It’s been said that we don’t live according reality; we live according to our perception of reality. While this is true, it doesn’t follow that there is no objective reality. A narrative is the presentation of the positions of a politician or political party in the media, as by press releases, speeches, and interviews. And when we live according narratives, we can be led to believe in a very warped view of reality.
Take for instance this recent poll from YouGov America mentioned in the Jesse Watters Primetime America show:
Here’s how Americans responded to the recent YouGov America Poll questions (perception), followed by the actual percentages (reality):
What percentage of U.S. Population is Black:
Estimate: 40%
Actual: 12%
What percentage of U.S. Population is Hispanic:
Estimate: 39%
Actual: 17%
What percentage of U.S. Households with an income over $500,000:
Estimate: 26%
Actual: 1%
Percent of Americans who are Left-handed:
Estimate: 34%
Actual: 11%
Percentage of Americans who are Vegan or Vegetarian:
Estimate: 30%
Actual: 5%
Percentage of Americans who live in New York City:
Estimate: 30%
Actual: 3%
Percentage of Americans who are Transgender:
Estimate: 21%
Actual: 1%
Percentage of Americans who are Gay or Lesbian:
Estimate: 30%
Actual: 3%
As Watters points out, some of the responses to this poll show just how much we’ve been brainwashed by the radical left.
Beloved, we will never get the truth or reach a viable perception of reality from the media. I submit to you that we will discover it as we follow Jesus.
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32 NKJV)
In My Father's House 
Short and sweet post.
“I submit to you that we will discover it as we follow Jesus.”
That’s good advice.
In additon to that I recommend always checking your assumptions.
That can give you a better picture of reality and it can save you from unpleasant surprises.
Once I was driving a longer distance with my car. It was already evening and I was hungry.
There was a snack bar with great food that I had visited perhaps 4 years before. I drove the few kilometers to the place but the snack bar didn’t exist anymore. The other restaurants had already closed. So I stayed hungry and drove the 15 remaining kilometers home. I had based my plan on an assumption that wasn’t true.
I try to test my assumptions but I’m very, very far from perfect. It still happens too often but that’s life. If you think about it it is astonishing on how many unchecked assumptions we base our view of the world and our plans.
Great point. In your snack bar experience it shows that our assumptions are always changing, or being changed by outside forces (closed snack bar).
On the other hand, the truth never changes, but our understanding should and must change with better revelation.
Thanks for your comment.
You’re welcome.
If you mean THE truth. Yes, it is eternal and it has a name.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life”
Amen
Our American Stories is such a positive glow in the midst of what the mainstream media dishes out. I haven’t watched TV in years.
I agree. We do live In a remarkable country, in spite of the anti-American narrative sold to us.
”While this is true, it doesn’t follow that there is no objective reality”. Are you sure about that? Though if that is true, it appears that the less accurate our perceptions the greater the chance at survival. Not what we have thought for centuries.
If you perceived reality as it truly is you’d never get through a day, let alone a single blade of grass. Check this out if you have time. Things are not what they seem and for good reason.
I haven’t watched the video yet, but I do agree with what you’re saying. We see in what I would call a very low resolution version of reality. And that’s for our sanity! Our brain has an amazing ability to stay simple enough to maintain some semblence of peace and contentment.
But, to my point, it’s still an objective reality. The more “hi-res” our equipment gets, the more we can see it or measure it. For example, we couldn’t even actually see an electron until recently, even though we knew what it did and could measure its movement. And there are many things a lot smaller than an electron, including things not in a spacial dimension at all. Not to mention, all of the frequency spectrum we don’t perceive or are aware of in our every day life. Yup, it’s for our sanity.
Exactly. If you could see it all the time you’d likely short circuit the neurons. I do think certain people get glimpses of this, but I’m not really one of them. That’s likely why I like to talk about it 😁
Ironically, this is one reason why people tend to stay in a narrative, social media algorithm, echo chamber, etc. We tend to resist change because having a simplistic certainty about what we think we know makes us feel safe and comfortable, rather than constantly having our current understanding challenged.
I’m with you. On the one hand, I don’t want to “see” any more than my neurons can handle, but on the other, there is a strange fascination with thinking about what probably would explode my brain right now. 🤓
No objective reality? Let’s not make too much of the problem of perceiving reality. Whether evolution fitness has anything to with it only God knows.
I think the issue comes down to two things: gathering the right information and processing that information in a timely fashion.
We cannot gather all the information we might want. Our sensory systems don’t have the capacity. Hence, we have developed instruments like telescopes and infrared sensors.
Our brains are finite. Even if we had perfect sensory systems, we don’t have any way to get our minds to comprehend an infinite number of details.
So, what do we do? Instead of getting an exact understanding of reality, we must form models of reality in our minds. Models? Why “models” instead of “model”? We compartmentalize our lives. It is easier for us to understand and use a bunch of small, simple models than it is to work with one big, complex model.
What does this use of models mean with respect to “fitness”? Using a model provides the best tradeoff. A good enough model allows us to make a good enough decision when it is needed. Otherwise, we couldn’t make any decisions.
Science, for example, is about forming models of reality. The scientific method exists to test and validate scientific models. Many of the models we use every day, however, science does not provide the tools to test and validate. So, we spend a lot of time talking to each other comparing results.
Hi Tom. How are you doing?
“Let’s not make too much of the problem of perceiving reality”. Of course not. That would spoil the entire game. Your attempt to intellectualize belief only muddies things even more. Really intellectualizing anything does the same. “When wisdom and shrewdness appeared, there ensued great hypocrisy—Lao Tzu
Define what you mean by “intellectualizing”.
It may be a little late, but the harder we try the worse we will make it. Nature has its own course and maybe we could follow along vs confronting it.
Jim
Full of sound and fury. Signifying nothing.
Reminds me of a pretty terrifying scripture. God will allow those who war against the truth to stay in deluded deception and even lets them get more entrenched in it.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-11
and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false
Amen. What’s a scary aspect of human nature is that we have a propensity to believe what we want to believe, sometimes even to our own demise. This is for various reasons or motivations of the heart, some even unknown to us. This, again, is where Jesus helps us discover these hidden things inside of us that are destructive and put us in bondage. The Truth makes us free!
If one only pay attention to the media one can get a misconception of the rest of the country/world etc where the focus on certain news only causes people to think of what’s the situation different than in actual reality. GOod post!
Exactly!
Thanks for this post
Reblogged this on Citizen Tom.
Thanks Tom!
Reblogged this on boudica.us and commented:
H/T Citizen Tom
Thanks!
No objective reality? Isn’t that a self defeating statement? Much like, there are no absolutes. Problem is the statement is being declared as an absolute.
Thanks for your comment. No one is saying that there is no objective reality here, there certainly is. What is subjective is our perception of that objetive reality.
I certainly didn’t think that you made that claim. It’s a claim often made from a materialistic viewpoint.