When Illusion Trumps Reality! What Happens Next?

Published on Friday, October 10, 2003 by the San Francisco Chronicle
Image Vs. Reality: Daddy Will Take Care of You
by Ilene A. Serlin

From a mythic perspective, the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor shows an
obvious desperate search for a hero. In Schwarzenegger, we have a charismatic figure with a
connection to the Kennedy family, a self-made man, a machismo winner.

He is also empty, which makes it easier for us to project our illusions on him. His astonishing
lack of experience and substance only make him a better poster boy, a pretty face seducing us
with the message of the "winner."

What is most frightening here is the extent of the blurring between reality and illusion. The polls
in California were swollen with first-time voters, many of whom were young Republicans who
grew up on MTV and action flicks. In their postmodern reality, the winning strategy is often
based on illusion.

As in the Iraq War, it was illusions of perceived threat that fueled America's lean-and-mean
fighting machine. That is, the existence of that lean- and-mean machine was the end in and of
itself; the bloody realities were airbrushed out of the picture.

And so it may be in California. Just as the predictable lack of reality in America's
underestimation of Iraqi resistance and lack of world support proved to have disastrous
consequences to an ancient civilization and in terms of American lives lost, so too we may see
unpretty realities in California when illusion collides with reality.

What is the best medicine for this problem? Psychologists talk about withdrawing projections
and rebuilding one's own inner strength. This helps us to become aware of the siren pull of
spin, and perceive the real person behind the mask. It means a healthy skepticism -- would you
allow your child to climb into a speeding car with a complete stranger with a pretty face? -- and
trusting our own perceptions of reality.

Finally, it means acting in the face of the inevitable disillusionment -- taking back our power,
finding our voices and expressing them in mature and disciplined political involvement.

Ilene A. Serlin is a psychologist with the Union Street Health Associates, Inc., and a fellow with
the American Psychological Association