One of the big news stories of the week (and a nice distraction from the weather) was Google versus China. Acts like this just make us remember that freedom of speech and information still doesn’t exist for all people (and businesses make moral compromises under the guise that some progress is better than none, but that is for another blog)

Freedom of speech and information still doesn’t exist for all people

I am always getting into trouble for something that I have said or questions that I ask. I have an unquenchable thirst for understanding and I prefer to get that by talking to people first, reading second.

My first experience of this being an issue was when I was travelling Vietnam many years ago. I hate war but was drawn into what had happened there by what I saw in the museums, I guess on first reflection I thought it was “the other side of the story” and it was, but it was also censored, very blatantly censored and this made me want to know more.

I spoke to people that had lived through the war and to a certain degree were still living that regime. I had so many questions but I was told that the people who were talking to me would be punished if I persisted with my questioning…

…Punished? For talking to me (scruffy backpacker) about a war that has been so well documented and analysed over many years by many people – why?

How lucky were we in the “free world” to be able to express an opinion and write and talk about what we see happening around us. We take this for granted, how can it be any other way?

Does this mean we believe everything we hear, see and read?

I read an article written by Christiane Amanpour in which she talks about her 20 years on the road as a journalist. She makes a really interesting point about the fact that technology is bringing us more information but we are getting less and less understanding.

It is so easy now just to flick through the headlines, especially online. Who reads a paper from cover to cover? In our time starved day do we keep up to date by scanning what we see and taking it all at face value?

What makes you delve deeper, go beyond a headline?

Even if you do read the detail, how often do you follow up? News is now so much about the new headline, we have “Breaking News” everyday. It is actually really hard to follow some stories through and without doing that how much can we really understand?

If we don’t understand or challenge what we hear, see and read it might as well be censored, we are still being manipulated aren’t we?

I have seen this creep into the workplace over the last few years too. When I started out the emphasis was on “Executive Summary” that was all your boss wanted to see. Your project may have lasted 6 months and generated a shed load of data but you had to sum that up in one meaningful page.

This lead to reports being given in the form of presentations, work would be pre-circulated but the chances were your boss would be reading it while you were presenting.

The advent of email has resulted in constant updates of information being “shared” in a fast and furious way. Most of us speed read or don’t read them at all.

Texting and Twitter have to be the icing on the cake. It is really hard to put something of meaning and intelligence over in 140 characters which is why Twitter is full of self indulgent banter, fun but doesn’t help our understanding.

All these things have their place but my concern is they seem to have replaced our desire for detail.

The devil is always in the detail

When we go into different businesses the first thing we do is listen. We soak up what people have to tell us because we have to understand before we can help.

We have the freedom to do that, learn from what has gone before and it means that our future has a higher chance of success.

China still has some of the most patriotic citizens in the world. Hopefully this stand by Google will see China taking another brave step in trusting in their own and loosening the grip.

For the rest of us, let’s get into the detail, go over 140 characters and understand something that will allow you to challenge in pursuit of your own better future.