Mr. Berney, my high school physics teacher, droned on about E= MC2 one hot spring afternoon. Most of his students were mentally on a trip to the Jersey shore from the previous weekend or dreaming of the next trip. Alan next to me was dead asleep and Richie was working full-time on his geometry homework due next period. I was just staring out the window at the pizzeria across the street, the image of a hot steaming slice with extra cheese and sausage caused my stomach to grumble. I am surprised it didn’t wake Alan.
Mr. Berney had perfected a method of putting his students to sleep or otherwise kept mentally preoccupied as a way of holding the noise down for one more day before he retired. Mr. B was using his personal Reality Distortion Field for his own devious purposes.
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| Mr. B is on far left. I am in this picture. Homeroom 1961 in physics classroom. Picture from Weequahic HS year book, Jan. 1962. |
BS. Nothing like that ever happened to me. But I am sure that teachers all over are working a secret, patentable and marketable Reality Distortion Field device to use in their classrooms.
But wait a minute. What is the Reality Distortion Field? An associate of mine was taking about a person we knew in common and used Reality Distortion Field as a descriptive phrase. He went on to say that in the recent biography of Steve Jobs the phrase Reality Distortion Field (RDF) was used by Bud Tribble to describe Jobs’ behavior and management style and attributes this phrase to Star Trek.
In the Star Trek 2-part episode Menagerie (Nov. 1986), Gene Rodenberry tells a convoluted story that used RDF as a plot gimmick and as production technique. The characters used the RDF to manipulate Captain Kirk and Doctor Spock into believing that a twisted reality was true.
RDF is a phenomenon in which the impossible is stated to be possible through force of personality and persuasive force. Impossible is made out as easy, people are motivated to perform difficult tasks and they end up believing the RDF user’s logic or at least working towards elusive goals despite reservations. World leaders use it all the time, likewise politicians, business tycoons and other charlatans cajole and convince their followers black is white, hot is cold, and any number opposite and mutually exclusive terms that are proposed with authority. The users of RDF generally justify their actions by stating, believing and acting that the end justifies the means.
I visualize RDFers at a traffic stop, ““Sorry officer I wasn’t speeding, you were standing still.”
The higher power position the user of RDF occupies on the political or business ladder the more difficult it becomes to defy the power of the RDF. Once used it become difficult to counter at a later time. The force of the RDF can be resisted very easily if the user is confronted with the falsehoods of facts or logic early.
I wish I could get my RDF working right now and have that slice of pizza from my 1961 daydream. Things were better in the good old days is a phrase average RDF users employee since we don’t have the power over thousands of employees or followers.
You might want to consider reading this blog from the Musings of the Big Red Car to read about the Theory of Global Bullshit.
Or if you’re lazy just visit this website and recite its mantra.
In any event you need to develop your own RDF counter offensive technique because global BS is getting deeper and smellier everyday.
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