Malagasy Values: Degree of Realism (Two)

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are." (From
Greek, American TV show).

Malagasy people see things as they want them to be not as they really
are. Several daily Malagasy expressions reveal that way of thinking.
The political situation in Madagascar and how people behave toward it
are good examples to illustrate the degree of realism among the
Malagasy society.

In general, Malagasy people see things as they prefer to instead of
seeing them as they really are. So, when we want to do something we
only look at the good side of things and not the bad side. In that
moment we are optimistic which could be considered as extremely blind.
However, when we do not want to do something, for any reason, we can
find barriers to do not do it—in that circumstance we reject every
possibility of accomplishing it. In this state we immerse ourselves
in a deep state of pessimism.

It is quite difficult to find an expression about realism because the
word itself doesn't exist in the Malagasy language. Nonetheless we
can use some sentences from what people think about decisions taken.
For example, "Raha ataony io tys mety fa atoany fo," which is
literally translated as: What he is doing is wrong but he is still
doing it. We also say, "Raha io tsy possible" which could be
translated in English to me, "It cannot be possible." This is what is
said when we do not want to do something—ironically we usually find
out that what we thought was impossible ends up being done by someone
else with success.

If we want a palpable example, we just have to glance at Malagasy
politics. Before an election, the candidates promise impossible
things such as one car per family. Weirdly, this is accepted by
people even though it has never ever been realized by the government.
The same thing applies for the fact that we usually say that we could
run the government without the international community's help—that we
are self sufficient. This is just propaganda when the government is
not recognized. Generally, we believe what we like to hear even if it
is just a utopian idea.

In a nutshell, Malagasy people have a very low degree of realism
because people believe what they want to but not what they should.
The fact of being blindly persuaded into things is not at the fault of
the Malagasy people—rather it is on the shoulders of the people
propagating inaccurate or untrue information. To be clear about the
non-realism of our society in Madagascar, we only need to look at
politics to reflect it.

Is the lack of realism the main gap in our development?