How a Corrupt Media Spreads Terror and Three Ways to Stop It
“Did you hear about (insert terrorist attack here)?”
“I can’t believe what (insert name of political candidate and what they said or did here).”
“Did you see the (insert latest shooting by the police or a mentally deranged person here)?”
If you’re like me, then chances are a friend, acquaintance, or coworker has said something similar to you lately.
Make no mistake, the recent tragedies happening around the world are horrible. But what’s worse is the mainstream media in the United States has become an amplification channel for evil.
Most of what we call “media” in the United States is in a state of decline. They’ve moved away from any pretense of serving their audience. Instead, they insist on waging non-stop terror campaigns. They chose to promote: shootings, terrorist attacks, and dangerous political candidates. They don’t present their audiences with any paths or plans to stop the nightmares they promote. The media looks at you and I as a “user” who they push a “product” on in order to first terrorize, and then get us hooked for life.
Their business model is clear: push media into users lives any way they can, and make sure that it moves their users’ psychological states towards fear, uncertainty, and doubt. It’s only in those states that their users become highly susceptible to advertising. To become impervious to the media’s terror campaigns, we first need to look at what’s inside their addictive and damaging product. It has three main fillers:
- Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) ~ 60% of the product they push is made up of re-broadcasting events designed to elicit these emotions. Oftentimes they literally promote source material for terrorists, politicians, and anything that helps divide people into groups which can then be pitted against each other. If their users weren’t divided, and instead part of a tight knit group working to solve problems, FUD would instantly lose it’s appeal. Classic FUD examples include… Look- it’s police against black people! Look- this political candidate is dangerous and said something racist about these different groups. Look- Terrorists are killing these groups of people. News media in America should work to build up systems of cooperation, but sadly the majority of their product is designed to break down their users’ willpower until they are divided. This dividing and conquering is in full display on social media, “if you support (insert person, thing, country, policy, or group here) then I’m going to unfriend/unfollow you!” As long as the majority of the mainstream media’s product elicits FUD, they can easily divide users into groups, making it easier to target them with ads.
- Advertisements ~20% of the product is geared towards buying things you don’t need so you can impress people you don’t like. The majority of their ads are geared towards ways and things to help amuse yourself until you’re unable to escape from distractions/diseases/sicknesses of over-consumption. Chuck Palahniuk got it right, “the things you own end up owning you.” This is a trick that the drug pushers know all too well. First introduce FUD into the users’ life, divide them, then point them towards ads for crap. Eventually, the users will be so isolated and weighed down with crap, that the drug pusher can pump them full of as much FUD and ads as they want.
- Panem et Circenses (P&C) ~20% of the product is focused on Panem et Circenses, a latin term for, “bread and circuses.” The term was coined by the satirical poet Juvenal to highlight the fact that Rome was becoming a place where the populace preferred cheap food and entertainment to solving important problems. As the republic of ancient Rome became an empire, those in power sought to render the populace impotent with a mixture of cheap bread and circuses. Mainstream news media is no different, and after delivering FUD and ads for crap, ~20% of their product gives users a small respite. P&C allows for a brief recovery, but it’s like empty calories that initially satisfy, but ultimately cause fierce withdrawals and cravings for more. P&C is usually a buffet of distractions, cheap fast food, pharmaceuticals, and whatever craptastic remake or warnography that Hollywood is peddling. P&C brings intense withdrawals, and the FUD > Ads > P&C cycle can begin again.
America was once a republic, but now is something else entirely. Rome is burning. The news media is knowingly pouring gasoline onto these fires, and getting paid by their advertisers to do it. The real terror campaign Americans should fear is being waged against them by their own news media.
The media works hard on behalf of the terrorists, spreading their messages of fear far and wide. With such a limited budget, terrorists could never reach every family in America, but thanks to the free help from American media, now they can. The media could halt this coverage, or stop covering candidates they don’t like (or who break countless laws) but they don’t. By focusing on spreading derangement without a clear plan to fix it, they’re investing in, and ensuring there will be enough future derangement to cover. The media, terrorists, and corrupt politicians all have an unspoken, professional pact- if you keep doing evil stuff, we’ll keep spreading it.
They do this largely because they see no other way to make money. They have no ideas, plans, or paths to fix any of the problems they cover. Almost everyone who works inside these organizations is high on their own supply, with no interest in getting clean. Unconsciously, I don’t think they want it to stop. If it stops, they’ll have to think. If they stop and think, they’ll be confronted by a horrible reality. They are little more than drug pushers ravenous for larger and larger user bases suffering from neoteny.
