There are signs of it all over the place if you pay attention. It is growing in prevalence the strange behavior that indicates that a number of people believe reality simply ceases to exist or can be changed simply because they want it that way. Perhaps a time of magic is returning, that doesn't mean it actually works.
So where did it begin?
Perhaps with this....
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Usually we learn that such things don't actually work.
Or perhaps it is with this...
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That situation where we hide under the covers and believe that because we can't see the bad scary thing, the bad scary thing can't see us.
It works at the time as typically what we are afraid of is all in our own mind. Yet, in reality if there were a true bad scary thing/person then hiding under the covers does not make us suddenly invisible.
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Now as we age we typically learn about imaginary things, and that these things are not real. They are fun, they are nostalgic, but they are not the reality. They are simply our minds providing us with these...
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As we age and encounter situations in reality we tend to begin to build up our bravery, and our realization that some things just don't magically change because we want them to.
For example I was talking with some friends in a slack channel about how I lived in a place surrounded by a lot of mountains and cliffs as a child. I remember climbing a good ways up a cliff and reaching a ledge where going up was more difficult and then I considered going down and that was far more terrifying and it took me a bit to work up the courage to do it. We would often find visiting tourist kids stuck part way up cliffs and need help down. I can relate, it was scary, but at some point I just faced the situation and reality struck and I made my way down.
There was no magic scene fade where one minute I am on the ledge and the next I am standing on the ground with a smile on my face. Reality doesn't work that way. There was also not glitter beam of a Star Trek transporter to save the day. I had to face reality.
For awhile now things have been occurring that seem to damage this learning about reality. It is our own fault and I primarily believe it is how we have begun to raise our children.
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We've begun to do everything we can to make sure that our children are protected from anything we perceive as dangerous or uncomfortable situations.
They play a game where there are trophies for the winners? We don't want them to experience the sadness of loss and that they didn't get a trophy.
Let's give everyone participation trophies. Isn't this great!?!? (Emphasis added for sarcasm)
I'd say this ill prepares the child for the reality of their future. We all encounter moments where there are winners and losers, and cases where we didn't get anything and have to watch someone else receive something. This is reality and these situations come in many forms. Fortunately, if you were not kept in bubble wrap/fantasy land then you already learned how to deal with these situations when you were a child. If not then we may see "adults" that do this...
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Why might they think this actually works?
Perhaps because of this...
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If the parent responds out of frustration and gives the child what they wanted just to silence their tantrum then that is taking the "positive reinforcement" technique that so many child raising studies have pushed for in the last half of century and using it to reinforce that throwing tantrums is good.
I've seen so many parents give in to tantrums. I've also observed what it does to the children. I've also observed some of those children as they "grow up". Though when I say grow up I am talking physically. I often see people in grown up bodies with minds that still view reality as a fantasy land.
A large population of "adults" that were raised within this process have reached ages where they can vote, they can make decisions, they can protest, etc.
It is having some effect. It is about the effect I think we should expect in the wake of all of the above.
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I personally have begun to loathe the label/term "safe space". It is so-called adults trying to go back to the first couple of images in this post without ever learning the lessons that came with those early childhood experiences.
I loved to play D&D, I even did a little LARPing. Yet I was quite good at keeping my fantasy games and imagination separate from reality. I can gleefully indulge my imagination without it bleeding into my mind such that I believe my fantasy is reality.
I have no delusions that just because I declared a place safe that reality will then ignore it and will behave as the safe space has been dictated from.
There are further examples.
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I see the fact that things like that exist as a symptom of this fantasy land imposing itself on reality. The reality is that the above designation meant nothing as the Constitution in the nation in question states this.
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With Alaska and Hawaii thrown included as well.
That taped section on the ground is the equivalent of the very first image in this post. They likely were used to throwing tantrums and getting their way, so perhaps they never learned that first lesson. Or perhaps they learned that anytime they said something their parents didn't like they got a time out? If so, perhaps they think the little taped yellow free speech zone area is the equivalent of them being able to put other adults in time out, because they don't like what that person says?
The entire reaction to Trump in the first place showed symptoms of this madness and delusion.
Before he was even elected. He said "grab them by the pussy" in a locker room tape.
Unless you lived in bubble wrap with ear plugs you no doubt encountered things like that and worse growing up. If not, then perhaps you didn't learn on the lessons life has to offer as you were sheltered.
You likely have been in with groups of your friends and if you think back at some of the conversations you had they would have been crass and far worse than the one Trump made there. Context mattered, why were you saying it? If you watch Saturday Night Live, or Mad TV, or many other shows far worse things have been said. Context matters. Is someone trying to express humor. Perhaps you should check out some older stand up routines such as those by Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, etc.
Yet, society went on to be outraged over "words" and even make pussy hats.
Then he won. The screaming, the disbelief, the crying... it all commenced.
We have now spent a year long tantrum where the attempt is to overthrow the election and get their way.
At what point does being an adult require more than just the size and age of our bodies?