Sunday, December 15, 2013

The cost of denial

The best literary examples of denial and believing that everything is perfect revolve around Denethor in The Return of the King. The first is that he wouldn't accept that Mordor was now a threat and was trying to govern the country of ten years previously, and the second was that his son Faramir had become a brave adult, which ultimately led to Denethor's death when he couldn't handle the truth due to such a huge gap between the world he wanted and the world he was in. Such behaviour caused him to commit suicide, and is a good reminder that people need to recognize reality and not live in the world of wants, but live in the present and dream for the future. Such behaviour destroys relationships (Denethor-Faramir) and people.
 
This form of denial also exists with politicians with the right wing in Europe and the United States refusing to admit that laissez-faire economics is ineffective at creating growth, and climate change deniers.

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