As a young, inexperienced but aspiring businessman, I can remember my first job at a NYC Advertising Agency. Early on there, I spoke with a Madison Avenue ‘veteran’ who seemed very unhappy with his job, his company and his life in general. When I felt comfortable enough, I asked him “why did he stay here?” I have not forgotten his response even 50 years later which was: “It allows me to afford my weekend house in the Hamptons.” I was not comfortable enough, however, to tell him what I was thinking which was: “Why would you trade 60 hours-per-week of ‘misery’ for 20 hours-a-week for potential pleasure?” (If it did not rain).
As a naïve kid from a working-class family which was unequivocally (and possible detrimentally so) “authentic,” this was my very first experience of the ‘divide’ between reality and deliberate ‘escapism.’ I have always thought that any form of “escape” is a unhealthy condition. I have never like special-effects “action” movies, artificially-construed mystery novels, song-and-dance musical theatre or basic ‘fantasy’ of any kind. Life is hard enough with 100% focus on our “internal” selves let alone ignoring the responsibilities of reality by avoiding and/or ignoring THE work to be done.
The divide between reality and escapism referenced above may actually not have been too severe if not for the fact that it has gradually grown wider and wider over the last half-century to the point where they have become almost parallel lines. Reality and escapism almost never intersect anymore (definition of “parallel” ;-D). In my pompous and proselytizing effort to simplify an exceedingly complicated situation, I am going to place the blame squarely on the ‘shoulders’ of “technology” and the problems it has created.
Ever since Technology has created Visual and Auditory “images” of our three-dimensional, genuine selves, our Human Nature has not been able to resist the temptation to see the ‘artificially-manufactured’ image of ourselves in lieu of our real selves. Now, not only do we have difficulty experiencing our real selves but many of our life efforts have been at the detrimental expense of accepting and/or improving our real selves. “Accepting and Improving” may actually have been God’s purpose for our lives in the first place.
In the not-too-distant past, there was not very much difference between our sincere self and the image that we created for our outside “façade.” Oh sure, there were always people who acted aloof, were pretentious, or portrayed ‘tough’ but we could usually see through it and did not have to like it. We could tell who was genuinely confident and who was faking it? Who was really trustworthy and who to avoid? Who was kind and who was mean? We could just look them in the eyes, notice their facial expressions and assess their body language.
With the onset of photograph “airbrushing, ”video “photoshopping,” vocal “reverbing” and even the medical technology of “cosmetic surgery,” it is much easier to fool even the most observant of us. The Media of opinion podcasts, unvetted websites and YouTube channels are the technological culprits. If we spend copious amounts of time playing video games, surfing the web or gazing through virtual reality lenses, how much actual practice do we have with “reality?”
I think the line between virtual and veritable has blurred almost to the point of an indistinguishable position, especially for those generations who ‘grew up’ on virtual without much exposure to the veritable. It has been proven with regard both “hit” songs and advertising “commercials’ that, Frequency breeds conviction. For example, in order for an advertisement to prompt a purchase, most potential customers would need to see said commercial 7-10 times. Likewise, best-selling songs follow the distribution of a normal “bell curve.” That is to say that 10% of records will never become hits no matter how many times they are heard by listeners. Conversely, 10% of records will become hit songs no matter how few times they are heard by listeners. The remaining 80% can become “ear worm” hits totally depending on how frequently they are heard. This was the idea behind the concept of “payola” (pay for play).
The same is true for “messaging”: the more times we hear something, the more a majority of people will believe it is true. This is especially veritable if we experience it from a certain “image.” This is exactly why ‘celebrity’ spokespeople are used to endorse products/services. Since most people do not bother to research the claims made and just ‘dumbly’ follow the “advice” for an easy ‘sell.’ Many influencers’ are not subject to any ‘rigor’ of verification or validation of their opinions masquerading as ‘fact.’ Their point-of-views pass for journalism but like THIS very blog, they are just opinions but at least I can attest for this one as being sincere.
Just compare “Wikipedia” to the Encyclopedia Brittanica? Or Joe Rogan versus Tom Brokaw? Or Tucker Carlson vis-a-vis Walter Cronkite? I remember when Brian Williams was ‘removed’ from the NBC Nightly News for ‘exaggerating/embellishing” his “news” story in order to pander to the ratings ‘monster.’ In retrospect, his error in judgment was very trite compared to what we all experience daily on social media as well as on legacy media. If Marshall McLuhan once said that: “The Medium is the Message” then I would add that: “The belief of said message is dependent on the ‘credibility’ of the ‘personality’ delivering the message.” As we journey towards more-and-more towards A.I., what ‘wool’ will be pulled over our eyes?
