Is your station worthy?

Applying Audience Research to Your Fund Drive

I used to do it all the time. 

I was always looking for ways to connect my on-air appeals to my listeners. Since there was a listener focus to the research, I shared it with the talent at the station and the development staff in the hope they would do the same. Did they always share that information on the air. No, not always.

I still listen to fund drives locally. Some of the talent  makes the effort to connect, but some do not. I still hear a lot of "we need," "our budget." "our reporters." The focus is on the station, not the audience. Ask yourself, how is what you're doing benefiting your audience? Then try to answer that in your communications with your audience.

Coming up with pitches that focus on listener need can be difficult, but with some work, not impossible. It just takes some work ahead of the drive.

I was reading David Giovannoni's artcle in Current from March of this year, "For their listeners, NPR News stations are the last thing worth listening to on the radio." Right there, the title pops out and screams relevancy for the listener. The gist of the article is, Public Media Listeners are back and they are more loyal than ever. More nugget come from David's commentary at the end of the article. 

The headline isn’t that listeners to NPR News stations are back. It’s that listeners are finding the programming on NPR News stations more important in their lives than ever, and by extension, more worthy of support.

They're listening less in the car and at work, but now they have returned to at home listening.

Listeners use of competitors has dropped 30% from the same period a year ago.

If loyalty to terrestrial broadcast sources can thrive in this most competitive environment, would it not be equally sturdy on other platforms? Wouldn’t the last thing worth listening to on the radio be the first thing worth finding on any new platform?

The intensifying loyalty of listeners — their desertion of competing stations and ever-increasing dependence on, even devotion to NPR News stations — cannot be denied.

Your loyal listeners, the ones that listen to you more than any other station, are the listeners that are most likely to give. Understanding what makes them loyal should inform what you say during your fund raisers. 

Feeling motivated? Give it a try. 

• Hit your key points consistently. 
• Make your point and move on. 
• Don't ramble.
• No hand wringing

Facts Matter: Three Myths About Pearl Harbor

Misinformation and Distortion

A Time Magazine article by Olivia Waxman punches holes in three myths about Pearl Harbor.

#1 The war did not start World War Two. Japan invaded China in the early 1930s, and Germany invaded Poland in 1939, drawing much of Europe into the conflict.

#2 The attack started a huge volunteer movement in the US to fight Japan. In fact, most combatants were drafted.

#3 The attack woke a sleeping giant. The fact is the giant was already awake with a draft in place, Lend-Lease and sanctions against Japan.

Deja-Vu?

"The U.S. was certainly not “sleeping” at the time of Pearl Harbor. The Roosevelt administration had been playing hardball with the Japanese for years, trying to get Japan to lay off its war of conquest in China. The U.S. had embargoed all sorts of strategic goods and raw materials to Japan: weapons, aviation fuel, scrap iron. And in the the summer of 1941, Washington had actually placed a freeze on all Japanese assets in the U.S. and made it impossible for Japan to purchase oil."

"The country was deep into the process of converting the economy from consumer goods to wartime production. So the giant wasn’t really “sleeping”, even if the fleet at Pearl Harbor was surprised by the initial blow."

"As to that Yamamoto quote? Well, it’s been impossible to find the actual source. Most of us first heard it in the blockbuster film Tora! Tora! Tora! in 1970, so it’s more Hollywood than history. The producer said the screenwriter found [the quote] in a letter, but no one has really been able to produce the letter or confirm who the recipient was."

Getting It Right Matters

Over time, as stories are told and retold, they change. That may be because of our inability to remember narratives exactly as they were told to us. This is innocent enough. It could also be intentional like the reframing of the narrative of the Civil War by Southern historians to The Lost Cause. The Lost Cause offers justification to the cruelties of slavery and Jim Crow laws that denied human dignity. They even used the Christian Bible to reinforce their claims. Check out The Curse of Ham. The same thing is happening now around the false narrative of the January 6th insurrection. Trump and his enablers would have us believe their attempt to violently overthrow a lawful election is their patriotic duty.

