The History of the Truth of Reality

Good morning, slept well? Good. Let me tell you an interesting thing.

Just a little while ago, on the radio, I head a politician talking about the situation in Georgia. (I admit I wasn't listening closely when he was introduced, and am only guessing that it was a politician from the strangely circuitous way he was talking. It's equally possible that he was simply on drugs, or maybe insane.) He was answering a question in response to a Georgian who had been interviewed and said that he thought the West had not provided enough support for Georgia. The politician used the following phrase 'it [the perception] may be very real, but it is not based in total reality'.

Now, this is not a political blog, I don't propose to give you my thoughts on the Georgian situation. I am not nearly well informed enough to do that. I know that wouldn't stop most people, but I am proud to belong to an elegant minority that when it doesn't know what it's talking about, simply doesn't talk. However, it was the use of the words 'real' and 'reality' that caught my attention. Although it might have been said a little inelegantly I think we can agree on what the speaker meant. He was crediting the Georgians with actually having that perception and believing in it, but he was perhaps suggesting that the person wasn't possessed of all the facts. Fair enough. It is hardly likely that people in a war zone are going to be getting an unbiased and unvarnished version of events from whatever news outlets they might have access to.

But what, I want to know, is 'total reality' and who defines it?

There was a time when politicians talked about the Truth. There was a time before that when they talked about History. I'd like to say that there was an earlier time when there were no politicians, but unfortunately I don't think so. (I can just imagine one australopithecine avoiding the question of who had eaten all the food by asking and answering his own, unrelated question.) But the words Truth (note the capital T) and History (likewise) are no longer neutral words up for grabs, they are loaded with meaning and bias. We all know now that History is the winner's view of the world, and the Truth is simply 'whatever I say it is'.

So now they have hijacked Reality. And just in case you were worried that this was some biased version of Reality that only told one side of the story, it's now 'Total Reality', netural, unfiltered, unfettered and free.

And yet...

Somehow I feel that what was meant was a Reality that backed up the speaker's argument. No, let me clarify, a view of Reality that backed up the speaker's argument. We have already lost History, and Truth, and now they have taken Reality from us.

Quite depressing really? And so, I hear you ask, what does that leave us?

Well, we still have our Opinions, our Thoughts, our Minds and our Voices. I suggest you use them as much as you can and stop your Reality from becoming History and theirs from becoming the Truth.

Now, wrap up warm, take your brolly, and make sure you have a day. It can be any kind you want, just make sure it's yours.