Walk The World

Was there ever a time when “news” meant something other than opinions? I’d like to return to that time, please. Where’s my TARDIS?

If you turn on essentially any “news” program today, I guarantee it’ll be “And how do you feel about the events of such-and-such, So-and-so?” That’s not news. There are opinion based talk shows and things for that, and I have no problem with them. Sharing your opinions, that’s totally fine, I get that, but you can’t market it as news if it’s not.

Ask someone you know about current events, and you’ll see the effects of this mislabeling of opinions. We’re slowly brainwashing the public by force-feeding them the latest popular opinion about what’s happening. I get that for some, Fox News or CNN is the only way they’ll hear about current events, but seriously? When all the media in the country is controlled by the same 3 major companies, and all of the media from each of those 3 is spouting variations of their own opinions and calling it news, eventually people start to believe it is. They tell their friends and family, passing it along to their kids, and that’s that. We’ve all got electrodes super-glued to our heads, connected to the same transmitter repeating the same messages over and over.  We can’t advance as a people if we’re all moving along the same thought processes. We’re slowly losing the ability to think for ourselves. The only way for us to move forward from this point successfully is by giving people just the facts, and letting them form their own beliefs.

Differences of opinions? Forget about it. Even those who want to be “controversial” are simply parroting something they’ve heard before. Watch a social network after a celebrity dies, and it’ll be about 50% “R.I.P So-and-so” and 50% “I don’t get why people are making such a big deal over So-and-so dying, it’s not like they did anything special.” In a world where everyone has the same opinions being shoved down their throats, it’s “cool” to do the opposite of everyone else.

So here’s my message: Humans tend to be passive about this sort of thing, “Well, that’s not me they’re talking about, I can’t do anything.” What I’m saying is, don’t be. What’s the opposite of passive? Is it active? I think it’s active. So be active. The next time you talk to someone about politics or anything really, listen carefully and see if you can see it. Once you start noticing it, you won’t be able to stop.  You’ll start noticing it in yourself as well. Look at your opinions and ask yourself why you hold that view.  And then think.