” often means if you think it, even when you have done nothing tangible to earn it, you are entitled to it. This belief is if you want something to happen you just have to concentrate hard enough to convince yourself and others things are the way you wish.
The notion that perception is reality has sold well with our celebrity culture. Most of our Hollywood, sports and political elites have not earned their special status. Many have won the lottery of their careers, sold their souls or faked their way to the top. Through the immense power of the media and Madison Avenue “perception is reality” has become conventional wisdom.
Celebrities are believers in this cult of perception because their energy is spent in creating an aura to perpetuate their personal myth that they are better than the average person. They know in their hearts they are not gods although they know the only way to maintain their unique position is to create a false narrative that is bigger than their real existence.
Even when they lose their notoriety they often do something self-destructive or appear on a “reality show” to regain name recognition. This gives them another pathetic chance at redefining themselves to gain some past luster.
We are inundated in the media with outrageous false advertising claims. People hear about magic pills to lose weight, gain muscle and give us back our youth. A person has to just purchase the item or procedure against his better judgment.
Subliminal advertising takes the manipulation of the mind to another level. A certain product like a car or a drink will make us more appealing (sexy) to others. We may convince ourselves it is true but it does not make it reality.
Social networking has given participants a grand stage. Every one of their actions is of utmost importance at least in their own minds. Tweeting and Facebook postings have created superficial “fans” and participants have the ability to control the development of a story line no matter how false, to impress others of their fantasy life.
The reality of our personhood is rarely based on our actual being or achievement but on stimulating the imaginations of others. This phony image implodes when you see the actual person.
In a world no longer tied to reality, people can be more easily led to believe in whatever another person or group wants them to believe. Hope and Change replace building a solid foundation to obtain what one wants through hard work and meet objectives.
When elites execute a political strategy to persuade people that its economy is doing well by distorting the cold facts of employment and production, we know we are being treated as gullible, non-thinking sheeple.
People should know from their daily lives that lazy or financially irresponsibly people eventually become a burden on family or society. When people start to believe in things too good to be true or do not conform to reality, the society is headed for a needed correction or collapse.
A nation can live off its ancestor’s wealth only for a finite time. Sooner or later the people must face economic sanity or lose all. The United States, European Union and some developing nations have reached the time of reckoning. Either they cut back the people’s unobtainable life style or they will perish.
Too many people appear to be whole but really are empty suits. No matter how many drugs taken, words or thoughts spewed, perception may fool people to think a certain way, but it is not reality. Even citizens who never bought into the politician’s lies about the economy of the country start to question their eyes. When a majority of a nation’s people start believing outrageous promises of entitlement a colossal fall from grace will occur.
The only way to save our nation is for the majority of us to believe our eyes and stand up to the snake-oil salesmen selling “perception is reality.” These self-serving phonies have to be rejected. We the People are opening our eyes to the truth like the girl did who opened her eyes in the above quoted lyrics.
