All projects: Gel, Jobs, Good Todo, Games, Uncle Mark, Blog, Bit Literacy
How to make a message disappear: details, details
One way to make information vanish is to cover it with overly complicated details.
In a recent post, Philip Greenspun writes that the U.S.'s economic troubles are poorly understood, due to the complexity of the explanations.
[Looking at America's situation,] an accountant would say, "You're spending more than you earn. You have to stop or you will run out of money." ... Instead of accountants in public discourse, however, we have economists. ...Instead of the sober accountant showing up on TV or in a news article saying "You aren't rich enough to do stuff like this" or "All of your wealth was siphoned off by the following cronies of the current rulers" we have Economist A saying "Really the U.S. is in great shape if only we printed more money here, had one government agency issue some bonds there, had another government agency buy those bonds, and changed some assumptions in making projections about the costs of Programs X, Y, and Z".
If you want to impart real understanding to a user, keep it simple, direct, and short.
And whenever you see someone presenting an impressively complicated framework, beware. All those details may be hiding something.
Reminds me of complex court cases like Madoff or Blagojevich, in which simplifying were key. For important things, add an information designer instead of just loading up on subject matter experts.
That's where the kid comes in and calls out that the emperor is naked (if it were just that simple).
Simply put... the average 'apolitical' person can never relate to epic issues such as the nation's escalating debt...if its not contextualized to the user.
As a copywriter/editor who really has preached clarity, precision, directness and simplicity, I agree with your points.
There are, however, ways in which simplicity and directness are used to obscure truth and make biased points appear neutral. Many conservatives in politics and Fox News in media are good at the simple, direct sound bite that resonates with many. But while the message is clear and simple, it's at the very least up for debate as to the truth.
Thanks!