It might be easier to ignore the ‘way things are’ if it were just the Ray Rice/Adrian Peterson situation or if it were just ISIS and the slick video production that is turning the group into a media sensation. When I heard Randall Wallace talk about his feelings on the Scottish referendum I realized there was a larger issue in play here. It wasn’t so much his feelings on the vote that swayed me as his tacit admission that there is a huge following of his Braveheart film running through Scotland like a river of pent up rage. The film gave viewers an image to tie to their emotion. If it is true that 65% of people are visual learners, it must also be true then that the optics–the specific amount of information and circumstance they see greatly effects how they interpret the world.
As Americans we are trained to chase the flashy thing. Bigger is better and brighter is King. ISIS gets it. They produce high quality videos that will attract our attention if for no better reason to comment on how well done the video is. The Rice case turned ugly the moment we actually saw him punch his wife. We’d know about the abuse incident for quite some time up to that point, but the optics of the thing–actually seeing it–changed everything. Rice, who’d been suspended two games and was likely going to be moved to a 6 game punishment, was suspended forever. Officially the suspension is indefiite, but it is unlikely that anyone will pick him up…
That brings us to Wallace. In his NPR interview he references to the Braveheart’s, which is a movement of people who see his film as a tipping point. It helps them remember the longstanding loss. Without Braveheart it seems like less of a movement and more of scattered group of people. Why is that? Optics.