Optics

Optics. It is a word heard constantly today. Especially in the news. Especially during this current debacle about child immigrants being separated from their parents. As photos of caged children are flashed on the screen you have probably heard a commentator, either bemoaningly or gleefully, depending on his political leaning, say, “The optics are bad, really bad. Bad for Republicans.” Truly, in a world where we get our news from a screen—and screens are everywhere, screens of smart phones, tablets, televisions, computers—life has become all about optics. For sometime I have noticed while reading or hearing political commentary that optics are the first, the primary, and the overarching consideration. Whatever the issue, the analysis will be, “The optics are bad,” or “The optics are good.” There is almost no commentary of whether the issue itself is bad or the issue is good, only the optics of the issue. Understandably, optics are a powerful thing. Optics are about perception. People’s perception can completely govern their opinions, emotions, thoughts, judgment. There was a time when people knew perception could be deceiving. They wanted to get beneath the perception and find out the reality of the thing, the truth of the thing. Today, not so much. The issue, the reality, has become secondary to the optics. In our postmodern age, only perception matters. The liberals know, if conservatives are perceived as heartless, it will not matter that conservatives by large percentage are the most compassionate, charitable givers of any political block; thus, the orchestrated optics show conservatives as cruel and heartless, and the public believe it. Admittedly, optics truly do matter: A house, wonderfully laid out and structurally strong, can be on the market. How it is staged can be a deciding factor on how quickly and for how much it is sold. The food can taste the greatest; yet, how it is presented on the plate can determine whether it is desirable. A job applicant can be the most qualified, but how he dresses, sits, expresses his countenance can be the deciding factor on his being hired. But, optics aren’t everything. Optics can be dangerous. The house can be masterfully staged in a manner that camouflages its structural unsoundness. The food can be salmonella laced and yet look beautifully appetizing on the plate. The candidate can be corrupt, a con, a criminal and yet appear to be an ideal prospect for a position. Whatever the optics, what something really is, that is what truly matters. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Pro 14:12). The way that seems right? The optics are good. They’re great! That way has a beautiful, wide, inviting gate. It is such a broad, straight, level road. Look at all the people traveling down it. There are so many. They all appear to be so happy. What are the optics on the option, the other way? What an unpretentious, restrictively skinny gate. Look how narrow, curvy, and often precipitous steep the path is. If it is so great a way, why are there so few on it. That’s the optics of the two ways. The reality is that the first ends in destruction. The second ends in life eternal. Perhaps, one of the most dangerous things one can say is, “It looks good to me.” Optics are not all they appear to be.

Optics

Contact

Follow Us