I think there is a fundamental PR concept that Aoun and Nassrallah failed to grasp in their latest speeches: packaging is very important, and some even say that it is as important as the content. In this case, packaging is tone of voice, makeup, setting, lighting and the clothes! And the content is the message and the intended effect.
Nassrallah in his last speech was visibly angry, tensed and at some points even screaming. Meanwhile, the content of his speech was mellow and he tried to make several overtures, stressing his forgiveness of all past offenses and betrayals. Even professing his willingness to share power with those he called traitors. However, all of these overtures were overshadowed by his visible anger, quivering tone and screaming bouts.
On the other hand, Aoun came out on TV with a serious steady tone and even tried to threaten Siniora and warned of a possible invasion of the Saray. However, Aoun was wearing a puffy orange sweater over an orange shirt, with an orange baseball cap. I could not help it; I exploded in laughs and could not stop my self, and did not take anything he said seriously.
In the end, the content of a speech is very important but if it is presented in the wrong package then it will fail to deliver the intended effect and the message will be lost.
31 comments :
you know bob...
I wanna see you criticizing march 14.
self criticizing shows that you are an open minded person.
Congratulations Lebanon!
It looks like you stayed the course in a head on game of chicken with Aoun and Nassrallah and they swerved first.
It's an inspiration to everyone throughout the world, showing aggressors can be stood up to using something other than violence.
Kodder
Yalla, you start first, criticize Hezbollah and I will follow your lead by criticizing March 14...
Let us see if you do your self, what you ask of others…
Rabie
That is not my point; I am speaking on packaging affect the content. So I do not care if there tone and context was real or not…
Anonymous
Thx, but I only wish that it did not take that long, these “demonstrations” are killing our economy…
Hezbollah must understand that threats and bullying will never work; they have to sit at the table and compromise
and it is not over yet...
BOB,
I heard an interview on BBC,am not sure about the date though, with somebody from "Virgin",saying that they might close completely and let go of the 1000 employee they have,is this true??
I have friend in beirut with a family business that has been through thick and thin throughout the years and never thought of leaving until now,by next month their business and families will be out.
What a shame..
Peace,and thanks
faisal
The real winners in all of this are the criminals
critising hezbollah? why should I?
I do not belong with them.
I saying self critisizing...
and I don't do politics.
but its amazing how you put me with hezbollah immidiatly if I don't like march 14...
lovely.
long live lebanon...which I doubt it will be very long with a mentality like this.
You do not do politics???
Well to my knowledge, most of your comments (on LBF, at Jamal's, and here) are political in nature and from them anyone can clearly infer which party you belong to. For example, to this date I have seldom read a positive comment regarding 14 of March, while I have witnessed countless praise to Hezbollah, and harsh critic to 14 of March.
So go ahead and prove me wrong and criticize Hezbollah, or do you believe that they have never made a mistake???
At the end self-critic is great but self honesty is much much important.
At least I am not afraid to say which party I support, keeping in mind that I always stated that 14th of March are the lesser of two evils!
LBF?? Jamal's and here????
first...I never commented anything political on LBF.. NEVER.
2 on jamal..I commented good post jamal on one of his posts.
and 3 on your blog..I commented on one the posts you made about the charicatures that puts the iranian guy and the syrian guy losing their cats/tigers which are attacking lebanon, I said they are missing characters, bush, olmert and the saudi guy.
if that you see as taking side...instead of blaming everyone...
wow
you sure have alot of paranoia and you think everyone is against you...
So I am not only paranoid but also delusional…
Maybe all your posts on Jamal’s were delusions ( I counted around 10 just by googling your alias Kodder)…
Nevertheless, correct me, explain where do you stand, what are your political affiliations.
And if you claim to be neutral, just in the middle, then just criticize both camps, and you will hear my critic of 14th of March…
did you even bother to see what I commented on jamal? of course not :).
here is what you want:
why I do not like hezbollah?
they are stubborn people who want to take control of everything no matter, its either their way or the highway, they do not compromise at all.
they dragged lebanon to a war which was not needed at all, they believe that they should fight in the name of all arabs against the evil that israel is, which I think why even bother.
lets see what else, they refuse to disarm, which I think is total BS. they should disarm and if they want to defend lebanon they should join the army or something.
happy? you still think I am a hezbollah guy?
I will let you critisize your camp yourself.
now its your turn and let it be as a post.
