Free Brian Williams | Revisionist History | Malcolm Gladwell
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- “Sorry dude, I don’t remember you being on my aircraft.”
NBC news anchor Brian Williams told a war story on national television. It wasn’t true. But does that make him a liar? Part two of Revisionist History’s memory series asks why we insist that lapses of memory must also be lapses of character.
Season 3 (2018)
#podcast #revisionisthistory #malcolmgladwell
ABOUT REVISIONIST HISTORY
Revisionist History is Malcolm Gladwell’s journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood. Every podcast episode re-examines something from the past - an event, a person, an idea, even a song - and asks whether we got it right the first time. Because sometimes the past deserves a second chance.
ABOUT MALCOLM GLADWELL
Malcolm Gladwell is president and co-founder of Pushkin Industries. He is a journalist, a speaker, and the author of six New York Times bestsellers including The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers, David and Goliath, and Talking to Strangers. He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1996. He is a trustee of the Surgo Foundation and currently serves on the board of the RAND Corporation.
ABOUT PUSHKIN INDUSTRIES
Pushkin Industries is an audio production company dedicated to creating premium content in a collaborative environment. Co-founded by Malcolm Gladwell and Jacob Weisberg in 2018, Pushkin has launched seven new shows into the top 10 on Apple Podcasts (Against the Rules, The Happiness Lab, Solvable, Cautionary Tales, Deep Cover, The Last Archive, and Lost Hills), in addition to producing the hugely successful Revisionist History. Pushkin’s growing audiobook catalogue includes includes the bestselling biography “Fauci,” by Michael Specter, “Hasta La Vista, America,” Kurt Andersen’s parody Trump farewell speech performed by Alec Baldwin, "Takeover" by Noah Feldman, and “Talking to Strangers,” from Pushkin co-founder Malcolm Gladwell. Pushkin is dedicated to producing audio in any format that challenges listeners and inspires curiosity and joy.
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So refreshing. Thanks to you and your team for producing these. Your stories are PERSPECTIVE PILLS that society needs to take more often!
It makes a great sense! When this lying saga was going on, I was asking myself why Brian who already a successful anchor needed to lie. It didn’t make sense at all. Now I got the answer.
What a great podcast! I remember my own disdain for Brian Williams when this story blew up. I’m sure a part of that disdain was my perception of Williams as a liberal media figure. Most of us leap to negative perspectives when faced with the foibles of those we deem as the opposition. I regret jumping to that conclusion, and I appreciate Gladwell’s thoughtful take on this story.
The previous podcast that Malcom assigns as a prerequisite to this one is titled, A Polite Word For Liar.
fascinating and heartbreaking.
Thank you.
Is it significant to none of the flashbulb studies was done in the south, and few in the Midwest?
I’m pretty sure I would be able to remember the difference between being in a war zone area in a helicopter vs. being shot down in a war zone in a helicopter. While I understand how details can get a little twisted and re-formed, being shot down in a copter is not a detail. It is an event.
Completely aside from the fabrication issue, I was always irritated by Williams sing song intonation and his constant use of catch phrases. I couldn't stand to watch him on MSNBC. On top of that the 11PM show only repeated what had already been broadcast earlier.
I was 2 1/2 when I was baptized. I remember my baptism. Strangely, the thing the priest used to pour water on my head looks exactly like the the thing my mom used to get sugar from a big blue can. Strangely, also, I remember the water falling on my forehead and feeling like I was drowning ... but I don't know where the water is coming from - all I remember is the water and a face I can't tel whose it is.
Oh, I also remember - from years later - my mom telling me that after the baptism I kept saying "the priest tried to drown me".
Wow ... I should try to find out if I even got baptized, after all!
Odd thought - imagine a person - maybe, a political figure - who obsesses constantly on things that he's said and done. Throw in a slightly messy mental state and he could potentially convince himself he did everything by the book; perfect, even. Hmm.
Reminds me of that movie with Holly Hunter and William Hurt...
which one?
@@danindixie no, that is not it
So, in my family, there's the concept of 'Piet van Steijn', because 'Piet van Steijn' never existed, but my grandfather, Jan van Steijn, used to be a great 'raconteur', stories and jokes telling... He was a guy who lived somewhat a life of a Bohemian'... Well known in a grand Dutch city, having a journal paper kiosque in it, where one, in the 1930s, could acquire somewhat 'raunchy' pics too (apparently, he, at one point, got arrested for it). Apparently, he used to disappear, leaving the house on Monday to only come back the Friday after, having visited numerous bars and card games.
