People hear what they want to hear, or say they heard what they want to believe was said.
---I guess I said this in this way.
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| museum of communism in Prague Deutsch: "museum of communism" in Prag (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Mainstream media continually attempts to brainwash their audience into accepting that everything they (the mainstream media) say is undeniable truth and is ultimately not only what that audience should believe, but ultimately what that audience in their heart of hearts wants to believe. And those who consume a limited amount of sources that are skewed mostly toward one bias or another will become hardliners regarding whatever bias they primarily hear.
Watching the "evening news" is not what it once was with networks now being tentacles of the leftist liberal agenda. In earlier days of television, the audience was limited to a short window of information dissemination with little time for analysis and commentary. In our time it often seems that we are delivered far less hard information and a seemingly never-ending stream of opinions and editorializing. We don't even have to think for ourselves because the media spokespersons tell us what we should think. No wonder so many people seem to be a bit bonkers as they parrot the words they constantly hear from the media.
Recently, the hosts of MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' were discussing President Trump's efforts to "undermine the media." Co-host Mika Brzezinski indicated her concern that President Trump was trying to shape the thinking of the public through his tweeting and public comments.
"He is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts," she said about Trump. "And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job," she noted, referring to the media.
Real Clear Politics
Univision's Jorge Ramos anchors nightly news heard by millions of Spanish speaking viewers. He is a journalist as well as a self-proclaimed activist and advocate who stands up for his cause thus dividing Spanish-speaking Americans from their counterparts. He has become a self appointed spokesman of Latino interests which is another dangerous foray into media mind-control of a specific segment of those living within the U.S. borders. A great deal of the dissent within the Latino community against President Trump can most likely pinpointed on Ramos and his cohorts. Not good for unifying America.
What we are dealing with is essentially propaganda attempting to sway minds in one direction or the other. Though this has always been a tool of the free press, now more than ever, with 24/7 television news/information broadcasting, we are bombarded with opinion and unfortunately that opinion is skewed by facts reported as the networks want us to hear them.
Here lies the problem: If we aren't taking in more than one of these "news" sources and processing what we hear through the filter of rational thinking, then we are merely proselytes of the cult of the single-minded media outlet.
For example, I'll point to my favorite nemesis of leftist promulgation--CNN. This was my favorite cable news channel in the eighties, but it was also perhaps the only one at the time, or at least the first one of which I became aware. Back then it was news reporting all day every day and it was fascinating. I don't recall ever seeing the analysis with opinions and editorializing like they have now. I'm not sure when it became what it is now, but it seems that every time I tune in to CNN--which is with relative frequency though never for very long--all I hear is an extreme anti-conservative message. I was rather surprised, and pleased, to see Ben Stein recently on CNN ripping into the network for their excessive negative anti-Trump messaging. Now if only CNN would heed Stein's advice.
If someone only watches CNN or other similar outlets, they are going to eventually develop a highly skewed and mentally unhealthy view of the world. When I read some of the anti-Trump blog or Facebook posts, what I'm receiving is a mimicry of those biased network litanies of lies, misinformation, and distortions. Too much of anything can make you sick. Too much untruth and bias can warp your mind. It can make you crazy. And this is pretty much what we've been seeing happening all around us. The world is going nuts and to a great extent I blame the media. Where else do we get the information about what's going on in the world?
Insecure Writer's Support Group
Since Insecure Writer's Support Group day coincides with Battle of the Bands this month I'm posting a couple days early. My posts tend to get overly long as it is without my combining posts together. As has been the case with my posts, I'm going to tie in this #IWSG post with my current blog theme.
Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog.
Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?
Not my original story, but I have used old stories to inspire my own stories. There was no publication involved, but I feel that some of those stories have been fairly worthy ones. My sources have sometimes come from stories in the Bible reworked in modern settings. Other writers have done this as well with varying degrees of success. Seems like using a time-honored story such as one from the Bible or Shakespeare would be a sure winner, but this can result in massive failure. Heavy-handed messaging or being overly obvious in presentation can make for a story that is more silly and distracting than not.
Bad propaganda often comes from bad story-telling. Sloganeering and repetive ideas can become burdensome to the point causing a reader to reject what is attempted to be conveyed rather than embracing the story. Those who embrace those kinds of stories are probably a bit off their rockers anyway. Maybe they watch too much CNN.
Do you think messaging from mainstream media is mostly or at least partly responsible for much of the discontent we are currently seeing in the United States and elsewhere? Do you think there are many new stories left or are all stories reworkings of previously told stories? Are there any propagandistic works of literature that you have particularly enjoyed?
I've been hearing so many good things about this film that it's had me curious to see it. Then your review reaffirms the bad things I've heard about this film. I might see this one eventually when it makes it to DVD, but I might forget to see it too. This sounds like one of those films that will end up on my Netflix queue toward the bottom and never make it toward the top because I keep putting other films above it.
Then again, based on your review, I might have to see it just to see what you've described. It sounds pretty crazy.\