Defending Good Science

December 1, 2003

Dumbing Down the Issues…

I received a disturbing Instant Message from a friend the other day, urging me to check out a particular website with a funny movie.  Obligingly, I checked it out, only to discover it was one of the most blatant and disturbing examples of ‘dumb distribution’ I’ve run across in the past several months.

Entitled “The Meatrix,” the movie I was directed to is a flash animation parody of the popular “Matrix” movie series.  Obviously targeted towards high-school aged youths, it uses humour to explain that ‘greedy agriculture corporations’ are ‘polluting communities, poisoning our meat, harming animals and breeding super-viruses.’

No one will deny that issues surrounding intensive agricultural operations are serious ones that merit serious discussion.  But blatantly propaganda-baiting impressionable youths hardly qualifies as engaging in serious discourse.
 
What the above example really boils down to is a simple truth: militant activist groups don’t want to have serious discussions.  They do, however, want to make fundraising dollars, garner public interest, and get earned media. And gathering earned media may be the easiest of these goals to achieve.
 
After all, look at the industry term for a development of interest – journalists call it “a story.”  In the interest of expediency, ‘stories’ are templated.  Rather than explore a myriad of angles and concepts, a journalist will break a development into an easily explained, and easily told, template of a story.
 
A newspaper article or television clip about activist concerns over industrial practices focuses not on environmental implications versus long term benefits – such a story is far too complex to deliver to consumers.  The time constraints alone make a detailed analysis impossible.
 
Especially since the producer who is supervising this same story faces the daily challenge of compacting 14 local stories, 3 national stories and 2 international developments into one 30-minute newscast.  Similarly, in the print medium, each story must, for reasons of production, fit into 12 column inches.
 
Clearly, then, such a story isn’t going to get the treatment it deserves.  In an effort to break down a complex scientific development, amidst controversy, detriments and associated benefits, journalists resort to a story template.
 
The easiest and most common story template is “David vs. Goliath.”  It’s not a detailed analysis of cost vs. benefit – it’s a narrative.  A reporter produces a tale to maintain viewership or readership, while providing an interesting source of news – a ‘story.’
 
So how does industry fight back?  I believe we need to focus more on individual stories as well.  Let’s use that same tactic to our advantage.
 
For example, rather than discussing a 14% cost reduction for farmers, let’s talk about David and Sandy Smith in Kansas.  David makes $23,000 per year farming, but because of technology ‘A’, David was able to save $4,000 this year.  That means he’s going to be able to send his son, Alex, to College – something David’s parents were never able to do for him.  We need to talk not about cost benefits, but about the fact that the activist groups running the Meatrix want to keep Alex out of college, because they don’t believe David should be allowed to use technology “A”…
 
Simplistic?  Yes.  A little melodramatic for some, no doubt, (and keep in mind that it’s only an example), but industry needs to learn to fight back using guerilla tactics, if activist groups are going to insist on guerilla warfare.  To be clear - I’m not discussing (or even entertaining the notion of) dishonesty.  Rather, I’m saying, let’s get smart and present the other side of the story on the same terms it’s being fed to our target audiences: human stories for human audiences.
 
Oh, and by the way – the “Meatrix” is the featured link of the month.  Guess who’s financing the site?

Checkmate Link of the Month

IRegular readers know I usually pass along a Checkmate link without passing judgement.  I believe it’s important to make up your own mind about a particular issue or topic.  But let me say this – I found the following connection profoundly disturbing.
 
http://www.themeatrix.com is one of the most biased pieces of anti-farming propaganda I’ve run across in a while – using humor to disguise the blatant lies.  The site is run by a group called G.R.A.C.E. (Global Resource Centre for the Environment.) To no one’s surprise, it is funded by groups like the anti-pork Waterkeeper Alliance and the Sierra Club.

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