Current Application
A modern version of attacking the messenger can be seen when persons blame the media for presenting bad news about a favored cause, person, organization, etc. The fact remains that 'shooting the messenger may be a time-honored emotional response to unwelcome news, but it is not a very effective method of remaining well-informed.'
Getting rid of the messenger may also be a tactical move; but the danger is that an ethos of non-disclosure may follow any hostile response to negative feedback. 'People learn very quickly where this is the case, and will studiously avoid giving any negative feedback; thus the "Emperor" continues with the self-delusion....obviously this is not a recipe for success.' Barbara Ehrenreich in Bright-sided/Smile or Die argued that a culture of "thinking positive" so as to 'purge "negative people" from the ranks... the bubble-itis ' of the 2000s.
Reaction to whistleblowing organization WikiLeaks led to calls not to shoot the messenger.
Read more about this topic: Shooting The Messenger
Famous quotes containing the words current and/or application:
“The first opinion that occurs to us when we are suddenly asked about something is usually not our own but only the current one pertaining to our class, position, or parentage; our own opinions seldom swim on the surface.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The receipt to make a speaker, and an applauded one too, is short and easy.—Take of common sense quantum sufficit, add a little application to the rules and orders of the House, throw obvious thoughts in a new light, and make up the whole with a large quantity of purity, correctness, and elegancy of style.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)