Reality Bias

The arrogant epistemological stance that one's own perception or model of the world is an unmediated, objective grasp of "reality," and that anyone who disagrees is either stupid, insane, or evil. It denies the interpretive, constructed, and theory-laden nature of all human understanding. In arguments, it manifests as the definitive declaration, "That's just the way it is," shutting down dialogue about differing experiences or interpretations.

Example: A wealthy CEO states, "If you're poor, it's because you didn't work hard. That's reality." This Reality Bias frames a specific, ideologically loaded belief about meritocracy as an incontrovertible law of nature, dismissing systemic barriers, luck, and inequality as irrelevant fantasies.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026

Reality Picking

The act of constructing a persuasive but deeply partial version of "reality" by selectively focusing on a subset of facts, experiences, and data points that support a desired narrative, while ignoring a larger, more complex, and often contradictory whole. It is the curation of a believable simulacrum of the world to win an argument, sell a product, or justify a policy.

Reality Picking Example: A news channel builds a nightly broadcast showing only stories of violent crime and urban decay, creating a picked reality of a nation in chaotic, existential collapse. This narrative, built from real but non-representative events, drives ratings and political agendas, while the statistically safer, more mundane reality for most viewers goes unreported.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 4, 2026

reality content

User-generated "reality TV" that presents a situation as unscripted and authentic, usually where the videographer just "happens" to be recording and captures some spontaneous event.

"Wasn't that video I sent you crazy!?"
"It would be if it wasn't reality content. There's no way she got the camera out in time to film that."

by rwspeight February 5, 2026

Reality Perspectivism

The application of perspectivism to reality itself—the view that reality is not a single, fixed, perspective-independent thing but a multiplicity, seen differently from different perspectives. Reality Perspectivism doesn't deny that there is a real world; it denies that there is one privileged description of that world. Reality is like a landscape seen from many angles—each view is real, each reveals something, none is the whole. Reality Perspectivism is the philosophy of ontological pluralism, of the recognition that reality is richer than any single account can capture. It's the view that the world is not a puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be explored from every angle.

Example: "He used to think there was one reality, one true description. Reality Perspectivism showed him otherwise: reality was like a mountain—seen differently from every side, each view real, none exhaustive. His description was true from where he stood; so were others. He stopped looking for the one true map and started exploring the territory."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Reality Contextualism

The application of contextualism to reality itself—the view that what counts as real varies with context, that reality is not a single fixed thing but a multiplicity that reveals different aspects in different contexts. Reality Contextualism doesn't deny that there is a real world; it denies that there is one privileged description of that world that holds in all contexts. What's real in a physics lab may not be real in a courtroom; what's real in a dream may not be real in waking life; what's real for one culture may not be real for another. Reality is context-sensitive, and the task is not to find the one true context but to navigate between them.

Example: "He used to think reality was reality—same everywhere, always. Reality Contextualism showed him otherwise: what was real in a game wasn't real outside it; what was real in a relationship wasn't real in a contract; what was real in one culture wasn't real in another. Reality wasn't one thing; it was many, each real in its context. He stopped looking for the one true reality and started learning to navigate different ones."

by Abzugal February 21, 2026

Reality Sophism

The use of "reality" as a rhetorical weapon—invoking reality to dismiss alternative perspectives, experiences, or frameworks. Reality Sophism treats one's own interpretation of reality as Reality Itself: "face reality" means "agree with me." The sophist doesn't engage other views; they declare them unreal. It's sophistry with ontology: using reality to police what can be said, thought, or believed.

"Your experience doesn't match reality. Reality Sophism: using 'reality' to dismiss experience. The speaker didn't engage what she felt; they just declared it unreal. Reality became a weapon, not a shared world. The sophistry is in the certainty: my reality is real; yours is not."

by Dumu The Void March 8, 2026

Reality Orthodoxy

The established, institutionalized set of beliefs about reality that dominate Western thought—the often-unexamined assumptions that reality is objective, that it exists independently of observers, that it's accessible through science and reason, that some descriptions are simply accurate while others are delusions, and that the scientific account of reality is the only legitimate one. Reality orthodoxy includes specific commitments: that the world is made of matter, that causes precede effects, that objects exist independently, that perception can be mistaken, that science reveals reality as it is. Like all orthodoxies, it provides a framework for understanding the world, but it functions as ideology when it becomes dogmatic—making a particular conception of reality seem like the only conception, obscuring how reality is always mediated by experience and culture, and delegitimizing alternative understandings (indigenous realities, phenomenological realities, constructed realities). Reality orthodoxy determines what counts as "real," what descriptions are "accurate," and who counts as "in touch with reality" versus "delusional."

Example: "He dismissed her experience as 'not real' because it didn't match scientific descriptions—not because he'd considered different kinds of reality, but because reality orthodoxy had made his conception of reality seem like Reality itself. The orthodoxy's power is making one kind of real feel like the only kind."

by Dumu The Void March 17, 2026