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Top of Mind Thursday Memo Archive
Top of Mind Thursday – May 5, 2022: Unprecedented
This week, a draft of the proposed Supreme Court ruling on Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public.
The text, which has been confirmed by the court as authentic, shows a majority of the justices are planning to vote to overturn this landmark abortion rights legislation–first upheld as law in 1973.
This has been a political hotbed for years. Donald Trump and many Republican politicians have focused on this as a major campaign issue for a number of years. However, surveys consistently show that nearly 2/3 of Americans support a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body.
That doesn’t mean all these people support abortion. It just means they don’t feel the government should make this type of decision for its citizens. If the government can’t force people to wear masks to prevent the spread of a deadly disease, then they shouldn’t be able to legislate what happens to a woman’s uterus either. Overturning Roe v. Wade won’t make abortions go away–just the ones that are safe and legal.
What’s most disturbing is that the three most recent Supreme Court nominee were clear in their confirmation hearings that Roe v. Wade was the rule of law and it has precedence: It’s been upheld and reinforced in subsequent rulings, and they each would respect that.
Regardless of how we feel about this particular issue, the idea that the Court can toss legal precedent to pamper to political interests should be terribly frightening. Does this mean any decision a political party disagrees with can be thrown out as well? What’s next–outlawing interracial marriage or dismantling civil rights rulings?
We can see from what’s going on in Europe now what happens when a leader becomes powerful enough to control all aspects of the government–when opponents are afraid to speak out against him because they may be poisoned or exiled.
Our democracy was designed to have three separate branches of government, each of which would operate without political pressure from the others.
To turn the American judicial system into a political machine that executes the will and whims of either political party is unprecedented. And it should stir us all to ask, if this can happen, what’s next?
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – April 28, 2022: Juxtaposition
While much of the world is mulling billionaire Elon Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter, another news story caught my eye.
Anti-semitic incidents in the US last year were up by more than 34%–with actual assaults up over 160% year-to-year. These are the highest numbers in the 40+ years the Anti-Defamation League has been tracking these events.
While there’s not a direct connection between these two stories, Musk’s stated intention in buying Twitter is to allow for more free speech on the platform. There’s concern he will undo all the work Twitter has done over the last several years to curb hate speech, prevent online harassment, limit posts on sexual violence and assault, and ban false or misleading posts about COVID-19 and vaccines.
Unfortunately, there’s a correlation between hateful, violent, and misleading social media posts and actual acts of hate, violence, and harassment of groups targeted by these posts. This includes not just Jews, but Asian-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanics, Muslims, immigrants, and people in the LGBTQ community.
We saw the positive power of social media in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder, the arrest and conviction of Ahmed Abery’s killers, and the widespread support for the current plight of the Ukrainian people. Now it’s up to all of us to be on the lookout for hateful content masquerading as free speech.
If we push back, we can make it clear these kind of incidents and posts won’t fly. Even on Twitter.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – April 21, 2022: Filling the Silence With Music
We are all watching the situation in Ukraine with horror. What’s happening over there now is unspeakable and fills me with great sadness, and I know many of you feel the same way.
At the recent Grammy Awards, President Volodymr Zelensky asked the audience to fill the silence with music. That’s exactly what a group of amateur musicians is doing.
You may know that playing piano is an important part of my life. Polly van der Linde, the director of the piano camp I regularly attend in Bennington, Vermont, asked for volunteers to learn and play the music of Ukrainian composers. She expected a few people to respond. Over 100 people expressed interest and more than 50 of us will be playing a benefit concert featuring the music of Ukrainian composers on Saturday, April 23rd at 4pm EDT.
Each participating pianist will record a piece we’ve learned over the last few weeks. The concert will stream all of the recordings–including the music of 10 Ukrainian composers, plus the National Anthem–on April 23rd, with proceeds going to the Global Giving Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund. The full concert will be available on an archived web page afterwards.
My piece is by Nikolai Kapustin, one of my favorite 20th century composers. He combines jazz and rock elements into a classical style in a very unique way. Even though I’ve played his music for several years, it wasn’t until last month that I realized he was Ukrainian and not Russian!
Some of the pieces being played are not well-known in the classical music world. But we feel this is a great opportunity to celebrate the rich musical history of a country that has given us so many wonderful classical composers and musicians.
Our goal is to raise at least $50,000 for humanitarian relief. We’re well on our way, but I’m hoping you will find it in your heart to join our effort by donating what you can to this important cause.
News Flash: CBS National News will be running a short piece highlighting this effort tonight, Thursday, April 21st during the Evening News, starting around 6:45 PM. Check this out!
And please join us on April 23rd as we fill the world with Ukrainian piano music.
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com
Top of Mind Thursday – April 14, 2022: A Different Take on Passover
Tomorrow at sundown, the holiday of Passover begins.
This is the time when the Jewish people celebrate our freedom from slavery in Egypt–when we escaped the Pharaohs who killed our first born male children and treated us poorly for over 400 years.
For the last two years, we’ve had to downgrade the celebration–COVID would not allow to gather together to retell the story of leaving Egypt, trekking through the desert, and finally winding up in the Holy Land. This year, though COVID still lurks in the shadows, but we can finally meet together for this occasion.
But our celebration this year is subdued because of what is going on in Ukraine. The parallels between what happened in ancient times and what is going on in Eastern Europe are striking. We see innocent women and children slaughtered for no reason. We see cities lying in ruin.
But we also see a people who will not give in. They are fighting back and pushing back the enemy. They have tasted freedom and they aren’t going back to slavery of any sort.
Poet Emma Lazarus said, “Until all of us are free, we are none of us free.”
On the eve of Passover 5782, we hold the people of Ukraine in our thoughts are we celebrate our freedom. And this year we say, “Next year in a free Ukraine.”
Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise–even in a crisis situation.
Catch the latest episodes of the hottest podcast on business and entrepreneurship…ShrimpTank Seattle Wednesdays at noon PT.
Check out our marketing thought leadership podcasts and the video trailer for my book, Marketing Above the Noise: Achieve Strategic Advantage with Marketing that Matters.
.
Let us help your business rise to the top.
linda@popky.com
(650) 281-4854
www.leverage2market.com