“ Master the topic, the message, and the delivery.” — Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Apple.
I deliberately dug this quote out of the bag, well that is a lie, I used Google to search for a good quote on writing content and chose this one out of three from the search results. One of the other quotes is below. Why content? Me being a smart ass? No. Because I am re-reading Fahrenheit 451. Well, listening on Audible if honest. I am lazy and that’s okay. And it is 4.27am on Saturday 23rd of March and I cannot sleep.
And what is Fahrenheit 451? It the temperature at which books burn.
For anyone who relishes or for that matter writes, consumes, uses, or has content play a part in their life this is a must read book. A testimony to the power of content and of how it can be controlled by the unscrupulous or more frighteningly the lost.
Job’s quote is double edged. I shall explain.
Good writing is important for conveying something that is important to you. That’s the substance of your content. Know you topic. What is it that burns you up? That’s important because it is the passion. Next, how do you say what you want to say? What’s your Prose? How is this consumed or interpreted by readers? Yet delivery in this day and age is vital and Job’s was a master of the last two elements. Topic? Computers and stuff. Bit dull if you ask me. He mastered the message and delivery.
Job’s quote can be viewed as sinister. If one thinks of content as this three step process then we have a very simple way in which content can be consumed to nefarious means. Set topic, message to to the masses, deliver en masse. Sound like Populism? You bet ya!
Books and what they contain have been outlawed and are burnt by Firemen
The crux of the novel (sans spoilers) is that books and thus content is outlawed to the masses and instead the Parlour or interactive technology as Bradbury describes it delivers defined content. Does this sound familiar? Society and its characters become devoid of emotion, of life itself.
This is my worry with books, and content, and all the SHIT that now appears on the Web and is so easily consumed via Jobs second and third elements from his quote; ease of message and delivery. I allude to social media, Apps etc. and it is worrying. The advertising community is helping dictate content via the search engines hence the term Search Engine Optimisation.
Here is another quote to elaborate on what I think.
Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.– Leo Burnett.
It is the simplicity with which people can be convinced that have been leveraged by the advertising and of course Politicos. Simple (“They, Our”) media is messaging that is delivered via an easy to use and access channel(s). The message of a brand across to that of a political party and it’s theme. Hence the term “Their, Our” Media - the media of organisations or brands, and people can be brands. This is mass media in its purest form. You will and do consume what “We, They” have to say.
Hang on a minute you cry… You are writing for your blog and Pot, Kettle, Black. So WTF are you doing?
Peter Cobley’s thoughts
Neatly summed up via a paragraph from Wikipedia that summarises how Bradbury felt and I certainly feel.
“In later years, he described the book as a commentary on how mass media reduces interest in reading literature.[8] In a 1994 interview, Bradbury cited political correctness as an allegory for the censorship in the book, calling it "the real enemy these days" and labelling it as "thought control and freedom of speech control."[9]”
We are all seeing a challenge to freedom of speech, but this is phrase that has been worn out and become misunderstood in popular vernacular.
I do embrace the dissemination of content that the Web has allowed for and created; shifting control of media from “They” Media of the traditional Press/Media Barons to “My” media as created by me and others. Unfortunately two things have happened that warrant concern and need redressing before the balance shifts too much into dystopia and we have to fight a rear guard action.
Under the cover of “My Media”, my ability to create content, the big boys of business, politics have snuck in under the guise of how great the Internet and Web is and of benefit to all to peddle their shite. See Citizen Kane. And remember the phrase, “ A wolf in Sheep’s clothing.”
“My Media” of the newly empowered individual has taken a nose dive with a vast quantity of further shite appearing across digital media. You could argue I do the same and stop reading what I write. People have been influenced by the type of message and it’s delivery (remember the Job’s quote) and are aping what the big boys and girls do rather than be authentic and real and true. All content thus blends into one, including audio visual and becomes a societal pastiche with no originality. A far cry from the heritage that literature evolved from - fiction, biography, social commentary, parody. Think of Shakespeare or Thackeray for example.
Note that Press Barons of old (Citizen Kane was allegedly based on Hurst) have now morphed to the likes of Google or Facebook (Messaging carriers) allowing a Pandora’s Box of shite to hit the airwaves. There is no POLICING of this, but…
The concern of a Governmental policing takes us down a slippery slope of who decides what is correct content. Yikes. Best left to people to decide what is content that needs consuming. Been going on for years since Adam was a lad. What government needs to do is batter and kick the content carriers who in my opinion are facilitating the shite. In old money we need more virtual printing presses and need to expose Zuckerberg across to Musk for what they are, Wolves in Sheep’s clothing. The base utilisation of content to generate money. Police them by all means but allow for more carriers.
The bloody frightening addiction of online and digital
This goes hand in hand with what I have just written previously. Topic, Messaging, Delivery are clouded and become further clouded as we sign up to non-stop drivel via addictive technology and this worries me. Have a read of the Fahrenheit 451 and of how Bradbury blends technology into the book in the 1950’s and you’ll see how prescient he actually was, or fooking hell very true to later life.
Again from Wikipedia as I am being lazy.
“In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451, I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap-opera cries, sleep-walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.[81]”
Where are we going as people, as society, as individuals?
This all worries me, as one who was almost lost himself.
We need to act before it is too late.
We need to read, to write, to read and write together, to stick two figures up at those who feel they can both dictate what is content and how it is delivered.
Do get out there and write or go and buy a ticket for an independent play or show.
Responsibilty
We all have a role to play in taking action and stopping this decline and decay into puerile content and more so those who peddle it, especially people like me who work in advertising. We do know better.
