The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - 5 Impactful Quotes from the Movie "Don't Look Up" | PPP #100

Episode Date: January 16, 2022

Sharing five impactful quotes from the movie 'Don't Look Up', my thoughts on this art imitating life, and considerations for us all as we get into 2022.

Welcome to 2022. I took time off from the show and I've been going back and forth on what to focus on for episode 100. Will it be an interview? Will it be a review of the past year of the pandemic response? Will I deep dive into another project management topic or review a critical incident response? In the end, I decided to do none of these things. Instead, I'm going to use quotes from the movie Don't Look Up as it outlined to share my two cents on how we as humans, and more specifically as Americans, must look up in the face of divisiveness, hate, misinformation, and fear. But first, please silence your cell phones, hold all sidebar conversations to a minimum, and we will get started with People Process Progress in 3, 2, 1.

Welcome back everyone to episode 100, We Must Look Up. Up front, I'm going to share that my thoughts and statements from this episode, as with all others of the Between the Slides and People Process Progress podcasts, are my own. They don't represent anyone I've worked for that I do work for. I'm also going to tell you there's a spoiler alert that I'm going to quote directly from the movie, Don't Look Up, and give context that, if you haven't seen it, may alter your movie experience. So what's the summary of this movie, Don't Look Up? It follows two scientists who are trying to get the truth out to people that a giant comet is going to hit Earth and destroy all life on it.

Throughout the movie, we see a mirror of real life, politics taking control of the narrative, corruption of seemingly good people, the truth uncovered, and anger when the people finally hear it. In the end, the truth comes out too late, and humanity falls victim to greed, competing priorities, and that if we keep letting time go by without making a decision, we run out of options. I do recommend watching the movies. It's enjoyable and a scary parody on the realities of being human in 2022. So again, if you haven't watched the movie, maybe stop, go watch the movie, then come back to this episode. Now I'm going to get into some quotes, my thoughts on the quotes,

and takeaways that I think we can all consider. The first quote is, Are you sure the video of the puppy on the rooster is optimizing our prepubescent sense memory consumer sector? I find the bird quite threatening. The character that says this is Peter Isherwell, who's played by Mark Rylance. And to me, this character, Peter Isherwell, is a mashup of Bill Gates, Steve jobs elon musk and many other smart pioneers that also have deep hooks into society the quote itself speaks to algorithms we're all subjected to and fall victim to the moment of smart devices and artificial intelligence or ai to immediately satisfy our needs and provide us dopamine hit with likes and shares etc providing virtual quote safe spaces with calming pictures on a phone

we as humans seem to be so plugged into, like the Matrix, but for real. The takeaway I took from this scene and this quote was that smartphones are here to stay, for sure. One smartphone, I mean, provides more computing power than a room full of old school processors that we watched the movie war games the other day and there was you know this giant room of these tower computers processing and our smartphone can you know it's just as powerful as those things now but to me just because we have them doesn't mean we have to let them run our lives we can use them for calculation navigating when we drive, sharing images and stories with friends and families, but not to determine our own value. I know kids these

days, I have three kids, one a teenager, and I know other teenagers and other young adults and even older adults. They measure themselves by the likes, by what the filter makes them look like. And this is coming from a guy, I share workout pictures and pictures of the mountains all the time. I think what I try and do with my headspace is sure I like it when people appreciate it or they say, hey, great, cool. Thanks for the inspiration or this or that. But it's to put something out there, take a picture, tell a story, get it out in the world, help somebody else, inspire them. That's great. But don't use that as the measure of your value. Just because you don't have as many likes as your friends or this other org or these other higher level podcasters as a guy sitting here with a

microphone on my computer, it doesn't matter. If you help one person, if you help yourself by sharing that good story, then you're using the technology. The technology is not using you quite so much. I think, honestly, after all, a smart filter that makes our skin look smooth doesn't hide the hurt that we could have underneath. And that's the reality of life compared to sometimes the unreality of Instagram and Facebook and these online platforms that are made, as we know, to plug into our deepest emotions. So let you and your emotions as a human control the technology. Don't let it control you. This next quote is from the character Kate Dibioski, who discovers the comet and she's

played by Jennifer Lawrence. And it says, quote, well, maybe the destruction of the entire planet isn't supposed to be fun. Maybe it's supposed to be terrifying and unsett Lawrence. And it says, quote, well, maybe the destruction of the entire planet isn't supposed to be fun. Maybe it's supposed to be terrifying and unsettling. And you should stay up all night, every night crying when we're all 100% for sure going to fucking die. Quote. Pretty extreme at this point. They're trying to get the message out. And it's frustrating because people are glossing over it, right?

As sometimes people do. And my thoughts on this are, I think this speaks to the filter that many of us try to put on unpleasant experiences. For example, for those of us that had cancer, do you remember when you told others of your diagnosis? Did some folks tell you to just focus on the positive or to keep your chin up? Just like Kate says, maybe it's supposed to be terrifying and unsettling.

To some, this is the same for the pandemic, especially if they've been really sick or they lost someone they love. Outbreaks are terrifying. I was in public health as a public health emergency coordinator. We can't see the virus. And frankly, it's going to go where it wants to go, right? Some mitigations are window dressing to help our psyche deal with the virus. And frankly, it's going to go where it wants to go, right? Some mitigations or window dressing to help our psyche deal with the reality. But in the end, this doesn't help.

