I think we can all agree that the world is a pretty crazy place right now. From the invasion of Ukraine, to New Zealand Police forcefully removing “protesters” from Parliment Square; on one hand we have a power-crazed sociopath intent on world domination, and on the other Vladimir Putin. I joke of course. Regular readers will both know, and be disappointed, by my lefty leanings.
What’s become apparent to me however, is that it has never been harder to follow the actual narrative of major global events. I was at University for Gulf War 2. When I woke up early each afternoon, I could flick on the news and watch big screen war. No matter the channel, the coverage was the same. One brave cameraman who drew the short straw entrusted with capturing the events for eternity. Nowadays, well nowadays, it’s all user-created content. And the problem with this is that it is almost impossible to quickly check the veracity of this content. Frightened of being beaten to the scoop, media outlets release this stuff, and fact check later. So far, we’ve seen screen captures from video games passed off as real, footage from 2001 potato phones claiming to be “on the ground”, and both governments claiming authenticity of any content which promotes their cause.
Closer to home we have the anti-mandate protesters/detritus (delete as applicable). I watched a woman the other day addressing the assembled white-supremacists, gang members, crazy cat ladies, and religious zealots, who claimed the blood of the vaccinated was black and clotted. This woman is, according to her, a nurse. I also saw a blogger/influencer/ oxygen thief (delete as applicable) claim that it was the Police who set fire to the tents. Even though the footage shows the exact opposite. It would seem that the truth has never been less important.
And this might be the thing. People just believe what they want to believe. And some people just want to believe weird shit.
So given it’s so popular, and gets spread so far and wide, I’m going to start telling more lies in my recruitment life.
Candidate: Is there parking?
Me: *Slides battered old photo of 1920s Henderson across the table*. Parking?! It’s all fields mate. You can park where you want.
Candidate: And the benefits?
Me: $300k a year, a night with the CEO’s wife, and life assurance
Candidate: You mean Insurance?
Me: Nah mate. Assurance. They put ivermectin in the drinking fountain. A woman on Facebook assures me you’ll live forever.
Except I won’t.
I used to think that curbing Social Media, and asking the platform owners to take responsibility for content was impractical, and maybe immoral. These platforms were designed for people to share their world view with each other right? Who is Mark Zuckerburg to tell them if it’s correct or not? Then, I actually thought for once. The second any media outlet, social or not, decides what content is shown to who, be it by algorithm, AI, machine learning, or the human, touch, it becomes a publisher. And publishers need to be held to a standard. Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok are no longer a free for all. Content is tagged, selected, and promoted to us. The Lancet can’t publish non-peer reviewed anti-vaxx drivel. If they did, it would legitimise it. If Facebook are promoting content suggesting vaccines turn your blood to molasses or that a Korean kid playing a flight simulator took down a MiG, then they have to take some accountability for it.
And it’s the same for us Recruiters. Actually, that should be “Recruitment Consultants”. Recruiters regurgitate the lies and propaganda spouted by their shit clients. They tell people that their salaries will be reviewed after 3 months, when it will actually be 12. They don’t tell people the real reason the last person left. They work any role irrespective of how lecherous the hiring manager is. The US Military has “Recruiters”. Recruitment Consultants should take responsibility for the voracity of their pitch to candidates. They should be transparent on why the last person left. They should do some background checking on a business before they start talking to candidates about it. They should stop propagating nonsense and tell shit clients to shove their job up their arse. Even if the lies we tell are our client’s lies and not our own, we’re still telling porkies.
Anyway, it’s good to be back folks. Have a lovely weekend.
^SW
Oh…and if you do enjoy tall-stories, come join us on the 31st March for the #RicePowWow. Due to anti-vaxx knob-heads, places are limited, but rumour has it, there are a couple of places still left. Click here.
