Obscuring Truth -- Exaggerations, lies, and sensationalism

Your Attention, Please

It is nothing new to tell any of you that distractions are a severe problem that interfere with anyone's ability to focus on things that are more important, or simply anything that you yourself choose. Business interests are the primary ones that distract the most in order to keep their profits streaming in. They spend billions to control what you see, get in your head, stay there, and thus direct your attention, behavior, and spending habits. It boils down to getting and keeping your attention and money. There's even an acronym for it, A.I.D.S or Attention, Interest, Desire, Sell, or the newer variation A.I.D.A(ction) (read more).


Switching sides

I can't remember at what point I "switched" and began to see that those flashy ads with beautiful people were directing my behavior, specifically my decision to shop for those items and be like the people in the ads, but it was a revelation that came late and resulted in many very poor choices because growing up "tuned into" a TV set does something to your mind and shapes personality in profound ways -- that much, we know.


Monster #2

Now, there is another monster to uncover. We've all seen it or them in the supermarket shelves right at the checkout. You can try, but you can't help but to glance at them either intentionally or by accident -- sensationalist magazines. If we use a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being "extremely distracting," these magazines would be very close to 5, obviously.


But Wait, There's more...

Not only do these covers and advertisements capture your attention with n-e-w-s, but anything rated lower than they are on the scale becomes boring and effectively dead to you, o-l-d. This means that anything that isn't made to be as captivating as the junk, will slip through the cracks of your mind and attention. More, even if you do notice it, the sensationalist junk will pull you over more, and you will feel compelled to skip out on the relatively tamer content. Thus we see a very clear bias to glitter, gloss, exaggerations, and lies because all of those things can much more easily capture attention than anything else.


Well, well, well, What do we have here...?

Certainly, the problem or tactic is seen beyond the store shelves because our sensory devices stay the same, numbed a bit, even after we have physically escaped the marketed environment. Everywhere your eyes go, goes the same tactics used to captivate your attention with GGEL -- glitter, gloss, exaggerations, and lies. You've guessed it by now, it's here within headlines and topics on this and other websites, but especially this one.


Nature of the Beasts

The topics here already capture attention, because all conspiracies are inherently shocking. This makes the problem here on this site much worse. If every topic here is already in itself shocking, the threads compete with one another by one upping the others and pushing them out of the way. That's more sensationalism due to inherently sensational content.


Heads It Wins, Heads We Lose

To grow, a thread must capture attention. It wins by doing that, but we lose because it uses a gimmick to capture our attention and divert it from others that could be equally or probably more important.


I'm Sorry, Sir

So, you've written a masterpiece, a great piece that is worth discussion, but your thread title is not up to par with the rest because you were not willing to veer from truth and instead used an accurate title. Congratulations on your ethics, but sorry, you lose. Your thread will more likely be lost in a sea of GGEL.


Insisting on GGEL

As many of us know already, this site insists on copying and pasting the exact headline. Herein is the problem for all of us, because headlines are specifically chosen to result in clicks. Who wins?


The profiteers

Despite a conflict of interest, the ones who profit by the original sites and this site are the ones who win. How do they profit? Of course, through advertising, the same monster we discussed earlier.


It's just business

The rules will stay the same as long as the business aspect of any site rules over any ethical pursuit it claims. The choice is between having increased profits and growth by lax or purposely for-profit policies and keeping the site clean, manageable, and respectable and in alignment with its claim to deny ignorance and thus promote accuracy and truth. The two are quite opposed to one another unless the site is to mostly attract flies. The larger it gets, the more money that must be spent to keep it clean. Luckily, there are many people willing to work for free to keep things under control, or else the site would have sunken long ago. Yet another profit-seeking, corrupt-from-the-beginning business venture, serving as a beacon for GGEL that is trashed by the same users that claim to seek answers.


