The notion of "perception is reality" is really a fallacy of human interaction.
First off, someone's perception is not reality. Reality is reality; a perception is a persons opinion. Just because someone thinks something doesn't automatically make that a scientific fact or "reality".
So no, perception is not reality, not even close. That is a cliche term that is overused and non-sense.
Example:
I am a stay at home dad, most people I see out in the community during the work day 9-5 perceive me to be off work for a random reason that day (they walk over tell me this: "So your off work and decided to give your wife a day off from the kids...how sweet!"
)and have the kids to give mom a break from watching the kids.
That isn't true. They also think I am a big teddy bear that wouldn't hurt a soul because I am gentle and tender with my 2 little girls age 3 and 1 year old...they don't know that I would not hesitate to use lethal force if a situation arose where my life/my kids life were in immediate danger where I could not de-escalate the situation or safely get outta there. They have no clue that I practice daily and shoot bi-weekly for just a situation...much less perceive that I'm carrying a semi-automatic handgun on my belt (locked and loaded) with extra mags, a surefire light, among other tools to aid in my/my kids personal well being in an emergency.
I'd sleep like a baby with a clean conscious afterward too. I'd be more worried about the trauma my kids would go through if something like that happened.
Try to kidnap my kids, rob me, etc...it ain't gonna go like the bad guy thinks its gonna go.
