Reality isn't Real or Something

“Reality is not defined by matters of fact.” 231

This sentence from Latour easily makes it into the top 3 phrases/ideas that I’ve come out of this course with. It is a statement that I find not only incredibly true, but relevant in any controversial argument or situation or, for that matter, any situation in a life.

Latour is dealing directly with science when he makes his claim that reality ≠ facts and, if I may just take one more step here, that neither reality nor facts equal truth (or Truth or “truth” or…). I believe that this idea can be imposed upon things other than science though, such as my life (for example):

In class we’ve discussed a number of debated issues, recently GMOs, global warming, and sexual identity. Latour would definitely question all of us in asserting a point because we first need to scrutinize our evidence that we bring forth to defend our position, where the information is coming from, and also (this is important) where we are coming from- our worldview (our reality) will influence how we see the “facts” that we are presented with and how we will repeat them to others. This has everything to do with IDENTITY- another huge, HUGE, concept that we dealt with throughout this entire course.

Once we establish that our “facts” were handpicked by us (our person, lets keep in mind, is controlled by our “identity”) to perfectly present our (correct?) point of view, we can then determine how our “reality” is not really “reality” (as in “right,” “correct,” ‘straightforward”). This is what Latour is saying: that our reality might be created out of “facts” but it’s not created out of facts. It’s a self-made creation and no ones reality is the same.

The idea that “facts” can create any number of realities is easily provable by using the scientific discussions we had in class as an example. Our discourse surrounding GMOs, global warming, and sexual identities was all about rhetoric. One person could one day tell the whole class how GMOs “are actually, like, really bad for you” and then the next week that same person could write a blog post about how GMOs are “kind of ok and are probably really helpful in the long run- especially (maybe only) in terms of body function- cancer saving cells anyone??” (I can prove that because the “one person” was me.) The “facts” involving GMOs and all the other controversies in this class don’t prove shit, and we know it (now). It’s been shown to us time and time again but I don’t believe that this means that all of us can walk around the U denouncing anyone for saying anything concrete because it’s all “nothing, man, like it’s all conceptual, it’s your own reality.” Just because you believe criminals should be punished doesn’t mean you have to believe in the death penalty (THANK YOU MICHAEL CRICHTON/KENNER). We can acknowledge that our world is being manipulated by manipulated information and, in some cases, even wrong information. Facts that aren’t factual, or aren’t telling the whole truth, are determining policies and grant money and etc but once that is acknowledged, you can see right through it. It’s important to realize that you’re not being given the entire argument (almost ever) so you can take it upon yourself to indulge in our Information Age to discover the real story and construct as close to the “whole truth” that you can get at.