Getting message out to global audience
We live in a time where people have more information than ever before. Yet, the Flat Earth Society is a real thing and the group is experiencing record growth.
They have a very active internet forum where people can share ‘‘facts’’ that prove the earth is flat.
Gwyneth Paltrow has used her star appeal to promote jade eggs and vaginal steaming, all in the name of ‘‘increasing vaginal muscle tone, hormonal balance, and feminine energy in general’’.
Her company Goop is valued at US$250 million (NZ$365m).
This is despite her advice and products attracting expert criticism and lawsuits alleging misleading claims.
Despite the increase in availability of data, information and knowledge, society appears to be getting dumber.
The internet has enabled anyone to share ideas.
Anybody can be an expert nowadays.
This includes fringe people with funny ideas.
Twenty years ago fringe ideas would have stayed isolated and their ideas would have remained at a local level.
Now they have a platform and a global audience.
We can have a chuckle at Paltrow’s followers and flat earthers as they don’t really hurt anybody.
But the spread of fringe ideas can get serious as we found out on Friday.
White males with racist views and an unhealthy interest in guns congregate online and share their ideas.
Their influence is magnified and other fringe people find a reason to believe their message.
Middle-class Western women around the world somehow believed becoming an Isis bride was a good idea, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Middle-class people will find white supremacists and Isis abhorrent.
But the anti-vaxer movement is much more palatable but potentially more deadly.
The last measles outbreak in New Zealand was 21 years ago but it looks like we are about to see another viral spread of the disease as more people refuse to vaccinate their children.
According to The Atlantic, some Los Angeles schools only have a 30 per cent vaccination rate. Which is as low as war-torn Chad and South Sudan.
Why is it that people believe things that are contrary to so much solid fact and data?
One of the most well proven facts is that people are irrational.
Everyone thinks they are making a rational decision but it’s often our emotional subconscious that is ruling our lives. Flat earthers, vaginal steamers, anti-vaxers and Isis brides all think they are doing the right thing at the time.
The irony of the information age is that often facts, information or proof are not likely to change people’s minds at all. In fact the opposite happens.
The more people criticise Paltrow, the more attached her fans become to her. She also benefits from the attention she gets – in her own words ‘‘we monetise those eyeballs’’.
Google, YouTube and social media algorithms incentivise controversial content. The more extreme the better.
Everybody is struggling to get attention in a world full of information.
The content that wins is the most emotional and controversial. I’ve experimented with my content – well-balanced fact-based articles go virtually unnoticed.
My most read content, which had exponentially more views than I usually get, was controversial and written in a provocative way.
This has implications for agriculture. Everybody is in a war to have their narrative heard and believed. The battleground is people’s minds.
If you can’t get people to believe your narrative, they will believe someone else’s.
If you search ‘‘dairy industry’’ on YouTube, you’ll see whose narrative appeals to people’s emotions more.
That narrative is on its way to winning.
How are New Zealand farmers going to ensure their message gets heard in this sort of environment?
New Zealand farmers are in the best place to adapt to this new world, but they have to start considering how their message is interpreted by a wider public who have so many other narratives presented to them.