When the message gets confused

From the sidelines

Marshal Mcluhan, the  Canadian philosopher, educator, communication theorist,  coined the phrases “The Medium is the Message” and “Global Village.”

He sometimes baffled his own colleagues when explaining his own message, but became the darling of the advertising industry and was the subject of media discussions during editorial meetings,  coffee breaks or  martini hours from the 60’s until his death in 1980.

He understood the meaning of reaching an audience, and also the problems associated with slips of the lip, confused reasoning or lack of real knowledge of the subject, beyond what  is provided by aides and spin artists.

TV, the modern day hustings, reaches more people in less time, but a gaff or a slip of the lip can sometimes have a reverse effect with viewers and override the original message. Remember Dan Quale?

It’s not only politicians who get mixed up with their words. What follows is a partial transcript from a planned TV interview with a performer, sent in by a reader in Australia.

 “But you know we I ran through it twice, and you know the second time she's like this is what you need to do, do it this time, and make them believe this and and was just really easy, like she's just really spot on with all the information and she'd watched our performances and stuff before we even got there so she knew like all about us and had been like I watched you progress and it's just really good to see all these, and it's like I can't believe you actually you know studied it like it's so it's really awesome have someone you know like that watch all your performances and and and be able to judge you and give you advice on your yourself and not just all round advice. Like it's really, it was really fun.”

Presumably, somewhere in front of a TV set, were viewers who got the message. Maybe they even vote in elections.{jathumbnail off|