Speakers Need to Prepare: Follow-up

"Hello, use your brains!" is Tomi Lahren's battle cry. Lahren is noted for ripping the Affordable Care Act--Obamacare--as a harmful program.

Yet, during a Politicon forum with Chelsea Handler, Tomi Lahren was asked whether she had insurance. She said she didn't need it because she was only 24 years old and covered by her parents' insurance. The audience yelled, "Obamacare!" Was Lahren unaware that the provision allowing parents to cover children under 26 on their insurance was part of the ACA? She backtracked quickly, admitting that some ACA provisions were helpful. Sigh.

NY Public Library: Books are good

Lesson for speakers: do use your brains--your reasoning ability--but also do your research. I taught public speaking for years, and my most odious requirement was that students needed to use four good sources. They got extra points for using the library instead of junk from the Internet. No requirement aroused so much resistance from my students. The fact remains that speakers need to have information. If you're going to use even a few minutes of your audience's time, you owe it to them to have information that is accurate. Simply having the usual liberal or conservative talking points is not enough. You need actual, in-depth information to share. Otherwise, you are failing in your most important obligation as a public speaker.

The Affordable Care Act is often discussed but little understood. When someone goes on stage to discuss it, it is important to know what the act does, and what its actual strengths and weaknesses are.

Research is the key to good speaking. It is possible to be effective without having actual knowledge, but it is never possible for an uninformed speaker to be a good speaker.

Update: Tomi Lahren protests that the media distorted her words. I don't think so. Only if her backtracking occurred before she was called out--not after.

PS: I don't object to backtracking, but admit you're doing it.