Facts struggle to gain traction when they're blurred, manipulated or just plain ignored.
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People start to think with their hearts instead of their head, and fiction can become the norm, leading to unfortunate encounters with reality.
Take for example Wordle, the online word game teasing brains around the planet at the moment. We all like to think we go OK, because you know, we like to back ourselves, but my stats in Wordle, like so many things, suggest I am average (fact).
My heart meanwhile hopes this average-ness is a passing phase (fiction), and yet my head notes the average stats keep coming.
Now smart people tend to change their view in line with the facts, and stay humble, but delusional people tend to arrange the facts in line with their view. And from here, things spiral into life.
Take Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A tragic fact shrouded in fiction.
Vladimir Putin says the primary purpose of his special military operation (not a war) is to de-nazify the drug-addict government of his neighbour and deter the possibility of having NATO missiles on his doorstep.
Putin did say this - fact - but it's palpable fiction/crazy talk.
Putin is the one waging war like a nazi and rather than deterring, his actions are increasing the likelihood of NATO missiles on his doorsteps because he's literally redrawing the border of Russia closer to the NATO missiles.
I don't think NATO are trying to provoke that, but I'm not sure about Vlad.
The truly scary thing is that while the West views the invasion as a crime against humanity, many Russians reportedly believe it's a legitimate act in response to a perceived threat against the Motherland.
That's because Putin feeds the masses fake news on state TV, working on the three per cent theory of domestic disinformation.
This holds that so long as 97 per cent of the Russian population either believe the propoganda, or realise what a bad idea it would be to call it out, there won't be a problem, for those people.
Not sure what the weighting is if you're an oligarch who's had their super yacht impounded, but quite clearly, when your super yacht is impounded and your private jet keeps getting diverted to Dubai or Libya, there is a problem.
Now you could say we're subject to the same brainwashing in the West, but we're not getting locked up for criticising our military, just yet - unless you're Julian Assange.
Ever since fixing his democratic election two decades ago, Putin has been fine-tuning this simple message for Russian voters.
Mainly by suppressing opposition figures with things like poisoning (radioactive and/or lead) and imprisonment.
Pretty blunt instruments of persuasion but Putin's version of the facts is easy to understand.
Only insane people protest in Russia, because look what happens to them.
It doesn't change the facts as to why you'd protest, but it sure highlights the fiction.