Now What?

The sanctions against Japan sound familiar. Kind of like the threats against Russia today if they invade Ukraine. And the proposed sanctions against China as it flexes its military might. Are we headed down that path? This is unsettling, to say the least. Do we even have a choice? Jumping immediately to conflict leads to...what? What we do depends on getting the lessons of the past right. 

Churches and the Great Resignation

A Familiar Story

This is all too familiar. In my public broadcasting career, I was faced with choices between serving the audience or serving the interests of wealthy and powerful benefactors. It didn't happen all the time, but there were instances when large sums of money were offered with strings attached. My inclination was to stay true to the core values of the audience. My boss said this was the hard way to raise funds. His inclination was to grab for the shiny object, and sort out the consequences later. I guess you can see where this was headed.

When my immediate supervisor resigned he offered, "Giving up on principles wasn't worth it." I was appointed to his position. I found out he was right. 

Coming apart at the seams

Our social divide is leading people away from religion. It isn't just in the pews, although attendance is way down. Pastors are joining the great resignation. It has a lot to do with the decidedly conservative leanings of powerful congregants.

"But in the wreckage of Trumpian politics and a never-ending-pandemic, our jobs have been reduced to negotiating skirmishes over mask-wearing and vaccination status. Former and current pastors have shared with me that their denominations and powerful congregants have pushed for a false unity that tolerates homophobia, racism, and conspiracy theories. My friend Ryan, a seasoned pastor, finally gave up. He felt that he could no longer follow the work of the Holy Spirit when he was expected to make room for people who actively thwarted God's movement. When we name the need to repent of sexism and racism, powerful church members withhold their giving and muster factions to oust us. Our compassion fatigue is real." MELISSA FLORER-BIXLER

You can read more in Sojourners. 

WHY PASTORS ARE JOINING THE GREAT RESIGNATION

Florer-Bixler explains, "In the past decade, we’ve watched a trickle in the decline of church membership turn to a geyser as people woke up to the incompatibility between the teachings of Jesus Christ and the practices of many who claim to follow him. Up until recently, I was certain the death of the institutional church would come because of a mass exodus from the pews. But if the data is any indicator, the sun might set on U.S. churches as we know them because pastors refuse to aid and abet a compromise between factionalism and the good news of Jesus."

Millennials May Not Come Back

It is not a coincidence that Millennials are staying away. They cite the same reasons, homophobia, racism, and conspiracy theories. Add to that the sexual abuse scandals and the seeming hatred and intolerance coming from certain factions, churches are no longer seen as good role models. They are places where common decency seem to be in short supply. You can find out more by looking at research from the Pew Trust. 

In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace

WHEN WE NAME THE NEED TO REPENT OF SEXISM AND RACISM, POWERFUL CHURCH MEMBERS WITHHOLD THEIR GIVING AND MUSTER FACTIONS TO OUST US. OUR COMPASSION FATIGUE IS REAL.

In an interview with FiveThirtyEight Mandie, a 32-year-old woman living in southern California and who asked that her last name not be used, grew up going to church regularly but is no longer religious. She told us she’s not convinced a religious upbringing is what she’ll choose for her one-year-old child. “My own upbringing was religious, but I’ve come to believe you can get important moral teachings outside religion,” she said. “And in some ways I think many religious organizations are not good models for those teachings.”

Undue Influence

If you let the big shiny object be your guide, you can easily diminish the value of your service. 

 

Every decision has consequences. Ignoring the core values of those you serve results is a loss of trust. They will turn away and leave you for somebody or something else. In the end you will serve no one. Just be aware, even if you stand for what is right, it may cost you your position.

Coming back from a lie.

 

Damage Control

To be clear:

A lie is an untruthful assertion. The speaker intends to cause belief in the truth of a statement that the speaker believes to be false. Hence, a lie involves an intention to deceive.Feb 21, 2008.

https://plato.stanford.edu › entries › lying-definition

Let's imagine your being interviewed. You're asked about your vaccination status. You reply, "Yeah, I'm immune." The answer is evasive because you're not vaccinated. You've used unproven homeopathic regimens you thought would make you immune. Only they didn't. Your story unravels. 

What can you do besides blaming the press, and lashing out against your critics by calling them a woke mob?

5 Steps to Save Your Reputation When You're Caught Lying

1. Own Up to It. Being caught in a lie is embarrassing, which means your first instinct might involve denying it. ...
2. Apologize. ...
3. Avoid Excuses, But Provide Explanation. ...
4. Do Damage Control. ...
5. Avoid It in the Future.

Jul 27, 2016

https://www.inc.com › kat-boogaard

Is all publicity good publicity?

The sad tale of the celebrity quarterback

I have a dog who will do almost anything to gain attention. We're working with him. When celebrities misbehave, it could be for the same reasons. The result can turn ugly quickly.

Maybe Aaron Rodgers should just stop talking.  A report from NBC Sports says, Rodgers called out the wrong reporter. He blamed Molly Knight and The Wall Street Journal, for getting his fractured toe story wrong. He misidentidied the reporter.

Reporter Molly Knight, formerly of The Athletic, responded to Rodgers after he misidentified her as the author of The Wall Street Journal's 'COVID toe' article.

"Since there seems to be some confusion: I did not write the Aaron Rodgers Covid toe article," the journalist tweeted. "I do not work for the Wall Street Journal. Please stop all this hate. Thank you."

Road Rage: Just One Symptom

Road Rage Everywhere!

Road Rage is on the rise. Violent altercations are leading to fatal shootings, and it is happening with increased frequency. It's another symptom of our social ills, and it's the tip of the iceberg.

This just a sampling from various news sources

• After boarding a flight to New York’s LaGuardia Airport, Arielle Jean Jackson got into a heated verbal altercation with a Southwest employee. According to Bloomberg, she was asked to leave. While departing, the confrontation turned physical, and Jackson hit an airline agent. The employee was brought to a hospital after being punched in the head.

• In Vermont, a man menaced a group of election officials, warning them that “your days are f*cking numbered.”

• In Missouri, a public health official was “physically assaulted, called racist slurs, and surrounded by an angry mob.”

• In Oregon, a school board member was told that a neighbor was out looking for him — and threatening to kill him

• Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) shared a video posted to his Twitter and Instagram depicting violence and the apparent killing of the Democratic congresswoman. His party thinks this is ok.

• The former head of Tennessee’s vaccine rollout, Dr. Michelle Fiscus and her husband, have been forced out of their home after facing threats and taunts. 

• School nurses threatened for enforcing COVID protocols. 

• Anti-vaxxers are threatening to burn down schools. 

• In 2020, 279 hate crime incidents against individuals of Asian descent were reported, compared to 158 incidents reported in 2019. More than 60% of hate crimes in the United States were carried out on the basis of an individual's race, according to FBI data released Monday.
• 

We're coming apart at the seams

 There is no civil discourse. We could blame social media, but social media is only the means by which we spread our hate.

It should be no surprise that road rage is on the rise too. It's not just your imagination. There are more shootings and deaths as a result of road rage.

In 2020, 42 people a month on average, were shot and killed or wounded in road rage incidents according to a recent report by Everytown for Gun Safety, a national gun violence prevention organization. That’s nearly double the monthly average for the four years prior.

The group’s report comes from data collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization.

If the trend continues, Everytown projects there will be more than 500 deaths or injuries involving road rage incidents with guns in 2021. So far this year, someone has been shot and killed or injured every 18 hours, said Sarah Burd-Sharps, the group’s research director. -Pew Trust

Where to go from here?

We can't control another person's emotions, but we can control our own. We can understand our own triggers and put a lid on them before they get out of hand. We can also attempt to deescalate the situation. I went to the NSW Website to find out more.

This is from NSW Government Health.

When there are signs of anger or verbal aggression it is important to remember that:

• you need to stay calm
• anger may be a sign that the person is in distress, experiencing fear or frustrated
• it is not possible to reason or problem solve with someone who is enraged
• effective communication skills are the key to settling, resolving and de-escalating a situation.

Use the strategies below to de-escalate a situation:

• Listen to what the issue is and the person's concerns.
• Offer reflective comments to show that you have heard what their concerns are.
• Wait until the person has released their frustration and explained how they are feeling.
• Look and maintain appropriate eye contact to connect with the person.
• Incline your head slightly, to show you are listening and give you a non-threating posture.
• Nod to confirm that you are listening and have understood.
• Express empathy to show you have understood.

It is not possible to stop another person being angry, but these steps may help to make the person feel calmer. Something more constructive begins then.

Was Virgin Birth a Miracle?

 

 

Not Really

While parthenogenesis, a.k.a. “virgin birth”, might seem miraculous, it's actually common as dirt in nature. Indeed, some 2000 species are capable of doing it, including snakes, ants, turkeys, chickens, amphibians, Komodo dragons, and sharks. That's right, even your Christmas lunch can do it.

Oct 14, 2018 Melbourne University

If you are a believer, God created everything, including virgin birth in the creatures listed above. Those who wrote the Bible were, likely, not aware of this. Education, including science class, wasn't available to anyone but a select few. Virgin birth would have been a true miracle to these people. It was beyond anything they could have (pun intended) conceived of.

Immaculate Conception in Nature?

(Immaculate conception actually refers to Mary, mother of Jesus. She was born free of sin.)

What in the world is parthenogenesis? 

"Derived from the Greek words parthenos and genesis, meaning “virgin” and “creation”, parthenogenesis is the naturally-occurring phenomenon by which a female is able to produce offspring independently of a male counterpart. More technically, it refers to the development of an embryo from an unfertilised egg." (Melbourne University)

The article goes on:

Why does parthenogenesis exist in nature?

While some species only reproduce by parthenogenesis, other nifty organisms are capable of switching between regular sexual reproduction and parthenogenesis. In aphids and crustaceans, this switch is triggered by a change in season and favourable growth conditions. Komodo dragons and snakes change tack when male suitors are lacking.

Is this possible in mammals? (Hey guys, should we be worried?)

The egg-laying animals that can partake in solo conception don’t have to worry about genomic imprinting, chemical modifications to genes which cause them to act differently depending on which parent they’ve come from. Without a copy from mum and a copy from dad, mammalian development is out of kilter and doesn’t happen normally.

We're not home free yet!

However, on 11 October 2018, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences chemically induced parthenogenesis in mouse eggs. Haploid stem cells were then collected from the activated, dividing eggs. By deleting problematic imprinted genes, the scientists were able to fuse two haploid stem cells from two different female mice to bring to life 29 live pups. Astoundingly, these pups went onto mate with male mice and have pups of their own.

Red and Blue COVID gap widens

The New York Times: U.S. Covid Deaths Get Even Redder

The brief version: The gap in Covid’s death toll between red and blue America has grown faster over the past month than at any previous point. In October, 25 out of every 100,000 residents of heavily Trump counties died from Covid, more than three times higher than the rate in heavily Biden counties (7.8 per 100,000). October was the fifth consecutive month that the percentage gap between the death rates in Trump counties and Biden counties widened. Some conservative writers have tried to claim that the gap may stem from regional differences in weather or age, but those arguments fall apart under scrutiny. (If weather or age were a major reason, the pattern would have begun to appear last year.) The true explanation is straightforward: The vaccines are remarkably effective at preventing severe Covid, and almost 40 percent of Republican adults remain unvaccinated, compared with about 10 percent of Democratic adults. (Leonhardt, 11/8) (Found in Kaiser Health News)


I'm incredulous. As the death toll rises, it would seem that more people would opt for the vaccine no matter their politics. The lies and falsehoods on the internet seem to have more credibility among the the rural red state population.


The Guardian reports, In the United States, there is a renewed campaign to vaccinate rural Americans due to the stark difference in Covid-19 cases and deaths among those living in less-populated areas compared with towns and cities. Rural residents are now twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as Americans in metropolitan areas. Yet rural areas tend to lag at least 10% behind metropolitan areas when it comes to vaccination – and this hesitancy is exacerbating already existing health issues. (Schreiber, 11/9)

Groups still push for vaccine exemptions, resist getting shots —

Poynters PolitiFact debunks the most common hoaxes.

• Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines continues to spread on Facebook and other social media, with help from public figures like Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

• PolitiFact has fact-checked online hoaxes and claims about the COVID-19 vaccines’ safety and efficacy, trials, ingredients, purpose and side effects.

• The COVID-19 vaccines were proven to be safe and effective through a rigorous testing process. Their ingredients are public, and they do not include microchips for government tracking, metals or other toxic materials. They are not mandatory in the U.S.

• The COVID-19 vaccines do not alter your DNA or affect fertility, and they cannot “shed” to impact unvaccinated people. They have not caused widespread death and disease.

Raising Money? Tell a Good Story

Relate by Telling Stories

So many fund raising appeals are based on need. No, not the need of those being served. The need of the non-profit. As a former boss said, you're leaving money on the table. It is, as if, your need will somehow translate into action. A list of your services hardly qualifies as reasons for giving. Think of it this way, if you were an unemployment service, is it more effective to say you have 500 clients, or tell the story of how you helped a particular client find meaningful work?

Instead tell stories that intrigue, inspire, motivate, rally, ignite advocacy, and secure donations.

The Network for Good has a nifty little page on their website, Top 3 Storytelling Essentials for Fundraising.

I've copied and pasted it for you here. (You can also go to the link I've provided.)

Once Upon a Time…

Whether you prefer to curl up with a good book or get lost in a film, the story is what captures our imagination. A good narrative brings people together and forms a common ground; it evokes emotion, sparks passion, and creates empathy.

For a nonprofit, a good story can:

• intrigue journalists
• inspire donors
• motivate staff and board
• rally supporters
• ignite advocacy
• secure corporate sponsorship

Stories are the basic building blocks for reaching our goals.

As fundraisers, you’re responsible for arousing sympathetic emotions and inspiring action. The most powerful way to do that is to tell a great story. But what makes your story great? What do you need to include?

The essential elements of any good story are the character, desire, and conflict. 

Character

Your protagonist is who your audience relates to. Personalize your organization and mission. Look at your data and find those case studies that can serve as representational stories for the work you do. People are twice as likely to give a charitable gift when presented with an emotion-inducing personal story that focuses exclusively on one character’s plight. 

Desire

We all want something. What is the desire within your character’s story? Is it a need to change their world, to obtain something, get rid of something, restore order, or escape a threat? Make sure their need is powerful and immediate.

Conflict

Conflict refers to the obstacles that arise and prevent the character from getting whatever she or he wants. Powerful stories about relatable people overcoming challenges inspire the reader (or listener) to help. Tap into those universal human emotions and your audience will engage with you.

Particularly when it comes to telling your nonprofit’s origin story—whether you’re discovering how to tell it for the first time, or simply want to refresh your approach—a powerful narrative is the foundation of successful fundraising.

The idea is to raise the passions of your potential donors. Try relating to them with success stories about the people you serve. Tug at the heartstrings. Inspire action.

Why People Lie

And Why We Believe Them

Everybody does it. When we were little we lied to our parents, hoping we wouldn't get into trouble. We exaggerated our accomplishments to our friends. We've omitted things to influence the outcome. We've fibbed to keep from hurting people. Most of this stuff is harmless, until it isn't. When is that? When it hurts people, betrays a trust, deliberately misleads, it's used to keep others in their place. You could probably come up with more reasons, but big lies today are clearly unethical and lead to violent behavior. And in some cases, that's the goal. Many times when we lie, we're simply in denial about our own behavior, and we might not care who we hurt.  

According to Psychology Today, there are six reasons why people lie.  

 -David J. Ley PhD

1. The lie matters to the liar.  The number one reason people lie when it just doesn’t matter is because they actually think it matters. 

2. Telling the truth feels like giving up control. Often, people tell lies because they are trying to control a situation and exert influence toward getting the decisions or reactions they want. The truth can be “inconvenient. ” 

3. They don’t want to disappoint you. People who tell lie after lie are often worried about losing the respect of those around them.

4. Lies snowball. They get out of control. Eventually,  we’re arguing about the color of the sky, because to admit anything creates the potential of the entire house of cards tumbling. 

5. It’s not a lie to them. Multiple studies demonstrate that our memories are influenced by many things, that they change over time, and that they are essentially reconstructed each time we think about them. 

6. They want it to be true. Sometimes, liars hope that they can make something come true by saying it over and over, and by believing it as hard as they can. In today’s environment of “alternative facts,” it’s hard not to see this as somewhat justified.

So many people deny the facts laid out before them. Why?

I went to Vital Briefings website to find out more.

a) We want to,

b) it fits our view,

c) we're accustomed to believing the source.

But facts matter

 David Schrieberg points out that facts matter. Anybody who is the business of reporting information needs to support a higher ethical standard than the run of mill meme on social media. But putting the facts out there may not be enough anymore.

“Think about what is now required for a Republican politician to be considered a party member in good standing. He or she must pledge allegiance to policy doctrines that are demonstrably false; he or she must, in effect, reject the very idea of paying attention to evidence.” PAUL KRUGMAN, THE NEW YORK TIMES

According to Schrieberg recent research on this subject focus on three explanations, which can be linked, as to why people are willing to ignore facts in their process of making judgements.

#1: Motivated Reasoning - Selectively choosing evidence.

#2: Confirmation Bias - It feels good to ‘stick’ to our guns’ even if we are wrong,” JACK AND SARA GORMAN

#3: Illusory Truth Effect - The more times you read, hear or watch a story, the more you believe it’s true. 

So, what can we do? 

Schrieberg suggests:

• Consume less.
• Be very selective in the news you consume.
• Check out the sources you choose. Do they adhere to genuine journalistic practices? If they have biases, are they clearly stated and presented? Do they present multiple sides to the story, but not necessarily giving them all equal weight? Are their conclusions based on responsible reporting?
• Be wary of sites that don’t clearly present the sources of their revenue.
• Avoid sources displayed in your social media feeds that you can’t verify and/or lack legitimate expertise in the subject matter.
• Don’t rely solely on breaking news. Seek out more in-depth stories and analyses to inform your opinions and decisions.

It Shouldn't Be This Bad

 

AP Photo Josh Reynolds

COVID's Decline

It's really good news. Better days are ahead. Though impossible to predict, the trends are, for the moment, downward.

We Trail The Rest

Refusal of the vaccine is holding us back. According to The Morning from the New York Times,

Despite all the encouraging news, one shadow still hangs over the U.S.: The pandemic does not need to be nearly as bad it is.

About 1,500 Americans have died of Covid every day over the past week. For older age groups, the virus remains a leading cause of death. And the main reason is that millions of Americans have chosen to remain unvaccinated. Many of them are older and have underlying medical conditions, leaving them vulnerable to severe versions of Covid.

For older people, the effects of vaccination are profound. In late August, near the height of the Delta wave, 24 out of every 10,000 unvaccinated Americans 65 and above were hospitalized with Covid symptoms, according to the C.D.C. Among fully vaccinated Americans 65 and above, the number was 1.5 per 10,000.

Even so, many Americans are saying no to a shot. Among affluent countries, the U.S. is one of the least vaccinated, trailing Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and others. Less vaccination means more death.

Vaccine Opposition

Why some people don't want a Covid-19 vaccine

To find out more about vaccine hesitancy, I went to a trusted news source, The BBC, instead of Social Media sources. They came up with the 5 C's. Their report cautions against lumping the majority of those with reservations with the extreme views of the fringe elements within the anti-vaxxers. 

"They're very vocal, and they have a strong presence offline and online," says Mohammad Razai at the Population Health Research Institute, St George's, University of London, who has written about the various psychological and social factors that can influence people's decision-making around vaccines. "But they’re a very small minority."

According to the article, scientists began studying vaccine hesitancy long before COVID-19 was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019. They have explored various models which attempt to capture the differences in people's health behavior. One of the most promising is known as the 5Cs model, which considers the following psychological factors:

Confidence: the person's trust in the vaccines efficacy and safety, the health services offering them, and the policy makers deciding on their rollout

Complacency: whether or not the person considers the disease itself to be a serious risk to their health

Calculation: the individual's engagement in extensive information searching to weigh up the costs and benefits

Constraints (or convenience): how easy it is for the person in question to access the vaccine

Collective responsibility: the willingness to protect others from infection, through one's own vaccination

Dialog

There are some who will never be convinced. There are others who can be through dialog. A mass message, a once size fits all marketing approach will not change the minds of those who are hesitant.

I saw a picture of a worker at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. He is among a small minority there refusing the mandate. His opposition is fueled by his politics. The sign reads, "Freedom of choice or civil war. You choose." I'm guessing this worker will never be convinced. The mantra of imminent civil war is being perpetrated by right wing extremists. His views are fueled by his extremism.

Vaccine mandate creates conflict with defiant workers

Facts matter. That's where journalism come in. The dialog needs to be informed by factual information. I've engaged in conversation with people who insist on swaying the conversation with falsehoods and misinterpretations. While I listened, I made clear my stance, and that the stance was based on evidence. I wasn't nasty, just insistent.

 

Please, don't say that! (1.0)

 

Avoid saying:

Good bye!

I heard it this weekend on a commercial radio station. A weekend announcer told his listeners this was it for him today. And next weekend tune in at another time and day for his new shift. 

• First, nobody cares! except for his grandmother. Then, maybe she doesn't care either.
• Second, you told anybody listening to tune out or turn off the radio. Why would you do that?
• Third, there was no forward promotion. Remember that? Increasing time spent listening? It raises the station share, making it more appealing to advertisers, contributors and underwriters.
• Fourth, it's a total misunderstanding about how radio works. The listeners chose the station because of the content, not you. Loyalty depends on consistent appeal from the station's programming.

Listening barriers

There are plenty of examples in public radio of personalities saying goodbye. That's because content people always thought in terms of 'their' show. Garrison Keillor always said goodbye twice over the last three minutes. For the longest time, the producers and editors at All Things Considered as being a show with a beginning, middle and end, while the listeners actually tuned in when they could.  That's the problem with most weekend programming, churning the audience with hello's and goodbyes. 

You better make the most of your breaks. It's your only opportunity to create tune in, recurrence and increased occasions.

Good luck, and goodbye. Oh dang, I just did it to myself!

Supply Chain Problems

Meeting Demand 

When I worked in the manufacturing world, when demand increased, and supplies were low, we all worked more hours until more people could be hired and trained. Since some of the work called for skilled machinists in the shop or skilled labor in the tool crib, or skilled people in the foundry, it might take longer to ramp up. But ramp up we did. The company offered the training for free. The idea was to offer a service our customers could rely on. We wanted to make sure we took care of their needs in a timely manner. Investing in the future kept costs down. There were no shortages to drive costs up. It was a big picture approach.

Has This Changed?

Look at the supply chain issues. This problem has been apparent since the early days of the pandemic. That's over a year ago. If there's money to be made and jobs to be had, it would seem the bottlenecks in the supply chain are an opportunity? Why does it take a pointed reminder from the president that you might need to put in more hours to solve this issue?

Super Spreaders

 12 People are Mostly Responsible

According to NPR, researchers have found just 12 people are responsible for the bulk of the misleading claims and outright lies about COVID-19 vaccines that proliferate on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

"The 'Disinformation Dozen' produce 65% of the shares of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms," said Imran Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which identified the accounts."

"At the outset of this research, we identified a dozen individuals who appeared to be extremely influential creators of digital anti-vaccine content. These individuals were selected either because they run anti-vaccine social media accounts with large numbers of followers, because they produce high volumes of anti-vaccine content or because their growth was accelerating rapidly at the outset of our research in February. "

What's the motivation?
Greed, what else?

