That is what I ask myself almost daily. I, like you I suppose, are surrounded by media input: TV newscasters, Hollywood personalities, Opinion Moguls, Newspapers, Magazines, Global Warming pontificators, Global Warming detractors, Billionaires who think they know how society should change, your next door neighbor, my next door neighbor, you, me, others.
What are we to do with all the input? How are we to believe what we hear, or even what we see? How do we differentiate between fact and fiction?
I quote the following question from season 1, episode 1of a TV series titled Ragnarok: "Are the authorities presenting us a fake reality?"
I don't intend to be an alarmist or a conspiracy theorist or a panic-monger. My intention is to wonder why the established authorities consistently inform me that the President of the USA from January 19, 2016 to January 19, 2020 is an evil person when I have experienced that President Trump is the first President in a long time to make several campaign promises and follow through on them. So, how then is he necessarily evil? By what process do we determine such a specific resultant opinion?
It seems that if I listen to all the pundits, I am supposed to know things are true because they tell me those things are true. This may be true or it may not be true. How do we propose to separate fact from propaganda?
Propaganda sounds like truth and is presented to be truth.
If only one perspective is constantly being presented by the pundits, doesn't that imply that they want us to believe that one perspective and not question the presentation?
When someone is pushing their specific perspective on me, I must wonder why it is so important that I believe them and what they have to say. Why does it matter so much?
The few news resources that tell a different story from the rest are suggested to be spinning conspiracies or merely misrepresenting the facts. But, the question remains—how can we know for certain either way?
I suggest we each begin the process of reading information from both perspectives, listening carefully to both sides of every issue, and weighing the consequences of believing either side of every presentation. It seems we are on the verge of being manipulated, and I suggest we do our best to not let it happen.
