The inability to see what is right in front of us

1. 72

   Ken Burgessposted 46 hours ago

   This has been a very interesting journey... these political forum threads.
   
   The heated debates we had on here about the Ukraine war... with some people believing the delusions our Main Stream Media peddled that it would be over in 6 months... that Russia would go bankrupt before it made the 2 year mark, etc. etc.
   
   The arguments made during the Biden Administration that the economy was doing better than ever, even as going to the grocery store cost more than ever, and cost of insurance and cars and homes continued to climb higher...
   
   Now the latest bit of denial is accepting the cultural-religious shift ongoing in parts of Europe.
   
   IE - Massive march in London to mark 77th anniversary of Nakba - 17MAY2025
   https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lrckQRKgqzc
   
   IE - Protest in Paris against Islamophobia surge - 2025
   https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Lxyy748UA9M
   
   IE - Why can't Sweden get gang violence under control? | Focus on Europe - 2024
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwWMjxLrmVE
   
   I think the issue is when a person holds a political position or ideology and everything has to conform to those beliefs... they cannot view facts or incidents from a neutral or honest point... their bias... their beliefs... must twist everything they are presented.
   
   Now, we all have biases, but for those of us not heavily invested into a particular ideology, we can often see what is going on... we don't force it through a particular prism of belief or bias.
   
   So... in this instance we can look at hundreds of thousands marching through a city street in support of a Islamic 'holy day' and say to ourselves 'wow, we would have never seen that in London' twenty years ago.'
   
   While others have to see that through their prism and call such a statement racist or right-wing... dismissing the very truth of the fact that, indeed, you would not have seen that 20 years ago in London.
   
   Another example would be how Sweden 20 years ago was one of the safest nations on planet earth with almost no crime... and today, well, violence like you could find on the city streets of Mogadishu is becoming common place.
   
   Some of us see that for what it is... others refuse to.
   
   The inability for many to see what is right in front of them.
   
   Why is that?   And where is that leading nations like France, the UK, and even America?

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   1. 76

      tsmogposted 45 hours agoin reply to this

      Maybe someone should ask the question "Why is the Christian faith in decline in the West?"

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      1. 72

         Ken Burgessposted 45 hours agoin reply to this

         I think that has been the progression of 'the enlightenment' going back not just to America's founding and the 'separation of church and state' but also the French Revolution which spurred and shaped the development of liberalism as a political ideology.
         
         That is one part.
         
         Another is that the birth rate of people of 'Western' beliefs and ideology is at .7 to 1.6 depending on where you look... Japan, America, Sweden.  Whereas the birth rate of people practicing Islam is 5+.
         
         So as the numbers of those being brought up in a Islamic belief system explode, the numbers of those who believe in Western ideals not only shrink in number... but a percentage also convert to Islam in search of something our Liberal Christian society no longer provides.
         
         But this is just one issue that has currently caught my interest...
         
         There was a few years back the lead up to the Ukraine war... it astounded me that people could actually believe we would be able to defeat Russia in a few months time, a year or two at the worst... we wasted over 20 years in Afghanistan and accomplished nothing... but we are going to topple Russia?  The one nation that has more nukes, as well as super sonic missiles to deliver them with?
         
         The denial of reality... of what is obvious... I just can't grasp it, are that many people suffering from a collective insanity?  A deliberate denial of reality?  Or is this the effect on some people of being bombarded with lies daily from their news shows and politicians?

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   2. 70

      Kathleen Cochranposted 39 hours agoin reply to this

      "I think the issue is when a person holds a political position or ideology and everything has to conform to those beliefs... they cannot view facts or incidents from a neutral or honest point... their bias... their beliefs... must twist everything they are presented."
      
      Truer words have never been written on this site.

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   3. 76

      tsmogposted 18 hours agoin reply to this

      After a pause, some thoughts, arrives . . .
      
      Okay, okay . . . doing some wandering for a bit and a byte. First, a characterization has been presented of the ‘culture’ within the forums based on polarization, elitism, and individualism as I see it. Then comes along an arrow, which is the main theme, aimed at Muslims with their Islamic ‘faith’ within the traditional European nations each with their own culture. One point is the Islamic faith is growing faster than other faiths in Europe. Why?
      
