I’m human. I make mistakes. Telling you that the media distorts the news isn’t one of them.
The ultimate wealth is the gift of time. We’ve compressed time so that any of us can find news on our phone in seconds. In that sense we are all rich and powerful. We have dozens of news sources on our tablet or personal computer. We can do in seconds what it used to take weeks to do in newspaper archives and research libraries. Unfortunately, web outlets like Google, Facebook and Twitter are as slanted and partisan as the smoky old newsrooms they replaced. Online sources twist the truth, but we are the ultimate lie detector.
We can absorb an unbelievable number of headlines…and we can also explore the news that contradicts what we already know. New ideas stand out. So do old lies. Experts may tell us we were wrong, but take your time before you believe them. We trust what we know because we’ve examined those beliefs over a long period of time and across a wide range of circumstances. We detect a lie because it does not fit with the immense body of information we’ve already tested and come to trust.
Media organizations like Google, Facebook, Twitter and CNN depend on their reputation. It is hard, if not impossible to regain our trust once we see them as liars. We know that Google distorts search results. YouTube buries videos that don’t fit their progressive and PC agenda. Twitter sensors politically conservative speakers. CNN does little more than regurgitate progressive talking points. We expect these sources to be biased. If these media outlets told the truth by accident, then we’d need a few minutes to get over the shock and recognize the truth for what it was.
These media sources told us America was never great. They told us that we need more government to uproot our deep seated bigotry and to end global warming.
We didn’t believe them. We rejected the corrupt big-government candidates they endorsed. Today, they think that defaming Trump will change our mind. For some of us, it will. What the online thought-police forget is that Trump is our tool, not the other way around. We chose Trump after we saw his many and obvious flaws. We chose Trump to stop the corrupt Socialists we were offered. We don’t care who Donald screwed, so long as he does the job we hired him to do.
That scares the Socialists and their toady corporate shills to death. In reaction, the biased media keeps trying to spin bigger and bigger lies. For example, the Washington Post blamed Trump for a hurricane. (I link to the commentary because the WP is behind a paywall.) The New York Times got it wrong and said the US had 31% of the world’s mass shootings. The truth is we have one percent.
We’re tempted to turn off the spin machine and stop listening.
I’m asking you to listen harder.
I’m asking you to listen and read and watch the news carefully. Read past the headlines. Keep digging to uncover the truth buried under the lies. Study the news to recognize who lies and who doesn’t. There is so much to learn, and you are exactly the right person to do it.
~_~_
I gave you 500 words. Please share and leave a comment. RM
Originally posted @ https://slowfacts.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/its-harder-to-fool-all-of-us-all-the-time-but-finding-the-truth-takes-work/
https://nypost.com/2018/08/30/america-doesnt-actually-lead-the-world-in-mass-shootings/
https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/29/facebook-npr-piece-school-shooting/
https://nypost.com/2018/08/23/facebook-censored-my-column-and-i-still-cant-find-out-why/
https://dailycaller.com/2018/08/31/cnn-list-bungled-reporting-fake-news/
Image: CCO Creative Commons; Excerpted from: https://pixabay.com/en/beard-break-business-businessman-2642609/
