CBS released a new set of polls (link) that really caught my eye and not in a good way, there is some disheartening information in these polls. Most notably that more than any other threat a majority of Americans polled say they fear their fellow citizens more than anything else. I know the country was split but I didn’t think it was quite this bad.
It is mind blowing to me that in the middle of a pandemic the fear of viruses doesn’t even come close to the fear of our fellow citizens. America is truly in a bad, bad place and I think we are far off of fixing it. Trump came in and split this country right in half and really ramped things up after he lost the election. The Democrats deserve a good chunk of blame as well because they had zero issues sinking right down to Trump’s level and making sure the divide in the country gets even wider.
However, the two parties most guilty for the current state of the country are Fox News and CNN. Their constant spread of fear of the other side and twisted information is what is causing Americans to be so fearful of each other. I don’t regularly watch either of these networks but I keep track of what they are both saying because I know they shape the minds of a majority of the people in this country. Both networks rarely report positive news, rarely talk about the accomplishments of their side unless it is in relation to bashing the other side, and spend most of their time telling viewers how scared they should be and how truly awful and beyond redemption Democrats or Republicans are.
These 2 polls are great examples of the effects that CNN and Fox News viewing have on people. This is why the current big tech censorship is starting to worry me. A majority, if not all, of the political content I get is from Twitter, YouTube shows and podcasts and if these big cooperations start cracking down harder on that, CNN and Fox News will grow even stronger and the biggest voices in politics will continue to be millionaires funded by billionaires. These billionaires give their show host very strong orders on what to say and to make sure to get fear and tensions high so the America public stays distracted and divided and unlikely to notice the extreme corruption they are all being ruled under.
It’s frustrating and it’s a battle that will be extremely hard to fight against but it’s a battle that must be won. I talk to many different people regarding politics and I can always without failure identify when I am talking to a CNN or Fox News viewer. The buzzwords, the fear, the narratives are painfully obvious to spot and makes it hard to reason with the person. Fear is one of the strongest emotions a person has and it can make even the most reasonable people unreasonable.
I want to highlight this clip from Tucker Carlson’s show from January 18th, as I think it is a really good example of how the media twist information to instill fear into their viewers.
In this clip, Tucker claims that the military has been moving to the left (lol) for years now and is now under complete control of the Democrats. That the massive military force currently in DC, which admittedly seems excessive, is to show Trump supporters that they run the country now and will not hesitate to use it on their political enemies. He also goes on to explain how white men are under a great attack currently and are being suppressed, how all white people are being grouped into one big, bad category, which is an argument that is just dripped in some juicy irony but that is beside the point.
Throughout this monologue Tucker has successfully made his viewers feel extremely fearful of the Democrats and other side in general. He has masked that fear in with some victimhood mentality (which CNN is known for but Fox engages in quite a bit themselves). He has taken admittedly dumb statements and weird situations and blown them way out of proportion. It is all very dangerous but just imagine what happens to a person’s mind when they get this pounded into them on a nightly basis.
This is a tough situation to fight against considering how powerful the enemy is but I have a few ideas and it starts with revamping and improving our education system. Our education system in its current state is a complete failure and takes a good chunk of the blame on why people are so drawn to and blinded by these massive media outlets. Our schools don’t develop critical thinking skills among our students, rather just presenting “facts” to be learned and memorized and repeated on the test.
The result is a large portion of students feeling very unfulfilled in their school work, not truly learning anything or developing any valuable life skills. Our schools should be teaching students how to be informed skeptics, capable of breaking down issues and gathering evidence to support an answer or solution. When people get into the real world after this schooling they are easily moldable. They watch these news networks, take everything they say as “fact” and just repeat it as such. If we improve our education systems people would watch these news networks, be skeptical of what they are saying and seek out information on these issues themselves. It also makes them not as likely to fall into the fear traps which makes it more likely to be able to remain peaceful and civil with the other side.
I know it is tough in times like this, but I encourage everyone to remain peaceful and hopeful. Be the bigger person, always remain civil even when attacked by the other side, you would be surprised what happens when you remain civil throughout a discussion even on the most heated topics.
Green Buddhist 