Why are 'they' scaring us away from the news?

[Lizzy Dearborn]

All I have seen during Boston Legal (all i'll watch) these past few weeks from the local news teases, are clips that consisit of store survillence cameras capturing a horrid beating or shooting or Iraq bombs...weeek after week...no warning that you're about to see something disturbing.<br><br>Sure violence sells but this is TURNING OFF a lot of people...more so than ever.<br><br>I think it's because of what's about to come outta DC. <p></p><i></i>

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

Short answer: psychic terrorism.<br><br>Longer answer:<br>'They' are attempting to both saturate you with violence and acclimate you to it at the same time. This is meant to make you want to avoid Iraq war news and leave it to 'the professionals.'<br><br>By giving you just about as much violence as you can stand in the 'if it bleeds it leads' local news-substitute, you are less likely to look into the US-caused wars of reality in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, etc. "Enough already! Just give me a sit-com or meaningless sports!"<br><br>But you are still made to think that 'it is a dark violent world and people tsk tsk are just like that so be glad for the National inSecurity State reading everyone's mail and listening to your neighbors dialing up al-Queda for a chat.'<br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[Lizzy Dearborn]

Have you watched "Invasion" (created by Hardy Boy Shaun Cassidy) yet? It was too weird and seemed as if the writers have been reading RI...no joke. <br><br>That list that you had of CIA "adjusted" Hollywood product must be the very tip of the iceburg. <p></p><i></i>

[professorpan]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>'They' are attempting to both saturate you with violence and acclimate you to it at the same time. This is meant to make you want to avoid Iraq war news and leave it to 'the professionals<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>You give the nebulous, omnipotent "them" too much credit.<br><br>Sex and violence sellls. It's about money. Simple, but true. <p></p><i></i>

[Lizzy Dearborn]

"They" don't get ENOUGH credit as it is. IMO<br><br>Where do you think that missing 1 or 2 trillion (with a 'T') military dollars went?<br><br>"They" (those who crave power and crave undermining others) have a job to do and they love doing it...they need no real leader...it's something they sense in others and naturally buddy-up with those who are "after my own heart." <br><br>Or are you on the side of "it's just the incompetence, stupid" too? If you are then we will never agree most likely. <br><br>That sort of statement reminds me of my ex-husband who would say to me stuff like that..."your imagining" , "they are not that smart"...etc<br><br>Well, you can guess how it really was. <br><br>The personal is the political.<br><br>But then that goes into the whole social Darwinism, surivival of the fittest thing....<br><br>but then MORALS, SWEET SWEET MORALS. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=lizzydearborn>Lizzy Dearborn</A> at: 4/27/06 2:27 pm<br></i>

[professorpan]

I guess where I part ways with many of the posters here is that I don't believe in a giant, supersecret cabal operating behind the scenes of *everything* (CIA agents Langley pulling the strings of Chicken Little animators, Amy Goodman joining in a Satanic orgy with other media "gatekeepers," and so forth). <br><br>The tendency to see everything through dark-tinted glasses is pervasive and in many ways attractive. But it's not intellectually rigorous, and it's psychologically destructive and disempowering.<br><br>Believing that there is one ultimate cabal is as silly as believing cabals don't exist. Both viewpoints are contradicted by mounds of evidence. Greed, secrecy, and stupidity abound, but so does kindness, common sense, and goodwill. Society is complex and messy, with circles within circles of competing and compromising interests.<br><br>The "ultimate conspiracy" ideology comes perilously close to clinical paranoia. It is not grounded in reality, but in an ever-tightening noose of fear and a surrender of personal power to a mythical "them."<br><br>There is no dark room filled with cigar-smoking fascists orchestrating little league soccer teams to produce the next generation of robotic warriors. Humans walked on the Moon. Paul McCartney is alive and producing bland, inoffensive music. Bad Disney films are not embedded with fascist memes -- they're just crappy movies designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of mommy's pocketbook.<br><br>The mindset of many of the regulars here is grounded in nihilism, doom, despair, and powerlessness. It becomes self-perpetuating, and soon everything -- even the actions of well-intentioned others who disagree -- becomes part of the sinister plot. And the circles wind tighter and tighter, until it's impossible to breathe.<br><br>[Edit: Adding "stepping up onto my soapbox"]<br><br>Fuck that. Life is good, bad, messy, ugly, violent, and beautiful. Good things happen and bad things happen. The powerful fall. Quit bitching about how awful everything is and how powerless we all are and do something to make a difference. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=professorpan>professorpan</A> at: 4/27/06 4:09 pm<br></i>

[thoughtographer]

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The mindset of many of the regulars here is grounded in nihilism, doom, despair, and powerlessness. It becomes self-perpetuating, and soon everything -- even the actions of well-intentioned others who disagree -- becomes part of the sinister plot. And the circles wind tighter and tighter, until it's impossible to breathe.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br>Fuckin' aye. Being that I've damaged my own mental health and relationships by succumbing to the siren song of apocalyptic doom in the past, I can't agree with you more. I've lived in some of the darker places afforded by my fragile, earthly shell, and I don't think I'll go back for a visit any time soon. I'm more productive now than ever before, and it's nice to breathe again. <p><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>"A crooked stick will cast a crooked shadow."</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=thoughtographer>thoughtographer</A> at: 4/27/06 4:22 pm<br></i>

[Mentalgongfu]

I agree with almost everything you said Prof, but I still think Paul is Dead. <p></p><i></i>

[Lizzy Dearborn]

