The belief that only the most brutal, cynical, or pessimistic assessment of any situation constitutes "realism," and that any hope, optimism, or idealism is naive delusion. Hyperrealism mistakes despair for depth, cruelty for clarity. It's the fallacy of those who pride themselves on "seeing things as they really are" while seeing only the worst. The hyperrealist dismisses every possibility of improvement as fantasy, every attempt at change as doomed, every vision of a better world as childish. Their "realism" is actually a self-fulfilling prophecy: believe nothing can change, and you'll ensure it doesn't. Hyperrealism is the favorite fallacy of the cynical, the burned-out, the ones who have given up and want company.
Example: "He called himself a realist. She called it the Fallacy of Hyperrealism. Every proposal for change met with 'that'll never work.' Every hope was 'naive.' Every possibility was 'impossible.' His realism wasn't insight; it was surrender—dressed up as wisdom, but really just giving up. The world wouldn't change because people like him had decided it couldn't."
by Abzugal February 21, 2026
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