“Half the work done in the world is to make things appear what they are not.” – E.R. Beadle.
“The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda.” – Michael Crichton, Harvard Medical School graduate, author of State of Fear
With the above quotes in mind, this really struck me.. A friend of mine posted a long statement, not of her own, but of others, on Facebook the other day. I could not help but think this: “Just because you believe it, doesn’t make it so…”
Her post was naive but very typical. She’s a smart person too. So I’m gonna call her a victim. She wouldn’t like me calling her a victim because I actually know her. But we’ve all fallen victim to this scourge. I am no exception. However, we do have a choice.
Let me back up a step. Everybody has beliefs. Fine, no problem. We should all live by a set of core beliefs. Philosophical, spiritual, faith based thinking. Guiding principles. Things like this. Your own personal faith in the form of belief is not what I’m talking about.
What I’m talking about is pablum. I see it everyday. Statements of fact spouted by those who’ve either attempted or succeeded in seizing some kind of power over us. Power they’ve not been granted – but taken. Power they’ve taken without without a fight. It was seeded to them by us. This could be a person or an organization. Quite often it’s a combination of the two that masquerades as a movement.
It’s wildly common in politics. Democrats say this… Republicans say that…. Usually it’s the other party who’s trying to define what the other is saying for their own gain. Both parties lie. They are both usually wrong. NO – they’re both ALWAYS wrong! The reason they’re wrong is because they’re both speaking (spinning) the others words trying to facilitate their own agenda. Everything is agenda driven and will be twisted to serve a specific need. 
The media, both news and commercial, has made it an art form. Read it, hear it, if they say it, then it must be so. Really? No, I don’t think so. Stop believing non-sense and white noise. The media had a monopoly on what we were served and fed for decades. People believed and trusted the old guard anchors, reporters, news reports and commercials. “Newsflash” – this was all agenda driven. Power, profits and the quest for more power and profits was and still is their guiding light.
News anchors are nothing more than teleprompter readers. Most are very good at it. It’s hard work learning to read a prompter. Sounding as though those are your words, your thoughts, spoken fluently and without hesitation, without monotone. Try it some time, it’s hard. In reality, it’s some new hire who wrote those words to share what a producer told them to write and put on the prompter to be decimated to the viewer via the news organization’s mouthpiece – the anchor who is VERY well paid to read those words as – fact.
Reporters, well, there are a few with principals. A few. If you want to see a news reporter with principals, find the ones with the courage to present analysis based on facts that can be backed up or have actual first hand experience with what they are reporting on. Better yet find the one who resigned if a producer or the “brass” at the news corporation keep them from putting on air, stories that go against the company agenda. CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson comes to mind immediately.
But here’s the real problem. It’s us. We need to stop repeating the crap the news media, marketing media, politicians, campaign managers, advertising agencies and P.R. people for these “hacks” put in front of us. We should think for ourselves. Don’t just repeat a phantom “statement of fact” that’s been created from an agenda to serve the source of the statement. These are not facts. This is PROPAGANDA.
Research things for yourself. Actually decide what the real truth is, not what an ad campaign tells you is truth. Don’t have time? I understand, completely. Don’t say anything. Don’t carry their water or become a useful idiot for some ideological movement unless and until you know the facts. Don’t let them use you and your valuable time. These entities surf on your back. Stop giving them a free ride.
Global Warming? Climate Change? GMO’s, Organic food? Plastic bags? I have NO idea about any of this hyperbole. It used to be much simpler 30 years ago. We were saving the whales, using plastic bags to save the trees and guarding against the population explosion that was going to destroy the planet by the end of the 80’s. Now it’s a new agenda. New statements of fact. 
“Facts” should not be conflicting. I can find research to support pros and cons on any of the above issues in either direction. The planet has been in a constant state of climate flux for 10 billion years. Go here > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorology or here > www.weather.gov/timeline This will tell you how far we’ve come in this field or how little we really know. You decide.
Think you’re saving the planet by re-using that hotel room towel? You’re saving money for the corporation that owns the hotel. Think you’re saving the planet by driving a Prius? You’re not. You’re bolstering the profits of Toyota Motors, the 14th largest company in the world by profits. Both just figured out a way to hook onto these latest statement of facts. Batteries that power a Prius are some of the most toxic things ever manufactured on planet earth. I use to own one, they’re a piece of crap. These vehicles are an example of an agenda driven product and flimsy statements of fact to facilitate a movement.
But hey, if you like your Prius, great! Maybe I just had a lemon. You used your money, you decided. Who am I to tell you anything. It’s your call. I support you and don’t it hold it against you. Your belief? My belief? I don’t know. Just understand the true definition of the word “belief”. A belief is not a fact.
What ever you do, what ever you believe, just don’t let The U.N., The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, the EPA, some “Non-Profit” organization (almost no such thing) or some corporation who profits off a certain belief, tell you what you should think. Especially – don’t let some POLITICIAN, BUREAUCRAT or a self proclaimed EXPERT convince you one way or another about any issue. They are either pandering for votes to stay in power or seeking money to facilitate votes to stay in power. This is a fact.