A lot of what I write about comes from what seems to overflow from my brain. Currently, it seems that my social media is overcome with something called “fake news", and my brain has just about had enough of it.
Heard of it? It’s a phrase that came about shortly after Hillary Clinton conceded the election (due to the Electoral College - which, to the dismay of those crying over her winning the “popular vote", she actually acknowledges). I’m not exactly sure of the origin of the phrase. Please feel free to comment and give me your suggestions as to where you think the phrase came from. I post all comments - even those I disagree with - as long as they are not spam.
What spurred this post is a movie. Normally, my wife and I go by a list of movies we want to see; made up of movies we own, along with movies that we want to see that were covered on a podcast called “Film Sack", which I call IMDB on steroids and laughing gas. My wife suggested that we go through our movie list alphabetically. Unfortunately, along with the TV shows we are watching, it is taking us quite a bit of time to get through our list. It has been a few years and we’ve only just finally finished the “D"s.
Anywho, the movie that inspired this blog was a movie my wife wanted to watch that was not on our list: “Zootopia". Yeah, and even if it was on the list, can you imagine how far into our retirement it would take to finally get to the “Z"s?
(Note: We just finished the “D"s of a list of movies over 500 titles long.)
“Zootopia". Have you seen it? If you haven’t, you should. It is not only a fun story, the visuals are so amazing that you’ll sometimes forget that they were done with a computer.
However, about halfway through the film I paused the movie and stated that I was very annoyed with all of the propaganda being shoved down our throats, even in a kids/family movie.
For those of you who’ve watched a lot of Disney films, you are aware that there is usually some type of messaging taking place in the films. And this is not new. Ever watch “Mary Poppins"? (another GREAT film, by the way)
Now, I’m not going to complain about “Zootopia", as it was only the push for this blog article. So, if you haven’t seen it yet, don’t worry: no spoilers from me! (But you should see it! It is really good!)
Getting back to “fake news".
I’ve seen all kinds of crying over Donald Trump winning the election due to “fake news" and that places like Facebook and Twitter need to crack down on “fake news".
Part of the issue is the so-called mainstream media (MSM), and the fact that their integrity, as viewed by the general public, is quickly swirling down the drain of the commode of history. “Real" journalists are actually scared that people don’t think they are trustworthy. And I agree with them. I don’t trust them either.
Some of you will stop reading right after that last statement. I hope you don’t. Let me explain.
I don’t think that your local news at 6 is doing that bad a job. The problem I have is the “talking heads" on the MSM news outlets, especially those on cable. And I think it those outlets that are the issue.
As this is getting a bit longer than I had desired, let me get straight to the point: FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, and the like are NOT news channels. They are ENTERTAINMENT channels. They are all owned by entertainment companies. And what do entertainment companies focus on? They focus on ratings and ad revenue. Period. And that is what drives their “news" channels.
To be honest, they are not without news. Each day they give us about 15 minutes of actual news. The rest of the 23 hours and 45 minutes are made up of advertisements and OPINION shows. That’s right. When you are watching Megyn Kelly, Anderson Cooper, Rachel Maddow, or any of those other morons, you are NOT getting news. You are getting opinion.
Or, more accurately, “fake news".
You see, the MSM is against “fake news" unless THEY are the ones delivering it. As a matter of fact, they are against ANY kind of news, unless they are the ones delivering it. And that not only goes for the cable news outlets, but also places like the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR.
So what IS “fake news"? It is any message not preferred by those with the loudest agenda. And that message is repeated over and over and over until people BELIEVE it to be the truth.
Unless it is delivered by the MSM it is “fake news”. Even shtuff from us bloggers.
©Emittravel 2016
