Deep question time, what is 'the real world'?

[Deja Q]

A lot of hippies spoke of revolution and change. That never happened and, if you ask me, a lot of them seemed to become the creatures they hated.

Why?

Why is it 'the real world'? Why do we define IT as 'the real world'?

Is life not what we make of it?

Or did they understand something I have yet to discover, assuming I don't die first?

[punpirate]

1. It's funny how so many lefties became neo-cons...

... when they found they couldn't seize power quickly enough through their idea of revolution. There's an element in this country that is power-mad, and the same bunch has been in every Repug administration since Nixon's.

The "real world" is what is made of it, you're right. Those people in my generation who wanted change overnight thought they had the will to make it happen instantly. When they failed, they retreated. Some into money. Some into drugs. Some, however, transmogrified themselves into something else--professional seekers of power. Some of those people now have that power.

My generation produced a hell of a lot of decent, sensible people. Many are on this board today. It also produced people like Cheney and Bush and Wolfowitz and Perle and Rice.

The real world doesn't always march forward, with progress an inevitable outcome of human thought and labor. Sometimes, there are Dark Ages, when greed and stupidity conquer decency and enlightenment. The real world is all that there is out there that we understand imperfectly. What we think is the real world depends upon the conclusions we've made about what we know, and what we don't know.

Cheers.