Comments on: Lou Capozzi to Me: You Are Like a Right Wing Talk Show Radio Host

By: Shilpika Das

Shilpika Das — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:04:43 +0000

I’ll have to agree with Dan Thornton here. As a non-immigrant in the US, I should say that America’s front desk can be “pretty unpleasant.” The wait in those long, immigration lines can be intimidating and the tone often is “threatening and foreboding.” I understand the concerns after 9/11 but I certainly don’t think that warrants the kind of behavior foreigners sometimes have to put up with.

That being said, I don’t think, THAT, in any way, is the reason people dislike America. It may not be the best first impression….but definitely not reason enough to dislike a country.

Mark, in all fairness, I think you had a pretty strong first reaction there — even if your arguments were valid. What I do appreciate, however, is that you took the trouble to e-mail the Business for Diplomatic Action organization, your friend on the board and Eric Schwartzman — giving them a heads up about your blog post. I think that’s the kind of netiquette that should be encouraged.

I do think Lou Capozzi should have paid more attention to your post before responding. Even if he had a valid point of view, and I am not saying he did, he discredited himself with his lack of attention to detail and research. I think he should have known better than to shoot off a hasty reply and engage in name calling.

The bottom line, I think, is to engage in a discussion and refrain from making it personal.

It’s okay to agree to disagree. Question ideas, not people.

By: Anca Bilegan

Anca Bilegan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:17:25 +0000

I was astonished to learn that Lou Capozzi said about Mark’s post “it’s safe to say almost nobody saw this, since I have had no reaction from anyone other than the email you sent to BDA”. Just because Lou Capozzi didn’t personally received comments about Mark’s post, doesn’t mean people are not talking about it. He should have made a quick research before saying this. As Claire said, from a reputation management perspective, Lou showed ignorance when he failed to support his affirmations with facts. I have to disagree that the discussion between Mark and Lou was not a good one for any of them. I don’t think the discussion affected Mark in a negative way: he simply stated his opinion and backed it up with facts. Furthermore, some people will agree with Mark, some won’t, but there’s nothing bad about it.

By: Claire C

Claire C — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:19:26 +0000

So, from a reputation management perspective, I think Mr. Capozzi went wrong at the first place by showing a certain level of ignorance and responding with a considered-to-be-arrogant attitude.

Without a face-to-face interaction, I think it’s even more crucial for a professional to be careful with any word he/she is putting out there. What surprises me the most is Mr. Capozzi’s opening.. it appears to be a little bit irresponsible to me.. Besides, Mr. Capozzi didn’t really back up his statement with any explanation that in the end, the receiver is still confused and unaffected. On contrary, I think Mark at least did a good job, regardless of the contents, in responding with detailed information to support his statement. With such highly-circulated online communication world, communicators should be more cautious before making any statement since that, in prob an hour or so, his/her lack-of-solidity claim could get shot at by countless online audience. (like what’s happening now..)

Though, I consider Mr. Capozzi’s willingness to respond as a good mark in terms of feedback management. However, if the response composes nothing else solid in addition to emotional shout-out, it’s probably better to not respond at all?!

By: Heather Lovett

Heather Lovett — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:08:33 +0000

First I have to say I almost died laughing when you said that he needs to stop going out for lunch in response to ugly Americans in their Bermuda shorts walking down the Chaps Elysee. I, like many of you, don’t understand the point he is trying to make. People don’t like Americans because we have McDonalds, lines at immigration, and wear tacky clothes while visiting other countries? To my American defense, I love taco hell, I wait in lines to enter other countries and while I’m there I try not to dress like a skank. With that being said, I kind of feel sorry for Lou. If you’re reading this – keep your head up, Lou!!

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 06:12:03 +0000

It is amazing to see that a professional like Lou did not look into other social media out there. It seems that Lou responded on the basis of not noticing other people’s response as he stated.

I feel that this emphasizes the importance of proactively participating and being aware of the social media that is being put out about you or your company.

As Mame stated, it is hard to tell the tone of a message as well have a misintepretation. As we have learned throught the semester, when we communicate via mediums like social media we have to be careful what we represent and what we state because of how people may interpret it. Also the fact that there are many people listening through these mediums.