Sunday, June 16, 2013

I Don't Read Newspapers and Magazines and Don't Watch TV

Well, actually, I do watch ME-TV because it has programs I've never watched because they went off the air before I was born. Some of them are surprisingly funny, like Dobie Gillis.

Let's just say I never watch the news.

I feel much better now.

William Blake was on to something when he wrote, "You become what you behold." Or, in computerese, GIGO - "Garbage in, garbage out."

It's more than a little amazing to me. Garbage goes in, garbage come out. The things people say. Where did they get those stupid ideas? They got a lot of them from the media. Perhaps I should say, they believe the propaganda.

It's because people imitate each other. "When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other," wrote Eric Hoffer. It's not a bad thing, depending on the circumstance. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, without imitation we couldn't be educated.

But to imitate without the ability to analyze or criticize...that's another thing altogether. Schools don't teach critical thinking. Colleges don't, unless you take a course in logic.

Speaking of logic, I can tell someone is a quarter-wit when the only two logical fallacies they know are the Strawman and the Ad Hominem...and they always get them wrong.

Since it is an impossibility to read and watch everything, it's best to avoid nonsense. That's why I don't watch TV news and don't read newspapers. This is the collapse of the Mainstream Media. They deserve it, and I love it.

I have a friend who is consistently complaining about the lies on TV. I told him there is a simple cure: don't watch it anymore. He should do his part to help the MSM collapse.

The news is propaganda and it is not about educating you. It's about traumatizing you. I have a degree in Mass Communications and learned some interesting things. One, there is no such thing as objectivity. Two, if it bleeds it leads. Three, the media is geared towards high-school graduates. Four, there are the elites and the masses.

Interesting, huh?

The MSM thinks they're the elites and they think they are the gatekeepers of information. They think wrong, and again, I love it.

People talk these days talk about "taking the Red Pill." What's funny about it is that they are imitating each other. I do it too, but I prefer putting on the Hoffman lenses in They Live and suddenly realizing we're surrounded by propaganda.

There is a theme in literature known as Innocence to Experience. It's common; you see it everywhere. Adam and Eve went from Innocence to Experience when they ate of the fruit, became self-conscious, knew Good and Evil, and were kicked out. The Matrix is about Innocence to Experience. So is They Live.

That's what "taking the Red Pill" is about: innocence to experience. You wake up. You become conscious. At least, you're supposed to. But you really can't know if you're awake as long as you imitate the ideas of other people and don't apply critical thinking skills to what you've learned. You should try your best to poke holes in them.

That's the problem. Sometimes people have just exchanged one Matrix for another, think they are awake - but aren't. To me the biggest red flag is when someone believes whole-heartedly in their new-found beliefs, won't question them, and gets hostile and hysterical when someone pokes holes in them.

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