Why This Blog Is Called 'Bending Light'

In the past few weeks, many readers have asked why this blog is called "Bending Light." Looking back at the readership data, I realized that only a handful of people saw the very first post. So, to answer the question (and to buy some time for holiday shopping), here's a reprint from October 24...

What light shows us (or what the absence of light hides from us) is not the present; it is the past.

When you see the sun, you are seeing it as it was eight minutes ago.  Moonlight isn’t really moonlight; it’s actually sunlight reflecting the moon as it was two seconds ago. When you marvel at the night sky, your mind is processing an image that no longer exists at the source. What you see is a scatter of light that began travelling toward your eyes anywhere from thousands to millions of years ago.

Distance is not the only distorting influence; the stuff through which light passes also alters what you see.  This is called refraction, and it magnifies objects under water; creates rainbows; makes it appear as if stars twinkle. The sky is blue because of the way gas molecules in our atmosphere interact with light from the sun.

Optics (the study of light) is an excellent analogy for communications. It follows many of the same principles. Successful strategic communications – communications that moves people toward a specific goal – relies on three core ingredients:

Proximity -- How relevant it is.

Medium -- The way it is delivered.

Context -- The way it will be received.

Think of a prism. On the left is the content. This is the light source -- the information, facts or point of view you wish to make relevant and compelling. Near the middle is the medium – the channel, the words, the pictures and/or the video through which the content must pass. On the right is the audience – the target who will absorb the spectrum of content based on their own subjective context.

The goal of strategic communications is to create a vision that compels an audience to act. The action may be laughter, protest, trust, purchase, etc.  

Studying, informing and moving opinion is what I have done my whole adult life as a journalist and as a public and private sector professional.

That’s why this blog is called “Bending Light.” Together, we’ll put on our eyeglasses and analyze modern efforts to shape reality through effective communication.