Fri, 03 Jun 2005
It must be hard to maintain accuracy of consistancy of informationwhen you're a public figure
The Daily Show is really good at catching our friends in the white house on their lack of cross references. Just today they had a segment where they showed Secretary Rumsfeld hating on Amnesty International for comparing Guantanamo Bay to the Russian Gulags after WWII. They compared it to a clip of the same Secretary Rumsfeld using the findings of Amnesty International to elicit support, using their credibility for his argument. Then the segment was ended with this wonderful quote from the President himself, said during
a speech at a school in New York:
If you've retired, you don't have anything to worry about -- third time I've said that. (Laughter.) I'll probably say it three more times. See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda. (Applause.)
It must be extremely difficult for public figures with this much visibility to maintain the consistancy of their information. Hell, I have enough information to deal with at the day job. Imagine if I was attempting to lead a country of millions. But the difference with these public figures is it's
their job to stay consistant at public appearences. When they fail at it, it's their credibility on the line. Of course they have this covered, as made clear by the President's speech about repeating their propaganda until it's popularly understood to be true.
At moments of weakness like this, I get sad. But I can keep thinking about the incredible power of information and the glut of it in American culture. If the largest beaucracy in the country can't keep track of theirs, I take that as a challenge. If they can't do it with their own tools, perhaps they should employ some better technology and talent to make sure their dialog with the American people and the world backs itself up. That's a challenge that could be interesting.
posted at: 00:00 | path:
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