Metaphor Passing as Proof, Analogies as SubstantiationPosted on 07/05/2010
There are more specific adjectives than good and bad, right and wrong, black and white. Adjectives exist that describe a large selection of concrete and abstract concepts. Many levels of meaning exist between pairs of polar adjectives. We use adjectives to describe reality as we perceive it. Perception of reality differs for each person, though reality is neutral and concrete, irrespective of perception, though responsive to direct physical interaction. Statements and slogans that contain adjectival absolutes rarely reflect reality, and generalizations are seldom universally true. Metaphor, symbolism, and analogies aren’t reality, but creative representations of reality. Media consumers must recognize those things that are real only as fictional creations.
Television commercials are the worst. A new Chevrolet
commercial's tagline is “Because everybody deserves excellence.” In fact, no one
deserves excellence. People deserve truth in advertising and receiving what
they’re promised in a sales transaction. People deserve only what they pay for.
In a recent Hyundai TV commercial, the announcer says
that the economy hasn’t turned around for any of us if it hasn’t turned around
for all of us. This is a lie about our connections as a collective, which
ignores our individuality. The same is true for another slogan in the Hyundai
marketing campaign: “We’re all in this together.” What is “this,” and to what
extent are we in it together, and is the implication that my actions will impact
the decisions of others in “this” with me?
A BMW commercial says, “What you make people feel is
just as important as what you make,” and of course this is pure, unadulterated
bull. Feelings are ephemeral and unproductive, cars are semi-permanent with
quantifiable benefits. There are zilch comparison points between the importance
of a car manufacturer’s belief that making its drivers feel good about driving a
fast, sleek car and the car manufacturer’s attributed value of the product that
keeps their corporation in business.
Liberty Mutual Insurance ad uses the “pay kindness
forward” concept, in which someone sees someone else doing a good deed and then
feels compelled to also do a good deed, but the tagline is “when it’s people
being responsible for the safety and welfare of strangers.” The myth of
collectivism and misplaced responsibility does not equate with performing a
courtesy from a basic desire not to see others in distress if preventing
distress requires a very small sacrifice on our part. We are not, however,
responsible in either a personal or legal sense, for the safety and welfare of
strangers.
Confusing Metaphor and Symbolism with RealityPosted on 01/17/2010
People want to believe in superstition, myth, propaganda, the slogans pitched in commercials, metaphors and symbolic representations of reality, rather than the reality represented. The metaphor and symbol, in themselves separate creations in reality, are removed from the subjects that their intent is to describe, and people confuse the metaphor’s reconstitution of reality with the metaphor’s primary subject.
We use metaphors and adjectives to describe reality as we perceive it. Perception of reality differs for each person, though reality is neutral and concrete, irrespective of perception, though responsive to direct physical interaction. Statements and slogans that contain adjectival absolutes rarely reflect reality, and generalizations are seldom universally true. Metaphor, symbolism, and analogies aren’t reality, but creative representations of reality. Some things are real only as fictional creations.
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