A dozen tricks of Big Media

A few years ago, Hillary Clinton used the term "fake news" and the phrase quickly became popular. My guess is that the term stuck because, it's true. 

It is common for us to be a little shocked when others believe something "because they saw it online" but at the same time we readily accept everything that comes out of their favorite media outlet. Our favorite outlet is 100% the truth and others are evil people trying to get us to believe a huge array of lies. 

Previously, I wrote a blog on the news, which you can find here What I learned from reading 20 news apps a day, but wanted to continue my train of thought. I still find it fascinating how the media can use such a small portion of what happened and then dramatize the rest to increase viewership. It is equally fascinating that everyone agrees about that, just not with their preferred media outlets. 

 

It is striking to see that if President Biden or President Trump were to run into a burning building and pull several children from the fire, cure cancer and create world peace, opposing news outlets would either ignore the story or find some way to make their acts appear evil.

After doing my 20 news app experiment and losing all hope in the media that relays so little of what happened, I decided to make a list comprising the common ways in which Big Media sways you to their side.  

Yes, I realize you need to get your information from somewhere and staying informed is important! The problem is that when you watch the president give a speech, look at economic indicators or other events in the world and then look at the news, it is shocking how little of what you can easily see happened makes the news. 

I personally truly believe that the speeches, economy, or other world events have very little to do with what makes the news. Sure, it might be briefly mentioned, but then the rest of the article will follow the same rhetoric as everything else spewing out of their organization.

The New Paper, Roca News and 1440 are a couple of my favorite impartial media outlets. Feel free to check them out.

https://thenewpaper.co/r?r=woenpev20hi

https://join1440.com/?utm_source=newsletter_CM

 

If you are sticking with the popular media, you should do so keeping these 12 tricks in mind. 

1. PRIDE 

Stroking our pride is at the root of most everything on the "news". My friend told me she was an "enlightened thinker" because she follows MSNBC. If you believe differently than MSNBC's view, then you are in the minority, you are dumb, you are alone, you are a bigot, you are extreme or are to the far left or right etc. etc. I use MSNBC as an example, though the other outlets aren't any better. I personally don't believe listening to any person will make you enlightened.

I saw on Fox once that studies show that their viewers have a certain percentage higher IQ than those who watch other media outlets. In either example, their viewers are smarter or more enlightened while the rest of the world is dumber and in the dark.

 

Honestly, I think the best way to raise your knowledge is to drop them all. 

2 - "Experts"

It is normal for us to want to believe the experts. Doctors agree that 90% of the country is obese and that it is 104.8% the fault of McDonalds.  Scientists all agree that the earth is 47.89 degree hotter than it was last year.  Experts agree that all Americans should eat kale Greek yogurt for every meal starting now. 

Technically I guess, that to use the plural term of "doctors" or "scientists", you would technically only need two of them to agree, but still. It is dumb.

Doctors, scientists, and other experts are constantly debating and looking at new and better ways to do everything. It is hard to find them agreeing on anything at all, much less all agreeing on anything. I've heard physicists at the same university debate on a myriad of topics and doctors from the same hospital who graduated from the same med school get in heated debates on which treatments to use. 

 

Though scientists and doctors actively debate on pretty much everything, when their opinions are reported by the media, they magically all come together in agree with whatever the news is promoting that day.  

If you can't get someone to believe something because it simply makes sense you or even feel's right, maybe you can get them to think that everyone smarter than them believes it. What? You don't think that X is evil? Well all doctors and scientists believe something, and they are experts and smarter than you, so you should believe the same.

Celebrities experts are great. If there is one segment of the population known for making worst choices than politicians, it would be celebrities, so we should obviously listen to them. Nothing gives credibility to knowledge of world events like someone who excels or sports or music!

 

3 - Ridiculous Visuals

I first noticed this when I saw pictures of Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi on conservative media outlets. The pictures would show them appearing very angry, ugly and often yelling. It is kinda mean. Of course, things are much better with President Trump and liberal outlets.

 

Go to MSNBC/CNN and find a picture of President Obama and you'll see a very classy and majestic image in front of a flag.  Or on Fox you'll see the same for President Trump. Before you read a word, you are already swayed heavily in one direction or the other. Plus, with the crazy amount of materials pushed in our direction there is a good chance one will only read the title and glance at the visuals before continuing.

3 - "STATISTICS"

The old saying of "80% of statistics are made up" would be a very generous for big media. No joke. Next time you see a statistic try in the media, look that statistic up to see where it came from. If you can find the statistic, which is a big "if" because they often don't cite a source, it will either be taken far out of context or just plain wrong. Serious, try and follow their references back to the original source! 