And sometimes we just need to be truthful and open about the situation. I think to me, the takeaway is that humans benefit from scary experiences we've lived through. Maybe not during, It seems horrible. One of my sons, for example, is not a fan of heights, especially when he's gone on the roof. Like we clean the roof for sticks or whatever, and he's got to come back down the ladder, right? I recall earlier this year, or last year rather, he had a teary statement, right, as I coached him to come down the ladder and get there. And he said, if I just think that I could do it. And I was both so upset because he was saying that through his tears, but also proud that he told himself that. Because in this instance, it was true.

It was his mindset, right, facing it. Yes, this is going to be scary, but yes, we can push through it. And sometimes the experiences we're going through are supposed to be awful, but that doesn't mean we have to ball up in a quarter or in fear forever. We do need to let ourselves be angry, sad, mad, ride that emotional roller coaster that comes with sickness or trauma or other bad experiences. But I think we also must recognize when we need help and when we can help others by just listening, by just allowing others to speak, to let them have their freak out moment, to accept the truth of it and not sugarcoat the message is a very powerful and valuable thing. This third quote comes as the truth starts to leak out and it's a quote where people just like you would deserve to know. End quote.

And this is from a random person in in a bar it's made later in the movies the truth began to come out and someone overheard the main characters talking about the comet that was going to destroy earth in addition to being in the movie i think this quote could be taken away from any human that's lived through 2020 to 2022 we deserve to know indeed. A takeaway from this part of the movie and from this quote to me is truth has always been manipulated. In recent years, it seems the truth, e.g. science, has been manipulated even more and by all sides of the political arena. The truth of how the pandemic started, the truth of the effectiveness of masks, vaccines, and boosters, the truth of how the pandemic started, the truth of the effectiveness of masks, vaccines, and boosters, the truth on how to treat the sick, the truth on how to better prevent sickness,

the truth that we as a society were already sick. Sick from smoking, lack of regular exercise, poor diets and fast food, reactionary medicine, having quote a pill for that, and other key This fourth quote comes when the politics machine is in full force in the movie. It's from a politician at a rally that will look familiar in recent years of all political parties having these big rallies and everybody loves America. And the quote says, they want you to look up because they're looking down their noses on you, quote. So think about that statement. They want you to look up at the sky to see the comet because by now everybody can see it. But politics, politicians turned it into a negative of society. And so the message is trying to convince the populace to not look at the truth a politicized thing. On saying the truth is that the comment represents the higher ups or the upper crust looking down on the working class. So if you don't look, you won't feel like less. Don't look for the truth.

Don't seek reality is what this statement says to me. So my thoughts about this, and I have many, but trying to narrow it down to a short podcast episode, is this a commentary on anti-vaxxers? Is it a commentary on how politicians manipulate the underserved or less educated in America? I think it's both and more, right? To me, this symbolizes the arrogance of folks appointed to higher offices saying, just listen to us. Don't seek the truth on your own or in business when there's discussions happening and people have questions, but they're told that's a decision

for upper management to make. While that may be true, it's a shitty way to deal with people. And we should always look up. We should always seek the reality of a situation and not just rely on others to tell us how to live and what decisions to make. This last quote is, I think, one that holds the

most truth to me and that I guess I like the best from the movie. And again, this is later in the movie, but it's from Randall Mindy, who is Leonardo DiCaprio's character. And it says, quote, not everything needs to sound so goddamn clever or charming or likable all the time. Sometimes we need to just be able to say things to one another. We need to hear things, Not everything needs to sound so goddamn clever or charming or likable all the time. Sometimes we need to just be able to say things to one another. We need to hear things. End quote. At this point, DiCaprio's character's had enough.

He realizes the message that all on earth are going to die has been so sugar-coated, manipulated, and diluted, and it's not helping anyone. And he's just, he's had enough. He's on this talk show. And a takeaway to me from this that I consider, and maybe you all could consider is many times the simplest message is the best, right? Do we need a two hour meeting? If we can email the same information in a paragraph, do I need to frame my response at a dinner party to try and be a superstar? Hell no. We need to hear things is my favorite part of this quote. It resonates because there's so much truth in it. In this instant gratification society we live in, our conversations are often via text and bursts of letters with no emotion behind them. We need to pick up the phone to put our phone down when someone is talking to us to listen to hear not to respond. That's the last of the quotes. And there's many

more. And I got this from a link on Buzzfeed where it was 50 quotes. But these are the ones I thought, you know, that resonated with me, thought would resonate maybe with you all. I'll have the link on the on the post for this. Don't look up to me as art imitating life and the comment represents truth. But whose truth? How is truth defined in 2022? Truth has been manipulated so much over the past few years that I feel it's up to us, the people, to determine what the truth is, to cross-check our sources, to consider both sides of a debate, of research, and of life. The process to do this is hard.

It requires us to supplant our implicit biases, to be as objective and open to all sides of an argument as possible, to manage our fear, and to consider the other humans involved in the discussion. What do we consider progress then? When we listen to each other more? When we can talk without reducing the humanity of others by their choices? Or when we on our own choose to look up and see the truth of things. So look up, live your life, control what you can and adapt to what you can't. But look up and find the truth that exists out there. I thank you for looking up on your smartphone and playing this episode and for sharing the show with others. Stay safe out there. Wash those hands and Godspeed.