The worst part is that so many users (my former self included) tried out the media’s product with noble intentions. I thought, “the world is broken! How can I make it better?” Like everyone else who aspires to do good, I ran into our cultural prison guards. They tell us that before we can do anything to solve our problems, we must first become, “well informed.” They don’t mean gaining self knowledge, wisdom, or an education. “Well informed” is media speak for, “get addicted to our product.” So (maybe like you) I sought to be well informed, and got hooked on news media.
“To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers.” –Nassim Taleb
But I escaped, got clean, and now I’m interested in stopping the problems we see at their source. I’m guessing you are too.
So how do we do that? After all, it’s been nearly impossible to discuss anything on social media, online, or with friends without inadvertently spreading terror.
Here are three ways we can help end the mainstream media’s terror campaign against the American public.
Number One — Instead of rebroadcasting FUD, reframe the Debate
We can refuse to promote FUD related subjects. When other people insert FUD oriented topics, events, or subjects into the conversation, investigate if they actually want to do something about these problems, or just spread them. If they only want to spread them, consider changing the subject or physically removing yourself from the situation. Of course there are times when silly social conventions make it hard to escape. In those cases, silence or disinterest works best. If you suspect that the individual or group might want to explore stopping horrible events, consider these conversation starters/enders when FUD themed topics come up:
“That was horrible. What’s worse is the media makes money by promoting it. Do you think that by talking about it we’re giving the media and the terrorists what they want? Or do we have to talk about it in order to fix it?”
“It was awful, but you know what… I’m tired of the media acting like the unpaid promoters of terrorists. Isn’t that what the terrorists want? To spread fear of their attacks to the largest audience possible? I’m not going to spread it any further.”
“You would think that if (insert news media company here) doesn’t like (insert political candidate here) that they would stop talking about them!”
It’s incredibly difficult at first, but with enough imagination, courage, and patience, you can help avoid, or stop FUD related topics from spreading.
Number Two — Explore what you or the small group you’re part of can do to make the world a better place
Right now, there are people, small groups, and companies building technology that will drastically reduce the amount of terrorism and intraspecies violence. Learn about these groups, and bring them up in conversation. Discuss them, or maybe explore how you could help or join them. Here are some examples of problems and companies working to solve them…
Want to make our systems of co-operation better and save the republic from becoming/remaining an empire?
Want to fight terrorism preemptively, and help stop human trafficking?
Want to create more opportunities for women in war torn countries?
Want to reduce the number of Police Shootings?
Research and join one of these companies making non-lethal weapon technologies.
Want to help build a media company that doesn’t spread FUD and P&C?
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Or get the skills and experiences you need and find a team of friends/co-founders and build technology to solve these challenges.
Number Three — Become the change you want to see
This is always the hardest part of any change. We each have to work towards becoming (slightly) better on a daily basis, refusing to share or discuss fear based topics, and gain proficiency at gently steering conversations towards solutions.
Being the leader in those conversations is much easier if everyone knows you’re already devoting your time and energies towards actively solving problems.
For instance, maybe you’re already working for a company or on a project that’s helping address some of these problems at their root. Great! Then tell people about it without shame. Do you already avoid watching mainstream news? Great! Then tell people about how you escaped, how you filter the inputs you’re bombarded with, and tell them about the new media, podcasts, etc… that you consume as an alternative to mainstream FUD and P&C. If you’ve escaped becoming a junkie of the media’s terror campaigns, be proud of this accomplishment, and tell others.
A long time ago, the ancient founders of modern chemistry and science held a unique view on horrible events. They saw those inevitable events (the dark night of the soul that none of us can escape) as the, negredo– a type of primer material. That primer material was seen as a precursor of achievement or insight. The ancients thought that with enough analysis, the clever person could discover what the negredo always carried hidden within it- the seed of a solution. The negredo always presented a chance to wake up, re-assess the situation, find a solution, and immediately begin implementing it. When evil strikes, it always reveals the way in which it can be destroyed or turned towards the light. If the one who encounters the negredo has enough initiative, imagination, and courage– they will find a way to begin (or continue) solving the problem.
Horrible events are a call to action. Not to re-broadcast and terrorize others, but to step up, and lead our way towards long-term solutions.
The mainstream media in America is always eagerly waiting to push us towards FUD, serve us crappy ads, and render us impotent through P&C. We can choose to participate in this corrupt cycle, or we can reject this madness, and become the change we want to see. Each of us are free to put our own skin in the game and help build the technological solutions to solve these problems at their source.
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.” – Henry David Thoreau
Evil wants us to spread it’s message of terror by hacking at it’s branches (which only prunes it), but there are growing numbers of leaders who will strike at the root.
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