The Mirror Masks the Flame

Lately, I've been thinking of issues of representation and reality, particularly in written works, and more specifically, in reportage. I've always had an interest in the power that a writer wields over his/her readers, especially if one were to assume that most readers hardly take a critical look at what they're ingesting, opting to accept everything they see for what it is at, without thinking much of where it came from. I'm referencing a whole host of theories of communication here, principally the third-person effect. The individual assumes and believes that everyone else is influenced more by a message than he/she is. Think of an advertisement on the side of a bus for some sort of soft drink or fast food restaurant. This advertisement, in addition to being seen by you for several fleeting seconds several times a day, is also seen by thousands of others, for approximately the same duration. Now, if someone were to ask you how much you were influenced by that message –  if, for instance, you were more likely to buy that advertised brand of soda than if you hadn't seen the advertisement, you would be likely to respond negatively. And, if asked if other people would be more likely than you to have been influenced by that message, you would respond positively. In actuality, you are as likely to be influenced by those media messages than any other person. Yes, when you see an advertisement for some new flavor of soda, you are just a bit more likely to place that soda in your cart the next time you're in the grocery. That's the third-person effect, and the basic principle of advertising, in an extremely brief nutshell.

But what I'm interested is in variants of the third-person effect – mechanisms that affect perceptions of reality. What are some of these mechanisms? I'm thinking of characters like Jayson Blair, or J.T. Leroy/Laura Albert: people who deliberately erect a facade of deceit for reasons of career advancement, self-promotion, sheer laziness, or even for reasons lying within the realm of the sociopathical. The effect that these agents of influence, in concert with systems that facilitate their deceit, wield on the public is cause for alarm.

I can't think of any solutions, other than a heightened sense of diligence. Examine your sources; be skeptical and even cynical. Listen to that gut feeling that contains within it that small glimmer of doubt. I'm more trusting of people than I should be and this all advice that I should take to heed myself. Our perceptions of ourselves are so removed from reality that a certain amount of trepidition ought to be called for and even demanded. As I think about this some more, removed from the distraction of a thesis yet unfinished, I'll continue to expand, elaborate, and likely change, my thoughts on the matter.