<i>"Quit bitching about how awful everything is and how powerless we all are and do something to make a difference."</i><br><br>I see what you are saying...but i'm doing the opposit now that i realize that it is just a dumb plot, costly stupid mean plot...we can and should do something about it...now that i have realized this it's so liberating, and now i'm calling them on it, in my own tiny ways.<br><br>But, and it's a big butt -<br><br>"We" no longer have the ability form or to have face-to-face movement building skills at hand...sure we can fumble, stumble along, but do you realize how easy it is for some simple pimple-faced agent provocutur to mess us up?<br><br>(andwhen i say agent provacaturs (sp) it's not some spooky shadowy figure, they are a dime a dozen in my estimation.) <p></p><i></i>

[Et in Arcadia ego]

Well said, professorpan. You too, thoughtographer. I'm not too hip on disempowerment these days.<br><br>Even so, I acknowledge that money and power can motivate crimes just as foul as anything demanded by a 'Dark One'..My biggest belief against the ultimate cabal is that the inherent tendancy that motivates man into conflict with man would make congruency amongst the .01% nearly impossible..<br><br>Imagine what a chicken scratch it is sweating out a pecking order way up there..<br><br>heh. <p></p><i></i>

[Chiaroscuro]

or turn into a paniced stampeed in whatever direction the powers that be wish. Whether it is a media corp trying to get people glued to the TV cringing in dread over what fresh hell they need to protect themeselves from (support war on Terror! nuke the terrorists! buy secruity system on your house!) or at least medicate the terror away with the helpfully advertised psychatric meds and/or selfmedicating with shopping until you drop again with products helpfully advertised.<br><br>whether the tv station is showing fear and panic attack inducing images to raise it's ratings or because the parent company is supporting a certain canidate the effect in the end is still negative.<br><br>one need not belive that an ultimate cabal exists to realise that maniuplation *is* happening for various reason - none of them good. some want to sell us crap. Others want to maniuplate us for political gain. sometimes it accidently overlaps ex. fear of crime so people buy security systems also encrouages those who vote to support canidates who are 'though on crime'.<br><br>remember people developed PTSD and other mental problems just watching news coverage of 9/11 for a few days. Imagine what months of lover level fear mongering (for whatever reason) does to people. we become hypersensitised, more reactive to events. we turn to selfmedication behaviors to sooth ourselves, few of which are healthy. it must be a factor in the increase in mental illness if not causing it outright by exacerbating the previous problem. <p></p><i></i>

[robertdreed]

Hey, just turn the set off. <p></p><i></i>

[bvonahsen]

Sure... I could agree with you professorpan. What you say is... oh, what is the word I'm looking for... normalizing? Close enough.<br><br>But there is always that other hand too you know. Cabals and secret societies are real. The Illuminists, the Masons, the Skull and Bones club... these are not just harmless clubs even if they are not as omnipotent as they believe themselves to be either.<br><br>Me... I'm just trying to make sense of the world. I'm not a survivor, though I have friends who are and I've had plenty of experience with multiples and others in recovery. (I went to GhostWolf's 50th birthday party, BTW, he has recanted everything.) And in this upside down world of today it has gotten real hard to figure things out. I have gone back and forth myself, believing first this... then that... then back again. I'm trying to build my model of the universe and there is just not enough good information to go on. It's very frustrating.<br><br>Oh, whether it is intentional or not, the news these days is traumatising. I would think that the same technique that works on individuals also works on populations as a whole. And would have simular results. <p></p><i></i>

[Lizzy Dearborn]

so if it abuses some of us, we should "...just turn the set off."<br><br>Ok, I'll board up the stinking open sewer that's smelling up my house, but I should not, as someone said, bitch about it or ask why it was there in the first place? or try to figure out just what exactly is going on? I don't know about everyone else but I don't have a degree in media studies. <br><br>I needed to hear it from someone who said to me, "don't watch it anymore" it was like a bolt of lightening...never thought about it before. It was/is such a huge part of my culture.<br><br>I went through the gloom and doom phase, went to the usual suspect sites. (DU and Dailykos can be soul crushing in their confusion and anger too)<br><br>i'm not depressed any longer. <br><br><!--EZCODE EMOTICON START 8) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>I'm sorry but these vauge exhortations of "get out there and do something" sounds cruel for some odd reason...I react to guilt trips unproductively.<br><br><i>"Oh, whether it is intentional or not, the news these days is traumatising."</i><br><br>Agreed, but but I fear it's not an either/or thing...<br> <br>maybe it's mandatory and like brain vitamins for the growth of new abilities in the new adptation/ invation ppl???<br><br>;-)<br>:-(<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>I have learned good things through it. As I'm sure many others have, so I'd like to pick it apart for a while...find the good, educate about the bad.<br><br>It's so such a big part of our culture.<br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[bvonahsen]

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Agreed, but but I fear it's not an either/or thing...<br><br>maybe it's mandatory and like brain vitamins for the growth of new abilities in the new adptation/ invation ppl???</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>Not sure I understand Lizzy.<br><br>I don't quite buy the unified consiracy theory. I think that what we percieve is the group behavior of many many sociopaths. I'm not %100 sure, it's just my current theory. <br><br>As for TV, I stopped watching on 9-11 in part because of the horror that was played over and over on the networks and also because it was clear that was <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>all</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> the networks could think of to do. 9-11 broke NBC, CBS and ABC. They were incabable of dealing with it on any level and that was crystal clear to me. So from that moment on they became irrelevant in my mind.<br><br>I watch a few shows, here and there, now and then. And I listen to MPR, but even they are getting too conservative for me lately. Same with the news, the mnpls Star & Tribune. I hardly read it any more in part because I can't stomach the neocons on their editorial pages.<br><br>I get my info from the internet. I aggregate my RSS feeds and podcasts and I do the hard work of deciding whom to believe or not. I no longer care for the pablum served by any mass media outlet. There is a saying, or a meme if you prefer, out there that goes: "The people who actually read have moved to the internet". I think that's pretty accurate. <p></p><i></i>