The messenger matters

Don’t shoot us, we’re going to talk about messengers. Like it or not, they now define public debate.

Take this example - we are all having fewer kids. In more than two-thirds of countries, the average number of children born to each woman has fallen below the “replacement rate” of 2.1. That has huge implications for culture, society, economies, the environment - even the future of humanity. 

Unfortunately, about a year before this subject truly hit the mainstream, it had already been subsumed into a truly weird and misogynistic pronatalism movement by the likes of Elon Musk, JD Vance, and the US right. 

Rather than an informed debate about the reasons and impact of such a shift, we’re now confronted with some awful manosphere rubbish and even theories about the lost art of dating for some reason?

Alternatively, consider polyamory and consensual non-monogamy (the topic, this isn’t dating advice. Although you do you). Culture has long-since defined such preferences as the demands of randy men, yet among the 20% of people who have tried opening a relationship, women are often the ones who first raise the possibility of it. This reality conflicts with our cultural expectations, stifling conversation. 

So much of comms is about how to frame a narrative, but while we’ve never truly made judgements based on a rational balance of facts, we're now increasingly likely to take a position based solely on the position of our favoured leader or influencer.

In a world defined by personality and highly selective trust, the messenger is as much the frame as the message itself. On many issues, that's becoming a major problem.