On "just saying" and "putting it out there"

On air…
Dan: Have you noticed how phrases like "Just saying" and "putting it out there" seem to be everywhere these days?
Barbara: Yes, it's like people use them to say whatever they want without taking responsibility. Making our society more chaotic, maybe?
Dan: Definitely. Social media amplifying these phrases, making it easier for politicians and conspiracy theorists to spread lies and fake news just to get attention.
Barbara: Remember Vance? He admitted to telling lies to make a better story.
Dan: Exactly. It's scary how effective that strategy can be. The more they repeat these lies, the more people start to believe them, creating divisions in society.
Barbara: And social media just makes it worse. The echo chamber ups the volume. A constant state of outrage. Everyone trying to outdo each other with more shocking stories.
Dan: Unchecked for facts, yes. And the algorithms on social media platforms prioritize these kinds of posts because they generate more engagement.
Barbara: Which means more ad revenue for the platforms, but more misinformation for us. It's a vicious cycle.
Dan: It's not just politicians and conspiracy theorists. Even regular people use these phrases to avoid accountability for their words.
Barbara: Saying something controversial without fully committing to it. "Just saying" gives them an out if they get called out.
Dan: And "putting it out there" could give the impression someone is sharing an idea, even if it's totally fake. You never know what's true anymore because there’s such a cacophony of competing stories.

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Voice-over
Some news outlets are making efforts to restore balance and credibility in journalism. ABC, today for example, reasserted its commitment to impartial reporting and fact-checking. It's tough to do, especially in today's media landscape, but crucial for maintaining public trust. Can the ship be saved from capsizing?

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot

Bonfire Night…
George: What’s Guy Fawkes all about?
Bruce: He was part of a group that tried to blow up the English Houses of Parliament in 1605. They wanted to overthrow the government.
George: Was Grandpa named after Guy Fawkes?
Bruce: No. But my brothers and I used to chant this rhyme: “Guy, Guy, Guy, stick him up high, hang him on a lamp post til he die…”
George: Really? How did Grandpa Guy feel about that?
Bruce: He didn’t like it. He’d say “That’s not nice.”  We just thought it was funny.
George: Funny? Sounds a bit disrespectful to me.
Bruce: Yeah, it was. We didn’t realize how much it bothered him. But we were kids. And kids sometimes don’t think too much.
George: So, was Grandpa Guy sympathetic to Guy Fawkes’ cause?
Bruce: I don’t think so. Even though he was a bit anti-government, he didn’t condone violence. He just didn’t appreciate us making fun of his name.
George: Well, having your name chanted in a rhyme about hanging isn’t fun. Did you ever stop chanting it and apologize?
Bruce: Eventually, yes. We realized it upset him. But we never got around to apologizing. Just one of those things that slid by.
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Voice-over
Respecting people’s feelings is important. Shame that Bruce and his brothers couldn’t have apologized. Now more obedient souls see Bonfire Night as celebrating the triumph of plots being foiled and order over chaos.

Guido jumped from the scaffold

Shinzo Abe

Shinzo Abe: Statesman

An unexpected assassination…

Federico: Sorry to hear about it.

Makoto: Thank you. 

Federico: Many world leaders are sending condolences.

Makoto: Yes. He was significant. Pushed Japan in new directions, his “three arrows” metaphor for economic reform. Being firm with China and Russia. Diplomacy with the U.S. even when it was difficult.

Federico: Unsettling in a country where gun violence is almost unheard of. So much so that the murder weapon was a crude home-made device.

Makoto: It was shocking watching the events unfold and being replayed on TV.

Federico: A lapse in security?

Makoto: Such events can happen where they are unexpected. The 1986 murder in another favorite and generally peaceful country, Sweden, of their PM Olof Palme was a similar shockwave. We are "processing" this event as they say.

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Voice-over

Shinzo Abe. One who achieved greatness. No ordinary politician. A statesman. Un homme d'état. A skilled, experienced and respected leader. 

Leaders that don’t listen and social media

The mayor’s last stand…

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Neilsen: The Council was split.

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Gallup: Did he have the numbers?

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Neilsen: He was in a corner. Most council members against him. Dredging up the darkest crisis management strategies, he used fake news press releases, commissioned fake surveys to support his position and hired business reps to speak at council, to say that the his plan would bring more jobs and lower taxes.

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Gallup: Did it work?

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Neilsen: It was close. But the opposition marshaled its speakers, arguing that the surveys were flawed, that the mayor’s plan was not moral nor legal. They spoke persuasively. But in the end the mayor was defeated, 7 to 5, claiming that he’d been defeated by a vocal minority on social media.

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Toppled by social media

Gallup: Did he know that Estrada in the Philippines, Ben Ali in Tunisia, Gaddafi in Libya and Mubarak in Egypt were all overthrown by outrage expressed first on social media?

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Neilsen: He’d said he never listens to social media. But when leaders stop listening, that is the beginning of their undoing.

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Voice-over

When a mayor does something morally questionable, or ignores historical agreements, citizens should speak up. Research, write letters to the newspaper, text on FaceBook or Twitter, write articles, email, start a group, put up a website, hold meetings, attend council meetings, heckle.

Although the mayor mainly used traditional print media for his propaganda, digital media won the day. He had used Facebook, but when he started receiving criticism, he took himself off it.

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Economist on Trump, Chomsky on Trump: Trump as Hitler

Morning meeting with the editor…

Economist Dec 8, 2015

Journalist: Possibly the most commonly asked question these days is why Trump is getting so much support.

Editor: The Economist published a graph correlating his support rising each time he made an outrageous statement. Media theory that sensation outsells good news?

Journalist: If he became president he would be an international embarrassment.

Editor: But more of a worry is the reason why people are getting behind him.

Journalist: People believe he’s rich so he would fix the economy? Ha. He says things that other politicians are too afraid to say in public? Many of the American public secretly believe the outrageous things he says?

Editor: All of the above. Triumph of emotion over reason.

_________

Voice-over

Many meticulous predictions of how a Trump presidency would play out are disturbing. Snippets from Noam Chomsky:

"Trump is appealing primarily to less educated white sectors of the population, lower middle class and working class, people who are angry, frustrated, frightened, bitter that they have been cast by the wayside… Hitler’s hostility drove forward a historic process in which resentment against a disenchanted world found deliverance in the ecstatic escape of unreason."

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President for Sixteen Days

After retiring and becoming irrelevant…

Don: I want to make a biopic about a relative.

Sancho: A quest for alternative relevancy then? Is this a famous relative?

Presidente durante 16 dias

Don: He was briefly famous. 66^th Presidente de Bolivia.

Sancho: How long for?

Don: Sixteen days. He led a coup, but the workers went on strike and he had to give it up.

Sancho: President for Sixteen Days. Sounds a good story, even if it ended in tears.

Don: Everyman's dream. Once in a lifetime experience.

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Voice-over

Bolivia has seen many short-term presidencies in its history of 80 leaders since Simon Bolivar in 1825. Alberto's tenure was perhaps one of the shortest.

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