The battlefield now isn’t just reality—it’s hyperrealism. Not what is, but what is presented as more real than reality itself. Narratives don’t just compete with facts—they replace them. People react to simulations, headlines, clips, and curated outrage as if they’re the full picture. That’s the danger. Donald Trump operates in outcomes—blockades, deals, measurable shifts. The opposition operates in hyperreality—reframing outcomes into failure regardless of facts. And in that environment, perception becomes weaponized. But here’s the catch: hyperrealism only holds until reality intrudes. And when it does, the illusion doesn’t bend—it breaks.
So true. I’ve noticed that critics are not viewing US/ Trump actions and statements regarding Iran as part of an overall plan or negotiation. Rather, they pick an individual action, and, if there was no deal, or the war is not over, then the act was a failure. They refuse to acknowledge that negotiations are sometimes a rather long dance with many steps.
Well said! I've noticed that people often make these three errors. 1. Confirmation bias. They accept only information that supports their beliefs and reject info that doesn't. 2. Either-or thinking (or us vs them thinking). Consists of reducing everything to two choices, one good and one bad or evil. 3. Mind reading: thinking you can tell what someone you disagree with is actually thinking.
I have found myself guilty of this a few times. A leftist will say something that I "know" can't be true. So, I use AI for a quick fact-check and, sometimes, find that I was wrong. Maybe the difference is that I can change my belief based on facts that I wasn't aware of, while there are others who refuse to do so, blaming AI or whatever linked article that doesn't line up with their "accepted" news sources.
Naturally, I have a couple of news sources I refuse to trust, so that will send me into further research mode. Facts still matter.
That is why bodies of thought, or worldviews, need a solid fact or preferably a series of facts as a basis. The four (or five) postulates—statements of basic, unprovable assumptions—of Euclidian geometry, on which all of classical geometry and much of science are built, are an example of this. The biblical concept of the reality of a space-time, matter-energy universe in which people and things do in fact exist and act—events actually happen and constitute history—is another. The historical fact-set (provable history) that Jesus of Nazareth lived, died, and rose bodily from death establishes the truth of the biblical worldview.
It seems quite common to attribute our current maladies to some fairly recent point in time. To counter that I encourage reading Christopher Lasch, who's last work (The Revolt of the Elites) was published posthumously in 1995 and predicted Trump in all but name. He wrote The Culture of Narcissism in the late 70s. Like Rome, we aren't falling in a day.
Curiously, you describe what Thucydides documented a mere few millennia ago in his history of the Peloponnesian war(s). Hopefully it'll work out better for us, but I gotta say that the historical "trend analysis" ain't exactly all that reassuring...
Michael - - I have noted that many of our Libarhoid citizenry evidence continuous swallowing of their own side’s propaganda. This empirical trend aligns with much that you describe in this article.
One of my favorite quotes along these lines is: "The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth." Gary Kasparov
You described the inability of LIBARHOIDS to accept facts as having a motivational basis. Kudos ! That is what Kasparov intimates….. LIBARHOIDS possess motivational malaise due to exhaustion of effort to continue thinking critically.
I used to say to that LIBARHOIDS were just emotional thinkers because that was far easier for them than having to rectify different views with objective analysis. In other words, LIBARHOIDS just do not think because it is easier to emote….. to feel that a position “feels” right, therefore it must be right !
Guess that is why they consistently cheat in elections….. because they are lazy and bereft of valid countering facts to persuade the undecided. Thus, cheating is a natural consequence of who LIBARHOIDS are.
When multiple errors of fact were pointed out in The 1619 Project its creator/ curator/ guardian, Nikole Hannah-Jones minimized the errors and claimed that sometimes the narrative is more important than the facts. Many on the left deny even the possibility of objective facts based in reality. When fact based analysis is thrown aside in favor of moral posturing in pursuit of some greater good, effective communication becomes impossible. The only element remaining is the coercive force to make one's position the enforced reality.
