As a young, promising but inexperienced business writer with a newly-minted English degree, it made a big impression on me when my then-boss picked up on a generalization I made without fact-checking, and introduced me to the phrase "measure twice and cut once." His point: we check, and double-check, and make sure that anything we say or publish is as accurate as possible. I've loved working in that environment all my life. I respect the fact that my colleagues share my commitment to dig down and look at all angles of an issue to make sure we are painting a legitimate picture of what we are communicating; that we are meticulous with details; that we are not misrepresenting information or situations.
I don't know what to make of the current climate. The game seems to have changed, so that persuasion by any means is applied to get to a "win." (Quotation marks intentional.) But I'm old-school on this one, and if you are, too, you're someone I want to know. After all, a house built on faulty angles cannot stand. That's why we measure, and measure again.
© 2018 A Bit of Brie/Anitabrie
When I was a child, one of the biggest charges folks leveled against the Russian Communists was that their "The Ends Justify The Means" philosophy was totally amoral. For us, moral behavior was held in higher esteem than reaching a goal at any price. Now we admire the Russian dictator because he is "strong" (ie he achieves his goals at any price, including having his opponents murdered). Winning is now considered more important than moral behavior, which is viewed as "weak". It's no way to bring the country together.
ReplyDeleteI don't admire the Russian dictator! But I know what you mean. That's exactly what I'm getting at here. It's not trendy to be honest and accurate.
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