Khido Asraroun Min Zgaroun:
Read the last paragraph of this old report during the July conflict:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1832971,00.html
it says:
And even when the battle with the Israelis is over, he adds menacingly, Hizbullah will have other battles to fight. "The real battle is after the end of this war. We will have to settle score with the Lebanese politicians. We also have the best security and intelligence apparatus in this country, and we can reach any of those people who are speaking against us now. Let's finish with the Israelis and then we will settle scores later."
Wow
I stand corrected and you have my apology...
But first I did read some of your comment and there was undercurrent of support to Hezbollah maybe because your comment were made during the war, but anyways I stand corrected.
A post critiquing 14th of March, why not. I will try to make it next one, or the one after…
Meanwhile I will give you a little critic: Obviously there use of religion, not pushing for any secular breakthrough (civil marriage, 19th sect –for those who refuse to belong to any religious group- )
Disagreeing with Aoun over a seat or two and trying to push him into a corner, which led to his reply of an agreement with Hezbollah.
Some of them dealt in corruption, nepotism, and disregard of merit.
Some also have a lot of blood on their hands (excluding Hariri past and present of course!)
Statesfied?
Its absurd that a political organisation or whatever you want to call them - religious group like Hezbollah wants to get involved in the government just so they dont get disarmed
Armed - why do they think they so good - they could be blown away in five seconds if the other major power wanted to.
This is the problem in Lebanon too many chief not enough indians
This is the proof that the Lebanese look at content more than packaging.
If the packaging is "bad" and most of the people support the opposition imagine what it would be if the packaging was good!
Anonymous
nice logic. Just tell me how did you find out that the Lebanese pay more attention to the content?
And yes the packaging was bad, in fact it was very very bad. Nassrallah anger had a very negative impact and Aoun orange costume was ridicoulse.
Now i noticed that you posted several comments on most of my previous posts.
I am very flattered for the attention and the time it took you to go through all these comments.
I will try to answer some the points you raised.
About the 44 billion debt i explained it before and I will do again, this is a ridicules accusation, the debt was caused by many factors (chief among them the Syrian accusation). Nevertheless, if it was true Salim Hoss (who was PM for two years) should shoulder some of the responsibility, therefore he owes Lebanon 6 billion dollars. So as he is a friends of your clean coalition ask him to return the money before accusing the others of stealing!!!
and yes even if you do not like it, Lebanon is split 50-50
And the next election will prove it. Until then this is a futile discussion.
Finally, I have never insulted anyone or any leaders on my blog, so please refrain from doing so. Because it is very easy to me to act like you did and hurl accusing and insult at nassrallh.
Peace
>>nice logic. Just tell me how did
>>you find out that the Lebanese
>>pay more attention to the
>>content?
Easy. You say the packaging is bad
I say OK: if the packaging is bad
and most of Lebanese support the
opposition than that is the proof.
>>Nassrallah anger had a very
>>negative impact and Aoun orange
>>costume was ridicoulse.
True the orange costume was bad
but being angry is far from having a bad impact. As a matter of fact
if you're not angry... you're not
paying attention!
>>I am very flattered for the
>>attention and the time it took
>>you to go through all these
>>comments.
The attention was focused on answering your posts and trust me
there is nothing flattening about
them.
>>About the 44 billion debt i
>>the debt was caused by many
>>factors (chief among them the
>>Syrian accusation).
>>Nevertheless, if it was true
>>Salim Hoss (who was PM for two
>>years) should shoulder some of
>>the responsibility, therefore he
>>owes Lebanon 6 billion dollars.
Bogus logic. When Hoss took over
the debt stopped growing almost
overnight! The top syrian officers
were heavily paid by the Hariri mafia indeed (the same one in power today).
>> Lebanon is split 50-50
>>And the next election will prove
>>it.
Oh yeah? then why is the Hariri
mafia afraid of having elections
based on a fair electoral law
instead of the one the Syrians put
in place?
>>I have never insulted anyone
Neither have I
No Justice No Peace
Anonymous
For the sake of ease could we concentrate our comment here. Thx u
About your insults:
For me this “I think the crux of the matter this time is... the CROOKS of the matter: Hariri baba and his 40 thieves, 40 billion dollars and counting!!” is an insult
you want to criticize anyone you are free to, but you have to be civil. So no personnel insult to anyone, politicians, other bloggers or me…
As this is my blog you have to abide by my rules, o great patriot!
