I have been stunned and frightened by the evolution of two high profile story arcs in recent weeks — neither of which has anything to do with a famous Orlando golfer. Now, like most patrons at good neighborhood bars, at WordWrite we avoid posts about either politics or religion. But the following examples are only political in an illustrative sense about a widespread practice that too frequently undercuts authentic communication and storytelling.
The core of each story pits the rigor of the scientific method and the authentic communication it often generates against those whose vested interests are threatened by discovering lucid reality. While this is a common thread in the protagonist/antagonist tandems we find in stories (and life), these elements have evolved to strain credulity and deliver another death knell for that very uncommon, ever elusive element that requires no scientific explanation, common sense.
First, a government-sponsored effort that convenes leading medical experts trusted to improve preventative health care practices now recommends women wait until age 50 (up from the previous guideline of 40) before getting regular mammograms. Citing a reduced benefit from pre-50 screening and heightened emotional and real costs for the current practice, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHQR) now recommends women first obtain screenings at age 50 and then every two years thereafter. It is a guideline carefully crafted, born from scientific review — the more rigorous cousin of building authentic stories rooted in fact — and is offered in the general public interest.
Immediately the breast cancer “industry” started howling in disagreement. An aggressive oppositional response came from the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Then, Secretary of Health and Human Service Kathleen Sebelius completely distanced herself from the findings. Without directly criticizing the AHQR report, both said it should be ignored and prevailing screening guidelines should be followed. Neither offered any medical or scientific evidence for their opinions. Evidently the world of real science had cut too close to the political and fund-raising efforts of the day (not to mention popular opinion, decades of education and the fears of millions of women).
The second story is an even more extreme example of this phenomenon. As the Copenhagen climate summit continues, news about global warming and climate change has been prominent and frequent. Former Vice President Al Gore is internationally recognized as a leader on the topic and is widely involved in domestic public education and communication efforts about the same. As such he’s been a common news face in kick-starting overall discussion about climate change and its impact.
Former Vice Presidential candidate Sara Palin has taken Gore’s efforts as a cue to openly disagree with him and to question the entire premise that human activity contributes to global warming. Mind you, she does this in the face of extensive international scientific evidence that does link human action and climate change. Without offering any credible evidence to justify her claims, Palin, and those who support her claims, continue to question something that has long been established just about everywhere else as the reality of the day (even Greenlanders are planning for the day — they hope to become a semi-tropical paradise!).
And this is the point about such contrivances. Forced, vested-interest opposition to the real stories of the day, (in all of the extreme, cognitive filter-clogging banter that come this sort of authentic anti-authenticity) soon becomes the hangman to the life of authentic communication. 
All communication is only possible because of mutual agreement on the symbols (words, letters, pictures, brand, etc.) used within it. In the modern world, the conflicting claims of communication symbols sometimes leaves us with a growing desire, and critical need, for lucid, accurate and authentic communication. Incubating this is hard but in our collective best interests. So is our request to those who threaten it that they chill, read about the Vikings, Magellan and Columbus, and come to grips with the fact that the world is not flat.
_____
John Durante is senior marketing associate for WordWrite Communications.