Time to Say Goodbye

Change the policy of using the exact headline. Put the responsibility on the user. Stupidity as an excuse? Sorry. For a site that promotes the denial of ignorance, this should be easy to uphold. Intelligent posts by intelligent users will be rewarded. It only takes a little time to fact check and write an accurate headline. If you cannot do so, pass it along to another user you trust who can do that for you, or the site can make a sandbox for threads that are dubious.

Strictly enforce rules for headlines. Ban users on a "two strikes, you're out" policy. If you won't listen the first time, it's goodbye, see you again maybe after you go through the trouble of re-registering. Delete the offending threads, of course.


Responsibility or Chaos

One must be chosen. Responsible users will follow the rules. Anyone else is bound to increase chaos, often only to boost their own flag count and "popularity" at the expense of everyone else's experience on this site. The obvious solution is to remove anyone not responsible for their activity here. If the owners of this site won't change it, then they are worse than the users for not changing it because they alone are the only ones who can. Will they do it for us?


Choose Truth

It is the only thing that can bring us back closer to a time of order, here and anywhere. Be part of the solution. Choose on the basis on the higher principle. The world is affected enough by entertainment and deception.


Please choose accuracy and truth.

That was an excellent argument you put forth.

I can't remember exactly when they instituted that "Headline" policy. I will have to go back and see what the reason was for it.

But I am very interested in seeing a response from the Site Owners or the Moderators on this subject.

Here is the "Statement Thread" on the Headline Policy. Comprehensive 'Breaking Alternative News' Forum Posting Guidelines (Updated 4-15-11)

reply to post by watchitburn


Oh, this is funny!

3). Copy and paste the EXACT headline as it appears in the original news article. Do not create or sensationalize your titles. Some editorial leeway is allowed, of course, if the original title is too long, inappropriate for ATS, inflammatory, etc.

No problem! They don't have to; it was already done for them.

In my post, I seemed to blame the people who came up with the policy of using the exact headline. The way it sounds, though, they were trying to prevent users from doing it even more.

That was over a year ago. Perhaps they can consider changing the policy again, but I really doubt it. Of it they did, it would be quite a weight on the abilities of most people here. Trying to get everyone who posts to be responsible for their thread title will be an enormous effort. Look at all the titles you see. Now try to imagine all those people changing their own titles so that they are accurate. They don't read and analyze for errors in the first place.

A big problem that exists already is that people post within a few seconds after reading something, so they can be sure to be the first to get credit for finding something. They care more about getting flags. Posting something accurate? That can wait. Someone else can always point it out, even if it's tens of flags later on the fourth page.

That happened with a thread on a material called Starlite, where a claim made in the video was proven wrong, but only on the 4th page or so. So, everyone (including me) went on and on and probably most believed exactly what the video said, never making it to the fourth page. The post that made this very important point deserved to be move to the first page where everyone would likely see it, but it will stay largely hidden on the 4th.

Thanks for your post. I hope my thread at least gets some attention, but at the same time, fuzzy videos and pictures of possible flying saucers will always be more exciting than accuracy and truth. The irony...

Well, it looks like this thread is dead in the water already.

If any visitors who read it have any comments or questions, I would be interested in hearing them.

(And, of course, it would help keep the thread going, too...)

Originally posted by daynight42
Well, it looks like this thread is dead in the water already.

If any visitors who read it have any comments or questions, I would be interested in hearing them.

(And, of course, it would help keep the thread going, too...)

No man you are absolutely right about the title not capturing the correct attention. I put what I want people to do in my signature line and hope them reading my experiences will help wake them up. And protect them with information.

Might want to put it in your sig or somewhere. But its important we link all this so when the flood of people wake up (right before the end), our posts will help to educate/guide them. I know its hopeless sometimes when they are alone on the path of enlightenment, but the info may quench that thirst and help to settle them down. People need to get their minds right so they can be prepared to keep themselves safe from the threats.

