Memory, Media and Machinery
By Gary Shapiro
The recent kerfuffle over Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson’s childhood memory leaves me with a strange mix of befuddlement and sadness. How have childhood memories, especially those from a half-century ago, become a presidential campaign issue, when they are known to be unreliable? Do the details of Carson’s West Point scholarship speak to his character or fitness to be president?
In 2012, Republican candidate Mitt Romney was attacked for a schoolyard incident that he didn’t remember and could not be corroborated. How relevant are these childhood stories? The Washington Post reports we all have memories from our youth that are simply untrue.
And how relevant are these allegations against political leaders and their factual basis, compared with big issues and memories we have as adults? Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton wrongly said she flew in a helicopter under sniper fire in Bosnia in 1996 while first lady, mislaid many subpoenaed documents, and intentionally and exclusively used a private email account as secretary of state.
The Carson attacks are mean-spirited and out of proportion compared with the media scrutiny other candidates have received. Carson claimed in his book he was offered a full scholarship to West Point, even though as America now knows through endless, breathless news stories on Carson, the military academies are free for those who are admitted. And whether he was offered one, or his benefactor said he could help get one, is beside the point. No one can dispute the fact that Carson beat the odds of a troubled youth and daunting poverty, and rose to become a top surgeon and leader in American business.
Part of our national challenge is that the poorest among us have few escape hatches from poverty other than military service or sports. Not only does military our defend us, it has the power to lift young adults with limited career options out of poverty.
Carson ended up going to Yale, on a scholarship, rather than West Point. Through hard work and academic achievement, he lifted himself out of poverty. His career is a remarkable story of perseverance. Our acceptance of this latest attack against Carson’s character shows how petty American politics have become.
The press has created narratives for the presidential candidates, and when the candidates don’t play to type, there’s backlash. Carson is not playing the stereotype that Democrats think he should. Yet, in 2007, candidate Barack Obama’s lack of executive experience drew little discussion from the press.
If an African-American such as Ben Carson or a female business leader such as Carly Fiorina do not play to stereotype, they’re attacked personally and viciously. Carson’s irrelevant childhood recollections and Carly Fiorina’s looks dominate the media echo chambers with jumbled facts, allegations and stories — and not because they are important. In fact, they border on irrelevant. Regrettably, however, they are growing, manufactured controversies of trivialities.
Sometimes facts do matter; sometimes they don’t. Carson’s childhood story of poverty, choices, frustration and angst do matter. His recollection of the conditions he perceived as to why he did not choose a military path or his mixed feelings toward his mother are interesting, but not relevant to his candidacy.
Adult actions matter. We are shifting to a world where we should consider which facts matter. Consider the use of police body cameras. Cellphone footage of police brutality has ignited a citizen uprising across this country. Mandatory police body cameras could help ensure appropriate police behavior and also reduce false allegations of police brutality. There’s so much at stake when we empower some citizens to have physical authority over other citizens. Of course, technology is not always the answer, and even the attainment of truth must be weighed against the costs it imposes, not only on privacy, but on life itself.
And, as with Carson’s childhood, sometimes the pursuit of truth must have limits. The edgy British series Black Mirror includes an episode portraying a future where humans have implanted devices recording and preserving all their interactions with easily searchable video and sound.
The advantage is that every factual disagreement on what happened or what one said is immediately resolvable. The disadvantage is that while truths reveal quickly, the joy, interplay and being “in the moment” of life suffer from competing with better past memories or concern about how they will look upon review. Technology, as realized in Black Mirror, solves many problems but surely affects our humanity and happiness, and even creates new anxieties.
Families sitting together at annual holiday meals often debate childhood memories, and these debates go on endlessly — but they only really matter to the participants. Whether Carson earned a scholarship or found some other funding for his college tuition is irrelevant. The fact that this story has occupied CNN headlines for days is a sad statement on how headlines are made.
Memories are known to be inaccurate. Instead, let’s focus on facts that matter, such as a candidate’s positions and relevant professional experience. Let’s ignore political opponents’ efforts to raise irrelevancies as we head into a presidential election year, choosing who has the temperament, judgment, views and experience to lead our nation.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)TM, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. His views are his own. Connect with him on Twitter: @GaryShapiro
