“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. Adopted by Steve Jobs.
________________________
A Man and a Lion argued over the strength of Men and Lions.
The Man said that Men were stronger than Lions by reason of Man’s greater intelligence.
“I will soon prove it,” said the Man. So he took the Lion and showed him a statue of Hercules overcoming the Lion and tearing the Lion’s mouth in two.
“That may be,” said the Lion, “but a man made the statue.“
Moral of the Story: A statement of purported truth is jaded by the personal perspective of the speaker. Consider the source.
________________________
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Related Articles: Considering the Source – The Business of Aesop™ No. 68 – The Lion and the Statue
________________________
Why We Loved It: Lawyers use the term “first-hand knowledge” meaning that the speaker has judged the context by direct observation.
Aesop reminds us that everything other than first-hand knowledge has passed through the “personal judgment” of the speaker. The articulation of facts is jaded by the speaker’s own perspective. Duly considered, much of information we receive is hearsay.
Because we are not present throughout the World to see first-hand all the events of the World, we necessarily rely upon hearsay news. Therefore, Aesop reminds us to balance trust with appropriate skepticism.
Let me provide an easy example.
As I write this, Face the Nation is on the television. The hosting anchorperson asked the guest, “Are you fully confident that COVID face masks are effective…” which is quite different than a question, “Are you at all confident that COVID face masks are effective…” The question is pre-loaded by the reporter and very difficult for the untrained listener to perceive. That is, “fully confident” is tantamount to asking the guest, “Are you sure?” while “Are you at all confident” is tantamount to asking the guest, “Are you comfortable?” Changing the framework of the question will constrain the response from a “Yes” to a “No”—a big difference, unfairly prejudicing public opinion in the manner directed by the media reporter who is charged by presumptive industry responsibility and standards to be unbiased. A straight unbiased unloaded question would be, “What is your opinion of the efficacy of COVID masks?“
It is not fair to the public, and the public never knows what hit them, no longer being trained in rhetoric [1], and betrayed by failure of Cronkitian objective media standards. [2] And the rhetoric that is extremely difficult for an untrained listening audience to perceive in real time.
Aesop warns that decisions are based upon knowledge. Knowledge is based upon information. Information is provided by a source, and, if that source is not each of ourselves by first-hand knowledge, we must be vigilant to consider the source with an appropriate skepticism.
________________________
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/consider-source-first-hand-knowledge-68-lion-statue-zegarelli-esq-/
[1] The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Hegemony—Chapter 4 Excerpt—Education [#GRZ_182]
[2] The History of the Decline and Fall of the American Hegemony—Chapter 7 Excerpt—Wall Street [#GRZ_181]
GRZ98_68 GRZUID98_68