Why the Media Lies and Why We Still Believe Them (Revised)

I originally wrote this little opinion piece my first week on this site and I still stand by what I said in it. It is a little off topic from my regular content which primarily deals with the drug war, cannabis, psychedelics, and the occasional movie review. I do think that this subject is, at least, tangentially related to most of my content, however. This short article that I am reposting in the steemitzombies tag, as the title suggests, is my opinion on why the media lies and, more importantly, why we believe their lies and that does tie into their spreading of drug war propaganda. At, any rate, I think it was a pretty good post for a one off but, sadly, very few people actually saw it. If this isn't your cup of tea, fear not I will be back to producing my regular content this evening, so you can still look forward to an upcoming Philosophy of Use post tonight or tomorrow, at the latest. Anyway, lets sacrifice a ram, say the incantation, or what ever we have to do and raise this zombie post from the dead and don't forget to stay tuned after the repost for some all new bonus content.

As George Carlin pointed out, the media is completely full of shit. This isn't news though. We all know (on some level, at least) that this is the truth. Anyone can read through the articles on a news website or watch a few stories on a cable news network and see that these people are peddling fear, half-truths, lies, and, worst of all, ads. The question remains, however; why do these media outlets lie and why do we continue to believe them?

The first part of the question is easy. They lie because they have an incentive to lie. To be more specific, the corporations that run the bulk of the media understand that sensational lies draw more attention than boring truths and the more people that view their content means more money in add revenue. There is more, they also understand that they, as large corporations, can benefit from certain changes in public policy so they use their influence to sway public opinion in their favor.

The second half of the question is harder to answer. I have come to the conclusion that people continue to believe the lies of the media because they are easier to stomach than the truth. It doesn't matter if we are liberal or conservative and it doesn't matter where we get our news, someone is still lying to us and we are buying it. This is because the lies are carefully crafted to reinforce what we believe and that makes us feel comfortable and righteous. In time, we seek out only what reinforces our beliefs and accept that as "the real truth." Then when it comes time for the media outlet to sell us their agenda we take it as gospel because they have already "proven" themselves to be "trustworthy".

Unfortunately, believing a thing doesn't make it true. The truth is often better and swallowing sweet lies doesn't do us any good. We need to challenge ourselves, to hear things we disagree with, and judge claims on their merit instead of on how much we like them. If we don't do this and we continue to believe the lies, we will continue to live under the yoke of the elites in the media and in politics. We will continue to be starved of knowledge and when ignorance rules freedom of thought and action cannot exist. It doesn't matter who you are or what you would like to believe; the truth is the truth and only the truth can lead to enlightenment and liberation from false fear.

Bonus content!

I have said before that I don't really like just cutting and pasting and calling it a day, so I will throw in a little something extra for anyone who happened to see the original post. I didn't really have anything prepared for this section of my steemitzombies post but we can make something fun, I think. Free writing can be cool, right? I mean it isn't as polished as prepared material but I think it has value. I could, however, just be telling myself that this is the case because I want my free writing to have some value. Who knows? Anyway, lets move on with the bonus content.

Ummmm.... Here is a cool picture that I think would make an awesome meme if you are into making memes. It is from a free image website (unsplash.com) so you can use it all you want.

Have you ever been to the desert? A lot of people complain about the desert being "ugly" but I see a certain harsh attractiveness in it's landscape. Besides being at sea, there are few places where the sky is so large. I always saw a kinship between being in the desert and taking psychedelics. Like the desert, psychedelics demand respect. You are free to travel through the desert just as you are free to travel through your own mind but if you become careless both the desert and psychedelics will slap you down pretty hard and let you know your place. Neither thing is uncaring either. The desert can sustain life if one knows where to look much like psychedelics can sustain ones sanity if he or she knows how to use them to that purpose. Both are full of alien beauty and majesty that can scare many people away but rewards those who are willing to embrace them. I kind of like this topic. I may return to it at some point.

Peace.

Unless otherwise credited, all the images in this post were sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.

As a side note, if you are interested in resurrecting a dead (good quality) post, please check out the steemitzombies tag. There are a few (very simple) rules but I think that it is a great idea. Plus, if you take some actions you can actually win a few rewards if you are selected.