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Show UTAH FARM BUREAU Page 2 NEWS March, 1969 THE WHAT, HOW, WHY dl IByoDdlnirDg) (Editor's Note: The following is a summary of remarks delivered at a "Tomorrow's Agriculture" conference, a part of a Farm Bureau Conference in suming all three observers stood on the same spot it would still be unusual for them to completely on what they a-gr- ee saw. Minnesota. The speaker was William W. Allen , Secretary of Information of the Illinois Agricultural Association.) You, like everyone else, have an opinion on everything important to you. You have an opinion on Viet Nam, miniskirts and integration. You choose your church, your automobile and even your spouse based on these opinions of yours. So opinions are important to all of us. All of our decisions are based on these opinions since, as the psychologists tell us, we have a good reason for everything we do. Oar reasons for what we do may not seem good to anyone else or, for that matter, may not seem good to us later. But when we make decisions, the opinions on which we base them seem sound at the moment Much time and effort has been spent by farmers, and those close to farmers, in an attempt to take a look at the public's opinion offarmers and farming. Five years ago, attempts were made to set up some sort of government agency, Financied by check-of- f funds from the farm organizations, whose job it would be to improve the public opinion of agriculture. Thpse who claimed that the farmer's image had become tarnished hoped to be able to use government directions and farmers' money to polish the farm image and make it more acceptable to the city dweller. The farmer, concerned about his image, listened to the proposal but turned it down since he knew from his background of horse sense that the farmer is his own best public relations man and no government official can do the job better than he can himself. But the questions of image and opinion making and opinion changing were raised and the debate goes on. First, what is image? Very simply, image is the you others see. You have one image to your spouse, another to your children, a third to your firends and another to those who may not like you. You even have an image of the you that you yourself see. The image all these other people have of you is bound to vary from person to person. To complicate the matter even IPylblne One observer might notice the speed of the cars, another might pay particular attention to the number of occupants and a third might be so confused he might see a jumble of events and actually remember very little he saw. And yet the facts were all the same, but the opinion of what happened can vary con- siderably. All of us see the daily scene further, the same person sees different images of you from time to time, depending on the atmosphere in which he sees you. If you're like most people, you're different at church on Sunday morning than you would be at a neighborhood party Sunday evening. You're very earnest and serious at times and perhaps very lighthearted and even frivolous at others. If you vary a good deal from one time to another, one of your friends may well tell you, "I just can't figure you out" Another big effect on image is brought by acquaintance. How many times have you disliked someone you never met only to find, on meeting him, that he wrasn't so bad after all? As human beings, we are more tolerant of people we get to know. So if we want people to like us, we must get to know them. It would be a simple thing, then, to solve all our public relations problems by simply it so everyone arranging knows everyone else. Of course that is a numerical impossibility, but even if it weren't, there is no necessary magic in the "Getting to Know You" routine. Often you'll find your opin- ion of someone is considerably different than a friend's opinion of the same person. You may think that your friend is wrong and that you are right in assessing as you do. After all, facts are facts. But most of our opinions of others our image of someone else is based on many things other than fact First of all, fact is a rare commodity. Fact is the truth as you see it For example, three people observing an automobile accident will each tell a different story. Perhaps the vantage point was different in the case of each observer and so the accident would look different from each location. But as from our own position, based on our own background. To the theatrical producer, blue eye shadow and false eyelashes are part of the normal makeup of a young lady. But to the hardware store clerk, such makeup would seem badly overdone and out of place. And so our opinions are based or, as one wag once said, our opinions are biased on our background, our prejudices, our fears and our needs, plus a varying degree of fact We are inclined to judge peo- ple in advance, based on our opinions which may be founded on some sort of stereotyped picture of the person we are to meet For example, some of us think of newspapermen in the slouchy hat, dangling cigarette stereotype as they go about shouting, "Stop the presses?' Or we think of labor leaders as one kind of personality, the clergymen