I’m not thrilled with news. Any news. I can’t abide right-wing lies based on the exact opposite of what happened, especially when they are talking about things through which I lived and have seen. For shear blatant not-even-a-hint-of truth lying, they are the winners. But the left of the aisle crap is only nominally better. They may begin from a hint of truth, but then take some minor thing and blow it up to something gigantic. Put up a headline on it which sounds as if something astounding is about to (or just did) happen. So whatever it was, it ends up a total lie.
At the root was something real, but the result is nonsense.
I would have to be a fool to believe it.
At this point, I don’t believe anything.
My personal political allegiances are not news. I don’t need news organizations to approve or disapprove on my behalf. That’s not the point of news.
I want information, data, and facts based on a recognizable reality. I want the news to give me an informed, intelligent, and preferably neutral idea of what’s going on. I don’t want overblown headlines about how Trump is about to be impeached. Because he isn’t about to be impeached (yet) and anyone with half a brain knows that. I don’t want shouted headlines about stuff that isn’t happening and will never occur. Nor do I want distorted stories which only make the stuff in which I believe look stupid.
I don’t want right-wing “summaries” about news that never happened and will never occur. I don’t want left-wing fairy tales, either.
It’s hard to find believable news from any source. I don’t trust anything from any form of social media. Each has its own version of what they think I want to hear. I don’t want to hear what they think I want to hear. I want to know what happened. What was seen. What was written. Then I will decide what I believe.
In today’s world, is there room for reality?
We’ve been watching a PBS series about World War 1. It was a terrible time. It was also when many of the myths, fables, and lies with which we are now living, began. It was the time when we started thinking we were fighting for democracy, and that somehow, we were “the right country” to defend democracy everywhere. It wasn’t true then. It isn’t true now.
We have been believing those same lies since 1914, the beginning of the breach between our political halves. It was the start of what we see every day in 2017. A hundred years of lying. Wilson could have gotten everything he wanted from Congress including the League of Nations, but refused to accept it because (are you ready?) the “deal” was offered by the wrong party.
Bringing us to today. News agencies? Please get off your soap boxes. Give me facts. That might be a start to a better world. For everyone.
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Categories: #News, Media, social media
FACTS, FAKE NEWS AND FACEBOOK – BY TOM CURLEY 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Is the documentary you mention on Netflix? It sounds like something Lynn and I would get a lot from. We both agree with your assessment of today,s news outlets. Problem is I don’t believe any source, whereas Lynn tends to believe what she reads online.
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I think yes, but check on PBS too. It’s one place or the other and often, both.
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I have been saying this to my husband for quite some time. Great thoughts and thanks for speaking what I’ve been feeling.
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My husband WAS a newsman his entire life. He can’t watch the news anymore. It’s hard on anyone who wants to think for themselves.
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I keep imagining an independent news outlet that does what the old fashioned news used to do. Report actual events, actual facts with NO editorial point of view. Remember when they used to offset the actual editorial, so we’d know it was just opinion?
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It’s because since the seventies, news became part of entertainment and stopped being public service. So, since news has to get ratings, it has become more and more LIKE entertainment and less like NEWS. PBS does an acceptable job, but even they have an agenda. I would just like some good old-fashioned neutrality.
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That is exactly the issue – and we are all suffering for it today.
A solution??? Not easy, but maybe the more we spread the awareness of what you just said maybe enough of us can rebel and stop supporting news as entertainment and start supporting news as objective reporting once more! ( or was it ever truly just objective – did the 20th century Media Moguls give us pure objectivity? Was that their goal in selling papers?)
love.
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I wish it were that easy, but it isn’t. if it were, it would be fixed by now. As long as news has to get ratings like every other show, it will never be “real” news again.
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I wish you and Garry could start your own news agency. Then we could be sure of the truth.
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If he were younger. But, he’s not. I miss having REAL news. I miss it a lot.
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Right there with you, Marilyn. I watched the WWI series on PBS and was mortified by the lies and manipulations the government (administrations of both parties past and present) has been spewing for what seems like forever. I think it’s time for real change and for a party that believes in and is willing to go to bat for the ‘ideals’ of our founding fathers.
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And how these lies have become “truth” in our lives, as if they have always been true.
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‘At the root was something real, but the result is nonsense.
I would have to be a fool to believe it.
At this point, I don’t believe anything.’
Brilliant. Great post, very thought provoking!
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Thank you. I wish it weren’t true!
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I seek the same meaning I want to know facts so I can make a informed decision. I get so agitated when it’s all hype. Great post!
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That’s exactly my problem. After a while, I feel like I’m being bombarded with garbage by everyone. I’m a smart lady. Give me the truth and I can find reality, but first, some facts!
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I do listen to the News, but only NPR, and much less than I used to. In a word The News “Sucks” even sometimes NPR
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Everybody is telling me what they think I want to hear — or SHOULD hear. I want to know what is going ON, after which I will make the choice. But nobody is giving out “choices” anymore. Maddening.
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I am so in agreement. Over the last two days, given a certain item in the news, I have been seeking constantly to get past the hype and the opinion to the real facts so I can make my own determination. I am sure you know how that went. Finally, my son, who works in cooperation with a certain branch of the government was able to give me some real, true, known and accepted understanding of the issue. From his information, I was able to seek out more information from other sources…I finally knew what words to use in my search. I am still not sure how I feel about the issue, but at least I am dealing with primary source information, untainted by either politics or the media…though I also understand it is pretty naive to believe the information I have found is totally unbiased in one direction or the other. Oh well, I keep trying, I keep researching, I do the best I can…as I know we all are
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When Garry was working as a reporter, I could always get a good look at what was REALLY happening. But he’s been retired for 16 years, so it gets increasingly difficult to get source information. It drives me NUTS.
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I guess it has always been going on but WW1 was definitely a big sell.
Leslie
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A huge sell and one which warped the entire world. We are still living with the results of it.
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Sadly we are.
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With your connection, you know more about the news machinery and how it works. I don’t even bother to watch the news or listen, or even read a newspaper. Just on the surface, but it seems to me that the various news agencies or whatever are more interested in getting the most people to read it, than actually reporting what is really happening. A lot of people are screaming impeachment about Trump, but nothing is happening and probably won’t for a long while. And if the nutcase leads us into a third world war – then who is going to stop him. There will still be news agencies arguing with each other whether it is right or not.
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You are right, of course. There was a time when that was not true, but it was already happening when Garry was working and it has gotten MUCH worse. Which is why we watch a few minutes of news, mostly headlines, just to see what the shape of things are … then we turn it off. Everyone is shouting about something and I’m not convinced ANY of it is true — or even close to true.
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Excellent post!☺
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Thanks. I wish it weren’t so good. I’m beginning to shut down. I don’t believe anything.
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The PBS 3 parter about WW1 is EXCELLENT!! It’s very difficult to watch even for those of us familiar with the truth behind the propaganda and myths. What’s interesting is how the propaganda was used to fuel tension, hatred and vitiriol on the home front. Some of it is truly stomach turning. Still, it’s highly recommended as a primer for what’s going on in our world today. Truth is hard to report — even harder to digest.
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AMEN!
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