How we are like sheeple, and News as entertainment

For anyone seeking an entertaining or sensational thread, this is not going to appeal to you. It may even instead be something you don't want to hear.

This thread is about hypocrisy. Mine and maybe yours. It starts like this...

One day months back and still some times today, I find myself frustrated over the fact that people around me watch so much TV and are obviously affected by it. I said to myself that it's bad for them, and that the news isn't always accurate and often lies about important topics. Then, I looked at myself and my own habits and saw that while I didn't watch any TV, I sure spent a lot of time on YouTube. I also watched movies from RedBox or Netflix or even full movies on YouTube (e.g., Star Wars).

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So, it's clear I was a hypocrite. How many of us here will knock the 'sheeple' for watching TV yet spend hours online "researching," watching video after video mixed with some reading of articles (that makes it seem more scholarly)...? We must admit that much of the things we watch might as well be on a TV too. In fact, some of comes directly from TV, like the Ancient Astronaut series from the History channel. Yesterday I saw a video someone embedded in a thread with Maury (talk show host) covering a story that there might be a UFO under the Sphinx. Then of course there are the documentaries like Zeitgeist or others related to the banks. And, now people are getting their news from YouTube (e.g., Russia Today).

Think for a minute about how much time you have spent on YouTube, for whatever reason. It's clear to me that we can come up with plenty of reasons to justify our own zombie-box viewing habits, but when it comes to others who watch for other reasons, we are quick to blame them. (Maybe they are less knowledgeable on certain subjects but just listen.)

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Now think about how much time you spent watching TV growing up or even recently watching movies, even if it isn't much. Think about how those movies (and/or TV shows) had an effect on you. Anyone remember watching a lot of any of these...X-Files, Star Wars, Stargate series, or other sci-fi films like the Alien series or many of Spielburg's films. Then there are more recent ones like The Matrix or James Cameron's Avatar.

I think what we are doing is cherry picking which videos are "acceptable" to watch and then justifying it for our own special reasons. The impact of these movies goes pretty deep. I've heard people on this site say "Stargates are real." Maybe it was a joke, but a lot of truth is said in jest. The impact of The Matrix is very far reaching, as is Star Wars. What makes us think we are not suffering from delusions just as the 'sheeple' are due to our own viewing habits? What makes us possibly immune to the hypnotic effects of TV and movies?

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It's established that people usually do not think much when they are watching movies or documentaries, because thinking requires time, and to pay attention to the movie, that would mean pausing it repeatedly throughout the entire movie. Most people, I assume, check a few facts if that then sail through the rest. Any suggestion, verbal or otherwise embedded, will be accepted by our brains unless we consciously stop to think about what it means and to check it against other facts. This is how hypnosis works. Is it much a mystery now how often we feel sleepy after watching a movie? (Learn more and experiment with self-hypnosis yourself to prove it. Here are instructions, free, from one of the founders of the technique: Emile Couee's Principles of Autosuggestion)

The thing is that anyone can gather facts and shape things in a way to convince an audience or viewer of his point. The boiled down recipe is simple: what message do you want to convey, what facts support that, what images and music helps paint the message clearly. Ever notice how after watching a movie like Zeitgeist, all the facts seem to align with the point they're trying to make? Think the film makers would include points of view from the other side that might poke holes in their theory?

Here's an example of just how the 'facts' can be twisted or our perceptions can deceive us: The History Channel showed the Ancient Astronaut series. They featured the really smart guy with the wild hair (Giorgio Tsoukalos), and he talked about how the hieroglyphs or paintings showed pictures of submarines or helicopters. Maybe he only said they "seemed" to look like them, but either way, most people watching (me included) thought this surely seems to be 'the truth.' Thus then we believe they might be "highly advanced" and maybe had technology as advanced as ours. But...then not long ago, I read here on ATS that those only seemed to be that way (in the shape of submarines, etc) due to something called "overwriting," which is how they saved space. They would simply write over old designs. Did the History Channel tell us that? No. They kindly decided not to include that bit of information if my memory serves me right.