Just consider the recent 2024 Presidential election cycle. Much was presented as ‘illusory’ despite obvious lapses in factual accuracy. Yet, both sides banked on most of the information being “subject to interpretation” at best and total “hypocrisy” at worst by all but very few ‘clear’ thinkers. Risking our national security/prosperity to a compromised President seems like the height of reckless irresponsibility yet it happened. Unlike virtual video games, however, there is no “re-boot” when it comes to nuclear weapons and the real economic finances.
We seemed to have lost the “Culture of Real” and are heading right smack dab into a world existing of externally created artificiality, How else can we explain how 4 states (Arizona; Michigan; Nevada and Wisconsin) strongly voted for the ‘agenda’ of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump yet also voted for its Democratic Senatorial candidates? It must be because those 4 candidates displayed a “cult of personality” which superseded their overall belief for the country’s best direction. I guess most of those voters were not looking through “rose-colored” glasses but virtual reality lenses. Otherwise their ‘honesty’ would have prevailed over the tantalizing version of some false and virtual narrative presented by the ‘pleasing’ façade of ‘fakeness.’
No wonder so many people seem willing to go back to those values which are based in faith. We have seen it before when “man” thought he/she was more/better than they were in reality. We are not ‘gods’ by any measure but that is exactly how technology allows us to portray ourselves. Therein lies the fatal danger. For when we begin to believe our own virtual ‘falsehoods’ (press clippings), then we start to lose touch (detach) from reality. The ‘end’ of that train ‘line’ is Schizophrenia but unlike the three-dimensional past, virtuality is an “express” train, not a “local.”
Jesus Christ seemed to offer some possible ‘remedies’ for the dangers of losing reality by emphasizing humility over self-importance. One need only look up at the stars to put one’s self in a proper perspective. He suggested that “love” was preferential to “legalism” where one’s heart takes precedence over one’s head. He thought that “mercy” was more powerful than “justice” where “forgiveness” trumps man’s definition of “fairness.” “Kindness” is superior to “righteousness” as the value of the former is much more rare/difficult that the latter. The commonality here is that love, heart, mercy, forgiveness, and kindness seem veritable truths to me while legalism, head, justice, fairness, and righteousness seem variations of subjective, virtual relativity.
It is kind of ironic to me that the ‘spiritual” state of the ‘unproven’ concept of “heaven” seems more tangibly beneficial to mankind than escapism to virtual reality, but it does. A recent example that comes to mind is the concept of D.iversity E.quity I.nclusion. While in theory, it may have sounded good, but I see it as a “virtual” idea. In reality, a theory can only work if it can be proven but in this case it only took about 3 years to fail any sort of ‘scientific’ test. The concept of “meritocracy” (which as not ‘perfect’ and can still be improved) has withstood the test of time and has proven itself to be a valid ‘experiment’ which has been an exercise in reality. I believe that DEI will be viewed in history as analogous to the business example of “New Coke” and therefore somewhat of a blunder of colossal proportions. No wonder they were afraid to use the acronym DIE.
Shakespeare said: “The whole world is a stage and the men and women merely players.” William did not have the benefit of experiencing “electronic media,” however. It is not “As You Like It” when the actors never step out-of-character or disrobe of costume, and we never get to live with the authentic people without their ‘makeup.’ It seems that people cannot, or the Media will not allow themselves to be genuine anymore. Whether fearful of the comparisons of Media portrayals or the lack of acceptance to ‘small-screen’ humanity, many choose any escape from every reality that they can. I find that to be disheartening at best and maybe downright devastating at worst. I may just be a plain-old ‘dinosaur,’ but I still prefer the average “real” to the spectacular “artificial.”
EPILOGUE:
The above idea might explain some of the tremendous increase in “escapism” with drugs lately. Many people just cannot ‘handle’ themselves ‘straight’ and have to use artificial means to get higher and/or lower that normal/natural life usually permits. Once “escaped,” the resulting necessity is to engage in some sort or therapy in order to bring oneself back to reality. It seems as though mental health therapeutic activities have also experienced a significant increase over the last generation as a “quid pro quo” for drug abuse. It seems not unlike the correlation between unhealthy food intake and the necessary pharmaceutical remedies that must follow.