There is nothing false about a virtual relationship

We are hopelessly mired in binary logic and it makes mincemeat of discussions of what is false or "faux" or Virtual.

Everything counts. Everything is. Reality is the whole kahuna. Truth has nothing to do with it. Values rule. Does it harm? Does it enhance? Everything that impacts us is real. It doesn't matter if it is a fragment of a dream in a corner of someone's memory or the vision of Matt Lauer on your TV. Reality is all.

Triadic

That is the revolutionary premise of Triadic Philosophy. Academics may spurn it but I keep at it, believing cyber-reality is the true academy today.

Because reality is all, if you are in Duluth and you loved Matt Lauer from the start you are perfectly justified in having your experience treated as real and true as if you had known him as your tangible next door neighbor. The old cliche that life is what you make it is not false.

Lauer

Here is the New York Times take on the Matt Lauer downfall. It contains the characterization I have mentioned. It may not seem like a matter of importance. But I hope to show you that it means, well, everything.

The panel discussion embedded above does not merely use the term "faux." It refers to "the perceived relationship" as though a relationship that is through a tube or screen is less real than one which is tactile and immediate.

The answer, of course, is that everything, including relationships, is a spectrum and that importance is assigned by the subject who happens to be the person who sees the sign.

Ethics

The reason this is important is that binary thinking freezes ethics into impotence. We cannot determine what is good and what is not good on the basis of either or.

Binary automatically sets up an opposition. Triadic thinking accepts everything as it is and sees everything as changeable, flexible, impermanent, and moving. Triadic lives in the now. It acknowledges mystery and can accept everything as a jumble.

This is Trump's power. The only way to deal with Trump and reality, in general, is to see that everything out there is subject to ethical and aesthetic criteria.

Ethics and aesthetics are baked into reality. The triad of my philosophy is Reality, Ethics, and Aesthetics. In other words, we move from a binary to a triadic vision.

Conclusion

Matt Lauer will never be without some good points. But if Duluth now sees him in a lesser light, it is because harm has surfaced. Real harm. There has been intolerance, helpfulness, a violation of what should be a universal right to choice and freedom. These are what tell in all relationships, all doing. There is nothing faux about them.