Bumped lol

reply to post by strangedays


Thanks. I could "go all conspiracy" and say the "thread was suppressed," but only the minds of people need to be taken for certain things to fly under the radar, and that's already happened.

Things may very well go on as they have been. The power players have gotten away and get away with what they do just fine without spoiling it for themselves. They will continue to do that because it's just easier. You only pick fights when there is something to be gained. As long as everyone has their delusions, they are comfortable in their confinement, like anyone else.

We hide our own chains very well.

Originally posted by daynight42
reply to post by strangedays

 

Thanks. I could "go all conspiracy" and say the "thread was suppressed," but only the minds of people need to be taken for certain things to fly under the radar, and that's already happened.

Things may very well go on as they have been. The power players have gotten away and get away with what they do just fine without spoiling it for themselves. They will continue to do that because it's just easier. You only pick fights when there is something to be gained. As long as everyone has their delusions, they are comfortable in their confinement, like anyone else.

We hide our own chains very well.

Ill tell you what. Mass die off georgia guidestones type stuff sucks. People shouldnt have to die off. But it seems like thats what we are being prepared for. A reckoning of sorts. So maybe things continuing as they are might be the better alternative to no life at all. Worlds getting hotter, ice caps are melting, earthquakes are picking upm anumals are experiencing mass die offs, the signs are all around. This incarnation is concluding. So things just getting worse might be ok for people that it works for, and that suits the direction they take their lives in. But there are too many strange things going on with the planet itself. Not supernatural stuff, just straight mother nature type stuff.

I guess im just saying I kinda feel that something is going to happen. Probably sooner than later, based on the environment. Take the people out of it even other planetary things (weather, fields, poles, etc) are changing and doing strange things.

reply to post by strangedays


If you believe they lie every chance they get, maybe you should re-examine the Georgia guidestones. I believe the GA guidestones could be a lie. The money interests seem more the type to profit in any way they can. They use the poor labor force to do that. If the poor majority go, so do their profits. Would the queen ant destroy her workers? She would then be vulnerable.

Another reason: they already have enough money to annihilate the world many times over. All they'd have to do is protect themselves somehow for however long it took for the "air to clear" so to speak. They could do it, but we're all still here...and multiplying, and it's only making it harder. The GA guidestones seem to be a lie, to me. It seems like a trick, and why can't it be? Well, lots of CTs see a bleak future. It may be bleak, but the population can stay roughly the same, or at least not cut as drastically as the GA GSs say it will.

So, I pose these questions:
1) Can they cause worldwide destruction right now?
2) Can they wait it out until they can re-emerge in the world filled with the destruction they caused?

My opinions:
1) Maybe, if each of the world money interests cooperated. They publicly seem to be against each other, but that could easily be theatrics. One nation or group of nations powerful enough that do(es) not cooperate could spoil it for the rest. That is why they are pushing for all nations to become one, to prevent this. Even once a one world government is set up, I see them keeping it under tight control but having people continuing to multiply, because good little cheap workers make them rich. What do the rich want? ...more riches, more power.

2) This one is much easier. I certainly believe so.

I think a one world government will be instituted, but that it will go fairly smoothly, with most people complying. Look at what they're already doing, and it's been a fairly smooth ride for them. Them. For us, it's rough, but they aren't encountering strong resistance (yet). As long as most people comply, that's all it takes for them to pull it off. That small minority that raises some hell can be kept at bay. Just keep their voices down so they don't annoy the regular work force too much.

That's how I think they'll do it...as "seamlessly" as possible. They make you think something horrific has to happen so you keep waiting for it, meanwhile, it happens anyway under the radar. They just make sure they make the changes one at a time, slowly enough. Too fast, and the majority will get upset (big mistake). Do it slowly enough, and that majority are kept quiet. The minority that causes trouble can be handled. Not the majority.

Well yea a different way to say it is that the AVRI is spreading heh.

EDIT: artificial viral replicating intelligence