“If It Bleeds, It Leads”
Thursday, March 17th, 2011
As Benjamin Franklin purportedly said, “believe none of what you hear and half of what you see,” and as my father added: “and 10% of what you read.” A bit cynical, perhaps, but, then again, is it? These wise men’s quotes remind me of a Spencer Tracy/Katharine Hepburn movie, where Tracy, as a newspaper editor, says, and I’m loosely paraphrasing here, “Bring me a tear jerker of a story, something to grab our readers.” This exemplification of the media staple, “if it bleeds, it leads,” leads me to a topic I believe shouldn’t go unaddressed. The news of the day leans too much on the old media axiom, “Sensationalism Sells.” What can we really believe?
But enough quotes. Let me give you some of my ideas – quote me if you like! Because so much of the media stories in respect to the economy are an attack on our psyche, we sometime s react as we would to any stab to the heart and go where it is trying to lead us. Down. Closely evaluating what we hear and read for its accuracy (and, more importantly, for the whole story) is crucial. If we are so easily influenced by all that we hear and read, shouldn’t we more thoroughly think it through before we react to it? As with all we see and hear about the economy, another couple quotes come to mind. “Take it with a grain of salt,” and “there are no absolutes.” We need to be positive about our work in respect to this economy. Through all we read and hear, good things can happen and will happen.
Lately we hear a lot about how the economy is turning around, but at a slow pace, and since my tendency in hearing this is to be optimistic, especially since I’ve always reacted cynically to the negativity, I go around spouting the “think positive” mantra. Just uttering the words, “if you think positively, positive results follow,” makes us all feel better, right? But I believe it’s more than just a cliché. Words intended to make us feel good can actually make us feel good, so why not lead with that attitude in all we do? As my mother-in-law would say, “it can’t hurt!”
Sure, many of us have been out there in the business world trying to drum up business, to no avail. We’ve expressed our interest in working with someone in a positive way. We’ve put on a smile and a suit and a snap to our walk. And the result? “We’ve got nothing now, but don’t dismay. When the economy turns around, we’ll be in touch.” Well, the economy is turning around. There’s reason for optimism. We will succeed.
And we will. The next time you hear something negative about the economy, remember it’s never the whole story. And the biggest part of the story is you. How you make it happen. How you turn things around. The steps you take. But then again, what do I know? This sounds an awful lot like something I read.
– Dione Benson
3.17.11