And he was famous for telling stories...
so...
Raconteurs, storytellers
It's between the 'lines', and that's nothing like a 'normal' truth.
I am not so sure I buy this theory.
It was a long-held dream of mine to become a successful, licensed lie teller. That would be a fiction writer. I've held this dream since I was 8 years old.
I have not become successful in that endeavor, but I have written numerous short stories, three screenplays, and one complete novel.
The scenes I have created in these works are almost as real to me as actual events in my life. Almost. But not quite. I am quite able to compartmentalize the two.
Maybe this is because I understand a huge difference between truth and fiction. Fiction not only has to make sense, but it has to support a grander narrative. A theme of some sort. And all the scenes and events in a work of fiction must add to this narrative.
Real-life events don't need to meet this requirement. They can just randomly happen with no real rhyme or reason, especially with no moral one.
For this reason, I am somewhat convinced that the individual here was at least at one point in his life telling a deliberate lie. Perhaps he came to believe this lie at some point down the road. He would have plenty of incentive to try to do so. Accomplishing such would at the very least make his retelling of the lie more convincing. And if he really liked the lie, such would make him feel better too.
You may have realized your dream without even being aware of it. Google Dr. Elizabeth Loftus.
The older I get, the better I was. My storytelling has evolved throughout my life span and my audience often depicts the direction of the story. 😊
Perhaps one cannot make study of flashbulb memory without some modicum of the psychological landscape of the individual. We know for instance some folk ( for whatever psychological reason) have a tendency towards exaggeration and embelishment. To assess that mistakes or miss- memory is just a phenomenon , a thing our memories do sometimes, is fragmentary in itself. The way that we, in infancy say, learn to store or retrieve memories may set the precedence for the rest of our lives, it may also be genetic, it may be, and has been recorded, to be instantly influenced by group memory or group opinion , such as is sometimes seen in jury service instances, or disasters. The study of people with various types of photographic memory may be interesting to compare with general public memory studies. Indeed, it would seem now, that they are invaluable individuals to have in society today. Great podcasts from you Malcolm , thanks. 🙏 Is it possible , maybe, in this instance, that the noble and inspiring habit of defending the underdog , ( not in any way to understate your oeuvre of work) has been obscured by the fallen leaves of experience.
It isn’t about Brian..it is the fact that he didn’t give the real hero’s cred.. it was all about him.. he liked the awe from his listeners…. Keep Brian out of the limelight,… he is a newscaster..
You are talking about two different points of reference. The events of 9/11th did not physically involve the millions who learned about by some means or the other. The people who were in the area that day and who were directly affected remembered the horror because they saw it firsthand. Unless you were so traumatized so that everything was distorted in your recall you would be able to recount where you were and what you experienced. Hundreds did that when they described the experience they actually lived through. Brian Williams was not in a threatening situation. He made up the story of being in personal danger and even embellished it. Later, he had to face the fact of doing that. The actual witnesses of where he was (or was not) uncovered the truth. He did not have a false memory.
I have wanted to know what happened.
Anyone have a link or the title of the study where this research was published?
What percentage of people actually remember correctly?
1%?
5%?
As interesting as it is to learn this info, i think we need to identify those who actually see remember correctly.
Not so as to pass judgement.
More like, i wouldn't want to hire a color blind photographer.
We should use people in roles where these traits are best suited
Google Dr. Elizabeth Loftus.
So all of Donald Trump's lies about his greatness, are all true in his mind?
He should've checked his facts before telling this story in public. It's not just about a faulty memory. Your podcast is slickly produced BS.
What if you’re a narcissist and you constantly see yourself as being more important than you actually are?
Would Gladwell be willing to give Trump the same benefit of the doubt on a 33 yr old rape accusation….
Malcolm you're being ridiculous here
Nice baseless assertion.
The further away from a memory I am the more it seems like I remember remembering those memories, maybe it’s because I’m on the autism spectrum and/or because of a good amount of childhood trauma. It’s helped me not start fights over memories which would sometimes start a fight over me dismissing things when I was with my ex