 

One of my favorite is the "vague" statistic.  It is estimated that "up to" 98% of Americans support X".  Of course, up to 98% would mean anything between 1 and 97% which is a pretty big gap.

Or the "unknown" statistic, which is even worse. "It is unknown if President Obama kicks baby puppies in the basement of the White House for fun" or "It is unknown if President Trump was clubbing baby seals at his retreat this weekend".  The media is safe with this statement as they are not really saying that something happened but they are very strongly planting the seed.

I love statistics but whenever someone tells me a study proved something, I ask to see the study. I want to see how the study was performed, the pool used, the alpha etc etc. It is extremely rare for a stated study to actually show what the media says.

Find the original and make your own decision! 

 4 - Shock

This is a very common tool as it also hits at our pride - "Well Amy, it is shocking that there are still those who believe...." 

 

The opposition is so incredibly off their rockers that it is shocking to the rest of us. Generally, the news reporter will have a sad face showing that she almost feels sad for the poor people who found a way to feel differently. 

5 - EXTREME

Those with opposing beliefs are always "extreme". Each side will lay claim to the fact that all moderates or independents believe like they do, while others are way out there! 

 

 

Who is really extreme? When you get down to real discussions with those who supposedly believe very differently than yourself, you will soon find that your outlooks are not that different. 

The real extremists are the Big Media who are making billions off increasing the divide and trying to make you look foolish if you don't join them out in the deep end. If any voice is pushing you to hate or look down upon others, stop listening! 

 

6 - What the other side believes 

Big media is kind enough to let us know what our friends believe, that way we don't have to actually talk to them! Matter of fact, they encourage us to stop communicating with friends, being friends on social media or even dating those who may believe different than the truth.

When Thomas Jefferson won his bid for president, the accusations against him had grown so wild that women were burying their Bibles in the yard so that Jefferson couldn't find their holy books and take them away.  Of course Jefferson had no such intention but it was something his opposition was letting the good people of America know that he was going to do. 

 

 The funny thing is that I don't agree 100% with my wife, parents, boss, neighbor, pastor, favorite celebrities, friends, or anyone else for that matter, but if you question a decision by any politician, the opposing party will throw down how anti- or hateful you are.

Also, no one seems to know better what someone thinks than their opposing party. They think that or they believe that is a common thread. This saves us from actually having to talk to those people! You'll often here that "Party X believes that...." and they are shocked that this could be. If I had a $1 for every time someone, I know on Facebook posted something to the effect of "How can 64 million Americans possibly believe that....". Well, that imaginary number of Americans probably doesn't believe whatever absurd thing that the news just told you about. 

You'd be shocked to hear what the media is telling others you believe. You would probably be extra shocked to know that many of them believe what they hear!  

Relax and go talk to those friends. 

7 - Totally Unrelated Remarks

Unrelated Quotes fascinate me! Dropping a great quote by Martin Luther King Jr. or Mother Theresa in your story that has nothing to do with those people or their message is amazing. Jesus taught that you should love one another so you should vote for proposition X or support this candidate. 

Unrelated Comparisons are fun too! Abraham Lincoln walked three miles to school every day and you should vote for this pipeline.

Start paying attention to this and ask yourself - does this catchy quote or fact or story or picture have anything to do with what they are trying to prove.  Very often it is totally irrelevant! 

The Earth being flat or the Earth revolving around the sun are some of the more favorite comparisons. Man, just like people believed the Earth is flat, people today believe that (insert opposing opinion).

Buzz Words are great and really help make one's argument. Companies and politicians literally spend millions to find out which buzzwords incite certain feelings. Common ones include - fresh, bold, extreme, audacious, daring, baffling, challenge, unprecedented, shocked, extreme, conventional wisdom would suggest, current thinking, modern thinking, accepted beliefs, outdated, the truth is, surprising are a few of the common ones.  Pay a little extra attention when the media starts dropping buzz words to gain credibility.

Diversion - How often do you hear "you think this is bad? Well the last president did (insert something that the last one did)!" This is incredibly fascinating because we breeze over the poor actions of our own politicians and point fingers at the other. 

For some reason we just can't admit that an action by someone we voted for is wrong, so we try and divert blame on to someone else. 

8 - Naming schemes

This is big with congress naming certain bills or the media naming groups of people. I saw one bill in Congress that was named something like - "Bill to feed and educate all children suffering in poverty which is strongly favored by all in the middle-class" (no joke, ok, I'm exaggerating but only a little because I do not remember the exact name of the bill, but it really was something close to that).  The actual bill was for the federal government to give funding to the representative’s home district for a whole load of things that had nothing to do with education, children or fighting poverty. In the middle of page 19 in the bill was two lines about increasing funding to an already existing welfare program by a small percentage. Of course, the creators of the bill condemned anyone who didn't vote for the bill to be voting against children, education and trying to keep people in poverty.

