I had breakfast with a friend today. Both of us advocate for social
change and the discussion turned to why our message doesn't register
with other citizens. My friend suggested the problem was with the
messenger or the message. I suggested at least part of the problem was
the recipient. Each of us put forward a variety of excellent arguments
supporting our views, but came to no real conclusions.

In response to my claim that recipients believe the messages they want
to hear, I was asked why recipients would want to believe messages of
fear. Examples would be: health care is failing; our children aren't
learning; gay marriage threatens heterosexual marriage; and government
spending is bad. The problem I had and have responding is not all the
messages people chose to hear are messages of fear. Not having a good
answer I procrastinated -- mulled over my response.

Proving that procrastination is an effective strategy, I came across
this quote from J.K. Galbraith's "Affluent Society":

"To a very large extent, of course, we associate truth with convenience
- with what most closely accords with self-interest and individual
well-being or promises best to avoid awkward effort or unwelcome
dislocation of life."

The entire section on "The Conventional Wisdom" can be found at
http://www.uefap.co.uk/reading/exercise/ess1/galbraith.htm

Clearly, my friend and I aren't the only people who have addressed this
issue. :)

- posted by Larry @ 11:42 a.m.