When producers, writers, camera and sound people put together a message, it is not news. It is editorial at best but it's usually just a cleverly edited advertisement. You are watching sales personnel.
Today marks two years since I’ve watched video News, Punditry or YouTubes of any kind that are so-called news. None of it, and I was a pretty prolific consumer. I was, in a sense, addicted to having someone preach their feelings about what they thought I should think about events. Clever, clever stuff.
Now, I read my news and only watch source video when I’m curious about source.
Hey, I can reach my own conclusions!
And, I am certain that giving this up is the core cause of being able to get so much more done in life. My mind and attention are so much freer.
Here is what I wrote in part when I realized how insidious and harmful it was/is.
So, the producer, and editor, and sound guy and the pitchman and a writer all got together and turned out a marketing message.
This is not news. It is editorial at best but it’s really just a cleverly edited advertisement. And this is how, it appears to me, the vast majority of Americans now get their “news.”
You are watching sales personnel. You are being sold a bad car.
Some watch a little, some watch a lot and some just pass it on without watching it all when they fall in love with a pitch person of their liking. They like that brand of car so they just promote it. Forward the post.
And their viewpoints become your viewpoints. You stop looking. You are no longer a person with power of choice. You smile along because each pitch sits on a mountain of pitches they have sold you before and you’re just buying accessories for this crappy car or boat they gave you in the first place.
But there is virtually nothing there. No wheels, no car even.
Turn it off! Read your news! Watch source videos only! You will actually be better informed!
If you really want to make change in the 21st, just remember that many of the richest men in the world all own media companies (Can you say Twitter? If that actually goes through as a deal). They are dedicated to making you think a certain way.
Peter Kjenaas is an author, screenwriter, theater director, producer, chef, AirBnB host, parent and caregiver extraordinaire. And now he adds travel writer to his resumé as he sets off across the country in a 1971 VW camper bus. But first and foremost he is a caring and productive human who has graciously allowed us to post some of his writings to this site. See his latest book at PeterKjenaas.com, and his travel adventures at Riders on the Storm Bus.
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