"True Grit" (Reading #1)

True Grit & The Groundswell

"The wicked flee when none pursueth."

            You know, I had a rather difficult time thinking about what to write for this first reading reflection. In all of the reading we have done so far in Groundswell, I’ve found there to be just SO much information – so many examples. It took a while for me to figure out where to take this assignment. It actually wasn’t until I went out and saw the new movie True Grit that I found my inspiration.

            For those of you who may not be familiar, True Grit is a movie that’s in theaters right now. It’s a remake of a 1969 classic and stars actors Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon (!!!). The story follows a 14-year old girl in her attempt to have her father’s killer hung. It’s a long and strategic journey in a sort of old Western-y type of film. At first glance, I thought I’d hate the movie – it’s not really my type. But, I knew it had received a number of nominations and I didn’t think my boyfriend would want to see another “girly” movie, so I caved. It’s actually a fantastic film – I highly recommend it. ANYWAYS, back to my point…in the opening shot of the film presents an old proverb from the Old Testament. It reads, “The wicked flee when none pursueth.” I really liked this quote as I feel like it applies to so many situations in life. Think about it – let’s say you have a bully who likes to get a rise out of his victims. This “rise” will fuel the bully’s fire, however, if the victim doesn’t let it bother him and goes on as if the bully’s actions have no impact, the bully will likely lose interest. Right? It’s an idea that can be applied to many different circumstances, even in the PR/marketing world.

            Now how does this seemingly irrelevant example relate to the Groundswell readings we’ve done so far? Well, I was thinking about the examples provided in Chapter One – the examples that included the photo of Barbara Streisand’s house, the Comcast employee who fell asleep on the job, the digg.com posting of the “forbidden key” code, and others. In all of these instances, the Internet community got ahold of some potentially compromising information and spread it online. What is an organization, or individual, to do when presented with this type of obstacle? The text concludes that, “this movement can’t be tamed. It comes from thousands of sources and washes over traditional business like a flood…it can’t be stopped at any one place. Often it can’t be stopped at all.” (Groundswell 9). With that knowledge under our belt, the job of the organization then becomes a matter of learning to understand and prevail in an ever changing community where information is limitlessly provided and received.

            Think back to the proverb: “The wicked flee when none pursueth.” When an individual, or organization, is faced with negativity that may be circulating on the Internet, it is often best not to pursue each and every quibble that they come across. Once people realize that the efforts to tame the comments out there, they can begin to think of innovative ways to offset them. Remembering all the while that the “rise” that they could potentially evoke in their audience by trying to combat their negative comments could only make them lash out even further.

            Final words of advice: (1) Learn to let it go. Unless it’s an enormous PR crisis, come to terms with the fact that people are going to speak either mind – let ‘em do it. The more you let your audience know you’re “freaking out”…the more they’ll provoke you. (2) Go see True Grit…it’s great!