Distortion -- a misrepresentation of a point of view by intentionally reporting it inaccurately.
 

Distortion is a way of puffing ourselves up in front of others.  Nobody likes looking bad in public, so present our best sides … with decorations.  We distort the truth the most when recalling anecdotes from our past, and we do it to impress others and cast ourselves in the best possible light.  Distortion, however, is a form of dishonesty and lying, especially when facts are twisted on purpose.
 

EXAMPLE 1

A tearful student says: “When Mr. Smith corrected me in class, what he really meant to say to me is ‘I hate you and all of your filthy opinions.’  He hates my guts.”

This speaker uses a common trick — to exaggerate the view, then attack its parts in their exaggerated form.  This typical distortion occurs when we try to read into the situation to find explanation, or when we have some kind of self-interest in promoting the situation to be remembered in a certain way.

If this student were to ask the teacher if he really “hates” her, or if the student were to solicit the opinions of others, she would find that her view is most likely emotionally distorted from the apparent reality.  This emotional reaction usually stems from a misunderstanding of the situation, often when personal pride is at stake.
 

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Once a people feel insulted, they turn to others for support.  Embellishing and stretching the truth a bit aids in gaining other people’s sympathy, especially when nobody else is around to correct these distorted facts.
 

Sometimes, however, we distort the truth in order to look victorious or to silence a rebellion.  Do you remember the following example?
 

EXAMPLE 2

James A. Baker: “Why do we need another President?  We’ve already got one.”

These were James A. Baker’s words during the week following the 2000 election.  Baker, an attorney, strategist, and spokesman for George W. Bush, used this argument to denounce Al Gore’s legal challenges of the Florida election results.  If you recall, Bush narrowly won the majority of votes in Florida (and thus the Presidency), but Gore challenged that thousands of votes were not counted in heavily Democratic areas of the state (a fact later confirmed, in part).

Baker’s comments suggest that the election was over, that a President had been chosen (“We’ve already got one”), and that Al Gore wanted to be “another” President who would join or “replace” the already-elected Bush.  However, these comments distorted the situation in three ways: by assuming that the election’s fairness should not contested, by assuming that Bush was the clear victor, and by assuming that Gore’s legal contests were a waste of resources (even though Gore had a legal right to challenge the results).