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Edited on Tue Aug-03-10 06:52 AM by DetlefK
Imagine you are a regular guy. You are not outstanding, you are treated as the down-to-earth common-sense guy. This makes you likable and trustworthy enough, so you can make up stories and tell whatever you want. After all, you are such a nice guy. Why would anybody challenge you?
Then you get a front row seat. Yeah, prestige baby. You can ask questions, you can imply, you can set the tone you need for the stories you want to create. Unless...
* Unless you get some really good and prepared answers that can't be twisted. You were there! You asked that damn question! And everybody heard the same answer as you did! * Unless you are now considered part of the mainstream media. You are no longer the lonesome fighting underdog. You are part of the elite, part of the establishment. And everybody can see it with your fancy front row seat. * Unless you induce jealousy. You are now the big guy. You have prestige. And that means, that proving you wrong, ripping apart your story, exposing your narrative is now the heroic endeavor that defines the NEW UNDERDOGS. Taking out the big guy earns ratings and sympathies.
And finally: Imagine you follow through with your game-play. Imagine you chop a quote or a speech to make it fit your agenda. Imagine you are called out publicly for it. Imagine the scandal and shame when your prestigious seat is rewarded to somebody who is not plagued by a track-record of distortions. You are the oppressed underdog again. Hooray! You are again the lonesome brave fighter against the evil oppressive regime!
And everybody remembers why you lost that seat.
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