A leading trend topic recently on Google was The Voice. Specifically, there have been many articles along the same line as this Fox News piece Adam Levine says “I hate this country” on The Voice. Sit and think a minute about how the article headline strikes you. Do you know who Adam Levine is? What emotions surface when reading the headline?
Now that you’ve paid attention to your initial reaction and perceptions of the headline, let’s move forward. Here are the main thoughts that come to mind:
Adam Levine – The voice
1. His statement was very negatively received in the news and social media. Reading further into the article, as well referring to an additional CBS News article on the topic, reveals that earlier in the evening, two of Levine’s team members were eliminated from the show due to public voting. His statement was the rant of an invested team member still coping with unwanted results in a competition. So this is a reminder that media knows how to grab on to the smallest situation and smear it for attention grabbing purposes. The last thing Adam Levine probably would like to do is to stomp on the American flag or create political drama.
2. There is a flip side to this scenario as well. Being a publicly televised show, should Levine be more accountable for managing his emotions and choice of words? Some might argue that the public backlash to his words was warranted. In retrospect for him, there may have been better words to express his disappointment, but it’s done now. However, as a reminder to us all, it is important at all times to be selective of our words. Even if there is only one other person in the room, practicing reigning-in our emotions, reading other people’s feelings and understanding communication styles (all aspects of emotional intelligence) helps us to better avoid negative outcomes of interactions.
3. Alexander Pope said “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” We want to reiterate forgiveness of the self first and foremost. Forgiveness of the self is what gives life to learning and growth. We are all fallible, be it spewing some angry words or overreacting to a situation. As a society we could stand to have more grace with one another, but also with ourselves. The media is cruel because extremes arouse attention. But as a society we don’t have to be following that as a guideline.
This type of headline is a good learning situation for us all. Do we take the time to dig into articles to really understand their context? Do we responsibly re-tweet and share information? Could we be more careful with our own words? Should we show more grace and compassion to everyone around us? We’ve all got room to grow. It comes down to our continued personal efforts to make continuous improvement.
