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Why Western Elites Ignore Reality
How “the Narrative” has replaced Truth in our discourse — and our lives.
When I wrote my long-form piece, “How the West Descended Into Idiocy”, I sought to explain what was for me inexplicable — namely, how the entire Western elite class could be so dangerously wrongheaded about so many different things, ranging from Trump and Russiagate to Putin, Russia, and the Ukraine conflict.
I wondered: how could so many high profile media outlets and world leaders possibly be so misinformed?
I think I have found the answer — and it is terrifying.
Appearances trump all
When I first started working in Europe back in the 1980’s, my German friends, who were hardened realists, all shared a central critique of the United States. Americans, they said, did not know the difference between schein (the German word meaning “to appear”) and sein (the German word meaning “to be”). In other words, Americans were far too willing to get by on bullshit: for us, it was more important to appear to be something than it was to actually be that thing.
This was, after all, the Reagan era, when America had an actor in the White House…
