What Ive discovered (or relearned) is that people believe what they want to believe, regardless of facts. That they either dont know or dont care that they are repeatedly being told what they want to hear so that theyll tune in, day after day, in order to boost ratings to sell ADVERTISING! They are being manipulated daily to tune in so the channel can sell ad time for deodorant or cereal or feminine protection or a car. When asked for specifics about what they believe (I ask because I want to be as well informed as possible and entertain the possibility they might have new or concrete information to share), I get.....crickets. Just a repetition of talking points from Bill OReilly or Rachel Maddow or whomever they tune into every night, if that, but no real information, no facts, just ideology. THAT IS NOT NEWS! Just because they have a desk on the set and some catchy graphics and urgent delivery does not make them a news show. The Nazis figured this out really early on that you tell people what they want to hear and you can eventually control them into accepting the unacceptable, false and ridiculous as truth. Facts dont matter. Its the same with Holocaust deniers, those that think all the moon landings were staged, that the movie JFK depicts an accurate representation of what happened. They stand alongside those of our past that thought that Asians could never fly airplanes, or fight a modern, mechanized war because their eyes slant, or that the world was flat, or that the USS Maine was actually bombed, or that aircraft carriers had no real usefulness to the prosecution of power or war. Not because any of these views are/were based on real facts, but because someone told them this and they WANT/WANTED to believe it. What I discovered (or relearned) is that people pontificate about all sorts of things they really dont know much, if anything about. All sorts of things about world events come across my news feed every day from people who I know have NO idea where that country even is and couldnt find it on an unmarked map if their life depended on it, have no idea about the history of a given situation, just the Why isnt the President (or Congress, or the UN or whomever) doing something? But when asked what SHOULD be done, I get....crickets. Though wed been fighting two wars for over a decade, most Americans would not be able to even FIND Afghanistan or Iraq on an unmarked map, but ask them, and they know all about the wars and therefore, have an opinion(s) on what could have been done, should have been done or whats being done. REALLY??? The recent events in Ferguson, Missouri reinforced the sad reality that everyone thinks theyre an expert on criminal investigation and police procedure because they watched Law and Order, NCIS and Cold Case, instead of realizing that these shows are STORIES with just a sprinkling of terminology and rhetoric to make them seem believable and move the plot along. They bear almost NO resemblance to reality. Efforts to explain or pass along facts that are confirmed from multiple sources that are NOT in the business of making news for the purpose of selling advertising on TV or on the web have been met with anger I can only describe as irrational....people who are otherwise intelligent and willing to question the stuff on the front of the National Enquirer, seem so willing to be taken in by what theyre told, just because it was on Fox News or MSNBC or some website, even though the news theyre being told is just about as ridiculous, unbelievable or just plain wrong, but gets them geeked up enough to pass on a video clip or a link to a website that the originator can point to in order to sell MORE ADVERTISING! Oh look, our report on the man who was eaten by a lawnmower, but lived, is trending on Facebook and You Tube! Those hits mean your 30 second ad spot or the banner on our site is worth X! Do I know everything? Nope....not by a long shot. Which is why I question. Which is why I look to a variety of sources of information...REAL information, not incendiary entertainment masquerading as news because it has a desk and cool graphics, or a title that sounds authoritative. I try to go to sources that dont sell advertising AT ALL, and have less of an incentive to spin a snippet of information into a 24 hour news blitz. I had the good fortune to have been able to travel a good chunk of the world and saw first hand that what Americans THINK they know about just about anywhere in the world is almost, or is, nothing. Yes, its probably more comforting to be told night after night what the truth is, but how about finding the truth ON YOUR OWN? Yes, it is time-consuming and sometimes, even most times, youll find out things that go against most things you THOUGHT you knew and believed. Yes, its terrible those people were stuck on the mountain in northern Iraq, and you can bet there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that you dont know to rescue/assist them. But where was your outrage about Rwanda or Bosnia or the kidnapped girls in Nigeria (yes, the media has already moved on from THAT story, although if they were 200 white, blonde girls kidnapped in California, you can bet wed still be getting 24/7 updates on THAT)? Could you even FIND the Gaza Strip on an unmarked map? See what I mean? CNN had milliions, if not billions, glued to their screens about the missing Malaysian Airliner, for weeks, when in fact, no one REALLY knows where that plane went down any more than they did the day it disappeared. It sold a ton of advertising time for beer, soft drinks and cars, though! And made some money for some experts who were trotted on camera with their theories, but really didnt know any more about that planes location than I do (which is to say, none). Retired Generals are trotted out on a regular basis by these entertainment masquerading as news shows so as to lend an air of credibility to this or that point of view (and points of view are NOT the same as news, folks), when for all you know they were heads of air conditioning servicing, janitorial services or accounting at the Pentagon. Theyre retired. They arent THERE, on the ground, and usually werent, and they dont know any more than you do. But they get a check for coming on the show and someone is going to share that video clip as if what that retired General is saying is true. And more advertising gets sold... But do you KNOW it is true? Or do you just BELIEVE its true because it fits with what you think? If youve read this far, Im going to try to make a solemn effort to let my friends here on Facebook and elsewhere share whatever they like, no matter how false, how ridiculous, how incendiary, how designed to sell advertising time it really is. I prefer to have friends alert me when Ive shared something that isnt factual, because I know I have lots to learn, and am always looking for the most accurate information possible, and because I believe sharing false and misleading information is irresponsible (forget how stupid and uninformed it makes the person sharing look). I have to accept that not everyone feels that way and that if they want to make fools of themselves, not to mention, be uninformed or misinformed, I have to let them. Thank you for indulging my rant.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 00:55:18 +0000