Something is not checking out. TV news and social media simply don't match up with the reality on the ground.
Without delving into details about Socrates' allegory of the cave, both for reasons of brevity and more importantly for allowing myself to take some liberty with the likely intent of the story, I found myself reminded of Plato's Republic after spending time on Twitter and watching cable news in recent weeks. Talk of civil war, revolution, insurrection and a divided country are almost constant. Videos of public arguments and riots flash across phone screens. Pessimistic tweets and articles warn of a growing rift among the American people. Fingers point at some, then at others as the culprit of each day's supposed trauma. Many signs point toward societal decay and an imminent death of the America we and the world have historically known. The pessimism had worn on, and perhaps worn off on me.
Then I stepped outside. Making my way down the street, glancing up and down from my phone to avoid bumping into cars or tripping in potholes, I saw neighbors and passersby of various ethnicities, and faiths. Some vote like me, some likely don't, and some may not vote. I thought of none of that as I passed them. I saw people who looked like me, and some who didn't. Everyone I saw was friendly enough, even those I don't know well or hadn't met in the past. People waved hello, those who had a mask on likely smiled behind their cloth protector. We passed each other. I went along with my day and they went along with theirs. I texted my Pastor, asking for prayers for elderly relatives fighting Covid. He gladly obliged. There was no questions about how they voted, what their skin color was, or anything else. I thanked him as always.
I got home and texted with friends. I discussed the sopranos with a former manager who is rewatching (he and many others, it seems), and I spoke to my family. Nobody was screaming mad, nobody was in fear for their life, nobody was arming up for the supposedly pending civil war. The only conclusion I was able to reach was that the images, stories and 'news' we see online and on TV simply don't match up with what is occurring on the ground in reality. This is not to say people don't have worries about the pandemic, economy, riots and unrest. They do, and I do too. To not have concerns would require being uninformed or uncaring. However, and while having constant, crippling concerns may be justifiable in theory, it is less so if one is observing the world around them as it actually exists.
Those who follow and trust social media or TV for all of their 'news' have forced themselves into an impossible corner. They must not only believe all that they are told, but they must also either avoid reality or deny it for what it is when they observe it. One must almost work of the following logic: "My neighbor smiled at me, but they're probably going to come for me first in the civil war." In a world where the news and social media are seen as an accurate reflection of reality, this approach must be taken for the facade to be left standing. Much like the man chained in the cave that Plato wrote about, these people must choose to ignore reality and instead make assumptions about it from the glimpses that they see online or on TV. The glimpses may be false or exaggerated, but they are coming from a supposed authority, and therefore must be more real than that which is felt or seen in one's life, for how often is one actually an authority on anything?
Within this self imposed cave. to question what they are seeing as reality in the news would be to question reality or at least their perception of it (but I may repeat myself). There are, of course, comforts in the cave. Mainlining information on social media, for example. is vastly easier than reading a book, or writing, or having a discussion with a friend. That friend after all may challenge the reality you have been shown, and therefore they become a threat. Writing would require you to fully articulate your beliefs, which would inevitably lead to them being changed in some way as they are forced into words on a page. To leave the cave, to find out that the wolf prowling across the shadows on the wall is simply a shadow puppet from a person's hand would be either liberating or shocking - perhaps both. To see the shadows for what they really are or to know there's a man behind the curtain and not a great wizard is both exhilarating and terrifying. It requires our admission that past information we received was wrong or false. that authority figures were wrong, and, most painful of all, that we were wrong. The admission is never fun, but it is a necessary ingredient in the recipe for freedom.
I think it's time for people to leave their caves, to walk past the shadows dancing on the wall and head upright into reality, whatever short term pain or confusion that may bring. Sure, someone can remain, but anyone willing to consider this thoroughly will likely to come to the conclusion that the shadows just don't make sense anymore.
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