Bullets and Meat Grinders

I often try to think of ways I can make the world a more hospitable place both for myself and my neighbors, in local space and in cyber-space. Today I am musing about how to deal with an old dilemma regarding the treatment of messengers. A favorite response to a good idea is: “F*** you, and the horse you came in on.” (expletive masked, but if you are in the habit of sharing ideas, you will have heard and will recognize this one.) 

“IMHO, Crichton was one of the most underrated ideators of our time. I say ideator instead of storyteller because sadly, he didn’t want to write fiction or tell stories. He wanted to write non-fiction but found that most people consciously or unconsciously hated you if you told them good ideas or truths.” --Chad Grills from: Stories, science, and art to help navigate the dark forests of life

“But wait!” I say. “That doesn’t make any sense! Why would someone hate you for telling them the truth?” And the simplest answer is that they don’t. Well, so long as your message doesn’t require any action, or consideration of an alternative point of view, or require a lot of thinking. And of course it must not be unbidden. If you are a messenger, and let’s assume for argument’s sake that your message is important, (The environment, people’s health, or your own livelihood depend on it), then if you won’t consider your own fate, please be cognizant of the fate of your poor horse:

I don’t have a message today about the environment, or your physical or financial or mental health. Today I am not invested in your changing anything you don’t want to, be it whether or not you recycle, whether or not you cycle, whether or not you contribute to the betterment of humanity, or even how well you communicate. I am just musing, and in my musings, I have come up with two words, neither of which I am going to say anything whatsoever about, seeing as there are volumes of free information about both

Forgive me for the Muppet-like commentary, but this message has been brought to you today by the words: “rapport” and “synchrony”.

Until next time! --Ray Rider

#Communication #Persuasion #Sales