Monday, October 23, 2006

This Bothers Me

Listening to an interview today reminded me of a couple of things that bother me about public speaking/interviews:

1) When making comments publicly either in person or via electronic media, have your facts straight. It is highly annoying (not to mention embarrassing) to present inaccurate material, especially when criticisms are being made of the subject in question. I heard a recording of a well known Christian speaker addressing a church in TN recently and his mistakes detracted from his overall message. While he later publicly corrected one of his mistakes, he left the other untouched. Sad.

2) When interviewing someone, let THEM talk once in a while. This morning I listened to the same Christian speaker was interviewing a conservative author and all the author was able to say (most of the time) was, "yes". The interviewer was so busy giving his spin on the interview topics, the interviewee was limited to single syllable responses a large percentage of the time. If that is all they will be allowed to say, then why on earth bother to interview them?

Being a Christian, I tend to stand up for a majority of my fellow believers, that is unless they are acting self-righteous, distorting the facts, or completely ignorant in what they are saying. I realize we all fall short of the Glory of God, but you have to take ownership when you do wrong.

What about you? When someone associated with a group that you are affiliated with presents inaccurate information, do you say anything or do you just let it go?

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