Fun House Mirrors

I am sure many of us have been to a local carnival or amusement park at some point in our lives. At most, if not all of them, there is the famous fun house. We go inside and, among other things, soon find ourselves standing in front of its many mirrors which distort the shape of our bodies or some portion of our bodies in some wacky and amusing way. These mirrors are designed to elicit smiles and - bottom line - help the fun house live up its name. They are meant to fascinate and amuse but not to be taken seriously. No one that I know, at least, ever has. Unfortunately, fun houses are not the only places where mirrors that distort reality can be and are found.

One part of being a responsible communicator is having the ability to recognize the reality-based mirrors from the ones that distort. Granted, this is not always easy to do because some of these fun house mirrors are a lot more subtle than the ones in the fun house. Sometimes these bogus mirrors come in the form of the written word while other times in the spoken word. They present themselves through figures of authority like a boss or public official, a familiar face like a celebrity or media commentator, or even a friendly face like a family member. They tap into our emotions, insecurities or areas of interest. They are hard to resist and, at times, harder to recognize for what they really are.

The best way to deal with these kind of mirrors is to have firm footing in what is real. That is easy to do in a fun house because we know, for example, our heads are not really shaped like bowling pins. It is our sense of reality and firm grasp of awareness as to how our body really is shaped that enables us to laugh off the obvious distortion. If we are to carry ourselves as effective communicators, then it is important that we do our best to achieve and maintain a similar level of knowledge in an array of topics and issues so we are able to recognize bogus mirrors outside the fun house and then deal with them accordingly. While we should not ignore what is being transmitted to us by these mirrors or other entities that pose as sources of reality, we should also balance this against what we feel we know to be true via our own research and base of knowledge. At the same time, we need to recognize our personal base of knowledge must constantly be expanded in order to better contend with the bogus mirrors that are so pervasive in today's world. This helps us be better and more discerning listeners when images and information are communicated to us.