      A distinct contrast is inferred of the differences of the culture of the migrants and each European nation such as the UK, Sweden, and also as a European collective. Apparently that is not only a threat, but today is an intrusion upon the conventional/traditional. Then, tossed into the mix is that seen in America as well?
      
      ********************
      
      “Some of us see that for what it is... others refuse to.
      
      The inability for many to see what is right in front of them.
      
      Why is that?   And where is that leading nations like France, the UK, and even America?”
      
      ********************
      But, first . . .
      
      “Now, we all have biases, but for those of us not heavily invested into a particular ideology, we can often see what is going on... we don't force it through a particular prism of belief or bias.”
      
      That is a profound statement holding various truths, as far as truths go in the sense that truth is an abstract noun.
      
      *******************
      
      The bottom line is today in Europe 5% is Muslim, yet Islam is the fastest growing faith in Europe. There are reasons for that. Yet, we can perhaps ask, “How does such a small percentage of the population make such a large impact within the European society?”
      
      Is it;
      
      The influence of the media?
      
      Is it the drama resulting from the clash of cultures?
      
      Is it the demand by Muslims to be accepted in the stead of assimilation?
      
      Is it where the majority of Muslims lie within the social-economic structure?
      
      Is it a result of humanitarian efforts to offer relief during a stark time of oppression upon the innocent? In other words, the European nations offered opportunity to gain entrance, though there were caps.
      
      And, then I ask is it the absurdity of today’s world with all its dimensions?
      
      ********************
      
      Both the Islamic and Christian faith offer prophecy of clash between those two while also offers their alliance upon a common enemy. Biblically, Daniel 11 shares there will be a conflict between the King of the North and the King of the South.
      
      Scholars suggest that is the Christian and Islamic faiths respectively. Yet, can be asked is the common enemy liberalism/humanism/secularism since both Christianity and Islam are traditional and conservative? Here one might ask is that conflict of warrng not military battle, but cultural and social?
      
      Perhaps, even that very thought process places demands upon . . .
      
      “Now, we all have biases, but for those of us not heavily invested into a particular ideology, we can often see what is going on... we don't force it through a particular prism of belief or bias.”
      
      . . . seeking understanding?
      
      ********************
      
      An alternative thought process with a little more wandering . . .
      
      An arrow flies, not forged of war,
      but worded fear in metaphor.
      Five percent, a shadow cast —
      yet echoes swell the silent past.
      
      
      Does impact bloom in foreign soil,
      or rupture roots beneath the toil?
      Media flickers, culture bends,
      a clash, a call — or means to mend?
      
      Faith foretells the kings will rise,
      one from North, the South replies.
      Yet what if foes are not belief —
      but secular threads that strip the grief?
      
      So pause the bias, loose the reign,
      and let unknowing light the strain.
      Perhaps what’s seen is not the fight —
      but blindness posing as insight.

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      1. 72

         Ken Burgessposted 12 hours agoin reply to this

         That was a great read, will chew on it some and come back to reread it when I have the freedom from other things to contemplate my response.
         
         Thank you.

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2. 83

   Sharlee01posted 26 hours ago

   Insightful thread... Don't see much of that anymore here.
   
   Ken, you make a compelling observation. What you’ve described isn’t just political blindness, a widespread inability to confront reality without first filtering it through a favored ideology. It’s become more important for some people to defend a narrative than to recognize a change, even when that change is unfolding right in front of them.
   
   We’re living in a time when acknowledging plain facts about culture, economics, or safety is seen as offensive or partisan. But denial doesn’t change outcomes. It only delays the consequences. Whether it's the shifting identity of European cities or the erosion of public safety in countries once considered models of order, the signs are everywhere. And yet, many prefer to explain them away rather than face what they might actually mean.
   
   I think the deeper issue is this: when people become emotionally or socially invested in an ideology, any challenge to that worldview feels like a personal threat. So, instead of engaging with uncomfortable truths, they dismiss or redefine them. That’s how entire societies lose their ability to course-correct.
   
   We don’t have to agree on every policy to recognize when something is no longer working. But the first step to fixing anything is being willing to see it clearly — and too many people have lost even that.
   
