False constructions of reality that are then socially enforced. These are not good faith attempts to describe reality as it is, but instead how proponents feel it should be.
Pseudo-realities are coping mechanisms for people who are pathologically unable to cope with reality as it is. They are an attempt to bend reality to the pseudo-realist’s will. Proponents of a pseudo-reality will typically use linguistic distortions to prop up their alternate version of reality. Common sense is denigrated and science is replaced by scientism. They employ a fake parallel logic, or ‘paralogic’, that has an internally comprehensible structure but does not yield logical results and is often self-contradictory. It is typically insisted that this structure of false logic is accessible only through some “theoretical lens”, the awakening of a specialized consciousness, or by faith. Distinctions exist between “those who ‘can see,’ ‘are awake,’ or ‘believe’ from those who cannot or as it always eventually goes, will not.”1James Lindsay, Psychopathy and the Origins of Totalitarianism This is simply a pretext to put the onus on those inhabiting reality to see things that are not there or risk the charge of willful ignorance. Pseudo-realities are always structured to favor those who accept it, often through overt double standards and linguistic slights of hand. This often begins with an assumption of guilt and a demand for of proof of innocence. Denial of guilt is taken as proof of some transgression.
Inhabitants of the true reality, i.e. normal people, have a tendency to be overly charitable in assuming that some reasonable interpretation the pseudo-realist’s claims exists that is intelligible by applying real logic. Failing to appreciate the pathological state of the ideologue, normal people may be inclined to reinterpret the absurd claims of the ideologue as reasonable and sensible, making it more palatable. When normal people engage with pseudo-reality, even when expressing disagreement, this effectively legitimates the the pseudo-realist by meeting him part way. It’s a game of ‘heads I win, tails you loose.’
Because they are false, pseudo-realities require power, coercion, manipulation, and sometimes force to maintain them. Ideological pseudo-realities invoke power to coerce people into their preferred version of reality.
see also: John Pieper, Abuse of Language — Abuse of Power and James Lindsay, ‘Psychopathy and the Origins of Totalitarianism‘, New Discourses
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