Governments are generally about controlling populations.
The media feeds off controversy.
These two things work together hand in hand to keep a general population – particularly in the US of A believing pretty much what they are told to believe. Throw out information that is alarming and made more alarming by repeating it and repeating it and having the same information come from numerous sources, then it gets pretty easy to point a populace where ever you want.
Two of the biggest controversies that I end up seeing on Facebook and the media in general are
“Global Warming” and the ‘Gun’ controversy.
If I want to alarm a people or get them on my side the simplest thing to do would be feed them a piece of information and not compare it in any way to other information of similar value.
Warning: Anyone reading this likely has made decisions on the above subjects one way or the other and many people won’t want to hear that there are rational arguments on both sides. All I’m really trying to do here is get people to step back and not get sucked into media/government agendas.
If you were to tell your child constantly how bad they were and not point out successes, I’m pretty sure that you would have a pretty unhappy and recalcitrant child.
Most of what I hear on ‘Climate Change’ or ‘Global Warming’ is how bad it all is. Here is a success against pollution. After the World War II, Los Angeles started a program to fix their pollution problems. The smog was getting worse there and there had been numerous deaths due to smog in Great Britain. They did not want the same problems in LA so started a program to handle it.
Here is a graph of improvements up until 1997:
You can find information on the whole project here:
I was in Los Angeles in 1979 for a few months. It was still pretty bad. Again I was there for most of 2005 and part of 2006. No comparison. Completely different.
I agree with the fact that we need to take care of our planet. It will never happen by throwing alarming information at people. Why not “Hey, look what they did in Los Angeles, isn’t that cool?”
I’m trying my hardest here to not argue one side or the other of Climate Change or Global Warming.
People freak out about deforestation in the rainforests of Brazil. Here is a quote from an article on the subject.
“Since 2004 the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen nearly 80 percent to the lowest levels recorded since annual record keeping began in the late 1980s.”
It is not remotely perfect yet, but there is improvement. We have been and are fixing the planet. If you listen to the media and Facebook, we are about two days from going to hell in a hand basket.
Here is another one that will stir the pot. “30,000 gun deaths in the USA in 2014!!!” (I’ve seen several memes on Facebook with this figure.)
There are a couple of things wrong with fact. One, it doesn’t compare it to anything. This could be double what it was 10, 20 or 30 years ago or it could be half. It could be the worst in the world compared to other countries – which if you ask, most people will be sure that this is true – or it could be that the USA isn’t even in the top hundred per capita gun murders in the world. The problem is a datum, any data, is useless if not compared to something else.
The other thing about the ’30,000 gun deaths in the USA’ is that it is NOT TRUE! It is completely false.
Per a website called Gun Violence Archive the gun deaths in 2014 were 12,576. And per US Department of Justice Statistics:
“Firearm-related homicides declined 39%, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011”
So, you see, things are actually getting better, not worse.
BUT, can you see some media whore saying, ‘Hey folks, things are going really well right now, there is no reason to be alarmed.’ Or ‘Things have improved so much, that we are not going to pass any new laws this year…’
I’m sorry, but that is not going to happen anytime soon because it doesn’t keep a population in fear and it doesn’t keep people hooked so that advertising can be sold.
So, take a fact. First check to see if it is true. Check it against other facts. Then take a look at what you can do about it. By just passing it on, true or not true, it will likely just upset someone. If you have a cause that you feel strongly about, then get your facts straight, find a starting point and do something about it.
And here is a secret: posting shit on Facebook is not ‘doing something’!! If you are going to change society or a part thereof, you are actually going to have to go out there and talk to people.
But that is the subject of a whole different article. The point of this one to check and compare your facts. Governments and the media make money and control populations by keeping people afraid and upset.
Do you want to forward their agendas?
It can be seen, if one looks that there are a lot of things that have improved in the world. Believe me, I know there is a lot of shit in the world and a lot of evil.
You will get further by making your environment calmer and show people how they can change things a little at a time than forwarding media alarmist hype.
We were put in this world to help. Go out there and find a project – and help.