About News Media And What It Encorages People To Think, page 1

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Topic started on 11-12-2007 @ 10:23 AM by RedGolem

I was recently talking with some one on line who is in Dubi. We talked about most everything. One of the topics was news. He said something that I thought was very good to read. Here it is.

I am Syrian, I have been in US, in UK, Philippines ,,,,, and many other countries, and let
me take US as an example, all our news say bull# about American people, but when I went there I found
everything is different, Americans were wonderful friendly and helpful people, that is why from that day on I
stopped listening or believing News

To me I found those to be powerful words. Don't believe the news. Despite what people say or do, people can still be friendly.

Please post any other examples of people not believing the news. Or examples of the media just giving incorrect information.

reply posted on 11-12-2007 @ 01:21 PM by MemoryShock

That is actually standard practice for the media. They spin everything with a negative slant so as to encourage a nationalistic pride, and more directly, an identification with the self. American media is rampant with that because it isn't just the news...it's movies, television, commercials...commercials especially. Our media is geared towards 'allowing' the consumer to interpret the message in an, "This is geared towards me" attitude.

By individualizing a message through a generalized statement and adding subtle visual cues like people smiling and beautiful people, the individual is led into a feeling of false security and a desire to pursue that which may (or according to them, 'WILL') improve their social standing. Which causes an inclination to hold with less importance world events and higher learning.

How many kids do you know who have a cell phone and text all day, but have also put together a simple transistor radio? I never put together a radio, but I have done other things...

Point is, if you learn as many facts as possible, then you wouldn't need to trust/accept the word of any body else...

reply posted on 11-12-2007 @ 01:37 PM by jimbo999

reply to post by MemoryShock

Very well put - very true too.

J.

reply posted on 11-12-2007 @ 01:57 PM by Beachcoma

Originally posted by RedGolem
Or examples of the media just giving incorrect information.

Here's a current example you'll find on the news regarding the Malaysian government crackdown on political dissent:

Malaysia rolls out crackdown against dissent

The way the article was written, you'd think it was a racial or religious thing. You'd think it was the government being just plain hard. The real story behind it was that these people, who have links with terrorist organizations like the Tamil Tigers, were being an ass, whacking policemen and disrupting the peace. It's bad for business, and bad for the country's image. I fully support them being locked up and charged for sedition. Other groups who protested in the past were imprisoned and charged for lesser offences under the previous 'Machiavellian' prime minister. These current troublemakers have been given wide latitude by current 'Mr Nice Guy' prime minister, who I belief to be weak. Still they went on acting like uncivilised mongrels.

It's not just the AFP article that makes it out to be worse than it is. Almost all the major outlets do it. Some news reports I read even took these moronic rioters claims of 'ethnic cleansing' seriously. I was like "what the fishsticks? Slanderous!"

Anyway, here's a somewhat balanced, non-Malaysian news article on the same thing:
Malaysia's crackdown on dissent widens

Word on the rumour-mill is that the whole thing was organized by the same people behind the last major protest in 1999-2001, Anwar Ibrahim & gang. Back then Al Gore thought he would be welcome in butting in. Screw you, Mr Gore, leave Malaysian affairs to Malaysians. I wonder if there are elements from the US behind this current hoo-hah. Here's another AFP report that tries to put a religious spin on it:

US asks Malaysia to allow freedom of expression

The United States often hails Malaysia as a moderate Muslim democracy but the image took a knock when a series of indiscriminate destruction of Hindu temples were highlighted by some groups recently.

A US Congress-appointed commission expressed concern last week at the destruction of the temples and other alleged discrimination faced by religious minorities in Malaysia, one of Southeast Asia's more developed economies.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

What the hell? Are they trying to give the illusion that there are no places of worship for other religions here? Look at my coordinates. Go to that location on Google Earth. Scroll about 250 meters to the east. What do you see? Two Hindu temples side by side. That's just one (or two in this case) example.

The actual story is -- places of worship constructed without a permit on public land will be demolished. Shall I dredge up reports of how many illegally built mosques were demolished last year alone?

I am really disgusted by main stream media.