Abstract versus Reality

So many times I make a comment such as, "well that is what we have to deal with living in Christianity" or "that is religion" or "that is what we have living in Capitalism" and someone will contradict me by saying that some aspect that they do not like is not really part of Christianity or Capitalism or whatever the topic is that we are discussing. I have realized that most people have been sold on the concept of Platonic ideals. Platonic ideals are concepts that there is an abstract idea that represents the concept or thing and the item in reality that we are dealing with is not as real as the abstract concept.

So when I discuss a result of living in a Capitalist system, the "believers" will say that it is not really a part of capitalism because it does not fit with their abstract ideal of capitalism as a concept regardless of the fact that it exists in reality.

So I would conclude that this is some form of cognitive dissonance that we have been trained to perform on a consistent basis in order to accept the way things are. Which brings me to something that I have heard and been using in my speech, "Reality Based Worldview". If we look at things "on the ground", so to speak, then we tend to arrive at wildly differing conclusions. For example, in the abstract, Capitalism is the most efficient way to exchange goods, services and labor and allows individuals to specialize and get the highest marginal value for their work (yeah, I was the president of my college chapter of our economics honor society). In the abstract, Christianity is a religion of peace and love and turning the other cheek and giving to rome what is rome's and turning over the moneychangers tables, etc. In reality Capitalism is a hierarchical system that taxes individuals in order to provide a subsidy to corporations and enforce the accumulation of wealth with elites. On the ground, Christianity, or Christian societies, have been the most destructive force on the earth comparable to the impact of a meteor that wipes out a large portion of life on the planet.