 

Bonus points seem to go to the media for mentioning something about children, the middle-class or race. If you can't get them to believe you, tell the world the opposition is racist, hates children or is keeping the middle class down. You might not be able to see the correlation, but that really doesn't matter!

Watch out for labeling, even the Hitler and the Nazi party would hold "Freedom Rally's"!!!

 9 - Conversion of the other side

This is weak but seems to work well. Before stating your opinion, it is best to say you used to adhere to the opponent’s way of thinking, but now you have converted and believe X! 

In addition to your own conversion, you should mention the huge number of people jumping ship with you from the other side. Nearly all Democrats now believe the same as us. Most Republicans have come around to believe like we do (except the very extreme of course!)

10 - Anger

Anger is a great tool to get what you want. It seems to work very well though I'm not sure why.  Whether in life, the workplace or in the news, people listen to the angry person.  I guess it is easier than disagreeing. Politicians, news reporters and "pundits" are always very angry at the other side and no one seems to want to fight the angry person. 

 

11. Fear

You fear being racist, sexist, intolerant or bigoted pushes you towards believing a certain way. If the widely accept moderate media says I'm racist if I don't believe X, then I should probably follow. Fear is also huge around election time. If you vote for the other person then the world will quickly look like Mad Max after their win. 

12 - Victim/Guilt

Showing how you are a victim and then pitting you against another group is paramount efforts. Members of your race, gender, orientation, age, geographic location, political party, income group etc., are victims of this other group who are trying to keep you down. They hate you and are profiting greatly by keeping you down!

You are in group A and group B hates you so you should believe X. You probably didn't know this before or can't really see how it's true, but it must be.

Victim by proxy is huge. You may not belong to the mentioned group, but if you don't support whatever is on the media, then you are also against that group.

We try and morally blackmail anyone who disagrees with our point of view. Obviously, we are the most enlightened on any matter and are stuck in with a bunch of people trapped in darkness.

The more you learn, the less you hate

Without the benefit of truth or accuracy which so easily convinces on its own merits, there are still many tools to use. No one creates memes or yells at people who don't believe the earth revolves around the sun because it is obvious and accepted bit of truth. Lacking a surety, we let our emotions get involved and we get sucked in to these 12 traps. 

 Let's give it a try...

 Hello, this is (name of super attractive reporter) reporting as it seems that there are somehow still a few of the opposing party who do not believe in X.  These extremist X will not give up their failed ideologies and embrace something that is benefiting children, elderly, middle-class and puppies worldwide.  Scientists and doctors all agree that the old way embraced by the rich white class just aren't working any more.

The racist and sexist extremists from the opposing party fail to see what the rest of us have long known including Lady Gaga who said that "X is the right way".

 She is not alone, Martin Luther King Jr. said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

Party X is simply losing relevance now as their old methods simply unsustainable aren't working any longer.  Members from their own party are starting to question this line of thinking and are joining our ranks leaving those extreme members behind.  Unfortunately, there are some who are still pushing their old agendas with the same old rhetoric.

Now watch the news with these in mind. The big problem is that after reading the news you still have little idea about what is really happening and it will be hard to find what is really happening.

THE SOLUTION?

My hope is that we can leave all of this behind and here are some suggestions to do so:

 - Start with yourself and when discussing your beliefs leave these tools behind. Don't perpetuate the use of moral blackmail to get your point across. If you resort to these maybe reevaluate your position. Is it really right? Are you letting your emotions lead your beliefs instead of facts? Maybe take a step back and look at the situation.

- If you are going to follow Big Media (which we do not have much of an option if you'd like to stay informed), make sure you verify any information you feel as relevant from other sources.  Generally, I have 15-20 news apps on my tablet which as a combination will hopefully provide somewhat of an accurate story.  Of course, it wasn't long before I just deleted several because they were as reliable for truth as was the National Inquirer or Onion news network, though far less funny. I'm guessing the Onion is more accurate. If you just read that and thought – ya, the Onion is more accurate than the opposing media – then you haven’t learned much. It isn’t until we can question ourselves and our own media that we can grow.

- If you feel angry or hateful towards some group after watching the news, please disregard what you heard or at least vet the information first. Success in stirring your emotions is why the media outlets make billions. 

- Find a new news network. I mentioned a couple up above and I’m sure there are others.

- Someday I’m going to start a media outlet called “The Middle” where we just report what happens. I am looking for investors so if you have a few million laying around to get this going, you know where to find me. 

And the biggest one should be open communication. If your phone or TV tells you that a loved one believes a certain thing and that you should hate them, try talking to that person to see how they really feel. Open communication will solve most of our society's problems which is why organizations who profit off our divide, focus so strongly on separating us!