Why Context Matters

I have always enjoyed Trevor Noah, who hosted “The Daily Show,” a faux news show originally made famous by Jon Stewart. About seven years ago, Noah, a South African comic took over from Stewart. He and brought an outsider’s viewpoint to this quintissential American socio-politican and cultural show. He wasn’t always liked or appreciated. However, an outsider who grew up in a world of grays, I respected Noah’s erudite approach to humor and the human condition. Noah ended his seven year run yesterday. And in his parting commentary, he said something that I feel needs worth amplifying – context matters.

Never forget how much context matters. I feel like we live in an age of limitless information right now. But we never seem to acknowledge that there’s a shortage of context. We don’t realize that we have a lot of information but we don’t have the context that is so necessary for us to process that information, which is so important.

Context is truly everything.

We know we know about a flood in Pakistan. In a way that we never would have known before we know about protests in Iran. We know about what the troop movements are in Ukraine. We know about a drought in parts of you know, Sudan. We know all these things. We know who Pete Davidson is dating now. Sometimes I feel like we know it before he does.

We see a clip a video. It’s designed to make us angry, we respond to it accordingly. We don’t know how it started. We don’t know how it ended. We don’t know what the actual story is. And context is so important for everything for every conversation if you think about it in life. It makes you angry. Don’t you wonder why it makes you angry.

Try and find the context. Wherever you can ask as many questions and may slow you down in being able to make a decision that may slow you down and being able to form a take, but maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe we shouldn’t have an opinion immediately. Maybe we should wait and see what happened. See what the context is.

Just remember without context, nothing makes sense. 

If you have been a reader, you all know that context has been the driving force for me as a writer in specific, and observer of the world in general. It has stood me in good stead. It helps me deal with the vagaries of the modern life. I will miss Noah and his work as the host of The Daily Show. I hope in time, we get to enjoy him as a comic on the road. That would be worth paying for.