FUTURE
The Frog in the Boiling Water
Denial and ignorance of the realities is the greatest threat of our time
You put a frog in a pot full of water and start heating the water. The frog adjusts its body temperature as the temperature of the water rises and adapts to the rising temperature of the water. The frog finds it comfortable to lie in the warm water.
When the water reaches the boiling point, the frog can no longer adjust. Now it decides to jump out. It tries to jump, but it does not succeed because up to this point the frog has used all its strength to adjust his body temperature.
Now, the frog dies.
What killed the frog?
Was it the boiling water? Or was it the frog’s own inability to decide when to jump out?
Some people are like frogs. They believe that it will go well anyway, as long as we do not do anything other than what we have started to do.
Some people would rather believe lies about election fraud than evidence to the contrary.
They would rather tear down the institutions and attack opponents because it is more convenient to storm the National Assembly than to follow the democratic rules of the game and show respect for law and order.
They want to “make this country great again” because it is more convenient to follow the man with the red mane than to say no to the lies he brings.
They want liberal gun laws because it is more convenient to have weapons freely available than to impose restrictions on the right to carry guns.
The conspiracy theories that many people are seduced by are such an example of the frog in the hot pot. It’s so comfortable to be lulled into notions of secret conspiracies and hidden networks that will destroy humanity.
There are hardly any limits to what can be included in this type of fantasy narrative. As conspiracy theories live and develop, the temperature rises and the ability for critical reflection and counter-perceptions diminishes.
Conspiracy theories convey insane stories about real people who, according to conspiracy theories, commit ugly, extreme acts in their closed networks against humans. What is being said is so eerie and insane that it is difficult to accept that people who have both legs safely planted on the ground can believe in and accept such stories.
It is therefore very special that so many people do not distance themselves from such theories, but instead say:
“ — Maybe!”
“ — Yes, why not?”
“ — Yes, one never knows.”
“ — Yes, that may have happened!”
When a man in this way distances himself from facts and lets wild fantasies prevail, there is something fundamental about the perception of reality that fails. The temperature in the pot has already risen a few degrees too high, and the judgment of these people is beginning to fail.
They probably know deep down that what they are supporting is untruths and distortions of facts. But they do not care. They may feel that they have suffered injustice in one or more areas of life. They want revenge for one or another injustice they feel. They feel that the temperature in the pot is comfortably good, and they sink deeper and deeper into the illusion of comfortable, warm well-being.
The high temperature that dissatisfaction and lack of trust created in society is an expression of something real. The heated temperature in society is an expression of really big, underlying problems in society. These problems grow because no one is able to find lasting solutions to them.
The more the temperature in the pot approaches the boiling point, the more difficult it becomes for those trapped in the hot pot to act, i e to implement measures that can save the society on which everyone depends.
Confidence in society is at a very low level, trust in politicians and the political system, trust in the government, in the state, in the national assembly — and even the trust people have in each other — everything is at a low ebb.