Daily Prompt: “He liked to know what others thought important.” The Path of Daggers, 8thbook of The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
What would be the use of knowing what others thought important? One use would be in choosing a topic of discussion for news articles. I think, however, that topics in the news are chosen by the amount of controversy that can be generated. Rather than choose topics that might interests readers, issues that will disturb the reader are reported. News companies have disposed of the old days of “responsible journalism” in order to game viewers. Being infamous is better than being famous. We make the unimportant, important by creating scandals.
Knowing what others thought important would be useful in competing in the consumable markets…in its day. Currently, rather than listening to what the consumer wants, companies have set campaigns to tell the consumer what they want. They have entire departments dedicated to convince the consumer that this one product is the one they cannot live without. Once, the marketing departments around the globe should come to realize that if they must campaign to sell a product, the product may not be of value. Those things that the consumer is tricked into purchasing are usually short-lived, fads. A waste of money: both the monies of the marketing budget and those hard-earned dollars out of the consumer pocket.
To know what is important to an individual could be useful in determining the demeanor of the person. Knowing what is important tells much about a person, whether they are willing to hurt people to advance their own needs or willing to sacrifice for their needs of the less fortunate. Knowing what is important is only part of the equation as people feel different things are important for different reasons. One person may believe that good health is important for the sake of longevity, where another person my believe that good health is important for the benefits of lower medical costs. Knowing what is important to another person isn’t enough, knowing why it is believed important is also necessary as the ‘why’ could change the focus of the ‘what.’ (The person who believes that good healthy is important for the benefits of lower medical cost seems to focus more on saving money than health.)
All other the same, if I am not interested in the person, I do not care what they think important. It is my belief that news companies and those companies that sell products and services really do not care about the consumers. They want to sell enough of their commodity to turn a profit. Good to remember when a salesman or advertisement is throwing feverish sales pitches at you. If someone, even one you do not particularly like, asks why you care, tell them truth. They are interested in understanding you or they would not have cared what you thought important.
it’s so true and that reality has made me very skeptical indeed. i feel like if someone’s selling me something — like food for example, that often it’s never any good. thus, i have to find ways to make my own… very nice piece
Thank you for commenting.
I, too, ignore the hype and make my own decisions.