Granados Column: Of belief, reality and manipulation

I start this week’s column with a quote from my favorite science fiction writer, Phillip K. Dick:

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”

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I have believed many things in my life, and I have been surprised to find that having once believed in something, I can be induced, at a later date, to believe its opposite.

This has made me wary of beliefs; I don’t trust my mind’s ability to resist manipulation.

The tools used to manipulate the mind are everywhere on display in our country. Fear and repetition are two prime strategies.

Liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican, independent — whatever you may be, leaders of your groups use fear and repetition to manipulate.

Here are some recent examples:

• We are going to enter a depression, we must spend billions to save ourselves.

• Health-care reform will mean the government decides when people die.

• If we don’t act soon, global warming will decimate our world.

• President Barack Obama is turning our country socialist.

While these may contain facts at their center, the emphasis when it comes to these arguments isn’t on them; rather, the focus is on repeating the so-called “truth” as much as possible and highlighting
the fear associated with it.

The consequences are dire, these statements say: The economy will collapse; our government will kill citizens; the world will be destroyed; America, as we know it, will be no more.

And such fearful results are meant to bypass the reasoning portion of the mind and act instead on the gut. From the gut, we may respond without too much thought, and that often appears to be exactly
what our leaders want. But when we move without thought, we are wooden marionettes on strings.

This manipulation isn’t limited to politics. Observe the business world and the mass marketing operations that seek to guide our purchasing decisions. Nowhere are fear and repetition more plainly used
than in the consumer economy.

Getting fat? Buy our product to lose weight.

Getting old? Buy this skin cream.

Going to die? These vitamins will increase your life span.

There’s the fear. And the repetition rides in on the cable and broadcast waves in the form of commercials, and in the waking world on billboards and displays.

My beliefs scare me. I don’t want to be anybody’s puppet.

But, “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”

I don’t have to rely on my beliefs when it comes to many of the practical, important decisions of life. I can rely on what remains despite any political, religious or philosophical leaning. I can rely on
reality — that which is unaffected by my view.

I’m grateful to be more immersed in local politics than national. It seems that on the national stage, the manipulation I speak of is just about the whole show.

Locally, some of it can be seen — particularly in rhetoric (from both sides) regarding immigration — but for the most part, Manassas, Manassas Park and Prince William County politicians are direct,
practical and obvious. I think this mostly has to do with the immediate impacts their decisions have on their residents.

The federal government’s actions are distant and often obscure in their relation to our everyday lives. But if the Manassas City Council rezones an area for a mammoth development or raises the real
estate tax rate, you can bet that just about every city resident will be affected.

In Manassas Park, the same holds true. Its City Center project isn’t remote from its citizens; it’s central.

And Prince William County’s decisions — everything from an immigration resolution to budget cuts — are felt by all in the county.

If local leaders ignore the consequences of their actions, they will face a voter backlash.

I think another big difference between local and national politics is that locally, our leaders can’t escape the fact that they are our neighbors.

Federally, while physically that might, in some cases, be true, practically speaking, our national leaders don’t live anywhere near our neighborhoods.

Perhaps the problem is that they don’t reside in reality. They live in a boogey land of imminent apocalypse, of one sort or another. From within the land of delusion, can they really be expected to do more
than manipulate?

I struggle to emerge from the sea of obfuscation I have been thrown into by those who are supposedly wiser than me. Above the surface, I wonder what I will see.

Editorial Page Editor Alex Granados has clearly gone off the deep end. If you would like to rescue him, send an e-mail to agranados@insidenova.com or call 703-878-8069.