True realists believe in hope

Why has realism become, in so many ways, synonymous with the dark of the world?

Men and women look at evil and suffering around them — very real things in this world, mind you — and proclaim them as absolute truth; dystopia as the sole climax of human development, mundanity a better reflection of reality than wonder. Realists, they call themselves, often with a turned-up nose, intent on putting all us naïve dreamers to shame. Because, to them, hope and wonder are imaginary fancies, mundanity and pessimism, the truths of reality and the domains of realists.

But true realists believe in hope.

The essential definition of realism, divorced from its current societal associations, possesses a simple meaning. A realist is someone who accepts the world as it is — the good, the bad and everything in between — and deals with it as such. So, where did realism get mixed up with pessimism?

The simple answer is worldview. The way the world is is a hotly-debated topic — thought of, argued over, written about and determined over and over, since the dawn of time. Every religion, every government, every science curriculum, every culture and every academic institution are always teaching a certain view of the world. In essence, reality looks different, depending on who you are and what you believe.

The issue, however, is that the default realist view has mostly been washed out into simple pessimism due to the effects of a postmodern Western world. Postmodernism, at its heart, is a rebellion against modernism. Modernism, dawning with the industrial revolution, put emphasis on reason, logic, originality and the idea of an absolute truth of reality.

Modernism was optimistic and hopeful. Modernists didn’t necessarily have all the answers, but they knew the answers were there, and they were always searching, always creating, always looking toward the objective truths of the universe.

We, however, live in a mostly postmodern world, or at least, that was the consensus as of a few decades ago.

Postmodernism is, in most ways, synonymous with relativity. A postmodernist is skeptical of absolute truth and power structures — such as governments, religions and people who claim to have answers — and large unified theories about how the world works. Postmodernism instead focuses on personal truths and subjective experiences.

Many in today’s thought landscape, whether consciously or unconsciously, reject modernism and the idea of absolute truths and purpose, and they are suspicious of those in power. In a Pew Research Center survey, performed in 2024, “only 22% of U.S. adults said they trust the federal government to do the right thing just about always or most of the time.” Another 2024 Pew survey found that only “57% of Americans say that science itself has had a mostly positive effect on society.”

This postmodern world, without the hope of purpose or the certainty of objective truth, lends itself well to pessimism.

Both of these views are called realism.

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A realist in the modern era would most likely have a more optimistic bent. Currently, of course, with the postmodern reigning supreme, realism is equated with pessimism. However, neither of these are true realism.

True realism is the lack of assumption. Only someone living deep in the throes of despair never sees goodness or light in the world. Contrastingly, only someone who exists in a state of denial does not witness suffering. The essence of realism is in accepting both these realities — that there is good and there is evil — and never assuming the best or the worst, for the future could equally hold both in good measure.

There is a final angle in which to view realism, and that is functional realism. In order to change things, people have to believe that things can be changed.

College students need to be able to imagine and dream of a better future, to build and work toward. They need to believe they can accomplish big things, make something of themselves and bring light and positive change to their careers and job fields.

A man studying to go into social work must hope and believe that he can help entire communities deal with physical and mental struggles, and that there can be a better future where not so many people go hungry.

A woman studying creative writing must believe that her work will inspire, that it can change people, that it is important. Otherwise, she will never write anything.

A realist sees the world as it is. A functional realist, however, should not stop there. A realist should dream, wonder, believe and hope for a reality different from their current one.

Only then can a better reality unfold — once realists are no longer afraid to dream.

knudsocj@miamioh.edu

Christopher Knudson, called CJ by some, is a junior double-majoring in media and communication and English: Creative writing. He is a student leader with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and enjoys reading, drawing maps and going on backpacking trips. He is in a perpetual state of writing seven novels, but not quite finishing them.