Years ago I had a business partner that I constantly reminded to be careful how he worded his response to our clients inquiries. Why? Perception. We had a legal and ethical obligation to answer their questions truthfully.
For example, if a client asked a question where the answer should be a no, you don’t say, yes, I understand, and then proceed to explain why it’s a no. They stopped listening after your yes.
In politics it’s all perception. Our perceptions are colored by the biases of our political persuasion. Or if someone is in the media, their bias isn’t to get the story right, but to get a headline. Neither set us up to get or want to get at the actual truth. Explaining reality usually can’t be done in soundbites. People/reporters stop listening to your explanation when they hear the part they want to hear which happens to coincide with their perception.
With that let me introduce you to an article by Brian Karem in Salon.
We are in trouble.
It's not just that Marjorie Taylor Greene, a known supporter of the insurrection, is on the House Homeland Security Committee.
It isn't just that Joe Biden is under investigation by the DOJ for having classified documents in his possession — some of them found in the same garage as his beloved vintage Corvette.
It isn't that Donald Trump has yet to be indicted for any of the many criminal activities he is believed to have orchestrated as president.
It isn't that George Santos is a habitual liar and con artist who has been called on to resign by members of his own party — showing there's even a depth to which some Republicans will not sink.
It isn't the fact that the U.S. continues to get drawn into a war in Ukraine that Russian despot Vladimir Putin wages with little care for life, liberty or the continued existence of the human race.
It's the appearance that the voting public is more emotionally involved in the NFL playoffs rather than anything resembling news events which actually affect life on the planet.
The NFL fan world is filled with people more rabid than the Trumpers. This week they've ignored whatever else is going on in the world, thus making sure media is filled with stories that tell us Kirk Cousins is a choke artist, Aaron Rodgers is a humble, great leader who deserves better than the Green Bay Packers and Tom Brady is a demigod whose arms should be bronzed and his semen stored for distribution to fans and their daughters for eternity.
Let the facts show that appearance is not reality. Cousins is a fine quarterback, Aaron Rodgers is a pompous, vaccine-denying has-been and Tom Brady is flat-out old. America can't face those facts because they don't fit the going narrative — the same as in politics. The bottom line is that most of America has lost its ability of critical thinking and for too many people appearance has become reality.
Those are the first eight paragraphs of Karem’s column. He helps to break it down for us to explain;
As a wiser man than I once said, it is far easier to fool people than to convince them they've been fooled.