While writing this essay, I was reading the Political Risk (2018) written by Condoleezza Rice and Amy B. Zegart for 584 of their students at Stanford. In the midst of global insecurity, they advise companies to choose useful data. Choosing useful data is crucial to weathering the turbulence of 'political risk' so as not to suffer the same fate as SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., whose stock price plummeted and its CEO, Jim Atchison, resigned because of its dangerous treatment of Orca whales and trainers.
Failure to consider political risk can lead to downfall. Political risk in the 21st century, Condi and Zegart say, is "political actions by small groups—or even individuals, such as social media account holders—that are amplified by interconnected technology and have a major impact on business." They want to say: the effects of certain social media accounts or local politics can bring down a business corporation.
I take one of their advice: choosing useful data. For writers, the ability to have data is very important. Nowadays we are presented with a lot of data. Most of our laptops are filled with unread e-books. We are only busy "hunting and gathering", as our ancestors used to do, without the ability to choose which ones are relevant to read.
During 21 years of learning to write, I feel that choosing data or reading is very important. We may collect a lot of data, but is it all useful? Of course not. So, there must be the ability to choose and sort it. Yesterday at Gramedia, I read the Military Leadership (2021) by Mr. Prabowo. One thing that was written there was, "a leader must be able to accommodate all things - even if it is a bad thing - but what he produces must be the best." Here, the ability to choose and sort is very important.
When someone wants to write on a certain topic, then he must look for data related to it. Try as much as possible, then he chooses and sorts which ones are relevant. Not all readings have to be quoted. There are readings that are just for information, but not for reference. Watching movies, for example, there are always things that can be quoted, but don't have to be quoted, unless you want to quote a direct sentence from there.
No Time to Die (2021), the 25th James Bond series made by Eon Productions, has several interesting quotes--this one can be an inspiration when discussing: secrets. Daniel Craig aka 007 said this, "We all have our secrets, we just didn't get to yours yet" in the context of when a useless attack from Spectre came. Bond felt betrayed by Madeleine, the only person who knew where he was, including when he was on a pilgrimage to Vesper Lynd's grave and a bomb exploded. The sentence could be a little clue for movie lovers--action, especially--who want to write about secrets.
If you want to write about men's attitudes, this Bond quote is also interesting, "I do not regret a single moment of my life that I spent with you... Except putting you on that train." Bond does not regret a single moment with his partner, the only thing he regrets is when he saved his woman's life by putting her on the train. A real man fights for his beliefs, for his nation, and for his loved ones.
Another interesting thing, for example, if you want to write a life theme based on Sufi customs--like movies. "Life is all about leaving something behind," Safin said while holding Bond's daughter, Mathilde: "Life is about leaving something behind." Safin's antagonist character is indeed bad, because he wants to leave a chemical weapon of mass destruction--Heracles, his name, to the world--but his quote is good for inspiration, that everyone wants to leave something behind.
Project Heracles, in the film related to relationships and family, is a bioweapon containing nanobots that infect like a virus when touched and are encoded into an individual's DNA. People who have been encoded can be controlled with a deadly effect. But not deadly to non-targets. The location of the project to create the nanobots is between Japan and Russia.
So, when someone is determined to become a writer, then he must choose the most relevant and useful data for his book. Movies can be interesting data. That's the first formula for anticipating the risk of writing in the future. The hobby of watching can be directed to something more meaningful, namely taking the quotes, making them inspirational and relating them to the writing that is currently being composed. Of course, nothing is in vain; everything can be processed.
YANUARDI SYUKUR is an Indonesian writer who is also a lecturer, editor, researcher and speaker at various conferences and expert resource person on several Indonesian television stations and ministries. He has participated in various international programs in Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, the United States, as well as Ukraine. He is an anthropologist at Khairun University who is interested in various global issues. He is currently also active as Vice Chairman of the Islamic and Middle East Research Center (IMERC) of the University of Indonesia and is active in the Commission on Foreign Relations and International Cooperation of the Indonesian Ulama Council. E-mail: yanuardisyukur@gmail.com.
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