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"If the people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the busineess of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly."
~ Thomas Sowell.
Most of us would like to believe we are free and perhaps tis' true, to a certain extent, that some of us may be more awake compared to others, however, truth is, we all fall victims to the system in one way or another at some point. Some things beyond our control, others manufactured by the ignorance that stems from our laziness, and some, are just well produced that even the 'awake mind' ends up trapped in.
The media brings you the "news". What exactly amounts to news though, is something that has definitely not been well defined.
The Macmillan Dictionary defines news as:
1) information about something that has happened recently
2) information about recent events that is reported in newspapers or on television or radio
3) the news a television or radio broadcast that gives you information about recent events, read by a newspaper with special reports by correspondents.
This is only the idea of what "news" should be, not what we actually get. Definition 3 of the oxford dictionaries however, is relatable:
- a person or thing considered interesting enough to be reported in the news
The above is precisely what we get today. Stories considered interesting enough. The dirtier the mud, the more we're rolled in it. Good news, does not make for news. It's just not "interesting" enough.
Through out the Trayvon Martin case, mainstream media appeared to be some what of revolution starters. "Has justice been served?", "Oh no, we think it's because Trayvon was a black man? What do you think?"
Now the reason I find the Tray case ironic, is simply because these media houses, are the same ones that enforce the stereotypes they appeared to be fighting against. Think of the last time you saw a crime committed by a Christian man. The headlines didn't read "Christian Man kills wife with dutch oven" now did they? More like "Dutch oven went horribly wrong" or "Husband kills wife with Dutch oven". To be fair I don't actually know if Mr Flannery was Christian or not, that was just an illustration. Which simply further goes to emphasise my point, all that is made relevant in a non-muslim committed crime, is the nature of crime, not religion of the criminal(for most part that is).
The point here, is simple, I could go on and on, but a friend once told me "once you feel people understand your argument, it makes no sense to keep going." Since I believe you pretty much get the big picture here, i'll just quote Thomas Sowell again, "If the people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly."
Understand the difference, choose your sources accordingly, read widely and don't base your arguments on what one source tells you should be your argument, instead, formulate your own by assessing all available dimensions to every tale.
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