The cost of mindless, heartless message control
This week we saw the culmination of dumb, demagogic message-track politics in the self-destruction of Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.
Politics is defined by dialogue. Successful politicians know how to listen, to respond respectfully and through that dialogue, learn. Some Canadian politicians’ increasing fascination with steely message discipline at the expense of listening or respectful response is dangerous for democratic dialogue — and, often, for their own careers.
In 40 years of training candidates, leaders and corporate executives in communication one thing has always been true: merely pounding memorized lines into a student’s head is dumb, and sets them up to fail.
Successful political dialogue requires listening and empathy. When a constituent tells you of their grief, their dreams or their anger you may not respond with rote defensive talking points.
This week we saw the culmination of this dumb and demagogic approach to politics in the self-destruction of Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.
There is no excuse for the appalling response that Alexander offered CBC’s new election star Rosemary Barton. Nor for his surly defensive nonsense about the government’s record on refugees. His scowling adolescent attack on the media for its failure to give the story adequate attention would have been laughable if it were not so appalling. Especially in the face of the mounting human tragedy and the Canadian — and international — failure to respond adequately to it.
His return the next night, after being summoned to Ottawa by his masters, clearly put through hours of message training “refreshment” was less disastrous in performance but more damaging in substance. He told a series of whoppers that will now be fact-checked and return to bite him and the government.
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