Don’t you love “Before” and “After” pictures? Most “Before” and “After” pictures focus on the thrill of improvement. Your home before our design team got their hands on it: It looks like a nice suburban rancher. Your home after our design team worked on it! It looks like the Biltmore mansion! You, before you bought the Muscle Miracle Machine and you, after you bought the Muscle Miracle Machine. All the women swoon! You can almost hear the excitement in the television announcer’s voice, can’t you? The “Before” picture is always acceptable and average; the “After” picture promises extraordinary transformation.

But not all “Before” and “After” pictures are pretty ones. News stories show us the “Before” and “After” pictures of communities destroyed by fires or tornadoes. Drug ads shock us wit…