By Michael Todd
We see some of the most hyperbolic reporting over issues that should bring people together; instead, the media has opted to provide incomplete information to help sway public perception. Evidence of this resides in the reporting of the COVID 19 epidemic. The media want you to believe that New York and New Jersey are success stories of how to react to a pandemic and that the virus is ravaging Texas and Florida due to an inadequate response. Yet they neglect to mention that Texas and Florida have death rates one-sixth of New York and New Jersey. They also haven’t highlighted the comments made by DeBlasio, Pelosi, Schummer, Cuomo, Biden, and other democrats, calling President Trump a racist and a bigot for limiting travel from China, even though it was the epicenter of the outbreak.
The media feels that they can mold people’s perceptions and actions through their reporting, and to some degree they do, yet failed to anticipate the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Which means they didn’t have as firm a grasp on the electoral landscape as previously thought and miscalculated the thirst for change by the American people. So they’ve spent the last three years trying to rectify this miscalculation by belittling their political opponents and running interference for the Democrat Party and some Republicans.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
Joseph Goebbels
After the 2016 election, you would think introspection would take hold and push them to change the direction of their newsrooms. Yet, their collective understanding was that they are enlightened, and therefore, the positions they hold need to be sold more attractively for the greater good. Consequently, this has resulted in the continuation of a tribalist mentality where stories are selected and explained to target susceptible audiences, rather than providing content that a curious public can read and draw their conclusions. They have also consolidated the ideological landscape in their newsrooms for one that’s more favorable to the leftist ideology.
This brings me to my main point; why are they blatantly manipulating the news, and what is their political agenda? The election of Donald Trump activated the common ego defense mechanism amongst the left and so-called elites, where a division or polarization selectively focuses on the negative attributes of an individual or beliefs. Additionally, this creates a distorted view of reality and restricts one’s ability to understand differing points of view. We see this illustrated in the closing off of arguments by calling people racists, sexists, etc. As a self-defense mechanism, it is advantageous, but its real purpose is to help preserve an indefensible position. These perceptions cause schismatic intentions to form due to the aspect of potential changes to a group’s identity. Also, the impact of such changes intensifies the sense that the group’s ideology has weakened. Because Donald Trump threatens the hierarchy of the political swamp, he jeopardizes their hold on society. Rather than seeing America’s progression under a conservative outsider, the media and political elites have decided to create chaos through misinformation, hoping President Trump will be held accountable. This calculation only has the political interests and ambitions of the self-proclaimed elite at heart.
Consequently, political and media elites’ actions to hold power at any cost have hastened social stratification. If left to continue, the resulting damage of such actions will inevitably lead to a society with fewer freedoms to speak out against the masses. These are the challenges we face as the stewards of a free society, and we must protect these rights regardless of political ideology.