Concerning the debt
Hoss ruled in 99 and 2000
Now according to the numbers, (official numbers from ministry of Finance and from several others source such as a book entitled “Lebanon in numbers”
In 98 (last year of Hariri in office) the yearly loss of the state was 45%, in 1999 (first year of Hoss government) it rose to 47% and in 2000 it rose again to 53%, now when Hariri came back in 2001 it fell to 48% then to 42% in 2002.
So we can see who wrecked the economy and who tried to fix it!
Thx for your false numbers but next time you want to use evidence try to find a reliable sources and references.
About the Israeli occupation and Hezbollah “liberating” us:
Of course, liberty but just from Israel, as Syria was just picknicking in Lebanon…
And mind you this liberation cost us in 93, 96 and 2006 at least 20 billion dollars…
Now about early elections, you were answered today on TV.
We welcome it!!!!
Finally
it is so very easy to hide behind anonymity? Are you afraid of something? why don't you introduce yourself if you are so interested in my blog.
and again allow me to thx you for your overwhelming interest and contributions, you are helping me reach more people. thx u
I'd like to know where you got these numbers from
As for Hezbollah yes they liberated the south from Israel why didn't you liberate other parts from Syria instead of just complaining that Hezbollah did not liberate us from Syria?
And yes occupation has a cost.
It cost vietnamese a lot, it cost the russians a lot... what do you suggest? staying and living under occupation?
>>Now about early elections, you
>>were answered today on TV.
What TV? maybe we don't watch the same TV, enlighten us?
The hariri people were sending 750000 dollar suitcases to Khaddam in Syria and Saudi Oger hired his son for 50 000 dollars a month just for sitting in a room drinking coffee and calling his friends. These are the people governing us today.
The news was that fatfat declared that 14th of march welcomed early elections... even Al Manar said it…
Hariri this Hariri that, do you have something better to do. At least get me a shred of evidence, which could prove anything you said…
So from now on until I see evidence, I will ignore your silly accusations
And sam i got the numbers from the offcial statestics and from a book called "Lebanon in numbers"
and by the way, according to www.nationmaster.com
our GDP growth fell to -1.6% and -0.6 when Hoss was leading the country, and then jumped to 0.8 then 1.5 and then 3% when hariri took over.
Now you see who wrecked the economy, according to the numbers Hoss two years in goverment cost LB -2.2% in GDP and a rise of 8% over two years in the goverment's total loss per year!
What do you mean evidence, my cousin saw it with his own eyes, again:
The hariri people were sending 750000 dollar suitcases to Khaddam in Syria and Saudi Oger hired his son for 50 000 dollars a month just for sitting in a room drinking coffee and calling his friends. These are the people governing us today.
By the way my cousin is waiting for a clean government to be in place to let the judiciary do its job correctly, he is ready to testify!
Why do you think Aoun (who could've had 3 or 4 ministerial seats in proportion to the seats in parliament) asked for only ONE seat: the justice so we can start prosecute the people stealing.
The Hariri mafia refused. They said it was because of the Hariri investigation. Aoun said ok we'll have a person of your choice deal with this case and I will have someone from the FPM deal with the rest. The Hariri mafia refused again (what a surprise!)
>>our GDP growth fell to -1.6%
>>and -0.6 when Hoss was leading
>>the country, and then jumped to
>>0.8 then 1.5 and then 3% when
>>hariri took over.
That's exactly what I'm talking about. When Hoss took over he stopped almost overnight creating huge deficits by awarding 100s of millions of dollars to Hariri kronies' companies which caused the GDP to slow down. As for the deficits they didn't reduce because
the previous government had doubled the civil servants and many of those Kroony contracts were ALREADY signed and he honored them. By the way I don't support Hoss I think his problem is he's too weak. He should've prosecuted the guys but he was trying to be too consensual. Is it a reason: NO, he is responsible too but he is responsible of being weak not of stealing (he didn't get rich) not like the Hariri mafia of creating those huge deficits to have contracts for their companies
(and they got filthy rich).
There has to be accountability THEY are responsible for this situation, period.
I went to the manar web site and didn't see this but I believe you.
The question is, if everybody agrees on this, what is the problem? Let's do it and see who the people support!
About the money to Khaddam, if this is true, how do you know the source of the money. Maybe they were from Hariri’s own funds, as he was known to pay the Syrians off so he can concentrate on building the country.
