Truth and Lies
A 6-point Guide for Consuming News Media
“And I'll just try to make believe
That everything you tell me is true
Come on baby won't you just
Lie to me, go ahead and lie to me”
Johnny Lang, “Lie to Me” 1997
Looking over the “Top Stories” put out by the established media ecosystem, it is natural to cringe in disbelief. The abandonment of principles in favor of tribalism has gotten so out of hand there are at least two separate versions of every event.
Watching, reading or listening to “the news” takes a lot of work these days. Here is a handy, 6-point practice to avoid playing the fool while looking over news media, pundits and meme-makers:
Don’t react emotionally.
Ignore the headline.
If you can find an unedited video of the event, watch that.
Read a source from one tribe.
Read a source from the other tribe.
Keep in mind that something happened before the event, then there was the event, and then something else will happen.
The idea is to be thoughtful. The people writing the stories, editing the videos and especially those authoring the headlines want you to react emotionally and react right away. They trade in clicks, likes, and reposts. Your deeper thinking is like sunlight to a vampire.
The established media model is to get you to react, to be angry, to be fearful so that you will feel threatened. An individual’s attention can’t be easily diverted from a threat. Their business dies without the clicks, likes and reposts. You must be emotional to keep coming back for more.
There is risk in the 6-point guide above. The risk is the strong possibility that you will discover who they want the chump at the table to be. When one practices the 6-point guide, they soon turn into a Sherlock Holmes-esque evaluator of narratives, able to discern “what is missing from the story” like the dog that didn’t bark in “The Adventure of Silver Blaze” by Arthur Conan Doyle.
What should you do when you discover a media site consistently feeds you tales that aren’t accurate, are deliberately misconstrued or have material omissions? To be sure, it feels good in the moment to be affirmed with half-truths and slants.
Yet, the truth is that despite the sugar high of sampling things that feed your beliefs and biases, every time a person bites into media that is at best a bit warped and more likely sheer propaganda, they are killing their intellect as surely as too many empty calories will destroy the body. I’ve seen it happen to too many good people. And like any other addiction, it takes more of the substance to get the same high.
The purveyors of the garbage need you to feel that sugar rush RIGHT NOW because if you thoughtfully wait to get a full accounting of the event in context, you will bypass their business. There is only a market for makers of disinformation and misinformation because there are consumers of disinformation, misinformation and propaganda. Don’t be one.
Onward.
Thank you Rich. For what little Good Facebook does I believe it does a lot more harm. I hate to admit that sometimes I fall into that reaction mode because I can’t just believe some of the crap that gets posted.
I will try to do better in the future .
Excellent Richard! Keep on and take naps whenever possible.