I despair of trying to change minds and societal narratives. This past two years especially---though it's gone on much longer---has taught me some ugly truths about humanity. Yes, truths. Not era-specific reactions. Not "just what people are doing right now, but wouldn't do in other eras or times." How people fundamentally are. They accept lies. They accept lies that they can see are lies. They can be presented with irrefutable objective evidence that they know is true, and they will actively lie in order to keep believing the lie. I don't know what to do.
This is humans. Not "just bad people". Not "stupid" people. This is every human to one degree or another. It was me. I accepted lies for most of my life. The lies I lived by shaped my personal, emotional, physical, and professional fortunes. In negative ways. The lies I believed included:
-That my deranged mother actually loved me (the primary lie I told myself that undergirded all my self-inflicted misfortune)
-That the government cared about people.
-That liberals as a whole cared about people genuinely, rather than simply posing as caring to achieve clout and ego satisfaction (that's the real reason for the 'caring') -That state/government policy did more good than bad on average.
-That the most dire climate disaster scenarios were real. That by the time I got to the age I am now, the earth would be unlivable.
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