If you are following the news at all these days you would believe that managing misinformation is the crucial altruistic purpose of media venues, both social media and traditional news. In reality we are witnessing the birth-pangs of an Orwellian Ministry of Truth. When we allow a third party to decide what is ok for us to know and what is not, we are essentially allowing them to do the thinking for us. Not only denying ourselves the opportunity to engage in critical thinking, but trusting that said third party is truly infallible. omniscient and benevolent enough to be allowed to make this decision on our behalf. Misinformation is nothing more than a fancy word for lies, but when the media uses it, to ascribe everything outside of the preferred narrative, that narrative becomes propaganda.

The concept of misinformation comes from the Russian word dezinformatsiya, which was according to Wikipedia, a government propaganda program whose purpose was to create false information whose source was also falsely associated. It’s sort of like a false flag operation but using the media to sway public opinion. Here’s an example… Going back to Nazi Germany, Hitler didn’t have full control of the nation at first, and the communist party was his parliamentary opposition party. He called for a reelection, then the parliament building was torched. Immediately the communists were blamed, it was decreed a terrorist act signaling a communist uprising and in the upcoming weeks the communist party credibility was destroyed and members were villanized while, Hitler’s Nazi’s gained full control over the government processes, law making, right revoking, property confiscating, etc

A media today is possibly even more powerful than it was in Hitler’s era. It dominates our lives, our social interactions, the screens at work, at our gyms and in our homes. It stimulates our eyes, our ears and especially our emotions. This emotional response ripe with dopamine is a powerful tool that has split the population into rival gangs. Reason goes out the window, facts become are irrelevant, and misinformation peddlers are labeled far-right extremists. Those self elected to the task of managing misinformation, label others as a consequence of questioning the status quo or choosing one’s own narrative, even when based on personal experience, and it has nothing to do with voting history or vaccine status. A population divided is already half conquered, because we attack each other instead of the forces that truly disrupt our lives and livelihood. But this is NOT about Trump vs Biden…heck the main debate today is mandates versus precaution when it comes to dealing with Covid and both political leaders are on the SAME team when it comes to the vaccine. Trump continues to peddle the shot at every speaking engagement, it was after-all his “baby”, he is the one behind “operation warp speed” and allowed an experimental pharmaceutical solution on the market before it was fully tested. Biden just takes things one step further by trying to mandate that everyone takes it. And those managing misinformation? Well, they don’t want us to know enough to make an informed decision, because they think we are all too stupid to understand anything that they don’t tell us… Truthfully, from my perspective watching this fiasco unfold, I can see where they might get the idea that people are too stupid to make their own decisions.

A feeble mind can be overindulged

The brain like any muscle in the body responds better to good nutrition and exercise, than it does to sweets and passive activity. And just like an armchair athlete, we often think we know something because we agree with something we are told. Unfortunately even the so called educated are not exempt. So called college graduates have been increasingly unable to read at their degree certified grade level. In the 90s already less than half of the graduates showed reading proficiency of regular text , their understanding worsened when it came to reading documents. The number of graduates who regurgitate, but can’t understand what they are reading grew from there. As a consequence, so called experts, may not be. Which leaves the question, who then is managing misinformation? Those who have an analytical understanding of the articles on which they pass judgement, or is their measure merely if the information contradicts their personal beliefs? We all must be diligent and seek data, numbers, not conjecture and hyperbole.

We have been intellectually lobotomized by adjective heavy reports that quote things in such a way as to confound the average consumer. When it comes to keeping a public terrified of Covid, case numbers are quoted (without consistent testing parameters – but that’s another issue) and we never hear about how many people got better from it. Actually the way things have been presented is akin to convincing the public that the more lottery tickets are sold, the better the chances of their numbers coming up. And although death totals are more pertinent, they too must be kept in perspective to real risk? For instance. how healthy were those who Covid took out ? Were they physically active or just waiting to die ? (Sorry it seems cold, but with 80% of the deaths in America hitting those in their retirement years, one needs to ask, the hard questions.) Science up until recently was about asking those troublesome questions, challenging other people’s findings. The offspring research accounting for more parameters, and fine tuning things as a result. Conversely, when everything is excepted as is, errors are not caught, and progress dies. Sure, we’ll get subsequent “boosters”, but is a the fiscally timed development by someone with a monopoly, really the best solution?

Life isn’t about always feeling good, it’s about experiences. Bad things will happen, they are opportunities to reflect and learn. Introspection and reading are how we exercise a mind. Fail to do this and our thoughts become clouded, our attention distracted, eventually the lethargy overtakes us and we allow someone else to do the thinking for us, telling us what to believe. Managing misinformation is not the job of some faceless institution, it is the duty of every freedom loving free-thinking soul. It is an individual responsibility, to be judged against your own personal experiences, observations and discoveries. Failure to do so invites deception to control you, dictatorship to guide you and binds you to a chain gang like existence that will eventually even rob you the hope of escape. Think of this as the last decision you make. Believe what I am suggesting and get off the proverbial couch and start training your mind to think again or don’t and let you brain be directed by another to do what’s best for them, not you.

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