You drew the wrong conclusions about he numbers, ask any economists and he will tell you that the most dangerous action to make is to reduce the growth of your GDP, eve for reform. What Hoss did was a grave mistake and the result could have been catastrophic if he stayed longer and if Paris 2 (organized by Hariri) did not took place).
in those two years spending rose too, so your conclusion that he was bound by some contract is false. I will get you the numbers when I go back home, but Hoss spent more money and collected less revenue than the previous and the next Hariri government.
In short you blame Hariri for everything, while he (and I do not deny this) and those who were ruling at the time (Berri and most of the Mps) share some responsibility for the state of the economy. But for me the biggest culprit is Syria.
About early election, 14th of march will not do a thing before passing the international tribunal.
The tribunal will not lead anywhere (if it ever passes parliament that is) because Russia and China will not allow a chapter seven on Syria or any attempt to judge any of its top leadership. Hariri junior is really dumb to think otherwise but that we already knew...to measure his IQ one would need to invent a brand new scale. I mean what can be lower? (except Madonna's breasts)
Sam
Please do not use such language on my blog.
There is no need to fall that low. It only reflect badly on your self, and if you demand respect you have to respct other people.
Now you are mixing two issues. The international tribunal does not need to be put under chapter seven, yet! And to your knowledge Russia and China already agreed on this version, so all what is left is the ratification by the Lebanese parliament!
Chapter seven will only be used if the parliament does not ratify the international tribunal. And when we arrive to that point then you can argue about it.
Finally, I will say this again for the last time, you can criticize whomever you want in whatever fashion you want, but you cannot make a personal attack, neither to bloggers/commentators, politicians or even anybody else.
Next time you will oblige me to delete any insulting comment, and I would hate to do that, as I abhor censorship!
I am not mixing issues, I am talking about 2 different things:
One:
Russia and china agreed on the Tribunal AFTER it added language that specifically says that "no head of state can be prosecuted"
which is exactly what I was talking about when I said that there won't be any prosecution of any of the top leadership (it would be able to prosecute a second class "souffre douleur" which won't do any good to anyone).
Second:
Russia and China ALREADY said that they will nor accept any chapter 7 resolution on Syria for the Hariri case.
All this is a US Masrahyyeh, they are using this to divide Lebanese so they can keep on interfering in our internal political affairs, and to create tensions between Lebanon and Syria. They are using the Saddam trial for the same purposes in Irak to divide Sunnis and Chiites and Kurds so they can keep on interfeering in their internal affairs: to no avail the US is definitely loosing in Iraq and they are going to loose in Lebanon too.
Sam
Wrong Russia and china did not declare YET that they will not accept a chapter seven tribunal, at least not explicitly...
And there will be prosecution even for Bashar as the tribunal law states clearly that there is a responsibility held by any superior officer to his orderly.
What the Russian did was to give Assad immunity but still he can be tried by absentia...
It is not the final verdict or its implementation that matter, it is only the fact that assassination will no longer go unpunished!
Bob,
>>Russia and china did not declare
>>YET that they will not accept a
>>chapter seven tribunal
They said explicitly when the tribunal was negociated that they will not accept a chapter 7 resolution on Syria for the Hariri case. So whatever the tribunal says will not be applied under chapter 7.
As the precision you bring is exactly what I meant: The presidents (Bashar or Lahoud) will not be bothered.
As for the assassination itself, the inquiry is not over and so far there is not a single proof that someone in the Syrian state did it.
Now the fact that it will not go unpunished... I'm sceptical at best because:
-for one as I said I'm not sure we will ever know who did it
-2 Even if it was Syria, the US will do all it can to protect the Syrian Baath system because they fear they would be replaced by the muslim brotherhood, their aim is to pressure Bashar to sign a deal with Israel on its terms (that is not exactly what I call a punishment), but hey if that's what you think: l'espoir fait vivre!
No neither Russia nor China officially declared their position about a chapter seven tribunal.
And about the tribunal itself you should say not a single publicly presented evidence we do not know what evidence Bramertez uncovered…
The US is not the one protecting Syria it is Isreal, because they believe that Syria under Bashare is the safest neighbor they can ever have…
Finally,
No more comments on this post if you still have anything to add please publish them to the latest two threads.
Thank you, and sorry for any inconvenience.
Bob
Post a Comment