In politics, you’re either on-message or you’re losing. Let’s get to it.
Welcome to On Message, a weekly look at where the battle lines are drawn and who is winning the war of words.
This week… Ya Lost Me There.
We’re back after a week off to celebrate Independence Day and I was a little worried there wouldn’t be much to talk about coming off the first holiday in a notoriously slow political month.
But that’s not a concern thanks to some political fireworks over the 4th of July weekend and the fuse was lit by the head of the Utah chapter of Black Lives Matter.
On Independence Day, somewhere between the parade and the fireworks, Black Lives Matter Utah posted this statement about the American flag on its Facebook page:
“When we Black Americans see this flag we know the person flying it is not safe to be around. When we see this flag we know the person flying it is a racist. When we see this flag we know that the person flying it lives in a different America than we do. When we see this flag, we question your intelligence. We know to avoid you. It is a symbol of hatred.”
To quote Dodgeball, an Underdog Story…
“That’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it works out for them.”*
A bold strategy indeed.
You can build bridges and you can burn bridges.
While it’s not at all uncommon for someone to say something innocent on the internet only to have people rush to pile on… it is also true that some people say things to get a reaction.
Whether or not the reaction they get is one they can handle is another question.
In response, a number of people including the head of the Utah Republican Party and other elected officials expressed their disagreement with the statement, pointing out the flag is a symbol to many (if not most) of freedom and opportunity. National outlets quickly picked up on the story and ran with it, as well.
Now, our purpose here isn’t to get into the politics or the outrage… we want to look at the communication element.
So, what’s the lesson?
Communication is about persuasion. To do that you have to know your audience. If the point Ms. Scott was trying to make is that there are some people who wrap themselves in the American flag while actively promoting or practicing racism, she made absolutely certain no one was going to hear that message.
As I’ve said before, the onus in communication is primarily on the messenger to express him or herself in a way that the audience is likely to understand.
When you target a symbol, like the American flag that is almost universally recognized as a standard of freedom and you tell people it means something quite different, you can’t be surprised when they don’t hear what you are trying to say and react with umbrage.
Going on to call people who fly the flag racist and, for all intents and purposes, stupid isn’t winning you a lot of new support.
Timing also matters and picking the most patriotic date on the calendar meant the audience was even less likely to hear what she says was her actual message.
In the days that followed, the NAACP publicly disavowed the statement made by the Utah BLM. So, the statement was so incendiary that even allies see a need to distance themselves from it.
Communication is different than negotiation. In a negotiation, you benefit from establishing an anchor position (say a desired price or salary) because you know you are going to haggle a bit and meet closer to the middle.
In communication, an extreme anchor position can cause your audience to dismiss you right out of the gate and, potentially, be unable to take anything else you say seriously.
By choosing to attack a symbol that means a great deal to so many, Black Lives Matters makes it much more difficult for allies to stand with them or potential allies to align with them. I would presume such actions don’t fit into an overall strategy.
Non-blacks who agree that there are some elements of systemic racism or who simply stand in favor of racial equality may find it more difficult to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a group that takes a stance they simply won’t align with because of their love for our country, warts and all.
If you call everyone who waves the American flag a racist, if you publicly question their intelligence, you make it much less likely that non-racist Americans who honor the flag and what it represents, and who don’t consider themselves to be stupid people, are going to support you.
Racism is an important issue and one that is rightfully being discussed across the nation. Building on that momentum is better than creating greater division.
*When you are trying to persuade people to join your cause – no matter what it is – it’s best to do that in a way that builds bridges so they can join you, rather than attacking something important to them and pushing them away.*
That’s it for this week.
More On Message in the next issue of the Utah Political Underground.
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