Blaming the Mainstream Media for being Dis-informed

Blaming the Mainstream Media for being dis-informed is like blaming McDonald's for being fat or Molson's for your drinking. It a common scapegoat, I understand, but the problem is elsewhere. The problem is in a population which, for various reasons, does not take the time to educate itself on our state of affairs.

Typically, the citizen forms an initial opinion -- most often it comes from the schools or news outlets or state propaganda or their own parent's learned stupidity -- and then seeks the narrative which gives it support: 'It is true because they said it is true, and they told me that they always tells me the truth.'

Let's consider WW II, for example. We all agree WWII was unavoidable. The diabolical Hitler, the Nazi movement and the rising Japanese militarism had to be stopped. Every sane person knows this, no?

So why has the western world's disregard for both the German people's dignity and the economic oppression we imposed on them following WW I been omitted from our common narrative? What role did that play? Could the west have done anything different to head-off WW II?

This part of history is effectively lost. It's as if it never happened. Suggesting we somehow contributed to the rise of Hitler or provoked the German citizenry is off our collective radar. 'Just look at what the Nazi's did!' -- and that's all we need to know.

To now explain what veritably happened cannot be easily done. Nor can it be accomplished in a news clip or a sound bite. It is this systemic reality that the corporate media uses with precision to shape the news, to give us the palatable narrative so desired over and over, until it becomes the only truth we know.

NB. Meanwhile the Bankers and high-capitalists were making too much money extorting Germany to act prudently and in the interests of the people -- much like they are today with the global ecological destruction being conducted under their watch.

The corporate media feeds on its designed need for concision, for the sound-bite or the discussion which neatly fits between commercials. In turn, this need for concision becomes our own. We tell ourselves we only need the 'facts' but neglect to add, 'only the facts which fit our narrative which makes sense of matters'. Ultimately this keeps the other side of the story, which would help overcome our national/cultural biases, from being heard. And without a well-informed public, democracy cannot exist.

Referencing the example one more, today there is no honest, public account as to whether WW II was truly unavoidable. And we don't much care. We know the truth and we all agree. And with this known truth we move forward without ever looking back.

But I do not blame the MSM for making a buck at our expense. We accept the economic paradigm which gives a right to capitalistic predatory practices. Buyer beware. 'It's only business, nothing personal', right? (Capitalism is the best form of economics, do we not all agree?)

It is this scenario, where we all allow biased-information to be accepted as truths, which is the tragedy of our broken democracy. According to the storyline, what our government did (in collusion with its Allies) to Germany after WWI is moot. We did nothing wrong. And the story marches on. We no more care today about our acts abroad than we did nearly a century ago. It's just now we no longer care about anything affecting our neighbours or even our own survival unless we see a buck in it.

Behind all of these published wars, a much larger and covert one carries on. It is the century-old struggle for control of our minds and our thoughts. And if our behaviour is the benchmark for success or failure, at this point the outcome doesn't look promising.