Really Real Realistic Realists

Just so you know, this is NOT about Newt Gingrich; it's about realists... kind of. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After taking a realistic assessment last night (or a couple nights ago, depending on when you’re reading this), Newt Gingrich dropped out of the Republican primary.  The joke might be that if Newt had “realistically” assessed the situation a year ago, he (or his campaign) might not be four million dollars in debt. 

That’s the problem with realistic assessments.  People don’t look at their problems realistically until the problem becomes a crisis, and by then it’s often too late.  Besides, everyone’s version of reality is different, so a lot of times the realistic assessment doesn’t matter. 

*****

I used to hate arguing with self-proclaimed “realists” (back in my younger days when I had the energy/stupidity to argue about politics with people I barely knew).  I should have known that I wouldn’t be able to reason with anybody who thought they owned “reality.”  What was I, if I wasn’t a realist too?  A fantasist?  A perceptionist? 

I thought I had a brilliant comeback to a self-proclaimed realist once.  When I was probably losing winning the argument, I declared, “The only thing real about your opinion is that it’s real stupid!” 

Then the realist explained the difference between “real” and “really” to me. 

I felt real stupid… ahem… really stupid.  I hate losing political arguments over grammar points. 

On the bright side, I lost my political arguments without going $4,000,000 into debt.  As far as realistic assessments go, that’s not real/really bad.

Related articles

• Gingrich to ‘Look Realistically’ at Future (abcnews.go.com)