   When ideology becomes identity, truth becomes malleable. People stop asking what is true? and instead ask, does this serve my side? That’s how honest discourse dies, when facts are no longer evaluated on their own merit but filtered through a political lens. It’s a kind of intellectual servitude, where the mind bends not to reason or evidence, but to allegiance. And the tragedy is, those most captured by this mindset often believe they are the most enlightened. Real courage isn't parroting what your group thinks; it’s standing alone, if necessary, in pursuit of the truth. Until we can prize truth above tribalism, we're not thinking, we're obeying.

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   1. 72

      Ken Burgessposted 25 hours agoin reply to this

      All true... thank you for the thought out response.
      
      Is it denial of reality... is it being programmed with lies...
      
      How do LGBTQ+ groups support Hamas?
      
      Is this due to a complete lack of comprehension of what Hamas is... is this being programmed with lies to believe they represent something they do not?
      
      How does anyone (sane) support men competing against women in sports... merely because they want to identify as a woman?
      
      What causes a complete denial of obvious fact, throughout a society, like in Sweden where so many in a society refuse to speak to truth... that allowing in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Somalia people imported those cultural differences, and those differences can be extreme, violent and very anti-western in nature.
      
      Projecting out where this leads... when millions are no required to assimilate to Western cultural norms, laws, beliefs and when they are allowed to practice their own culture... and convert others to their culture... and produce 5 children to every 1 that Western/Natives do... well the math is simple.  The truth should be obvious.
      
      Even though it seems like we have broken through this morass of 'Wokism'... where an individual's feelings/wants are prioritized over another's,  based on where they place on the victim - oppressor dynamics
      
      I don't think we really have... I think while many have become aware of how disconnected from sanity and facts this ideology (or collection thereof) is... the effort to thwart it is weak, at best.
      
      Are the people who cling so tightly to any such ideology really so different from a Jihadist that clings to the most extreme concepts of the Koran?

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3. 83

   Sharlee01posted 12 hours ago

   Ken,   we’re clearly coming from the same mindset here, and it’s refreshing to read someone who lays it out without flinching. You’re right: this isn’t just disagreement anymore; it’s a total divorce from reality, and that’s what makes it so unsettling. Whether it’s people defending Hamas under the banner of LGBTQ+ rights, despite Hamas's openly brutal stance on that very group, or claiming that a man identifying as a woman should be allowed to knock out biological women in a ring, it makes you stop and ask: how did we get here?
   
   It seems like a dangerous cocktail of ideological programming, willful blindness, and social cowardice. Take Sweden, your example is dead-on. The cultural clashes that came from mass, unvetted immigration are being lived out daily on the streets, but to even mention it is seen as hateful. Another example? Just look at how people still treat the U.S. southern border crisis as if it’s some myth, despite cities like New York literally begging for help after being overwhelmed. Facts don’t matter to people who’ve been taught that “truth” is relative and offense is the ultimate crime.
   
   You nailed it with the comparison to ideological zealotry. Whether it's radical Islam or radical leftism, when someone builds their identity around a belief that cannot be questioned, you’re not dealing with someone who wants dialogue; you’re dealing with someone who’s been trained to suppress it. And while more people are waking up, I agree, it’s not nearly enough. Wokeness isn't dead. It’s gone underground, mutating, waiting for the next cultural weakness to exploit. The only way to stop it is by confronting lies with plain truth, relentlessly and without apology.   
   
   The time for overanalyzing and endlessly asking why has only made things worse. At this point, we need to look these issues straight in the eye and finally admit, we’ve got a serious problem on our hands, and it’s only growing.

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      Ken Burgessposted 11 hours agoin reply to this

      Excellent point... and perhaps the answer to my question and why calling it indoctrination is more apt for many higher learning institutions these days than education.
      
      Higher education was meant to help improve one's ability to learn and reason, but perhaps that has been twisted in our current times.

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      1. 83

         Sharlee01posted 11 hours agoin reply to this

         Ken,   Thank you,  I’m glad that resonated. And you’re absolutely right to point out how the term indoctrination is sadly becoming more appropriate in many cases. When institutions treat certain viewpoints as untouchable or frame dissent as moral failure, they’re not fostering critical thinking; they’re conditioning conformity. Higher education should be about challenging ideas, not insulating them. We’re seeing the cost of that inversion play out in our culture now.

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