There is a common tendency to embellish and exaggerate. It starts with language at the most rudimentary levels of expression, which is the anteroom to all further understanding. Consider the overuse of "very" and the superlative, and also adding unnecessary words in order to make a statement emphatic. One example, the word literally comes to mind. In these moments of casual speech the subconscious emerges. Here we see a lack of confidence the plain statement will carry enough power to get the message across. No one will pay attention unless the words show something extraordinary. Everyone is after all already there in that heightened state of extremes. To enter into the same level of cacophony we must join the fray bare chested with a bloody blade bare, and apparently naked, simple words are inadequate, even if all we wanted was a Pepsi.Setting aside for the moment the psychological source, a feeling, however slight, of inadequacy to have one's needs met and to be taken seriously, I want to point out how hyperbole in speech has parallels in feeling and conception. Ideas, and things, and people get embellished, splattered and slathered thickly with the same verbal brush. Not only in conversation, we see this also in advertising. A mundane product gets a ticker tape parade and fanfare beyond excellence. The spokespersons can barely contain their excitement over this floor cleaner. Any product or service presented with a manic voice becomes compelling. Maybe it will save my life and make me an exaggerated dynamo of persuasion. Who knew hair removal could be this exciting, or hair replacement? Order now and get hair removed and replaced with free shipping.
Does anyone believe in free shipping, by the way? Really? There's another symptom of the same mindset: the challenge of "really" confirming the lack of acceptance of anything stated at a normal volume. That deserves more attention.
A small step from advertising, a giant leap to self-promotion, we find a large territory of our social lives affected by this, from personal relationships and friendships, to jobs and career, through reporting and news and beyond to biography, and history. Science may be a last bastion against it. Exaggerations and distortions in these arenas have a huge impact on our personal, private and public lives. Our understanding of others and ourselves, of the world, our very identity, starts in these small ways. We are encouraged to create these distortions starting with our self-talk and self-representation. Later there are incentives for pressing the hyperbole to astronomical proportions.
I have never cared for it. Every day in every way we merely become more and more ludicrous. By practicing self-affirmation rather than candid assessment as a starting point for action, we disable our effectiveness in favor of the perception of it, the illusion of actual competence. There is a limit to how far belief leads to success, despite what self-help and motivational gurus sell using the same method of overstatement.
Let's back up. It should go without saying that I'm okay and you're okay. The first symptom of a problem is the assumption of a right to accept or reject as if it were a death sentence or an express to Heaven or Hell, eternal damnation or salvation in an uttered word. Every instance is not so dire or permanent. It is neither the end nor the beginning, but in medias res, the permanent middle and so by that alone ought to mitigate this tendency to exaggerate and never scale back, one extreme or another, total dominance, utter submission, right hand of God or banished to contrition. No wonder people are so angry and uncertain of themselves; they die the death of a thousand cuts each day based on their speech, clothes, and car, choice of food, where they went for summer camp in eighth grade, and who sat with them at lunch when they matriculated at a state college rather than Harvard, or failed to capitalize on that Ivy League baton of Caesar, skinny little wimp commanding the legions on the steppes as the hordes approach. Picture it, the wind blowing through the luscious locks...hair replacement and free shipping.
It's actually the assumption of power that allows this dynamic to establish itself. I have something you want, perhaps as basic as attention. So I have the power and can, because I feel inadequate as my morning pep talk fades, look at others as wanting. I got to the party first and settled in, and so the later arrivals get the eye. Isn't that a pathetic mindset? I am uniquely fortunate having undergone ritual exoneration. No animals were harmed in the process. Common snobbery over language and protocol are my favorites. I have had to work hard to get over petty distinctions and breaches of my own imaginary ceremoniousness to say nothing of my fabulous je ne sais quoi. I have been on the other side, you see, when a barbarian corrected me incorrectly. Having a fertile intellect and active powers of reflection, I realized it was and had always been about control and power in the situation, not based on anything else.There are other reasons why our consciousness works this way but for our purpose here, we must look on those as rationalizations. Are Elizabethan plays, not the least Shakespeare, any less interesting because of the spelling? A truth in any other form is just as true if unheralded by an entourage of verbal criers. Exaggeration and power work together to move us away from the practical, from what is accurate for some purpose. Exaggeration itself has a rhetorical purpose of course; it is a tool of rhetoric, of persuasion. The reason for its prevalence has to do with underlying psychological and personality deficiencies of our times. All the ways exaggeration has crept into our consciousness connect in what developmental levels have gained influence culturally. Immaturity and inadequacy have trumped confidence and demonstrated competence. Exaggeration is part of making myths and also lying -- first to ourselves and then about everything until we distort the universe, at least in our minds. At worst it informs our decisions and causes overreaction, or a total lack of response. Global climate change is a good example. The best discussions are at the edges of the debate, while everyone else just froths as if limbs were being hacked and strewn about a battlefield.
Gorillas are popularly considered violent. Chimpanzees are cute. Factually chimps are more dangerous particularly as they mature. Exaggeration is something like that in humans. More to come, more to consider.
