As a child, I hated museums. They were full of more or less identifiable things, labelled with meaningless names, dates and places. In other words: They were boring. Guided tours did nothing to change that. They merely herded us around, restricting our movement and making us wait in front of things that the guide deemed interesting. By the time I was fifteen, I had been thoroughly and repeatedly convinced that museums were torture.

You’re in the middle of a conversation, but then: “Oh, there’s Claudia. Sorry, I really need to talk to her”. - You’ve given a talk, there’s no question in the Q&A, and the moderator asks something superficial before sending you off with a polite round of applause. - You’re halfway through a lecture, looking out at hundreds of blank faces, and no one answers the question you asked. This is boredom in action.

In just two months, the Left Party in Germany went from being virtually written off for this election to winning 8.8%. In the news, the success is described as “unexpected”, a “surprise” or even a “miracle”¹. Speculation is rife as to how they did it. I won’t argue with any of the theories, but I will add my own: The Left Party did an excellent job of storytelling.

In fact, the Left Party did such a good job that I kept their flyer (which happened to be the only direct campaign advertisement I received) as an example.

While writing the blog article that was supposed to be next, I noticed that I keep using the phrase “stupid” question. Why? Because everyone knows what I mean when I say it. But the question I am referring to is not a stupid question, which is why I use parentheses or add the adjective “so-called”. Problem solved, right? No.

Our memory likes things it has seen before. The phrase “stupid question” is well known, which is why I found myself using it. But with each encounter, we make it stronger. Which is a useful quality for a phrase, unless it is offensive and counterproductive like this one.

We need to stop leaving our audience stranded. Especially if we care about democracy.

That’s it, that’s all I wanted to say. You can go back to whatever you were doing, unless it involves leaving your audience stranded. Then please just stop.

Here’s an explanation so you have something else to do.

The Stranded Audience

First, we need to get the unpleasant business out of the way of actually looking at how to leave our audience helpless. The thing we shouldn’t do¹.

Getting your message right is hard. Even experienced companies can mess up like Apple demonstrated recently with their ad “Crush!”.

It features a giant press that crushes a display of objects related to art such as musical instruments, a bookshelf containing books, a sculpture, paint, games and even a desk light that looks like Pixar’s Luxo Jr. The only object that survives this ordeal is the new iPad Pro. The voice-over announces it as stronger and thinner than anything before.

Democracy is a symbol of freedom, human rights, and the empowerment of people, in stark contrast to the oppression, tyranny, and powerlessness of people living under authoritarian regimes.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where so-called democratic countries have undermined its values and retained little more than the label of democracy, while countries that are still democratic are denied that label by their own citizens. Today, there are people in democratic countries who argue that the political system they live in deprives them of their freedom and rights and makes them feel powerless. They feel that it is up to them to save democracy.

I recently came across an interview with a politician who addressed the issue of communicating with the public in the following way:

People want us to do a good job and they want to understand where we’re going as a government.

When asked why different parties in government say different things, the politician said:

We are all saying the right thing, just from a different angle.

What I understand are three things, none of which will increase my confidence: