I have noticed over the years that many people, while they may appear to be listening, do not actually engage their brain to hear and understand what is being said. They may say that the preacher had a really good sermon, but if you ask what he talked about, they don’t remember. They were caught up in the delivery and they didn’t actually hearing what was being said. I think lawyers and politicians understand this phenomenon better than anyone and use it to lead people away from the truth. The internet will also mislead depending on which site you choose to believe. Many times you have people who don’t understand the problem getting advice from people who don’t understand the question.

When I worked for Snapper, we would have a distributor meeting at the end of each season. Distributors and their sales force would come in for program and product updates. The audience would consist of several hundred people. At the end of each meeting we would have a motivational speaker or some other prominent figure address the crowd. One year, our local Olympic Gold Medalist did the honors. But, the one that I remember the most was the year that we had a professional double talk comedian address the audience.

Mr. Double Talk began by interviewing distributors as they arrived for the meeting. They were told that their responses would be recorded and used for promotional purposes at the meeting the following day. With the cameras rolling, Mr. Double Talk began the individual interviews. He started with a string of unrelated babble, emphasizing a word every now and then. He said nothing comprehensible, but the distributors seemed to be in agreement with his nonsense and would nod in the affirmative when asked if they understood the interviewer’s position. Then without being asked anything the distributors would begin giving their testimony about Snapper. Every interview followed the same pattern and no one ever questioned what this guy was saying or not saying. I was amazed.

When Mr. Double Talk took the stage at the meeting, he introduced himself as someone from the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington DC. He talked nonsense for at least five minutes with the audience completely silent. It took that long before they realized that he had said absolutely nothing. After that the laughter began. They didn’t know what he was selling, but they were all buying. He was a big hit. I have since seen Mr. Double Talk being interview on TV on a couple occasions.

Now I am wondering if the aliens that fly those UFO’s met up with a double talker when they first landed and thought it was our native language. That would explain why we are starting to hear more and more double talk on the News. So, if the aliens have mastered the skill of double talk, they will be as believable as any of the other liars that we are confronted with daily.

One thing that I learned about double Talk is the fact that we better start hearing what people are saying. Put our brains in gear and digest the facts, not the hype or misleading emphasis. If we don’t we could end up buying something we don’t want. Even worse we may elect a babbling double-talker.

However, whenever, whatever, so save the date it will be here before and you don’t want to miss it.

Frank Hancock has worked as a Farm Manager, Vocational Agriculture Teacher, Vice President at Snapper and currently serves as the University of Georgia Agricultural Extension Agent in Henry County. He is a also a member of the Heritage Writers Group.