The Do-Over is Dead | Media Training
Once upon a time, you could say something really stupid in public, correct yourself or apologize, and move on.
Those days are over.
Just ask Nancy Gordeuk of Georgia’s TNT Academy. Recently, the school principal made a mistake of announcing that the graduation ceremony was over prematurely. Then, she stood up and complained that “all the black people” were leaving. As if that weren’t racial enough, her son defended her on Facebook the next day by attacking the “nigg$%s.”
So Gordeuk’s case for not being a racist is looking slimmer and slimmer every moment.
It’s one thing to stay something obnoxious at a park bench and to be captured on a surveillance camera. But it is another to be speaking at a large public forum where many parents have their cell phones out capturing every moment on video. You have no wiggle room.
Some will bemoan this turn of events as political correctness running amuck. But most will see this change as a force for the positive; ugly hatreds and bigotries can no longer lurk in the shadows undetected.
These days, unless you are in the privacy of your own home or office (and even that isn’t safe if you post idiocies to social media), there is no such thing as the do-over. If you say it in public or where others are recording and uploading to social media, you are entering your thoughts on your permanent record. So think before you speak.
TJ Walker is a communications expert. You can enroll in one of his online communications courses at https://www.mediatrainingworldwide.com/online-training.html