Stories are told for many reasons: to entertain, to persuade,
and or to make a point. As am audience,
I think you must understand why you are hearing a story in order to dwindle
down its message to determine its truth.
Lies and exaggeration, combination and omission: all of these are tools
used by some extent by a storyteller.
Are they okay to use? While I
think the obvious answer would be “no”, I think that using these tools has
become commonplace for those who tell stories, whether they like it or
not.
A
story about a crazy subway encounter on the way to work recanted among colleagues
could very easily exaggerate a tale for the sake of humor or interest. “I rushed to make the train this morning”
doesn’t quite give the same effect as “I almost missed the train by a fraction
of a second this morning!” Same for similes: “The man smelled horrible,” swapped
for “The man smelled like a rotting corpse!”
These literary “tools” are used to create connections amongst audiences and
to express emotion and visions, but I think so many times they are abused and
replaced by versions of themselves that stray too far from the truth to be
taken at “truth value”. Whether this
changes the main plot of the storyline or just adds to unnecessary components of
the story, surely this varies on the storyteller and why the story is being
told.
A
compare in contrast commercial about my product vs. my competitors certainly
might use exaggeration or other misconceptions to lead the customer into
thinking my product is superior. Job applications
who are “proficient” in skills they have only dabbled in, or a stories told by
teenagers to explain their missing homework may lead to straight up lies. As an audience it is important to determine
the truth of these stories. I am not
saying everyone is a liar and to trust no one, but rather I think knowing the
intention of the storyteller may give a good clue into whether or not they have
hidden agendas that default to exaggeration and deceit to get to them.
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