Perception: “A way of understanding or interpreting something.” Reality: “The world as it actually exists.” “There are two sides to every story.” This may be true, but the perceived reality of each side of the story is believed to be the truth to the people telling it.
“Perception is more important than reality. If someone perceives something to be true, it is more important than if it is in fact true.” Ivanka Trump, The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life—2009.
From Haley Marketing Group, a US marketing and branding company: “Eighty-eight percent of people read online reviews to determine the quality of a business. This means that nearly 9 out of every 10 people are letting the opinions of other people form a perception of your company without ever experiencing your service themselves.” In this instance, other people’s perceptions become your reality.
What we often call “fake news” is frequently factual. So, we twist the definition to include that which is “misleading” or giving the wrong impression. I buy a shirt online. Is it misleading if the shirt does not look the same on a 25-year-old muscular model as it does on an old, fat, bald guy like me?
Read this recent news story: “In a statement, the agency [Bureau of the Treasury] reported an outstanding national debt of P11.61 trillion for the month. The latest figure is also a 26.7 percent climb from the P9.16-trillion tally in July 2020.” All of that is factual. All of that also creates a perception.
Would the perception change if the following factual sentence had been included in the article? “The latest figures also show that government spending was 30 percent higher in July 2021 from a year ago.”
Ivanka Trump also writes, “This doesn’t mean you should be duplicitous or deceitful, but don’t go out of your way to correct a false assumption if it plays to your advantage.” Now the question can be asked, was there some sort of bias or agenda to the fact that not a single news source in the Philippines mentioned the equally higher amount of government spending?
Probably not since the copy was almost identical, probably taken verbatim from the information supplied by the Bureau of the Treasury. Nonetheless, perception was created.
Politics is normally only about perception. An interesting development is happening in Germany. Angela Merkel is stepping down and her handpicked successor of the ruling Christian Democrats, Armin Laschet, looks like he will bring the CDC its worst election result in history.
Mr. Laschet is not fully “Merkel 2.0.” But his approval rating tanked in July when he was caught on camera laughing behind the scenes while visiting areas devastated by floods. They have never recovered. “It was stupid and shouldn’t have happened and I regret it.”
This headline, and others like it,—“PNoy no-show at arrival honors for 42 slain SAF men”—created a perception that no amount of explanation could erase. Was that fair? To the same extent it is “fair” to the glass to say “Half full or Half empty”? Perceptions are not meant to be fair.
As with “genuine fake news,” we as individuals have an obligation to learn the facts. The problem is, most people are either too lazy to do the homework or want to hear “perceptions” that fit their own narrative.
Beyond that, collectively we often want someone to blame for the problems. From A Few Good Men. “Col. Jessup: You want answers? Lt. Kaffee: I want the truth! Jessup: You can’t handle the truth!” And we want our perceptions—which then become our reality—to be “black and white” with little room for any greys.
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