Every goddamn person on this planet has a list of the obvious that they ignore. It seems to me that the practice isn’t conducive to survival, but we do it anyway. My head hurts and my heart races a little when I contemplate the idea that it’s obvious we’re ignoring the obvious. We’ve trained ourselves to deny the undeniable and we’ve conditioned ourselves to dispute the undisputable. I’m convinced that this ignorance is deliberate because the practice is selective. I’ve also concluded that about half the selectiveness of our ignorance is based on how soon and how intense we feel pain as a result of that ignorance.
For example, not too many people will stick their hand into a fire because it burns and that hurts. Also, it takes time to heal and that limb is pretty much useless during the recovery. Even less people will introduce that hand to fire a second time because they vividly recall the discomfort from the first episode. The pain is immediate and memorable and those qualities compel us to acknowledge the obvious.
But, countless people will repeatedly expose themselves to the sun because the burn isn’t as intense as open flame and skin cancer doesn’t occur immediately. In retrospect those people will admit that they should have worn a hat or some sunscreen but because there was no immediate pain the sunburn precautions were ignored.
Because they wanted a tan and sunscreen application is a pain in the ass, the obvious is easily ignored.
The tan part of sun exposure is probably as important as no immediate pain. What the tan suggests is that people are very good at ignoring long term damage when short term gain can be had.
So our rejection or recognition of the obvious is based on whether we immediate and forcefully experience pain. But, we can also be intentionally oblivious to consequences of our actions if we convince ourselves that we’re going to benefit from that ignorance.
Then there’s group or pack stupidity. Kind of the emperors new clothes scenario where an entire segment of the population can be convinced to ignore the dangling emperor’s dick that’s right in front of them. This situation is a little more complicated but it’s still based on personal benefit. In the case of the emperor, the subjects convinced themselves that he was clothed because the authorities said so and they didn’t want to be that guy in the crowd that stood out. Additionally, the dick deniers feel that the policies of the emperor are good for them right now. Fuck the other peasants, both present and in the future.
They also didn’t want the emperor to be pissed off at them for pointing out that they now understand the small hands insinuation. Because the emperor and his minions could cause them immediate pain.
We don’t have an emperor but we do have the internet. Home to the shame the shamers. I can’t recall the last time I read my entire news feed without coming across a few indignant articles describing how someone took great pride in shaming someone who broke with a socially imposed group psychosis by pointing out the obvious.
Because apparently it’s shameful to point out the emperors penis. Actually, you can notice the dick but you can’t say dick about the dick without being attacked as a terrible person. The attack is amazing to watch. It always starts with a claim from the attackers that stating the obvious is morally or socially incorrect and disrespectful. Then deflection without any sense of hypocrisy kicks in as the morally outraged go after the person that dared to illuminate the obvious.
We’ve always behaved this way. Back in the day we used to cast allegations of heresy, witchcraft and sacrilege as soon as someone pointed out anything uncomfortably obvious. Then we burned them in public to demonstrate how far we were willing to go in support of a lie or illusion that suited us at that particular moment in time. Now we slam or shame the shamers and then we dox them or find some shitty thing they did thirty years ago and plaster the results all over the internet.
Fuck the truth and fuck the obvious, this person is making me uncomfortable.
So, Donald Trump and his base sadly come to mind one more time. I think the lies from Mr. Trump are obvious. Maybe I’m wrong and all the news reports are libtard propaganda but I don’t think I’m misinterpreting. There’s just so many of them that I find it stunning they can be so easily ignored by so many people. The man lies repeatedly on video and I can’t comprehend how Fox and the base have convinced themselves that it isn’t happening. So, if my initial premise around the obvious is accurate then the base is aware of the lies but it doesn’t matter.
Because they believe that the policies of this president provide them with a benefit. They gain something that makes ignoring the obvious worthwhile. I’m not entirely sure what’s gained, but if pain always follows ignoring the obvious then what pain will need to be endured by Americans and the rest of the world after the Donald takes his family and his emoluments back to New York?
Because the lies are real. The corruption is real, the family history is real and it seems obvious that there has to be a price to be paid. The question is who’s going to pay? Will it be Donny jr. and Jared or will it be NATO and the American taxpayer?
I think to get to the point where we can ignore the obvious around something as important as the American president suggests some training and some natural skill. We’re actually pretty fucking good at deceiving ourselves and from the look of things we practice a lot. Smoking, meth and opioids, overeating and alcoholism may arguably sneak up on you but I really think the signs were there long before we acknowledge the obvious. It’s kind of puzzling that we need to overdose, drunkenly run someone over, get the cancer or demolish an Adirondack chair before we admit that, yup, that’s the emperors dick.
We don’t limit ignoring the obvious to addictions and disorders though. Nope, we’re pretty fucking committed to dodging reality on a daily basis. The reasons are always the same too. The obvious is uncomfortable, maybe even a tad scary and worst of all an acknowledgment would mean some personal sacrifice or change is required.
Climate change is another good example. I get it that some people believe the change is natural and not influenced by humans. But how did we get to the point where we’ve decided to again ignore the obvious? No matter the cause, the fucking glaciers are vanishing. No matter who or what’s to blame, the average temperatures are increasing and the coastlines are receding. Does it matter if it’s carbon or a natural global pattern if we’re seeing stronger and more powerful weather events from tornado’s to typhoons to hurricanes and heatwaves? How the hell is continued denial going to prepare Miami or New Orleans for the water that may potentially be coming their way?
How the hell do we prepare for our coastal cities being submerged if the so called leader of the free world fucking tweets about global warming being a hoax each time he see’s snow?
Jesus Christ, it’s insane.
I guess the Atlantic is going to have to be lapping against the steps of Trump Tower or one of his golf courses is going to be declared an eighteen hole water hazard before the obvious is entertained.
Sad, very sad because unless he’s in jail you can bet your ass that the Don and family have enough resources to gather all of their possessions and move to higher ground.
I have this terrible feeling that one of these days the price of our ignorance is going to be steep.
Pandemic, weather catastrophe, head up our asses steep.