Don't Kill The Messengers

Mitch Joel’s talk today highlighted three conversations. The internal monologue, the one-on-one and what could be described as group think.

Here are some thoughts on how political actors are oblivious to these conversations.

Their internal monologue is mired in tradition and precedent. Easily getting caught drinking their own kool-aid, they stray from their ideals, forgetting how to lead.

This translates into poor one-on-one interaction. Too often burdened with ideology and polarized debate, what they say becomes convoluted by focus groups and communication firms.

To sum up this whole class in political terms, would be to agree with Joel’s generational theory.

Deeply afraid of any new media, they view it as a loss of control on “the message”. They forget that the group think already holds apathy and indignation, or promise of contribution and militancy.

“What would they say about us?”, is the rallying cry for those still peering from within the cave, thinking that a peasants’ opinion might actually be mistaken for that of the King.

As politics becomes polarized, political actors need to have a better conversation. They say it’s hard to reach out to the 40% who don’t vote and $10 donations to political parties are tight.

If they were true to themselves, have honest interactions with citizens and understand that the crowd can be your worst enemy or best friend, only then will there be hope and change.