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Now, this leads me to a final comment, which is only a theory. I believe that to handle the people who might think they are 'waking up' and want to stop watching TV and escape the lies, there's another way to hook those people on some kind of entertainment. The internet serves that purpose because many of us feel "safer" on the internet because we're the ones picking what we want to watch. (But, really, isn't our mouse the equivalent of a TV remote?)

But, taking what's on TV and just making it available online isn't crafty enough. What if those internet crowd could be made to believe it was real, that it was not a movie or a TV show, but it was equally or more compelling?

Enter the news. The news has become more like an action thriller movie than ever. It is my belief that, if not done purposely, it is a consequence of the competition between the news stations and other programs airing at the same time. One of the essential things entertainment must be is dramatic. And, over time, it must be made increasingly dramatic because people get used to the effect, and so the effect must be increased.

So, necessarily, the line between reality and fiction is being blurred, I believe intentionally. While a movie or TV series show amounts to a limited amount of control in the way it has the ability to allow us to escape for the length of time it lasts, the news is different. People believe the news is real, and most of the small stories may be. But, for the 'big stuff,' I think these stories are made to be so dramatic that people like it as a form of entertainment even though a part of them knows intellectually it is real. People watch news that has drastic consequences yet fail to respond responsibly, which is tragic.

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I think it's getting very hard to sort through all the stories in the news. It's so easy to lie but very difficult to ever get down to the bottom of a story. There are mountains of facts and admissions then denials. How do we know who we can trust? I think in the end, we base it on what we feel is right, instead of what we know. I don't believe we really know anything. We can only sort through and piece together the pieces in a way that makes sense to us. But, remember where most of the pieces came from in the first place.

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So, I'd like to sum it up. To keep our heads clear and working well, we must avoid falling into the same trap as the people at whom we are quick to point our fingers. Through self-observation, I can see we may be disguising our own bad habits of subjecting our minds to the hypnotic effect of TV & movies, and unconsciously entertaining ourselves through the news. The news, in my opinion, is more and more a circus of sensational content that people either find emotionally moving. I do feel that even bad news is "good news" for many of us because it's better than feeling "nothing" aka being bored. While we can say we do not like it, we keep coming back for more.

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Please take consideration of these things. I hope we can all learn something through the comments and such, as far as what action might be appropriate.

Should we avoid certain types of news? Some news is good. For instance, we would want to know if seafood may not be safe to eat.

What about other news? Does it really matter about OBL or BO's birth certificate? What are we going to do about it anyway?

Should we trust ourselves to watch movies that dip us into fantasy? Are there effects on us long after the film is over that alter our perceptions of 'reality'? Is it possible to watch too often or too many movie(s)?

I'll end it on a light note.

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reply to post by daynight42


And the Presidency has become a joke too.




Presidential action figure thread

Funny yet tragic at the same time.

I skimmed most of it but you're right and you know what? I'm damn proud that I go to Youtube for music or old shows I miss, wrestling matches I enjoyed growing up etc. Just like I still enjoy tv shows and movies even if tv these days has me bored.

I've used the term "sheeple" in a derogatory term a few times in the last year but the fact is, all of us here are part of it.

Good thread.

reply to post by daynight42


your right, but you must also consider that all the world is a stage anyways,some like to watch it up close,some like to watch it from a distance,like in the comfort of your own home on a tv screen/computer monitor, its all a huge charade noone wants to really deal with, we just make things the way they are cuzz it makes things more interesting, like putting salt on a bland baked potato, or listening to music when its dull and quiet, if we didnt entertain ourselves with something we would go crazy, think about how people who do long term solitary confinement in prison must feel and act, we must be constantly stimulated because we are rapidly growing and changing, every things a cycle and comes full circle

Originally posted by CUJOCREEP
reply to post by daynight42

 

your right, but you must also consider that all the world is a stage anyways,some like to watch it up close,some like to watch it from a distance,like in the comfort of your own home on a tv screen/computer monitor, its all a huge charade noone wants to really deal with, we just make things the way they are cuzz it makes things more interesting, like putting salt on a bland baked potato, or listening to music when its dull and quiet, if we didnt entertain ourselves with something we would go crazy, think about how people who do long term solitary confinement in prison must feel and act, we must be constantly stimulated because we are rapidly growing and changing, every things a cycle and comes full circle

Hmm, I don't know if everyone would agree that we need to be entertained. Or if we do, to what degree is healthy?