as another, account- ants as another and farmers as still another. Unfortunately, these opinions based on stereotypes often lead us astray and result in poor judgments of people. Then there is the opinion that is based solely, or mostly, on prejudice. Our prejudices are usually far from fact but are very real to us and are ample reason for adopting some rather poorly founded opinions. We also develop opinions as the need arises. Someone may ask you what you think about a public issue of some sort If you're like most people, your mind would work something like this: "He has asked me an important question. I should have an opinion about it I don't really know anything it but I don't want to admit it So I'll express myself cautiously and hope he doesn't ask any more questions." So, as we examine the ingredients of opinion, we find that we cannot be satisfied with pounding on the facts. We must deal in those image-makina-bo- ut g DinfiKsigj qualities on which so much opinion is based. In other words, it isn't enough for us to be right in our positions. We must also be likeable. It isn't enough to hammer through the facts about the farm problem; we must also be sympathetic to the problems of others. Not long ago a woman asked "Why can't we get the people in the city to become more of the farmers' problems? After all the family in the city depends on the farmer for food." In reply, the woman was asked, "First, do you know the biggest family problem facing the blue collar worker in the city?" And she answered, "Of course not. I don't know anything about it and it's really not important to me." re Then follows the obvious conclusion, "That's exactly how the city dweller feels about the farmer." We are all interested in our own problems from our own point of view as they affect us. Considerate as we might be, the other fellow's problems are of very little concern to us unless they affect us. If we are to build a favor- able image of farmers and of farming, it is very important to build a good public image simply by being good people. It's important for farmers to take responsible positions on matters of public policy. It is important that these positions be responsive to the needs of all the people. As farm folks, deeply interested in everything affecting agriculture, it is difficult to see modity organization conducted a good piece of opinion research and learned that the public really doesn't think dark thoughts about farmers. Pushed to express an opinion, thousands of housewives allowed that the farmer was a pretty good guy doing a good job producing quality food. The housewives didn't like what they felt were high prices, but they didn't really blame the farmer. They blamed some unidentifiable middle man. Most people know farmers work hard and aren't getting rich on high prices. But most of these judgments are based on a generally warm feeling toward farmers rather than a thorough understanding of farm economics. So, what can farmers do to keep their good image? First of all, farmers must go on being good people. They are known generally as Godfearing, upright, hard working folks who help their neighbors. Secondly, farmers must use every opportunity to make so- cial and business contacts with the folks in nearby towns. The more the farmer is known the less he is misunderstood. and Thirdly, farm policy especially government farm can do more to programs tear down the public's favorable image of the farmer than the farmer can ever do to rebuild public confidence in him. Finally, farmers must have faith in themselves if they want the public to have faith in them. why others are not as interested in our problems as we are. I think the farmer is simply The plain facts are others are kidding himself when he not interested in our problems farming and the future and yet expects others to think any more than we are interested in theirs. farming is great and the future is rosy. Although farmers are F armers, like it or not, must decreasing in number, they are content themselves with a pubincreasing in importance to a lic that isn't concerned about who depend on a few such facts as the farmers' share people farmers to feed a busy nation of the consumer's dollar and and provide enough left over e the squeeze. to extend America's bounty to Not long ago a major com a hungry world. poor-mout- cost-pric- UTAH FARM BUREAU (ft NEWS Published each month by the Utah Farm Bureau Federation at Salt Lake Lity, Utah. Editorial and Business Office, 629 East Fourth South, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102. Subscription price of twenty-fiv- e cents per year to mem-u in mcmbership fee. Entered as second class matter March 24, 1948 at the Post Office at Salt Lake City, Utah under the act of March 3, 1879.. C UTAH FARM BUREAU FEDERATION Elmo W. Hamilton, Riverton S. Jay Child, Cleaheld Mrs. WiHis Whitbeck, Bennion V. Allen Olsen Kenneth J. Rice OFFICIALS President Vice President Chairman, Farm Bureau Women Executive Secretary Editor DIRECTORS District One, A. Alton Hoffman; District Two, William Holmes; District Brown; District Four, Don Allen; District Five, Ken Brasher, District Six, Lee Barton; District Seven, Richard Nelson. hs |