Ross Williams
Jul 22, 2017 · 2 min read

Great article, but I think what you are describing is only one aspect of the problem. Most of us live in a fantasy world. In that world, we have little ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, nor do we have any real interest in doing so.

Bill Cosby was an actor playing a character developed by writers. But to the world he was Doctor Huxtable, “America’s favorite father” so that when his son was killed it was Doctor Huxtable’s son was killed, not the actor and serial rapist Bill Cosby really was. In an old commercial an earlier “fav0rite father”, actor Robert Young AKA Marcus Welby MD, pitched pain medicine with the line “I am not a doctor, but I play one on television.” People couldn’t really make the distinction.

Most of us have never been robbed or assaulted, but we imagine its something like we see on TV or in video games. We believe the “history” we see in movies and TV, Saving Private Ryan or Lincoln or the musical Hamilton is actually the way it happened. You will hear reviews of how “realistic” they are from people who have no actual reality to compare them to. In fact, when our real experience contradicts the media fantasy world, we think its our experience that is out of touch.

Suspension of disbelief is so complete that even the most obvious manipulation is ignored. An anti-American demonstration on TV with 30 people carefully framed to fill the screen holding signs in English probably doesn’t reflect reality. But it was enough to turn Iran into our enemy for the last 40 years.

There is a simple solution. Turn off your news feed and turn off the television. Avoid clickbait and only read stories that are reasoned. It will make no difference to the world, but you might get some perspective on it.