through the lens of

I expected this phrase with the meaning ‘through the perspective or viewpoint of’ to be a well-established expression but it seems that is not the case. The Oxford English Dictionary does not have it. I could track instances in Google back to the 2000 after which it became sporadic.

There was a book by Chomsky, for example, in 2005 — Viewing September 11 through the Lens of History.   Post 2010 frequency picks up but it seems there has been a surge of enthusiasm for the phrase in recent times.

And with enthusiasm there seems to come a certain amount of mismanagement.  Through the lens of history, of time, of experience, of critical analysis theory is fine. These are all concepts or bodies of knowledge or experiences that can shape our viewpoint.  But though the lens of food?

What can this mean?  I doubt that my Vegemite on toast in the morning would be able to construct a different point of view for me on Australian politics. Exploring architecture through the lens of Antarctica is borderline as well.  It seems to a pretentious way of saying ‘Developing architecture that works in the climate of Antartica’.  And experiencing a company through the lens of its customers is almost too literal.  Through the lens of user experience would be okay. Organising disaster preparation through the lens of an earlier volcanic eruption sounds downright dangerous. In all these expressions whatever is providing the lens needs to provide a broader viewpoint than just one event can possibly do.

If only we had stuck to time and history and theory to direct our thinking. A little less lensing would probably be beneficial.