The Squeaky Wheel

In Loud voices vs. important ones from Seth, Seth Godin shares

“Broken systems get worse when we confuse the loud voices with the important ones.”

I see a lot of this in the media. The negative stories, the most sensational stories, and the gossip stories seem to get the most attention. These stories are not necessarily the ones we should be paying attention to. It sends the wrong message to our young people. It says that they will get attention if they act bad, act crazy, or act irresponsibly.

When I watch the news stations on TV, I’m always surprised how little news they really report. If they aren’t promoting some political agenda or asking people to donate to a charity the station supports, we end up looking at commercials which pay for the news show. I wish I could watch one station where the news is reported the way it happens without any bias to slant the story. I’m not sure that is possible.

As human nature works, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. As long as we pay attention to the stories and buy the products that support these stories, they will continue.

I’m not even sure who to believe anymore. I’m not sure how true news stories are. I’m not sure who to trust either.

But I’m almost sure that when I hear the squeaky wheel, I will head the other way. I refuse to give them the attention they want. I will work hard to look for positive stories that are hidden. I want to look for the stories that are heartwarming and convince me that there is hope for mankind in today’s world. I will not support stories that extol the recklessness or carelessness of celebrities or sports figures.

I hope by doing this, I’m setting a good example for my students. If they have a role model that they could follow, maybe eventually the squeaky wheels will quietly get pushed to the background. They will never actually disappear, but we can keep them from being the front and center of attention.

How do you quiet squeaky wheels? Please share.

Photo by Edward Stark on Unsplash