"The Less You Know, The More You Believe"

The above quotation is attributed to Bono and I came across it this morning and have been wondering about it ever since. I am not sure in what context he said it, but my thoughts are unclear whether he meant it as a good thing for a bad thing.

I would tend to interpret it as saying that the less knowledge you have, the more inclined you are to "believe" something. In other words without direct knowledge of an event or situation, the more likely we are to believe someone else's comments about it. For instance, many people believe everything they read in the newspaper or see on television or hear on the radio. I think some (maybe most) of us agree that it is quite dangerous. We all know the media in particular is always looking to make a "story" where one may not actually exist. The more critical they can make an event seem, the more newsworthy it appears to be.

A recent example involved a Cathay Pacific flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong. As the aircraft took off, the crew was unable to retract the flaps. As a result the captain decided that he would not continue the flight, but would return and land at the airport that he had just taken off from. Of course the aircraft had a full load of fuel for the intended trip and was too heavy to land. As a routine procedure the captain went 40 or 50 miles offshore and "dumped fuel" to lighten his load for landing. This procedure took a little over an hour, and the media outlets were in heaven.

As an air traffic controller, I was aware of the situation, but was surprised when one of my colleagues on a day off phoned and asked what the crisis was at CYVR. He told me that on television they were interviewing people that were "evacuated" from the Macdonalds restaurant near the end of runway 08 right, and that emergency vehicles were standing by for this impending doom !! I of course inquired around the room and nobody knew of any emergency. Someone said: "they don't mean the Cathay flight do they?" Of course to the media that was the event that made it to "The Situation Room" !!!, "Breaking News", and "A Major Development".

Sometime later the aircraft landed without incident and it was revealed by the Airport Authority that no emergency ever existed and the Captain never declared one, but to the media this was "Hot Stuff".

So dear reader, when something major happens, take a deep breath and analyze the situation and inform yourself of the facts and make your own judgment.

Live well and prosper.

Dennis