The battlefield now isn’t just reality—it’s hyperrealism. Not what is, but what is presented as more real than reality itself. Narratives don’t just compete with facts—they replace them. People react to simulations, headlines, clips, and curated outrage as if they’re the full picture. That’s the danger. Donald Trump operates in outcomes—blockades, deals, measurable shifts. The opposition operates in hyperreality—reframing outcomes into failure regardless of facts. And in that environment, perception becomes weaponized. But here’s the catch: hyperrealism only holds until reality intrudes. And when it does, the illusion doesn’t bend—it breaks.
So true. I’ve noticed that critics are not viewing US/ Trump actions and statements regarding Iran as part of an overall plan or negotiation. Rather, they pick an individual action, and, if there was no deal, or the war is not over, then the act was a failure. They refuse to acknowledge that negotiations are sometimes a rather long dance with many steps.
Well said! I've noticed that people often make these three errors. 1. Confirmation bias. They accept only information that supports their beliefs and reject info that doesn't. 2. Either-or thinking (or us vs them thinking). Consists of reducing everything to two choices, one good and one bad or evil. 3. Mind reading: thinking you can tell what someone you disagree with is actually thinking.
I have found myself guilty of this a few times. A leftist will say something that I "know" can't be true. So, I use AI for a quick fact-check and, sometimes, find that I was wrong. Maybe the difference is that I can change my belief based on facts that I wasn't aware of, while there are others who refuse to do so, blaming AI or whatever linked article that doesn't line up with their "accepted" news sources.
Naturally, I have a couple of news sources I refuse to trust, so that will send me into further research mode. Facts still matter.
That is why bodies of thought, or worldviews, need a solid fact or preferably a series of facts as a basis. The four (or five) postulates—statements of basic, unprovable assumptions—of Euclidian geometry, on which all of classical geometry and much of science are built, are an example of this. The biblical concept of the reality of a space-time, matter-energy universe in which people and things do in fact exist and act—events actually happen and constitute history—is another. The historical fact-set (provable history) that Jesus of Nazareth lived, died, and rose bodily from death establishes the truth of the biblical worldview.
It seems quite common to attribute our current maladies to some fairly recent point in time. To counter that I encourage reading Christopher Lasch, who's last work (The Revolt of the Elites) was published posthumously in 1995 and predicted Trump in all but name. He wrote The Culture of Narcissism in the late 70s. Like Rome, we aren't falling in a day.
Curiously, you describe what Thucydides documented a mere few millennia ago in his history of the Peloponnesian war(s). Hopefully it'll work out better for us, but I gotta say that the historical "trend analysis" ain't exactly all that reassuring...
Michael - - I have noted that many of our Libarhoid citizenry evidence continuous swallowing of their own side’s propaganda. This empirical trend aligns with much that you describe in this article.
One of my favorite quotes along these lines is: "The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth." Gary Kasparov
You described the inability of LIBARHOIDS to accept facts as having a motivational basis. Kudos ! That is what Kasparov intimates….. LIBARHOIDS possess motivational malaise due to exhaustion of effort to continue thinking critically.
I used to say to that LIBARHOIDS were just emotional thinkers because that was far easier for them than having to rectify different views with objective analysis. In other words, LIBARHOIDS just do not think because it is easier to emote….. to feel that a position “feels” right, therefore it must be right !
Guess that is why they consistently cheat in elections….. because they are lazy and bereft of valid countering facts to persuade the undecided. Thus, cheating is a natural consequence of who LIBARHOIDS are.
Good article. One that I will keep and send out.
When multiple errors of fact were pointed out in The 1619 Project its creator/ curator/ guardian, Nikole Hannah-Jones minimized the errors and claimed that sometimes the narrative is more important than the facts. Many on the left deny even the possibility of objective facts based in reality. When fact based analysis is thrown aside in favor of moral posturing in pursuit of some greater good, effective communication becomes impossible. The only element remaining is the coercive force to make one's position the enforced reality.
This rings 100% true. We know the 'what,' but I don't know if we're as clear about the 'why.'
So, what does "gay" really mean?