Everything is a Story

“Literally everything you think is a story.” Pahla B said this in one of her exercise videos. I had to stop and write it down. I often stop in the middle of things to write down thoughts or ideas, but I digress.

Sensationalism has been on my mind a lot lately. And since I’m a writer, I am interested in how words affect people.

I remember learning about the craft (notice I didn’t say art) of sensationalism when I was in high school. For some reason, the idea of being manipulated by someone to believe something you might not otherwise believe was so powerful that the lesson has remained with me these many years.

When my girls were in high school, I mentioned the word. They didn’t seem familiar with it. Sadly, I believe this lack of awareness is one of the reasons our political world is …tumultuous. If one isn’t taught the elements of the craft of sensationalizing, how can one recognize it?

So, as I’m considering all these things in the statement, “Literally everything you think is a story,” hit me. How is that story being shaped, whether by others or yourself? Facts are only a small part, and most manipulate them to fit a story. We can even manipulate our own facts about our own life to suit a feeling we think we should feel. How are your thoughts being manipulated?

The point of this narrative is not to influence you in one direction or another but to encourage you to take meager facts and see how they are being manipulated around you or inside you. I’d wager your heart and mind can rest easier if you are not manipulated.

I personally despise being manipulated, I don’t want to give anyone that power over me. I don’t read only one viewpoint, I read several, looking for signs of manipulation. I see those signs on both sides, but in reading them, I look for the truths I can glean away from the manipulation. From that, I develop my opinions. I tend to ignore or flip past any story that is pure emotional claptrap.

Have you heard about the social psychology Asch Experiment? In 1951, Solomon Asch asked participants to judge the length of lines on a graph. In each set, eight people were in a room to observe the line. All but one of the eight had been coached to react a certain way and say which line was correct, even though it obviously was not. The study watched the one from the group that was unaware. Most of the time, that person would say what everyone else said, even though their eyes told them the truth was different.

What a sad commentary on humans. I’m sure that there are many reasons a person would defy what their eyes tell them: fear, insecurity, conformity…

We are often told to be angry with someone or about something. Human nature reacts to that notion with sentiment. But do you immediately get angry? Or do you try to search for truth? Being an empathic person, it’s easy to let our emotions guide us, but should we?

Unfortunately, once a notion has been suggested, it is always in our brains. Which is proof that words are powerful, so perhaps we should be judicious with how we use them and how we hear them. I think that’s why journalists use horrific sensationalized headlines. I think they hope people will get riled up and not bother to read the truth in the article. Or read the article with the bias of the anger the headline caused.

Do people conform for the sake of comfort? I have many faults but I like feeling brave enough to be different, maybe that comes from stubbornness, but even so. My rebellious spirit would have made me say, “Well, my eyes may be messed up, but I think this line is longer.” I say this because I’ve experienced things like this in my life not because I’m braver. Perhaps it’s because I don’t like to be bullied, I don’t like to be manipulated.