BIMBO Nominees for June 2021

• Bimbo
• May 27, 2021
• by Spaeth Communications
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This is one of our most interesting BIMBO Memos, which ends with a personal plea for your comments and reaction. Included is a BIMBO comment from an advisor to New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, a great example of keeping your cool and a sense of humor on live TV, a must-read article on how even true statistics can mislead and a terrible example of visual advice courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

THE WINNING BIMBO

“This is not about, you know, being the thought police,” said Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby as he tried to explain the Department of Defense’s new effort to address extremism across its workforce. Kirby continued by describing what the Department of Defense is looking to identify, which he said is not about “what's in between your ears. It's about what you do with what's between your ears, it's about the behavior and the conduct that is inspired by or influenced by this kind of ideology.” If that’s not what you’re thinking, well, we don’t know what to think of it.

U.S. Department of Defense, “April 9, 2021 Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby Holds a Press Briefing,” April 9, 2021

THE RUNNERS-UP

“This isn’t a vendetta against cows or people who eat them,” tweeted Condé Nast’s food and cooking magazine, Epicurious, when announcing that beef will no longer appear in the magazine’s recipes, articles, newsletters, website homepage or social-media pages. Wow! In a corresponding article on its website, the magazine stated, “Our shift is solely about sustainability, about not giving airtime to one of the world’s worst climate offenders.” Our take? Enjoy your steak.

Epicurious, “The Planet on the Plate: Why Epicurious Left Beef Behind,” April 26, 2021                           

“Our goal is not to generate any new organism, any monster," said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte from the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences. Belmonte was referencing experiments conducted by a team of scientists from the U.S. and China to create a mixed embryo with human stem cells and macaque monkey cells to see if they could grow human organs. The lab reported that most of the embryos died within the 20-day experiment but insisted they were only “trying to understand how cells from different organisms communicate with one another." Given the pace of technology, we think they will succeed, but what the current organisms should be communicating now is “RUN!”

Newsweek, “Human-Monkey Hybrid Embryo Created by Joint China–U.S. Scientist Team,” April 16, 2021

“If we win, I will not lobby or talk with the new mayor — nor anyone in a Yang administration — on any matter that intersects with our work,” said lobbyist extraordinaire Bradley Tusk. This is why people hate politics and lobbyists. Reading the story about Tusk’s background and success, it’s clear he’ll never need to “lobby” mayor-hopeful Yang. Yang will already know what Tusk thinks and who he backs. This pledge would only have worked if Tusk said he would go into a new line of work. Don’t hold your breath.

The New York Times, “The Wealthy Lobbyist Behind Andrew Yang’s Campaign for Mayor,” May 6, 2021

GOOD EXAMPLES

Having a sense of humor really helps! Fox 9 Minneapolis' meteorologist, Jennifer McDermed, made the most of an on-air situation when her weather graphics started glitching. The glitch resulted in a crazy multiplying effect. You could hear the laughter from the studio. She handled it beautifully. This example is a great training tool about what to do when your tech goes wild.

Not the Bee, “This meteorologist started multiplying on screen and she handled it like a BOSS,” May 13, 2021

“In recent weeks, people who oppose Covid vaccinations have spread a claim that is not only false but defies the rules of biology,” was the leading line of a New York Times article debunking the rumor that “being near someone who has received a vaccine can disrupt a woman’s menstrual cycle or cause a miscarriage.” The idea, promoted on social media accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers, is that vaccinated people might shed vaccine material, which some allege would affect others around them as though it were secondhand smoke. A private school in Florida told employees that if they got vaccinated, they could not interact with students because “we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person.” In reality, it is impossible to experience any effects from being near a vaccinated person because none of the vaccine ingredients are capable of leaving the body into which they were injected.

The New York Times, “No, other people’s Covid vaccines can’t disrupt your menstrual cycle.,” April 29, 2021

STATISTICS

The various debates about COVID-19 have been fought, in part, with statistics. This insightful article from The New York Times proved again that numbers that sound like hard facts can be very misleading. For example, the reporter noted: “Saying that less than 10 percent of Covid transmission occurs outdoors is akin to saying that sharks attack fewer than 20,000 swimmers a year. (The actual worldwide number is around 150.) It’s both true and deceiving.” If you, like us, use articles in the media for ongoing education of friends, clients and staff, this is a must-read, to-circulate article. It’s a good read and an example and a warning of why individuals must think for themselves and not rely on others to think for them.  

The New York Times, “A Misleading C.D.C. Number,” May 11, 2021

BAD EXAMPLES

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published this visual “guide,” which was supposed to help us understand when it’s safe to undertake various outdoor and indoor activities. We challenge readers to try to decipher the chart!

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Choosing Safer Activities,” May 13, 2021

This will be the first, and maybe the only time, that we agree with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., when she described Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., as “a woman that’s deeply unwell and clearly needs some help.” Recently, Ocasio-Cortez’s office had to call for increased security after Greene followed Ocasio-Cortez in the halls of the Capitol while shouting at her. Greene denied “screaming” at Ocasio-Cortez and claimed she was trying to engage in debate. Greene’s denial was expected, and we don’t buy her excuse. What’s more, Greene equated COVID-19 vaccination and mask-wearing rules to the Holocaust. We applaud the leaders who condemned Greene’s appalling comments. The risk is that the media makes her the poster child for the GOP—which she isn’t—but she is fast becoming the latest example of how the media will pick up and amplify any stupid thing someone does or says, especially an elected official.

The Hill, “The Memo: Lawmakers on edge after Greene's spat with Ocasio-Cortez,” May 15, 2021

A PERSONAL PLEA

Do you, like us, wonder if people should suffer forever for something done a long time ago, whether trivial or very serious? Should we be considering the promise of redemption? We know that in criminal justice, this is a growing movement, but also, there seems to be the growing recognition that people can and do change and that society should recognize this, and yes, even reward it. We were deeply moved by this column in The Dallas Morning News, which we recommend to any of our readers and welcome readers’ reactions and comments.

The Dallas Morning News, “If racism is America’s original sin, we should embrace the theology of redemption,” May 12, 2021

The BIMBO Memo is a reminder not to repeat and deny a negative word because of how the listener hears words. When you repeat and deny a negative word, the listener is likely to overlook the denial and hear the opposite of what the speaker is trying to say. It’s named for the young woman who was caught with a high profile, but alas married man. She held a press conference and announced, “I am not a BIMBO,” thus causing everyone to think she was.