[Today's installment of the "Arrogant prophecies" is concerned with the denial of reality as a both necessary and useful tool enabling one to be able to maintain beliefs which are not only obviously false but inconsistent with each other...
Instead of burdening you with more of my personal commentary, I will let the unknown poet of the Third Galaxy speak for himself with words he composed at another time, almost certainly long after the poem posted below.]
Authoritarian and fundamentalist mind sets -- the two are actually almost interchangeable -- are basically immature and infantile, prone to magical thinking and incapable of accepting reality as it is.
All things equal, I could care less if somebody denies reality -- why should I bother to even think about it? The thing is, all things are not equal!.
Reality and truth are kind of connected, in fact two sides of the same coin. However, authoritarians and fundamentalists dislike reality because it tends to run counter to their beliefs. That is why they so often demonstrate the annoying habit of getting "in your face" about the "truth". The honest, in fact, compassionalte reaction must be to inform them that truth requires facing reality. This is not as simple as it might sound, but one might try something like this:
If you really want to know the truth, you must face reality and reality can be a bitch when you can't face the truth. In order to face reality you must love the truth with no strings attached.
If you don't love the truth, you can't face reality and your only option is ever an increasing, ever stronger illusion. At a certain point, the strength and fascination of illusion increases until, in the end, you will not be able to break.
That is a real definition of the Hell you talk so much about!
I will freely admit that denying reality is a Clever Device. Indeed, that is why I composed this little poem for you!
I've found a very clever way
to solve all the problems facing us today!
The only thing we need to do
is deny reality -- deny that it's really true!
I started out by believing that,
"It's really true, the Earth, in fact, is really flat!"
"Anyone who sails too far from land
will fall off the edge and will never, ever, be seen again!"
"It's really such a clever device!
You just brazenly claim that lies are truth and truths are lies!"
"Rome wasn't built in a day -- but the earth was made in six"
"All those who believe in evolution are morally sick!"
"And those who say the sky is blue
are all a bunch of liberul fags and traitors to
the Cause of Liberty, Freedom and Peace!
"They outta be tortured and shot for such outrageousness!"
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