WORD OF THE DAY: ANASAGNOSIA
Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash
“He doesn’t know he’s sick,” a friend said this morning; “he simply can’t separate fantasy from reality. It’s called anasagnosia.”
The friend was referring to a politician who will remain nameless, but I think it may be a national malady. By definition anasagnosia is “a neurological condition in which the patient is unaware of his or her neurological deficit or psychiatric condition.”
Or maybe, reality. For exampIe, I have a habit of getting national news from the print edition of the New York Times, from PBS and NPR and a few left-leaning TV channels. But at least twice a week I watch another major TV channel favored by those of a more conservative mindset. It presents a narrative that makes perfect sense, and most days bears absolutely no relation to anything I’ve gleaned from the sources above.
(If you get your national news from social media, well, bless your heart. There’s no hope for you.)
To be clear, there is nothing humorous or satiric about anasagnosia. In the realm of mental illness it applies to many of the worst diagnoses.
But half the country, I think, may be suffering from it. (Pick whichever half you like.) A changed, hopeful future can emerge from a dangerous present. And scary past. But which past, and which future? Are half of us blind to our blindness?
If there is relief, before mid-November, I’m not sure what it might be. But for the mentally healthy there is, at least, a treatment: Work to support your reality. Write letters, send postcards. Speak softly but carry a copy of the Constitution. Vote.
And be kind to the other half.
Hi. I believe that there’s something seriously wrong with everyone who supports Trump. Trump tried to steal an election and subvert democracy. And he did so in plain sight. And yet, millions upon millions of people continue to support him. What a country.
Indeed. But somehow, some way that reality we all saw with our own eyes in real time has been re-written. We also watched SIXTY lawsuits about election malfeasance fail, and we have every evidence that the election was free and fair. I absolutely cannot understand it. But I do know people with brains now believe Jan 6 was just a ‘protest,’ or perhaps a ‘riot’ because the election was ‘stolen.’ Don’t know anything we can do but try to be civil in the face of incivility and work HARD to somehow get the country back on solid ground. Hopefully a decisive election can start that, but I still worry about next January 6.