Fact vs Fiction

 

It Ain’t Necessarily So

They tell all your children
The devil he's a villain
It ain't necessarily so

Does saying that someone is the Prince of Lies mean that they are a villain?

I have proposed that human behavior can be defined by three characteristics. However those characteristics are not binary, either/or. They are a continuum or spectrum. For example take Fact vs. Fiction.

1.     There are those who can not willingly suspend their disbelief. They prefer non-fiction to fiction books; documentaries (or at least stories based on true events) to fiction.

2.     There are those who believe in facts but can willingly suspend their disbelief, if that fiction is consistent. Continuity errors make them unwilling to suspend their disbelief.

3.     There are those who believe in facts but are willing to suspend their disbelief on many matters or try to explain away those continuity errors. ( for those who know what  MMMS stands for, they are the ones who win No-Prizes).

4.     There are those who believe in facts but are willing to suspend their disbelief and accept any and all continuity errors. All stories are imaginary stories. But the more serious the continuity error, the less willing that they are to spend their disbelief ( e.g. they get taken out of the story).

5.     There are those who are willing to adopt your beliefs, even it they believe those are fiction, if it is to their advantage. They can distinguish facts from fiction but will embrace fiction if there is something in it for them [Also known as con(fidence) men, because they pretend to adopt your beliefs to gain your confidence].

6.     There are those who would rather adopt something they know to be false, or to avoid the truth, if the truth is inconvenient.

7.     There are those who can not distinguish fact from fiction. They think only what they experience is real. E.g. the Earth is Flat;  Evolution is not real;  WWE wresting is real; Soap Operas are real stories; etc.

Any and all of these positions are real. and they are just a subset of all possible positions.  Those positions can fall on a spectrum of Fact vs Fiction, but none of them can be characterized as all Fact or all Fiction.