Fractured Realities
The same evidence proves opposite truths. We’re not just disagreeing—we’re living in different universes.
BY JOSH STYLMAN
View original article at Brownstone.org.
We used to share the same lies. Now we each get our own. Soon, we may not even agree that reality exists.
Reality has been shattered into billions of pieces, each one perfectly tailored to fit someone’s worldview. The same event triggers completely different movies in our heads. The same evidence proves opposite truths. We’re not just disagreeing—we’re living in different universes, each one feeling absolutely real to the person inside it.
This didn’t happen by accident. Someone broke it. Someone profits from the pieces.
What follows is a diagnostic assessment. Five voices responding to the same events, each one convinced that they see clearly while everyone else lives in delusion. The question isn’t which voice is right. The question is: which voice sounds like you?
mRNA Technology
Person A: Life-saving innovation from our best scientists. The unvaccinated are selfish science deniers.
Person B: Rushed experimental gene therapy with hidden side effects the media won’t report.
Person C: White hats switched the poison vials with saline. Trump had to play along to expose Big Pharma.
Person D: Probably helpful for high-risk people, but mandates went too far and honest discussion was censored.
Person E: Doesn’t matter if it works or kills you. Pharma makes billions either way.
Climate Change
Person A: Existential crisis requiring immediate global action. Deniers are funded by oil companies.
Person B: Natural climate variation weaponized for taxation and control. Follow the money.
Person C: Weather modification tech hidden from public. Patriots will expose the real science after the Storm.
Person D: Climate’s changing, humans contribute, but proposed solutions feel worse than the problem.
Person E: Doesn’t matter what’s causing it. The people selling solutions caused the crisis.
January 6th
Person A: Violent insurrection threatening democracy. Trump’s brownshirts attempting a coup.
Person B: Mostly peaceful protest that got out of hand. Compared to BLM riots, it was nothing.
Person C: Patriots gathering evidence for tribunals. Trump told them to document everything legally.
Person D: Some genuinely believed the election was stolen. Bad day, but hardly the crisis media made it out to be.
Person E: Perfect theater. Trump got martyrdom, Democrats got their Reichstag fire.
The 2024 Election
Person A: Democracy’s last stand against fascism. This is the most important election of our lifetime.
Person B: Chance to restore America and stop the radical left’s destruction of our country.
Person C: Trump never left office. This is optics while the military cleans house behind the scenes.
Person D: Lesser of evils again. Both parties are corrupt, maybe one’s slightly less terrible.
Person E: Two masks, same face. Real decisions made by people whose names you don’t know.
Ukraine War
Person A: Democracy defending itself against Putin’s fascist aggression. We must support them.
Person B: Not our fight. Billions overseas while Americans suffer. America First.
Person C: White hats destroying deep state bioweapons labs and child trafficking networks.
Person D: Russia’s clearly wrong, but endless escalation seems dangerous and expensive.
Person E: Arms dealers profit, Ukrainians die, Americans pay. Same script, different war.
Immigration
Person A: Humanitarian crisis requiring compassion. Opposition is barely disguised racism.
Person B: Invasion threatening jobs, culture, and safety. Legal immigration good, illegal bad.
Person C: Deep state trafficking operation. Patriots tracking every movement for the trials.
Person D: Immigration can help, but needs control and legal process. System’s broken.
Person E: Cheap labor for corporations, voting blocs for politicians. You get screwed.
Artificial Intelligence
Person A: Transformative technology solving humanity’s greatest challenges. Regulation ensures equity.
Person B: Threat to jobs and values, made by woke companies that hate America.
Person C: White hat tech exposing deep state crimes. AI will reveal everything they’ve hidden.
Person D: Powerful tool with real benefits and risks. Need wisdom, not panic.
Person E: You trained your replacement for free. Tech billionaires ushered in the control grid, everyone else obsolete.
Trump
Person A: Fascist demagogue with nuclear codes. Threat to democracy and decency itself.
Person B: Flawed but effective fighter for ordinary Americans against the establishment.
Person C: Greatest president ever, still commander-in-chief. Assassination attempt was staged to wake people up.
Person D: Says some good things but too chaotic and divisive. Need normal leadership.
Person E: Perfect villain for the left, perfect hero for the right. Machine runs either way.
Elon Musk
Person A: Fascist tech bro with delusions of grandeur. Spreading hate and misinformation to millions.
Person B: Brilliant entrepreneur saving free speech and pushing humanity forward.
Person C: Original Elon was cloned, this one’s been flipped to white hat. Space Force commander.
Person D: Good intentions, misguided execution. Smart guy who lost his way in politics.
Person E: Transhumanist puppet born to play this exact role. The script demanded a tech messiah.
Covid-19
Person A: Deadly pandemic requiring strong public health measures. Anti-vaxxers spread death.
Person B: Overblown flu used to justify authoritarian control. Lockdowns killed more than the virus.
Person C: Planned operation to expose medical tyranny. Trump had to play along to show people.
Person D: Real disease, but response was disproportionate and politically motivated.
Person E: Viruses don’t exist. It’s all terrain theory and pharmaceutical theater for profit.
Social Media
Person A: Platforms spread misinformation and hate. Need content moderation to protect democracy.
Person B: Censorship of conservative voices by woke tech monopolies destroying free speech.
Person C: Patriots using back channels while mainstream platforms stay controlled. Truth Social is real battlefield.
Person D: Useful tools that got weaponized. Need privacy and less addiction, not censorship.
Person E: Attention farms harvesting human consciousness for profit. You’re the product.
You just read through those and had reactions. Some made you nod. Others made you angry. A few made you think “finally, someone who gets it.” Some made you say this guy’s a nutjob. One or two made you uncomfortable because they almost sounded reasonable.
Here’s the thing: I have opinions on all these topics, too. Sometimes, strong ones. But it’s not lost on me that I’m being manipulated at every turn, just like everyone else. I make a point to go outside my bubble and maintain relationships with people who fit each of these archetypes. I find their certainty utterly fascinating and deeply tragic.
Propaganda has always existed. In ancient times, a town crier would climb on a stump and deliver whatever the ruler decreed. But at least everyone heard the same lies. Now we each get custom-fitted delusions, perfectly calibrated to our psychological profile. The algorithm has become our leash, and we mistake the length of chain for freedom.
Each of these voices belongs to someone who considers themselves well-informed, rational, and awake to what’s really happening. Each one thinks the others are deluded, manipulated, or evil. Each one has evidence that supports their worldview. Each one feels like the protagonist in their own story.
They can’t all be right. But they can all be wrong.
The most sophisticated manipulation doesn’t give you false information. It gives you real information filtered through a lens that makes you feel smart for seeing what others miss. It makes you feel special, part of the small group that truly understands. Your timeline feels true because it was designed to feel true to someone exactly like you.
We’re not living in an information war. We’re living in a perception war. And the battlefield is your mind.
The question isn’t which perspective is correct. The question is: who benefits from keeping us sorted into these predictable camps, arguing with each other instead of looking up at who’s pulling the strings?
You think you see the manipulation. But what if the manipulation is making you think you see the manipulation? What if your sophisticated analysis of the system is just another room in the maze?
Welcome to the hall of mirrors. The exit is marked “certainty.”
That’s how you know it’s a trap.
Republished from the author’s Substack
No comments:
Post a Comment