Thursday, December 17, 2020

People Who Deny Reality: What's Really Motivating Them?

Denialism: "In the psychology of human behavior, denialism is a person's choice to avoid a psychologically uncomfortable truth."

I've always enjoyed reading and watching science fiction stories, and stories of fantasy worlds and movies.

I started young, but seldom got confused between reality and alternate realities, regardless of the story or movie, because I could ask an adult if they were real, or not. 

Adults, from my parents to teachers, made sure we lived in the real world where opinions and fiction are not facts. The sky was blue, and the grass was green. End of story.

Until Trump was elected president.

By now, Americans and the world have discovered that Trump not only lives in his own universe he brings in his supporters like sheep bleating any lie he advances.

How did a con man brainwash so many Americans? We may never know the full answer.

By offering alternatives to facts many people can live in a comfortable bubble of denial against anything they don't like.

What I'm trying to understand is how people I know and love got caught up in the chaos created during the Trump regime.

It's tough watching those who you care about take an abrupt turn against reality because of poison politics and Trump's war on the mainstream media - which he casts as Fake News. Dictators around the world have since followed his example.

Thus far I've only mentioned Trumpies, but there's other Americans who have been denying reality with regularity lately.

The Anti-Face Mask mob, and the No Vaccination crowd.

Both of these groups have something in common - they do not believe in science. Their influence has been amplified by Trump's bully pulpit of science denial.

One last thought; fear is a motivating factor for anyone... to a point. You don't have to fit in any of the above categories to deny reality.

People with mental health problems struggle with reality throughout their lives. 

It's difficult to pinpoint why people decide to go off track and deny reality. I'm sure there's more examples, but the bottom line is the brain is a fragile thing.

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