I just posted on a forum the following:
When I was a child, no more than 4 or 5, I distinctly remember telling my parents that the people on the news (the announcers) were “robots” and I remember them laughing and assuring me that those were real people.
I believed them.
Now, I have come back to the point of view I had when I was innocent and young: the news programming is done by robots. And like begets like.
Of course, I’m referring in large part to the way in which TV viewers are essentially told what to think and believe by the news and even by the entertainment programming. (Well, I guess those two things can be one and the same.)
I’m not as concerned about commercials trying to sell us stuff as I am with people being robbed of their ability to reason and actually practise the act of critical thinking about things like life and death.
Does the majority of America even question things such as our involvement in Libya (i.e. killing people in Libya)? Do people question the official reassurances that we shouldn’t be concerned about radiation from Japan? I would wager that most people simply accept and believe.
My advice? Don’t just accept and don’t just blindly believe. “Trust and obey” is a hymn (and it’s about God), so unless government is god now, question and prove all things.
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