The Almighty Media

All hail the Almighty Media! It seems the general belief is, the media is influencing the people of the world and shaping how they view events, themselves, and their lives, and there is nothing people can do to stop it. In clinical terms this is called projection. It’s where a person projects blame on something or someone to escape taking responsibility for their actions. The media is not almighty. Mass Media is based on the dissemination of words, pictures, or sounds to an observing audience. The key word in the last sentence is “observing.” Without a willing observer the media becomes the tree that falls in the woods when no one is there and everyone asks does it make a sound. Of course it makes a sound but if no one hears it, no one really cares? We care about what media says because we pay attention to what it says. Media affects us because we make ourselves available to its influences and lies. The power to control the influence of media is not only in controlling what it delivers, but it is also in being able to ignore what it saying.

            Don’t overlook the power of ignoring. If we stopped buying newspapers and magazines that habitually practiced yellow journalism and spin doctoring then they cease to be an influence. If we turn off TV and radio programs that spread lies and cover-ups then they cease to be an influence. For anything to influence us it first has to get our attention and then our consideration. The power to be influenced lies totally on the person who media is attempting to reach. Look at the Amish. With all of the dependence on modern technology, processed foods, pop culture, and mass media the Amish lifestyle has remained intact. You don’t see little Amish boys sagging or little Amish girls hoochifying dresses or going broke buying designer clothes. Because the Amish filter what comes into their communities and thusly filter what comes into their lives. With that filtering they limit the influence that all media has on them.  And believe you me, if the technological gods go crazy and this worldwide web crashes we will be running to them to help us survive, because without all our modern amenities most of us wouldn’t last a month.  It seems there are some benefits to ignoring things.

            What media does is a form of poisoning and for any poison to affect you it has to get inside you. We get poisoned so often because we are quick to swallow before inspecting what we are eating. In this age of the worldwide web we have access to media from around the world. The least we could do is gather information from different sources and compare what they are saying and dig for the truth instead of expecting it to be hand delivered to us. I imagine it’s really easy to tune-in, veg out, and accept everything one sees hears and reads as the truth. I also imagine it is really easy to manipulate and control people who do that; which, explains why most Americans are for prolonging a war in a place they can’t find on a map and that they know absolutely nothing about. Blame the media all you want but it is stupid people not stupid reporters that make the world a worst place to live. It is not the idiot box, but the idiot who can be controlled by a box that needs to be dealt with. Live free or die stupid, it’s your choice.