Spin it Like a Top
Around and around we go… who we believe, nobody knows! It’s the days of mistrust and misinterpretation. To understand spinning… we must first define it. A top goes around and around until it runs out of steam and tires out… When it’s spinning, a top balances on a tiny tip. As it begins to wobble, the axis of the top tilts to the side, which allows the force of gravity to exert a force known as torque on the top. The effect of the torque is to create additional spin while also causing the top to swing outward until it loses its gravity force and gives out. Sort of what happens to voters who listen to political spin.
In politics, the attempt to control or influence communication in order to deliver one’s “preferred message” is really used to sell a message heavily biased in favor of one’s own position. I’m not sure how others see it, but it makes me dizzy. Times have changed. We’ve gone way past moving the needle of persuasion to full-blown manipulating and lying. What does that do to the character of our nation? Nothing positive, I can assure you. Without trust… we have nothing. There was a time when our word was our bond. I recall as a teenager reading articles in a paper called The Post-Tribune growing up in Indiana and a reporter made an incorrect statement. It was somewhat damaging to the character of another and back then, there was a paper policy that a retraction to correct a false statement was required. A reporter could be fined or fired for getting it wrong if they didn’t make it right. That was the integrity of the paper. It was an honorable one.
Today, it can take months to build credibility and minutes to lose it. The same with trust. I’ve always said relationships should be as simple as ABC… Accountability, Believability and Credibility! I can’t say I’m a subject matter expert at it, but I do believe it has a whole lot to do with how we survive our daily interactions with each other.
For many of you… you know I am long-winded, I have a very small filter if one at all. Often what comes up… just comes out. I rub people the wrong way. I’m the first to be misunderstood, my assertiveness comes from being passionate, but most of all… I’m convicted. I’m convicted of righting wrongs, fixing what’s broken, picking up what has fallen and I let my heart bleed for the homeless and the hungry. It drives me crazy when someone takes quotes, words, sentences or phrases… especially policy and scripture and spins them like a top to conveniently sway the narrative in a direction that can con a constituent. It’s just wrong and tiresome.
So… people tell me I am sometimes like a run-on sentence and my posts are lengthy and long and to get a blog… Well, I was going to create one, but what would people read that I would have to say outside of “after three kids and a mortgage” that would hold their attention or even listen… I mean, I do joke and say, “I’m just a girl… with a strong opinion”. Maybe there are people out there that care about my opinion… but guess what my friends said? They said write anyway… write your thoughts down and if it is read-worthy, they’ll read it and if not… well, then Lisa you got it out there and they can keep scrolling.
Well, here I am.. my friend Brent Wilson… the amazing founder of this publishing gave me the tools and space to do just that. So look for me here… where my thoughts will probably become action in one form or another because in short… I’m just itching to say what I see!
For now… I guess I’ll see you in the neighborhood or I’ll see you online… feel free to follow me if I don’t bore you to death… and ask me anything. You’ll be surprised to find out how much we regular people have in common after all!
My background is in business and legal administration. Before becoming a full-time activist, I worked for the Asset Management Team of Global Operations at Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. in the iron ore and coal mining industry.
A Lake View native of Tuscaloosa County for nearly 3 decades, sharing 3 grown children and 8 grandchildren with husband Fred, a retired Union Manager of the IUPAT and married 35 years.
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