There’s right and left… but where is the middle?
How time flies … it was probably about 10 years ago when I took my son to a Texas Rangers game on a sunny August afternoon. It was easy to get the tickets given that the temperature was supposed to hit 105 degrees. However, when we arrived at the stadium about an hour early, the atmosphere was perfect. The grass on the field was newly mowed (and smelled great), and the Rangers were just coming on to the field to take batting practice.
With beer and popcorn in hand, I couldn’t think of a better way to bond with my son and enjoy a great afternoon. To cap it off, “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago was playing on the loudspeaker. Again, aside from the sweltering heat, I couldn’t have imagined a better place to be.
The feeling that day captured the spirit I’d like to feel now. The day was beautiful, and the possibilities were endless. However, the world still had plenty of issues. The key was to face those issues with a clear head and a positive state of mind.
It may seem a bit strange to use that day as an analogy to today, but here goes…
This morning the sun came up on what was to be a chilly and windy day. Not an ideal day for baseball, but it is the kind of day you expect in Dallas at the end of March. March weather here can be warm, cold or anything in between. The key is to cope with the extremes.
In many ways, this weather mirrors our society. Our political and social divisions have never been so stark. When I started my career as a staffer on Capitol Hill, Democratic Congressmen played Republicans in softball and had great times outside the office. They could be friends. You could like each other without agreeing on everything. There was black and white in DC, but the dominant color was gray.
Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Now, you are either right or you are wrong.
That type of division isn’t only on Capitol Hill. It shows up in the media and everyday life. As the President likes to say, there is “fake news,” and the “media can’t be trusted.” If you were to watch Fox News instead of CNN, your view of current events might be entirely different.
Imagine that in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill were constantly at odds. But at the end of the week, they’d get together and toast some Irish whiskey. Wouldn’t it be great to see those days again?
I choose to believe most of us don’t live at the extremes of society. We live in the middle. We live in the “gray.” We don’t define life or issues in terms of same-sex marriage and the right to life. We value the things that impact us every day… be it prices, taxes or security.
This whole atmosphere of extreme division makes it difficult to determine who is reporting the truth and who is reporting a lie. Mix in social media and the Internet, and things get even more difficult.
Mix in dangerous sloppiness – like the recent leak of war plans shared over an unsecure platform with a journalist on the line – and we have a recipe for disaster.
Back in the day (and, yes, I was alive when there were three TV stations and one or two newspapers in each town), you had journalists who covered certain companies, and they had weekly or nightly deadlines. Today, with the advent of the Internet, social media and 24-hour news stations, there are literally thousands of influencers and bloggers who wax philosophic every day (whether or not they are qualified). There are no deadlines – the news is 24x7x365 – and a story in Nome, Alaska can get as much exposure as a story published in New York.
As a journalist, PR person or marketer, you are working in a much more challenging world. There is a premium on credibility and BELIEVABILITY. There are GOOD people and BAD people, and, importantly, there are many more in between. And that beautiful day at the ballpark can quickly succumb to a storm.
My advice is to know your facts, quell your fears and realize that a free press lies at the foundation of a free society.
Are you ready? Now, batter up!
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