So polished it's lifeless
The past few weeks watching PM Morrison flounder has been a textbook lesson in how media training has gone so terribly wrong in corporations and politics. The effort to be so good at only ever saying the thing you’re prepared to say – to “never accept the premise of the question” – has led us to this place.
Where expressing actual sentiment is impossible. The rehearsed feeling of ever statement is palpable. The speech patter that is no longer how a real human speaks. The effort to breathe mid-sentence so you don’t allow an interviewer to ever stop you speaking.
It’s weaponised language, but it’s now so polished it’s stopped being able to create meaning that lands with real humans. Especially in a real crisis.
Empathy doesn’t flow through these filters.
This week I also heard an artist talking about how their early hand drawn work has an energy to it that is more relatable to fans than more deeply polished work they create through computers today. That there’s value in a drawing that looks like a friend drew it. There’s a potential energy attached to it that a truly refined finished work doesn’t. Attainability vs godly perfection.
I think it’s something we always strive to teach younger writers and creative folk too. That operating with a little less fear of being imperfect adds more life to your work. And to reveal your real self creates a deeper connection.
We could really use more connection in the world right now.
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