Reality is a lie

Yesterday I was threatened by  a man who claims to be communist,  because I wrote in a different  blog that Venezuela was undergoing a slow motion  coup. This person exploded  when I mentioned that the coup was led by Venezuelans with links to  Cuban “president” Raúl Castro.

The son of a gun  said that he had the power to censor what I had written, and that if I didn’t  shut up on my own  he  was going to shut me  up, because what I write are stories,  and they are lies.  This made me  think  about the movie “Matrix” and the nature of reality. And after thinking about this for a while I concluded that reality is a lie.

I say this because there is no way a human being can understand  ​​how things are for real. We all think we know, but what we ought to know is that we know almost nothing. I can grab a photo of a gorilla head and some wires sticking out of  its mouth, and say that’s  Hugo Chavez  thinking about food shortages.  And if I repeat it every day,  in a few months many of you will start believing it. 

The worst part is those who realize  it’s a lie  won’t  say anything,  because they don’t want to stand out and look like fools.  They won’t say it’s just a gorilla mask because they want to look and behave  like everybody else,  and fear that  if they tell the truth they will get in trouble.

When I write that Cubans are involved in Venezuela trying to take the country I do it in part because I've seen  such things in my life,  I read and hear about what is happening, and I reach the conclusion that Cubans are involved in Venezuela up to their necks.  But I don’  have all the information to guarantee what I think and write is the truth.  However, it’s  my truth.

So, this man I mentioned in the beginning  reacted   violently. His beliefs are being threatened by what I write.  Or maybe he has  religion and believes that Chavez is going to be directing traffic in heaven.

When I write what I think I see,  some like it,  and others dislike it.  It was very interesting to see the reaction in the US  when I wrote about Chuck Hagel and the Republican opposition to his nomination to be Secretary of State.  Readers in the US hated it, but the Spaniards and other Europeans  loved it.  Obviously the reality of people who read the blog  in the United States is very different from the reality of those who read it  in Europe.

Each person’s reality is different.

Sometimes I write an article about  something I've seen in my life, or I see happening today, and I don’t post it  because if I let you  read it in the blog it  won’t  go down very well.  I’m afraid to write about things I have seen because you may hate me.

But today I decided I was going to reveal the truth, and confess to you  the Hugo Chavez I  showed you  before  is only  a  guy wearing  a  gorilla mask.

That’s the  way things are in  life.  All we see are masks,  false realities  prepared  to convince us to eat this or that, to give Christmas gifts to people who really don’t need them instead of giving to the poor, to vote for this or that politician, or to support this war or the other,  and to back this abuse or the other.  They tell us  this is good for society, or makes money, or it makes us happy. And many people choose to believe  because they fear if they don’t they will be ostracized, despised,  or maybe even killed.

This post is repeated from my old English blog which never  got off the ground. Those of you who read it will recognize Hugo Chavez wearing his gorilla mask.