In `Matrix Reloaded, Morpheus and Commander Lock are at odds with one another from a pragmatic and an ideological perspective, for example, as it concerned communicating with the people of Zion. Their underworld is under attack from the machines of the Matrix, and Lock advises Councillor Hamann to be very discrete and sparing in what he says, so as not to cause undue panic. On the other hand, Morpheus believes the people ought to know everything and they can mobilize themselves with determination and confidence against the attack. Chalk one up for Morpheus on this, as he stirs up the enormous crowd into a frenzy with his speech candor and motivation.
In a way, that is emblematic of what confronts society, when disease runs rampant. A film may simplify a complex issue by dichotomy: to communicate vs not to communicate. Officials must say something to the people, but what they say and how they say it matter a great deal. Media is their conduit, and for better or for worse, they can serve a positive and-or a negative role. I think the issue is that media is not impartial. Its job is to communicate, and even if it has to muckrake, it will do so in order to fulfill its responsibility to inform the people of bad things. That's a quandary for officials. In a way, they have to act like Councillor Hamann, who manages to navigate Morpheus and Lock. Officials ought to mentor and guide the media on that what and how of communication. Informing people is one thing, but causing panic is quite another.
Note: In the DVD for `The Invasion (2007), the fourth film adaptation of the classic Jack Finney novel `The Body Snatchers, We've Been Snatched Before is a feature program. I couldn't find an upload of it on YouTube, so the next best thing, I thought, was to capture this thought-provoking program via the foregoing screen shots.
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