When perception becomes reality

When perception becomes reality...what does this mean?

We are living in a day of an ever-expanding parody of the facts. A world or civic leader, actor, or preacher says something during the day, in front of cameras and by nightfall, it is spewed out on a faux-news program (no, not Fox news, but including them)with hilarious results. We all enjoy seeing these leaders being made to look like fools, at least occasionally. Some recipients of spoof or parody seem to invite it and that’s what keeps us coming back for more.

Dan Quayle is a good example and yes, so is George W. Bush. Truth be known, anyone in the public eye is fair game and that’s one of the things that makes living in America such a blessing. We have the right to criticize our leaders, and we do. I used to get a good laugh when I would read that Gerald Ford hit yet another golf ball into the gallery and then see it depicted on Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Letterman, Leno, The Daily Show, SNL, Mad TV, and the Colbert Report provide many laughs and I imagine the very people who are the objects of ridicule, laugh the hardest.

Enter the real world. We are living in a day and age where people confuse parody and imitation as the real thing. Their perception of fact is actually lampoon. They think Dana Carvey is George Bush Sr., because the only George Bush Sr. they’ve ever seen is Dana Carvey. George W. Bush is buffooned by almost everyone, as is Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Condy Rice, etc., etc.

I laughed along with everyone, as Dana Carvey portrayed Ross Perot and Phil Hartman, Admiral Stockdale in the SNL skit. Never mind that Admiral James Stockdale is one the highest decorated officers in the history of the U.S. Navy and survived seven years as a POW in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Routinely severely beaten and tortured, he cut up his own face and wrists to keep the North Vietnamese from using his image as a propaganda tool.

On SNL, he was “made the fool” and we all laughed. Most people thought he was a fool too, not even remembering the real man. The truth was, he wasn’t a polished politician and was totally out of his league in a public debate, where his every move was scrutinized ad nauseam. He may have made a great world leader, but we will never know. To most, he was just another character to be made fun of.

There is nothing inherently wrong with parody, but when folks do not recognize it for what it is, then perception becomes reality. The true person becomes a true joke of a person. Leading people is difficult, to put it mildly and ridicule can make any leader ineffective. I would wager that many people in America will not read or watch the news, but set their TIVO or DVR to catch every Comedy Central or late night show depiction of said news. Thus their take on world happenings is actually distorted beyond recognition.

Darrell Hammond effectively becomes Al Gore; Will Farrell is perceived to be the real George W. Bush and the list goes on into infinity. Hollywood actors become the true representation of who a person is, or what they said, so they ultimately speak for this person and influence voting. Many people are basing how they vote on how leaders are parodied on TV. Bizarre, isn’t it?

If they want the truth, they listen to Oprah…or Sean Penn, Steven Baldwin, Bono, Susan Sarandon and Madonna. Surely, these people have their collective finger on the pulse of the nation!

I love a good joke as much as the next person and have been known to pull a few fast ones in my time, but friends, I live by the old adage of “you can’t kid a kidder”. Almost on a daily basis someone is asking, or emailing me, if something is true, or an urban legend. I can almost always spot a fake, because I take the time to know the actual fact. It amazes and disturbs me what people choose to believe without bothering themselves by learning the truth.

We are what we read, hear, smell, watch and eat. If we choose to partake of something artificial, how will we know the difference, if we’ve never known the real thing?