The relationship of sales, politics and the truth

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Sales and politics have many nuances and definitions, but for the purposes of today's topic, I narrow them to these two definition from Merriam Webster:

Sales: the development of a belief in the truth, value, or desirability of: gaining acceptance of.

Politics: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy.

So, politics is really a specialized, focused type of sales.  A politician is a developer of belief in the value or desirability of a governmental policy and a developer of the belief in the truth of his/her supported positions to the public, to his/her constituents.  So, that obviously being fair, how could such a system ever go wrong!?

The rub comes when the belief in truth isn't actually the full factual truth.  If I convince you to buy a used car from me by convincing you to believe that the engine is in perfect condition with at least 100.000 miles left in its life, it does you no good if, after paying a reasonable price for a car in that kind of condition, it requires a full overhaul after 5,000 miles.  Whether I knew the true condition or not, you are stuck with a high bill added to what turned out to be an unfair price for the car.  And, if I knew the true condition, I am at the very least a lying, immoral scoundrel and at worst a criminal.


We were actually taught in our high school on our debate team the art and science of developing a belief in truth.  At each tournament, there was the same proposition that every debater argued.  The interesting part was that you competed in six judged debates for the tournament alternating between taking the position of the proposition being true and the proposition being false.  Three debates for each side.  It gave a very different understanding of the difference between truth and the belief in truth.  Victory was to convince the judge that you developed a belief in the truth of your position better than your opponent.


The courtroom is much the same..  The defense and the prosecution are given the task of developing beliefs in truth in the minds of the jurors.  It applies to lawyers, politicians, car salesmen, etc.  All have a vested interest in the development of beliefs in truth, it is how they make their living.

It gets interesting when you have an expert that is brought into the picture to deal with the actual truth, not the belief.  Sometimes, they seal the deal and the sale is completed.  Sometimes, they are the nail in the coffin!  They often become the acid test to determine whether the cultivated belief is identical to the factual truth.  The computer salesman is a bit at the mercy of the technical expert, the car salesman to the mechanic, the politician to the scientist.  Usually, if you ask the technical expert, the mechanic or the scientist a specific question, you will get a specific and, if they are the real deal in their area of expertise, factual answer.  It really helps the salesman or politician if that answer supports the belief they are developing!

Unfortunately, there are many paths around these problems for the untrustworthy.  They can attack the validity of the experts.  Or, they can develop a supporting belief that actually is true, but fully irrelevant to the overall position being sold.  Or, they can attack the opponent as a person and make it seem like they are invalidating their position in the process.  Or, they can simply say an untruth over and over until it seems like it must be true.


Those are but a few of the methods, but perhaps the worst and most effective is to stir up irrational fears of the consequences of not accepting the beliefs they are developing for you.  Suddenly, truth takes a back seat to safety and survival.  This has been used by autocrats forever.

The only possible protection for the receiver of the attempts at belief development is education of the consumer and the information and good channels of the information from a variety of sources.  When it comes to truth, education, courage and elbow grease are irreplaceable!



Please check out my other blog mates' takes on the same topic brought to us by yours truly at their blogs: 

Comments

  1. Ramana RajgopaulDecember 18, 2020 at 3:46 AM

    I was wondering how you will tackle the topic and after having read the post everything falls into place. I had not come across the definition of sales that you have provided not thought it necessary to look it up. Had I, perhaps I too would have taken a different approach. Your take on truth and the Sales Manager's in my post fall into the same category! He perhaps would have made a good politician.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Old FossilDecember 18, 2020 at 11:13 PM

      I would assume that your sales were honest. When you have a product that you are knowledgeable about and that you believe that it is in truth good for a client, that is the perfect situation for the high level salesman!

      Delete
  2. Srinivas CDecember 25, 2020 at 8:42 PM

    Very cleanly made point with supporting arguments. I certainly learnt quite a bit from here. More people should be educated to the standard you embody.

    ReplyDelete

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