KILL THE WITCH
One of my favorite movies is Monte Python’s “In Search of The Holy Grail”. A classic in most circles.
One of the most memorable parts of the movie is the “kill the witch” scene. If you don’t remember it (or are one of the culturally challenged people who haven’t seen the movie) I will give you a brief recap.
A mob of people are parading a poor young woman through the streets of a medieval city. They are all yelling “she’s a witch”, and “kill the witch”. It is a mob scene with clear leadership and followers who don’t think for themselves. They have a brief trial and ask questions to determine if she is a witch. One person asks why they think she is a witch and all the people respond… “because She’s a witch”. Finally they decide to go through a logical process to determine for sure if she was a witch. The logic was that witches can fly, ducks can fly, and therefore if she weighs the same as a duck, she must be a witch. They put her on the scales and it goes back and forth for a while until finally the scale shows an equal weight. So, they conclude “she is a witch”. Through the entire scene you see a mob mentality where a couple of highly opinionated and passionate people are pushing to get everyone to believe she is a witch. The crowd wants to see something exciting and is looking for someone to tell them what to believe. When someone with passion speaks, they listen and believe and become committed to what is being said. GROUP THINK!
Again, this scene cracks me up. Unfortunately, this is what happens in the U.S. and around the world daily. We read and hear statements like “Obama is a radical Muslim” or “McCain doesn’t support any benefits for war veterans” in newspapers, internet, and on television. We hear opinions about the economy and start selling off our stock, or quickly throw our house on the market because we are afraid of the price lowering too much. Then we start sending those messages to everyone we know through internet or discussions. None of these messages were ever verified for truth, but we act on them and continue the communication.
I saw a comedian a few weeks ago speak about how he saw a report that a politician didn’t support keeping guns out of the hands of children. He continued through his act making fun of how people took off on the belief that the politician wanted guns in the hands of children. It was hilarious. Just as hilarious (and sad) as most of the news we hear and opinions that are stated in the media.
The media is in the marketing business, not the information business. They do not live to make sure you know facts and valid information. They survive by SELLING you on keeping your attention. They want you to read their material and watch them. This does not require truth, morality, accuracy, or validity. They have to get your attention and keep it. This “marketing” strategy requires sensationalism headlines, bold statements, feel good ideas, villains, and heroes.
If this wasn’t bad enough, now we have amateurs entering the game. Amateurs are not being held to the standards of educated and trained professional journalists. But what sells is not journalism. What sells is sensationalism, drama, heroes, and villains. A quick picture from a cell phone or a radical blog will get on the front page of the internet, myspace, or YouTube, and we will all want to watch it.
Why is this important? I have found in the last 10 years that one of the most powerful characteristics you can have is to know the facts that either support or refute what is being communicated through the media. I’ve had numerous situations where people have sent emails or had discussions that I found to be very ignorant of the truth. With grace (I hope), I have managed to tell them why their thinking is inaccurate. Not that I have a corner on the truth, but usually I have done my homework and know enough about the topic to bring the truth to light.
My challenge to all who desire true business acumen… read more than the headlines and verify everything for truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment