The
world of merit, knowledge, and experience has given way to a world of ego,
opinion, and baseless claims. It’s
everywhere – ignorance, flash, and bluster rule our society.
Let’s
look at each of these more closely, first to see the role they play in creating
our Era of Ignorance, and how it impacts one’s ability to promote a book today.
1.
Fake News
This
is a very real harm to society, threatening us in ways we don’t fully
understand. Fake news, at its core, is
news that’s not true, completely made up.
There are things like The Onion that are blatant satire, putting out
ridiculous stories as a joke. That’s
just comedy, brilliantly done. But then
you have entities or countries or people putting out false stories with the
hope of swaying public opinion, inspiring an action, or persuading people to
buy something. You also have established
media, such as MSNBC or FOX slanting the news, allowing
an obvious political bias to color what gets reported and how it is
reported. This is problematic.
2.
Opinion As Fact
Consumers
are mixing up editorials with news reporting.
The lines are blurring between the two.
3.
President Trump
Love
or loathe him, you must admit he’s a liar and a spin artist. All presidents are not fully truthful, but
he’s taken the art of bullshit to new levels, blatantly saying things that
aren’t true, never happened, or were never said by those he quotes. Further, he calls legitimate news sources
“fake news,” undermining the ability of what needs to be a foundation for news
reporting.
4.
Traditional Media On
A Shoestring Budget
Traditional
media is hurting. Fewer ad dollars and
fewer readers/viewers/listeners means less editorial coverage and less influence on America. If a newspaper is
half the size it used to be, and there are fewer papers than a decade ago, and
a greater percentage of the pages have ads, and they lack the resources to
fully fund a credentialed staff like they used to, fewer stories get covered,
fewer pieces are deeply edited and fact-checked, and the paper takes on a less
significant role in community affairs.
5.
Social Media
The
power of social media can be amazing, but it is unchecked. It lacks standards. Anyone at any time can post something and
potentially shape it with large numbers of people. It could be a complete lie. It can be an opinion presented as fact. It can be a misinterpretation of facts. It could be something that threatens
others. Many people don’t want a filter or
editor for the Internet – and they certainly don’t trust Facebook, Twitter, or
Google to dictate standards of conduct and communication. For now, social media feeds our ignorance as
much as it informs and educates.
6.
A Lack Of
Gatekeepers
Society
is focused on individual expression. You
want to blog your views, podcast your experiences, tweet your theories, or
Instagram your fantasies, go right ahead.
People make their own movies, produce their own music, and do things
that a generation ago was left to a handful of powerful firms that set
standards that sometimes left certain groups or viewpoints out in the
cold. But we need a parent, a librarian,
or a leading authority to give us a standard of some kind.
7.
Conspiracy
Theories On Everything
It’s
good to question authority and the world we live in. Inquiry is healthy. Be curious.
But what happens when everything is questioned, even with video, eye
witnesses, and documented proof, such as some of the mass school shootings? Conspiracy nuts throw everything into question,
seeding doubt when none should exist.
8.
Not Questioning
Enough
We
need to look more closely at the motives behind the information shared with us.
Is it influenced by advertisers and sponsors?
Is the writer-poster-reporter biased?
What’s not being said or shown that would add depth to a story?
9.
Technology
Challenging Old Standards
Information
technology, from smart phones and social media to self-publishing, are
game-changers for disseminating information and ideas, but technology is upending
other industries and tearing away at standards that had helped establish the
way things were. Not all change is bad –
and a lot may prove to be wonderful – but as we process this change of new
winners and losers it momentarily causes us to lose our footing, to get a clear
picture of what’s what. We struggle for
identity relevance when so much change goes on simultaneously. This thinking filters into our acceptance or
dismissal of the waves of new content coming at us incessantly.
10. User Reviews
It
would seem that user reviews – like the ones you see for hotels, restaurants,
movies, and books – would be a great idea.
Let the people decide if something is good. But these reviews have been co-opted by publicists,
competitors and purchased reviews. How
many authors do you know who get friends, family, colleagues, and others to
pen a positive review on Amazon? And how
many publishers or authors write negative reviews of competing titles? And how many simply pay others to post a good
review? The information is compromised and adds to an Era of Ignorance.
So
how does all this impact book marketing?
Well,
first, one must pierce the clutter in order to get a message about a book
out. You are competing with literally
thousands of new books daily, millions of video uploads daily, billions of
tweets and Facebook posts every 24 hours. And some are just full of crap.
Second,
authors need to find a way to get positive media coverage while other information
flowing around is not accurate or is a direct lie.
How will authors navigate through media outlets that value expert truth
from an author vs. simply finding someone with an opinion who will speak in
agreement with that media outlet’s editorial slant?
Third,
authors will struggle to be seen as more credible than other newsmakers when
the nation becomes numb to – or unaware of – the unethical and unprofessional
practices of those who don’t meet the standards of real journalism.
It’s
a competitive, nosy, and crazy landscape for authors to dance in, but hopefully
truth, experience, and training or education actually count for something.
The world is running towards an Era of Ignorance and it may be too confused, misinformed, and unaware of anything else.
The world is running towards an Era of Ignorance and it may be too confused, misinformed, and unaware of anything else.
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