NPR reports, for many anti-vaccine advocates with a business on the side. They promote false claims about the dangers vaccines pose, while selling treatments, supplementals or other services. Their potential market is the roughly 20% of Americans say they do not want to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to recent polling according to NPR.

For those with something to sell, anti-vaccine misinformation serves a second important purpose.

"One of the things that antivaxxers have to do to sell their own remedies ... is to persuade people not to trust authorities they've trusted in the past." 

"By using their debunked theories to turn people away from mainstream medicine, these entrepreneurs are creating customers: "Once they've managed to hook someone, they can then sell to them for a lifetime." -npr

Ableism

Remember this?

Trump mocking a reporter. His behavior was inappropriate. His excuse? I was just being funny. Millions in this country still think this is ok. 

A form of discrimination

From Ableism 101 by Ashley Eisenmenger, accessliving.org:

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.

What form does Ableism take? 

Again, from Ableism 101:

• Lack of compliance with disability rights laws like the ADA
• Segregating students with disabilities into separate schools
• The use of restraint or seclusion as a means of controlling students with disabilities
• Segregating adults and children with disabilities in institutions
• Failing to incorporate accessibility into building design plans
• Buildings without braille on signs, elevator buttons, etc.
• Building inaccessible websites
• The assumption that people with disabilities want or need to be ‘fixed’
• Using disability as a punchline, or mocking people with disabilities
• Refusing to provide reasonable accommodations
• The eugenics movement of the early 1900s
• The mass murder of disabled people in Nazi Germany

I've jumped to major aggressions with major consequences, but there are everyday micro-aggressions. Many of them are part of how we interact with people through the language we use, including people in authority.

• “That’s so lame.”
• “He/she seems retarded.”
• "Is he/she slow?"
• "Is there something off about him/her?"
• “That guy is crazy.”
• “You’re acting so bi-polar today.”
• “Are you off your meds?”
• “It’s like the blind leading the blind.”
• “My ideas fell on deaf ears.”
• “She’s such a psycho.”
• “I’m super OCD about how I clean my apartment.”
• “Can I pray for you?”
• “I don’t even think of you as disabled.”

Phrases like this imply that a disability makes a person less than, and that disability is bad, negative, a problem to be fixed, rather than a normal, inevitable part of the human experience.

Many people don’t mean to be insulting, and a lot have good intentions, but even well-meant comments and actions can take a serious toll on their recipients. (Ableism 101)

Turning Around the Micro-Aggressions

According to Rakshitha Arni Ravishankar writing for the Harvard business review in 2020, ableist language largely influences us in three ways:

1. It reveals our unconscious bias.
2. It makes us internalize harmful bias about disability. 
3. It stigmatizes already marginalize people.

Ravishankar suggests we can start with a conscious effort to improve our vocabulary.

Acknowledge the disability around us. More than one billion people worldwide, around 15% of the population, have some type of disability. People with disabilities make up a quarter of the U.S. population. Pro-tip: Don’t try to fix disability; instead fix the oppression.

Learn! Listen more than we talk. become aware of our own biases — many of which we’ve picked up from the people we’ve met, the experiences we’ve had, and the media we’ve consumed throughout our lives — is the first step to educating ourselves. Our biases are learned behavior. That means we can learn new behaviors. Pro-tip: Educate yourself, and don’t rely on others to teach you.

Don't make assumptions about someone's identity.  Focus on the fact that people with disabilities are first and foremost, just people. An example of this would be saying “a person with a disability” instead of “a disabled person.” Pro-tip: Golden rule is: When you’re unsure of someone’s identity, just ask.

When you make a mistake, genuinely apologize. Saying something like, I'm sorry if what I said may have hurt you is not an apology. Pro tip: This isn’t about your opinions; it’s about how the other person feels.

I remember mom saying, "Watch what you say," and "Keep a civil tongue in your head." The rebukes may have stung a little, but she was right. I hope part of what she was trying to teach me stuck.