The best of all time. The worst of all time. A billion. Zero.
We’ve come to expect hyperbole in marketing, politics, and The News. That’s a sales pitch. It’s both a simplification of the problem and the answer. We like simplificiation so it grabs us. It’s easily recognizable if you’re on your game, but you’re not always.
You also probably have at least one friend or an Uncle who uses hyperbole for everything. Every story is a fish story. Again, easily recognizable and not very impactful.
However, the more we normalize hyperbole in everyday speech across our entire communities, the more we desensitize ourselves to truth, complexity, and nuance. It erodes trust, both in others and ourselves. When everything is framed as “the best” or “the worst,” how do we discern what actually matters?
Hyperbole is a lazy shortcut. It skips the hard work and presents a brittle shortcut. And when it is inevitible exposed, it leaves behind a trail of skepticism and cynicism.
Truth, on the other hand, is resilient. It doesn’t need to scream to be heard. It invites curiosity, reflection, and debate. It’s complex and sometimes uncomfortable.
So, what’s the real problem with hyperbole?
Everything becomes black or white, love or hate, all or nothing. We stop listening and start worrying about which side of the fence we need to stand on. We stop questioning and start worrying about what others think of us.
And we stop growing.
