Look, I’m no expert. And I’m white. But after my offer to help people crafting Black Lives Matter messages earlier this week, a bunch of companies came to me for help. As a result, I got to see some of the mistakes people are making. Many of those who want to write are suffering right…
George W. Bush knows we’ve failed black America. Barack Obama wants to fix things. Together, they point the way forward from this moment of crisis. George W. Bush acknowledges the pain of black Americans While I disagreed with the presidential policies of George W. Bush, I believed that he made decisions based on what was…
The New York Times tweeted this over the weekend: At this moment in time, there are hidden stories in the choices that headline writers write. An active voice headline tells who did what. Two of these headlines are passive. A passive voice headline tells what happened, but hides the who. Minneapolis: A photographer was shot…
It’s a terrifying time, now suffused with fear, not just of contagion, but of violence. Leaders of all kinds — political and corporate — must step up in this moment. But what to say? How can these mostly white leaders show that they understand and appreciate the pain that black and brown Americans, including their…
President Trump signed an executive order yesterday that would change the government’s stance on social networks. Let’s look at the portions that make sense, and the portions that are unhinged raving. I’ll start with this. Social networks need regulation. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are spreading disinformation and dividing America. Now that Twitter has added content…
Donald Trump tweeted that mail-in ballots in California would lead to fraud. Twitter added a content warning on his tweets. If you think this is the start of Twitter fact-checking tweets, you’re wrong. It can’t. The problem is context. Let’s review what actually happened. Here’s what Trump tweeted: Twitter did something it rarely does: included…
Data is crucial in making decisions about reopening states. So is the visualization of that data. And the state of Georgia may have just published the most misleading and dangerous chart about virus infections ever. Here’s the chart. Take a close look. (You can see it bigger here.) The vertical axis is infections. The horizontal…
Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse, apparently jealous of Barack Obama, decided to deliver a seven-minute “commencement speech” that was supposed to be funny. It wasn’t funny. It was sad. If you’re a high school senior, class of 2020, I’m betting it struck you as particularly awful. Sasse, who couldn’t be bothered to shave, put on a…
I’m not getting together in person with very many people these days. I connect with all my professional friends on social media and email. And you people are remarkably consistent — you either offer value, or you don’t. Here’s what I value: original, thoughtful content, and information I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. For example: Data,…