When Fantasy Bumps Up Against Reality

I am watching The Indian Doctor, a show set in a small village in Wales circa 1960. In one episode, there is an outbreak of Smallpox. and the following occurs: a father becomes irate because he cannot see his son, who is in isolation; an immigrant receives the blame for the outbreak; people are told to self-quarantine, wear masks, wash their hands, and socially distance; businesses and pubs are shuttered; there is no vaccine immediately available and, when it does arrive, it must be given out on a priority basis; a religious person refuses to be vaccinated. I thought, “The writers really ran the table on COVID-19 reactions”.

Then I remembered, this was a show, written in 2012 about reactions in a mining town in Wales in 1960, not America 2020. If only America 2020 had the strong leadership shown in this small coal town

These two scenes, 1960 Wales (fantasy) vs 2020 America (reality) called to mind this quote by George Orwell: “We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield,”

And, here we are- millions of Americans twisting facts about the recent election, denying the reality and living in the fantasy. I imagine that eventually Orwell will be proven right and the majority of those in denial will return to the reality of the necessity of living in community together. I pray that the return to reality avoids the battlefield.