Posts Tagged ‘authenticity’
Te Radar’s Eating the Dog — well done
Last night I was packed into a school hall with a bunch of my neighbours — not because we’d been evacuated from earthquake-damaged homes like the afflicted of Canterbury, although they were on our minds — as part of the audience of a very clever, well-written and well-delivered ‘romp through the pages of our history’. […]
The worst stuff isn’t even in there?
Wow, I thought the ‘It came from Wasilia’ profile on Sarah Palin by Todd Purdue was eye-opening. She also came off pretty badly in that book I hoovered up over a wet weekend Race of a Lifetime … but read this piece from the current Vanity Fair – ‘Sarah Palin: the Sound and the Fury’. […]
A little backlash?
The thoughts I’ve recently shared in these pages about the operations of certain very smooth salesmen have sparked a reaction of sorts. Oh dear. As might be expected, there are indications of some outrage and hurt feelings in the spruiker’s camp … and questions being asked, notably: Ouch! What the hell? What can we do […]
How is this clearer in any way?
Spotted on a bike ride with my son yesterday … Gee, what was wrong with ‘Howick Police Station‘? Is this newspeak really better? “Run, Jimmy! Run to the Community Policing Centre!” Er, nope. (…and what, I wonder, do they call a Fire Station these days?) Any other examples? + Update: A thought occurs — maybe […]
Right/wrong vs Can/should
Oh boy. John Stewart (in fine form) revs up on the plan to locate an Islamic community centre (Mosque) two blocks from the site of the World Trade Centre. I like his take, as usual … and his roasting of the Fox News phoneys on their lack of consistency. And then there’s a squirmy/bad taste […]
Plagiarism as a business model
What’s coming up for discussion with the new media/old media/social media/internet marketing debate is: how important is ‘original material’? It’s an issue not just for the Rupert Murdochs of the world: original, quality content for news media — actually any media — is expensive to produce on anything like an ongoing and quality basis. It […]
Why speak up?
Recent events have seen me revisiting a theme (or meme?) of this blog — and central to my own thinking: WHY SHOULD one speak up about perceived wrongdoing? Let me start by saying this: Life is complicated. Sometimes people and things can appear to be one thing on the surface but as you look closer, […]
How liars deal with a challenge
Rachel Maddow telling the truth to Bill O’Reilly … gee she’s good at this stuff! Spot the pattern: Rather than contribute to a debate about ‘the facts’ Maddow asserted about him and Fox News, (e.g. ‘This is why what she’s saying is wrong…’) Bill O’Reilly merely whacked Maddow’s sincerity (‘you have to be kidding’) and […]
Good writing
This is a very good article/profile by Miranda Sawyer from The Observer (via NZ Herald) of this complex artist M.I.A. Worth reading. I personally like this kind of semi-gonzo journalism: While Maya is talking, I think: she’s nothing like I expected. She’s gentler, more smiley, more discursive. Still, it would be easy to pull out […]
The rush to certainty …
A WHOLE lot of wisdom in one bite-sized blog post from Dave Pell, internet superhero: That’s an apt description of the new national pastime: Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and making determinations and judgments without a full set of facts. When confronted with the realtime web’s constant flow of incoming information, who has time for […]
Off to a good start?
Oh boy. This guy is off to almost as good a start as Brian J Hogan the iPhone prototype finder-keeper/thief/seller … Brian Corman, Columbia Valedictorian, PLAGIARIZED Patton Oswalt In Graduation Speech … leaving the university, home of the famed Columbia School of Journalism, embarrassed… It has come to our attention that a portion of our […]
Can the crooked ever be made straight?
Authenticity Some salesmen will use every devious trick in the book to get you to sign the dotted line and make their cold hearts dance ka-ching! They’ll imitate and fake their way through life, ignoring or brushing over the truth, sucking the life and light out of their victims with hyped up promises and weasel […]
True or false doesn’t seem to matter to liars
This is a really good essay about dishonest argument — which is one of my bugbears, as we have discussed before. It’s about US politics, but many of the points apply to the business of selling as well. Salon’s Gene Lyons examines the tactics deceivers use — repeatedly telling bare-faced lies or claiming the exact opposite […]
The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
My son and I attended the Anzac Day parade and memorial service on the hill in our village today. Moving. There are big questions about our culture’s mix of the military and the ecclesiastical, but they can wait for another day. This song, first sung to me by my friend Ben in NYC, was in […]
Of trumpets
In response to Perry’s comment: “Anyone who finds it necessary to self-proclaim their religious virtue should be treated with great caution” Yes Perry, I agree – your litmus test is useful. But context is everything. A “mask” of self proclaimed virtue in business (or, more accurately, SALES, like the spruikers we discuss here occasionally) can […]
