60 Minutes on heroin

Hi there, it’s me again and so soon after we last parted…

Yes, I blew the super bowl prediction. But so did a lot of people. Now our focus is on storytelling. This is one of man’s oldest past-times, one of the oldest forms of entertainment we have. As technologies have evolved, so telling stories have become easier. From parchment to paper to 240 characters, storytelling is woven into our culture.

Earnest Hemingway once said he could tell a story in six words, as part of a bet. He said simply this:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

He won he bet. You, with your best anecdote are no different from the Homo sapiens [first humans] of so long ago. And now with the advent of video technologies stories can became even bigger, though not necessarily better, than ever before.

Telling fiction stories has always been easier than non-fiction stories because one has freedom and can invent new characters. Telling medical stories well is a difficult art to master, but 60 Minutes seem to have a good grip on it. That’s as it should be- they’re coming up to 50 years doing it.

In this video, the storytelling is very good. They relate back to the viewer and the presenter is clear. Bill Whitaker makes complex language understandable and speaks in a tone that is easy on the ears. Phrases like ‘basic economics’ could be more verbose but here are in common English not in gobbledygook. 

Then it focuses on a specific place which has always been a key in story-telling. It focuses on Columbus, Ohio. Thy mention that Heroin is available in 20 minutes and is quicker to get hold of than marijuana. Hey go straight into an interview which shouldn't work as well it does. The interview is with a girl named Hannah, though it is likely a false one. They describe her as “the girl next door” and that’s when it begins to move you.

Hannah went from smoking it at parties, to shooting it at school. And that’s just one example.

For me, a part that affected me deeply was when they talked about how heroin sing-handedly wrecked the dreams of many sports stars. Hearing their parents say, in words laced with grief, that they had lost their child after they thought they had beaten heroin. The personal stories, like those of children aged as young as 15, really hit hard and pluck at ones heart-strings.

They had a good mix of sufferers and experts. They also incorporated some great quotes- “Heroin has lost its stigma.”

Best of all, however was that they kept the premise simple and added the complex bits later. That’s really the key to a good story.  Keep it simple and make sure the additions work.

Well I'm out. Thanks again and stay safe in the snow.

Happy Presidents Day, Galileo