A Message To Those Who Say The Media Cannot Be Trusted

A message to those who say the media cannot be trusted:

I agree.

But you must realize the media has already shaped you, don’t you? You were raised by the media, and so were your parents. I see its imprint all over you. In your brand loyalty, in your misguided patriotism, in your complete ignorance of other cultures, in your arrogance in thinking you know it all. These are all traits you developed from swimming in a culture immersed in the media’s messaging.

I see it in the way you’ve come to accept bottled water as normal. I see it in the way you never stop to think what happens after you throw something you so desperately needed in the garbage, or after the war you so feverishly supported leaves a foreign nation in ruins. I see it in the toxins you’ve come to accept as food and in the debt you’ve been talked into accumulating. I see it in the too big vehicle you don’t need and in the newest iPhone you can’t afford.

I see it in your admiration for Ronald Reagan, a complete media creation. I saw it when you played Contra and I see it as you wait for the next Call Of Duty video game. I see it in your fear of socialism and single payer health care. My Canadian aunt was in a news piece on the Canadian health care system and I can tell you what a slant the media put on it.

You got your values and your biases from WWE. You are a walking, talking product of a media campaign that was designed to turn you into a slogan-repeating supporter of war and mindless consumption. I can spot it on you a hundred yards off. Your attitudes, your musical tastes, it all comes from the media. The catchphrases you repeat, like “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” or “Can you hear me now?” The smell of Mountain Dew and Arby’s oozing from your pores, and the smell of Doritos wafting from your breath.

It doesn’t matter if you say you don’t believe the media. It owns you whether you realize it or not. Rush Limbaugh and Ayn Rand are every bit as much served up by the media as are Barak Obama and CNN, you’re just part of a different marketing segment. It feeds your outrage every bit as much as Rachel Maddow has her liberal audience convulsing in hatred over Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. It feeds your hatred and fear of your fellow human beings so that you can no longer see them as anything but the enemy. JUST LIKE RACHEL DOES.

It drives you to work so many hours for so little spiritual reward that you simply have to find someone to blame for your unhappy life when you’ve sacrificed so much. The media convinces you to play by the rules and then provides you with a scapegoat when playing by the rules doesn’t work.

You can’t just turn off the TV now and hope to make it better. Just like you can’t just stop talking to your parents and expect their influence on you to stop. They’ve become a part of you. Their voices speak inside your own mind, whether you acknowledge it or not. Same with the media.

If you claim the media is lying, good on you. If you believe you are immune to the influence of the media, you are more fooled than anyone. You want to free yourself and the world from the influence of the media? It’s going to take a lot of time and effort. You’re going to have to do a lot of self-work, because every time you open your mouth its like the TV is talking.

You will never be free until you begin to understand how much your mind has been shaped by an entity more all-pervasive than any religion or government has been before. It was teaching you before you could speak, before you could stand. It was teaching you when your parents were too busy to give you their time because they were doing what the media told them they should be doing.

You’ve got a glimpse of how the media lies. Good. But don’t tell others the media is lying until you do the work required to understand how the media has lied to YOU.