I noticed in myself that I was really beginning to ignore important aspects of my life. I was overindulging in movies and music. Music especially alters personality. People also do the same thing with video games, which I neglected to mention in the original thread. Ever hear of the guy who offed himself because he was addicted to Everquest, a popular immersive online game?

I think when things get worse, people turn to those sources to escape, but what is the acceptable threshold? Maybe if we were more active pursuing ways to combat the things we disagree with, we'd feel better. (Like maybe protesting.) That could actually get people fired up enough to change things.

Maybe people are escaping too much these days, and that maybe that's how apathy is growing (very dangerous). Before anything really can change, people have to outwardly express their views -- the more publicly the better. We like to think it helps, but I don't think sharing stuff online is taken seriously by anyone in Washington.

reply to post by daynight42


entertainment is no more than stimulation,theres alot of tings you can do thats stimulating,we all need it constantly,some is healthy some isnt

reply to post by daynight42


one more thing,i agree with what u said that people need not escape so much because it contributes to the apathy problem, ive shared my views many of times publicly and all i get for it is grief lol, noone wants to hear the truth,they would rather escape and know your being taken care of instead of shoving the grave nature of our situation in their face, its like that old zombie movie the video dead, they dont like their situation and do what they can to avoid looking at it,mirrors where a weapon on that movie,and funny thing is these zombies came out of the tv lol, i think theres a metaphorical sense in it but its still a great 80's zombie flick to watch on a saturday night while scratching your balls eating pizza lol

Originally posted by CUJOCREEP
reply to post by daynight42

 

entertainment is no more than stimulation,theres alot of tings you can do thats stimulating,we all need it constantly,some is healthy some isnt

I think the effect of a movie or TV show series can have more of an effect on people (and especially a society) than we might care to admit.

Consider any sci-fi movie or series. Topics like UFOs and aliens might be obscure topics if it were not for TV serving as a launch pad. The TV can really catapult ideas into the minds of millions of people with such ease.

When I was really young, I was very 'skeptical' (favoring not to believe or deem possible certain things while being biased since I didn't investigate them) of UFOs. I thought it was all a joke or something people made up. I don't know what changed my mind (that they might somehow be real), but I think that movies have a very powerful effect on people's subconscious mind.

Ever watch a movie and wonder, if it's "just a movie," why things happening in the movie piss you off? What about when people cry in a movie? Aren't they just actors?

To our brains, it is real, just like a dream. I'm saying dreams might as well be real because our brains do not know the difference. There is no subtitle that says "only a dream." So, again, we respond to our dreams in real ways. We wake up and feel them as real (if we remember them).

Very powerful stuff. "Reality" -- whatever it is -- is certainly easily hijacked.

I think it's funny how the top 5% have more money than the bottom 95%, and BOTH major political parties support the Top 5%. Then they got 50% of the population to think that the Blue/Democrats are looking out for the bottom 95%. When in reality, ALL politicians work for the top 5%.

Originally posted by RicoInFlorida
I think it's funny how the top 5% have more money than the bottom 95%, and BOTH major political parties support the Top 5%. Then they got 50% of the population to think that the Blue/Democrats are looking out for the bottom 95%. When in reality, ALL politicians work for the top 5%.

Yes certainly so. Politicians are also very self-serving. They are making money themselves by helping the rich.

It's kind of interesting because while they surely get lots of money from the top 5%, they can still easily play one against another. It's maybe just a matter of what gets them more money. In other words, I am not sure that a politician is "faithful" to one corporation unless that one is the highest bidder each time.

reply to post by daynight42


This illusion is what keeps the broke people from rising up. They are constantly thinking that someone is looking out for them, and that the system is "Working." And that they just haven't found the right president or congress to really fix things. Maybe after Obama failed, people will finally understand that freedom died in 1963 when the LAST man who wanted to change things got his brains splattered all over the back of a convertible... and quite flagrantly for ALL eyes to see.

reply to post by RicoInFlorida


I agree. The next one is always the "hero." I hate to rain on the Ron Paul parade, but if history teaches us anything, this guy can't do anything any other President would have wanted to do if he even genuinely wanted to do something in the first place.