A little while ago I was forwarded an email
with a video of spectacular fireworks in front of Mount Fuji. The original email said that the fireworks
had been intended for the 2020 Olympics opening ceremony that had been canceled due to the
pandemic and so Japan decided to share them anyway. It’s such a great story, and they really
are impressive fireworks. And that might have been the end of it…
except, something felt off to me. Actually, a number of things felt off to me,
and that’s what gave me pause. Which is the point of this whole video: Pause. Verb. “To stop temporarily… for the purpose
of deliberation, or on account of doubt or uncertainty.” And I think that in our super-connected, internet-fueled
world, the art of the pause is of utmost importance. So what gave me pause with that fireworks
video? Well, first, it was forwarded to me in an
email that had clearly already been forwarded multiple times and had no clear original source,
no record of who or when it came from. And then I remembered that the olympics and
most live stuff on TV usually has those little watermarks showing it’s the olympics or
saying what network you’re watching - and this video didn’t and again there was no
record of who or where it came from, when there SHOULD have been. And then I noticed the music in the video
is the well-known and very European William Tell Overture… which would be an unusual
choice for Japan, as olympic host countries typically like to feature their own cultural
heritage. And then I realized that this fireworks display
wouldn’t actually work very well from a stadium, where olympics opening ceremonies
(and their fireworks) tend to be held. And then I realized there are firework designs
and colors in there that I’ve never ever seen in real life. And there doesn’t seem to be any smoke? And finally, this is exactly the kind of feel-good
story that pulls at your heartstrings (and that marketers and influencers know pulls
at your heartstrings). I don’t know which of these things first
gave me pause (though I suspect it was because it was a multiple-times-forwarded email of
unknown origin), but once I paused, the observations all came spilling out. There are four pieces to a good pause: First,
noticing the impulse to pause - it will be weak, and faint, just a niggling doubt or
a tentative question at the back of your mind. Notice it! Second, heeding that urge, and actually pausing. Before you react, whether in delight, or anger,
or simply passing by and going on with your life (which is itself a reaction) - pause. to give yourself a moment to think. Third is the pause itself - the “deliberation
on account of doubt or uncertainty”. This part can be short, or long - that’s
up to you, and to the reason for your pause, though you probably don’t want it to be
too long. In the case of the fireworks, it took me a
single google search of “Japan Mt Fuji Fireworks” to bring up an associated press article about
how the fireworks were confirmed to be a computer simulation by a representative of the company
that made the simulation software, and how the video was originally posted to youtube
as early as 2015. Your pause, your deliberation, might take
less time, or more What evidence is needed to assess the claim?, or you might decide
you don’t care enough to deliberate and you just want to get on with your life. Which brings us to Fourth: What happens after
the pause. What you do with the results of your deliberation
(whatever they are). Maybe instead of speaking out in anger you
remain quiet. Maybe instead of going quietly on with your
life you get righteously angry. Maybe you remain just as delighted as before. Here are two recent lighthearted moments where
I paused: First: an article mentioned in passing that
soap operas are called that because they were originally sponsored by soap manufacturers. Which sounds too good to be true, so I paused. But quick searches of a number of reliable
sources confirm it IS true and intimately connected with the origins of modern American-style
marketing. So I’ll pass along the factoid to you! The “Soap” in “soap opera” does, in
fact, refer to soap. My second pause: a tweet about how the ingredient
“eye of newt” (famously used as a witchcraft ingredient in Shakespeare’s Macbeth) was
actually just a code name for a common kitchen spice which I’m not going to share here
because… you’ll see why. I thought “wow, that’s so cool, I never
knew that” and then immediately… “it sounds too perfect…” and “wait, this
website looks a bit weird…” I paused. And then spent five hours trying to find original
sources to confirm or deny the quoted fact. And I couldn’t find any - I mean, I did
find some awesome sixteenth century herbalist books that tell you about all the ailments
you can cure with cabbage good for they that see not well, and for the trembling of the
members, and lots of plants are named for resemblances to animals, but the articles
and blog posts I found that claim that ‘“eye of newt” is a code word’ are mostly personal
blogs (rather than established, reputable institutions), and none of them cited any
sources for their claims except (if anything) other internet blogs. In fact, they all seem to share a similar
list of “secret witchcraft code words” copied over and over. It’s possible their lists are similar because
they’re based in truth, or maybe parts are correct and parts aren’t. Or maybe it’s all made up. I couldn’t figure it out. So if you have a primary source that confirms
“eye of newt” was (or wasn’t) a code word for mustard seed, please let me know. This is all a bit carefree, but I’m sure
you can think of plenty of more serious and consequential claims being made online. And because they pull at our heartstrings
or stoke our anger, it’s easy to believe them and act based on them, because we WANT
to. I mean, the examples in this video were all
shared with me by very smart, thoughtful people. The person who sent me the fireworks email,
I know, was sending it to brighten my day. And the point of the pause is not to be a
buzzkill or a “well actually”, but rather, to allow ourselves not to get caught up in
manufactured or manipulative buzz and spread it. To give ourselves a moment before we jump
into action - to make sure it’s the action we actually want to take. The pause is a superpower of modern life - it’s
the second chance, the extra life, the opportunity to act not reflexively on first impressions,
but thoughtfully upon something closer to the truth. It gives you a moment when you get to decide
which alternate history of the universe you’d like to be in: the one where you react like
you’d been about to before you paused, or where you react differently. Oh yeah - and you don’t want to be pausing
all the time, and questioning EVERYTHING you hear in the world around you. That would be exhausting and impossible. But your pause-detector can be quietly on
in the background a lot of the time without affecting your daily life. Here are some tips for things that set off
my pause-detector: Is it a forwarded email with the original
senders removed, or a screenshot with the source removed, or a social media post with
no original source, or really anything that has an unclear source? Or: is it too good to be true? Does it pull at my heartstrings? Does it make me super angry? Does it try to convince me to NOT be angry,
and to be complacent? Is it something that supports my worldview
but comes from an unknown or unvetted source? Is it a really cool super awesome incredible
unbelievable story? Pause. In particular I pause - even just briefly
- if something is emotionally powerful. Marketers and propagandists know that inciting
emotions is a powerful tool. And so do good storytellers, and good leaders! Inspiring an emotional response isn’t intrinsically
good or bad, but if I notice someone or something is getting me to react emotionally, I take
a moment to pause - and decide if I want to continue allowing that emotional inspiration
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