Today I am going to continue my “assault” on reality, the quotes necessary because “reality” is impregnable to the attack of one simple bloke like myself. What makes it so invincible is its subtlety; it can’t be seen with the naked eye. Its premises are commonplaces, most of which a society cannot be left without. But so many can be lived without and a society is better off when they are given the light of day. One simple example from my youth in the American South involves racism—television shows were “white”; NFL quarterbacks were “white”; and miscegenation was verboten.
This “reality” that I am here kicking around ordinarily has the capacity to slowly evolve, to adapt to circumstances even against the down drag of inertia. But in certain moments of history, there is tremendous “down drag” as the evolution appears too drastic and frightening to much of the population. This leads to the socio-cultural ferment that we are currently witnessing in the United States, and even in the world. This has led to civil war in the past.
We can’t escape the unconscious dimension of life which shapes reality. Oh, well, we can simply assume that it does not exist and passionately insist that we know exactly what are doing. But we don’t. There is always more to the picture which is a frightening notion to most people. It is so frightening that people will cling desperately to their certainties and usually will find a leader who will be their champion.
If you are curious about this tenuous nature of reality, you might find the following book of interest, “The Social Construction of Reality” by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckman.
literary lew 