Reality- who to believe?

What is reality? Who determines it? If there is some ultimate resource, a highest power to be final arbiter of what is real, then that would be the end of discussion. For everyone else it is conditional, as in belief shared by a certain number of people. Orwell said “A lunatic is a minority of 1” (he has his own reality). 2 people with exclusive shared beliefs are called folie a deux. A thousand like-thinking people confidently communicate their agreed upon beliefs and that constitutes their reality.

Experience shows that delusional ideas are often fixed and people don’t want to be talked out of their beliefs. They routinely register observations confirming their belief and call it evidence. They reject the idea that coincidence or mis-perception could provide an alternate explanation.  

In this highly contentious political climate most people have already made up their minds. Good people can have absolutely opposite positions. Could the reality definition come into play here? What if the data and perception of the “facts” is based on a biased source.

If you choose, or are forced to get your information from a steady diet of Fox News, WikiLeaks, XM Patriot, Rush Limbaugh, Chris Plante, InstaPundit, and Milo Yiannopoulos then your view of what is real is going to be very different than those who do not use those resources.

If your sources of news are NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, Vox, Salon, MediaMatters, Mediaite, and Telemundo then that will influence what reality is for you.

People often have preconceived ideas and seek out confirmation in media outlets known to support their view. The independent or undecided voter still has to choose which talking heads to believe. 

Choose wisely my friends. Large powerful organizations are in a battle to determine reality. In 1984 Orwell wrote, “Who controls the past, controls the future”. There is no discussion of reality in Oceania. That is a Thought Crime.

Time to migrate the website 
www.flight-of-ideas.com to 
the Blogger account. 
more to come

Laura, forever young

                             Laura in 3D... natural  

                                           arrgh 

Test pattern

The broadcast day began with the test pattern. Appropriate for a newly re-energized Flight of Ideas photo blog.....

VOTE for J.R.(Josh) Boyd

60 Years ago today, August 3, 1950

He didn't win but you have to admire his effort. The odds were probably stacked against him... but that's politics. His opponent got a country music star to back him as the family legend goes. It was said he only lost by 6 votes.

We drive by those signs clustered at intersections or standing proudly in someone's yard and hear their silent appeal.

Valentine Dance, 1970

40 years ago this week, P and J had been dating about a month. It was the monthly Cotillion dance, Valentine theme. The Oak Ridger had a photographer who took this random photo, which happened to appear in the paper the next day. Must of been fate.

Numerology

Today is the 9th anniversary of a "party" at work. Our unit staff did not take themselves too seriously. Perhaps that was why we were successful at what we were doing. This was an impromptu happening. The date was September 9, 1999. We didn’t need a reason for the party- just a theme. "Please come with some prop or costume that used the number 9. Prizes and food were promised but were insignificant compared to the chance to be part of the event.
I had heard of a party someone had thrown on August 8, 1988. The costume had to have some reference to the number 8. So what we lacked in originality we made up for in mirth. Here was the poster advertising the party. The Solar System used to have 9 planets until Pluto was demoted. Every one put their work aside for 60 minutes over lunch. Here are some of the entries… while it was not the most creative…Jowanna came as the 9 volt battery... it took some effort. Diana was pregnant and read a long poem she wrote about having enough children to field a baseball team (a wishful fantasy). Jan was on cloud 9. The cotton on the bottom of her shoes took only 30 seconds, but was effective and fulfilled the requirement for participation. This was more fun than turning your odometer over at 99,999. It was worth some laughs.. a needed commodity at times. Those were the days we remember. -James