{"id":880,"date":"2012-06-24T20:16:30","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T03:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/?p=880"},"modified":"2013-01-05T15:23:58","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T20:23:58","slug":"truth-is-good-but-not-popular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerrysjuicebar.com\/blog\/?p=880","title":{"rendered":"Truth is good, but not popular"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>\n

I remember being there in the Moscone Center. \u00a0It was July 19, 1984. \u00a0(Yes, I’m that old.) \u00a0“Morning in America” had not arrived. \u00a0Many thought Reagan would be a one-term president. \u00a0I was watching Democratic candidate Walter Mondale give his acceptance \u00a0as the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. \u00a0It was a great speech. \u00a0Historic. \u00a0 Then about half-way through the speech came this:<\/p>\n

Let’s tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And I said to myself:<\/p>\n

And you just lost!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Mondale was right. \u00a0That is, what he said was true. \u00a0President Reagan did raise taxes. \u00a0But that wasn’t exactly the campaign promise that gets people elected.<\/p>\n

Recently President Obama got into trouble for saying that the private sector was doing “OK”. \u00a0It actually is doing OK. \u00a0The private sector’s got record profits and sitting on $1.7 trillion in liquid assets. \u00a0Small problem. \u00a0They got OK by laying off people.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Congressman Ryan got in trouble by saying that entitlements were bankrupt and that we’d need to raise retirement eligibility and reduce benefits. \u00a0Can you guess how that went over?<\/p>\n

Al Gore talked about an Inconvenient Truth<\/a>. \u00a0Ron Paul reminds us that as a nation “we’re broke<\/a>!”.<\/p>\n

Popular guys, right?<\/p>\n

We hear a lot about honesty and transparency in the communications business these days. \u00a0But the fact is that honesty – that is, telling the truth – is something that most people don’t want to hear.<\/p>\n

Honesty is only popular when it is something you agree with … or it is funny. \u00a0That is, when honesty makes fun of other people. \u00a0(We don’t like truth that makes fun of ourselves!)<\/p>\n

That’s why David McCullough’s commencement speech at Wellesley High School went viral. \u00a0He was the guy who had the guts to tell students, “you’re not special!<\/a><\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Telling truth to power? \u00a0Not really, just digging high school students.<\/p>\n

Then there’s that great ad movie, Crazy People<\/a>. \u00a0<\/strong>Dudley Moore plays an ad guy who is goes to an insane asylum and begins writing ads that are “truthful”. \u00a0Memorable ad copy included:<\/p>\n