In a way they are. If you take in consideration the string theory principle, matter as we know it right now, under these physical constituents, is nothing more that a version of a form.

Also two people from different cultures can see an object and assign a completely different interpretation to it. A king might see a table as a place for festivites. A woman that has been raped by her father on it as a place of pain and suffering.

Humans do not function based on truth but based on narratives, stories. Little does it matter if someone ...is. The story behind it is what counts. it is always about perspective