Bad Metaphors: The 30,000-Foot View
The phrase is meant to convey authority, but it is also a plea for trust. Believe me, I can see more than you — so do as I say. While these sights may amaze the neophyte air traveler, the window-seat view soon becomes routine — and yet it still manages to conserve its power in metaphor. While everyone is invited to see things from 30,000 feet, not everyone is invited to stay there or make decisions from such an elevated position. The expression enfolds a double maneuver: It shares a seemingly data-rich, totalizing perspective in an apparent spirit of transparency only to justify the restriction of power, the protection of a reified point of authority. It’s not about flight at all: It is a vertical metaphor to negate horizontalism.