Maybe so, PH. But I wonder what the world looks like to, say, an ant, or a crow...just curious.
Shifting gears from physical perception to perceptions we form wholly in our minds: We may all be dealing with the same reality, but it sure is amazing to me that we have so many different interpretations of it -- i.e., "worldviews." Sometimes it seems that worldviews can be so far apart that it's difficult to find a common language in which to speak of "reality" at all.
Case in point, from an outstanding article by Paul Johnson, in National Review (Oct. 13) on the newist "ism," Pessimism:
"Pessimism...is a critique of society, also a habit of mind, an instinctive reflex, a paranoid psychosis, easy to acquire and to express, highly infectious, which can be made to apply to everything the established order does and produces.
"Karl Popper, in his analysis of pseudo-scientific theories like Marxism and Freudianism, pointed out that their attraction lay in their apparent universality: They could be made to apply to almost any human event, collective or individual, providing explanations sufficiently coherent to satisfy educated people disinclined to inquire too deeply into difficult phenomena, and who merely want a quasi-religious creed in which to believe. Pessimism fits beautifully into this category. It applies to everything, simple or complex. It has coherency, consistency, and self-righteousness, and affords huge intellectual and emotional satisfaction to its believers."
(I posted this elsewhere yesterday, but really wanted it on this thread.)
Examples of this "ism" as they are currently expressed in our society: "George Bush is an incompetent, stupid, lying loser who can't do anything right; he is screwing up foreign policy, and making our friends and allies hate us. He only cares about the rich, and pushing America's weight around." "Global warming is gonna kill us pretty soon." "All senior officers of private corporations are lying, greedy crooks who cheat their stockholders." "Iraq is a quagmire, a second Viet Nam." "Conservatives want to destroy civil rights, set women's rights back to the Stone Age, and abuse minorities." "Morality is nothing but oppression designed to maintain the power of the status quo." Etc., etc.
In other words, the most negative and worst-case spin that can be attached to any person, circumstance, or development is the best one.
And you can read it all at the (incredibly influential -- why???) New York Times, the Oracle of Pessimism.
How does society find a "common language" when language has become merely rhetoric?
This sounds exactly like the problem that Plato encountered in his beloved Athens, in the persons of the Sophists -- master rhetoricians bent on justifying (for pay) such claims as "justice is the interest of the strong."
I guess I'm rambling. Must ramble into my forthcoming diatribe on the Republic. I'll be back!
I had not considered Pessimism in that aspect, but it certainly makes sense. And the New York Times would surely be the trend setter, with the other conventional media following their lead.
It is challenge to even find optimistic news these days, perhaps because people are willing to spend more dough for Pessimism. How many times have we been trapped in a traffic jam as drivers rubber-neck to see the accident on the other side of the highway?
I also agree with you about the language problem. It was bad enough that we had to invest enormous time in culling the "spin" - but now, thanks to the Clinton years, even the common words ("is") must be questioned. What does it mean, and what does it really mean? Sigh...