Pop Quiz
What philosopher noted: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”?
What author wrote: “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”
What science fiction writer said: “There is simple ignorance, not knowing, and willful ignorance that refuses to know, that covers the light of knowledge with the dark blanket of bias.”?
Which philosophe said: “The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.”?
Answers at the end of this post.
It is difficult for rational thinkers to understand the prevailing zeitgeist within our elitist ivory tower media.. There is a longstanding truism that applies today more than ever: It is better to sit silently and have people assume you are stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Kristen Welker not only rejects that guidance but positively embraces any and all opportunities to demonstrate her stupidity. In her recent interview with our President she doggedly pursued the argument that, contrary to the position of the Administration, prices are NOT falling and she used two items to drive her point…into a tree: tires and baby carriages. She failed to also note that the price of zeppelins and bi-planes have risen so high that they are not affordable to the average consumer.
This behavior is endemic with the Pavlovian test subjects that populate our media. Not being very bright can be masked with a good teleprompter (see e.g. Barack Obama) but when it is amplified by a willful ignorance and unbridled arrogance it becomes intolerable and dangerous. That is the state of our media today.
Ms. Welker is the poster child for the media obsession with manipulating public opinion. This practice is not new but it has become epidemic. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy introduced military “advisors” into Viet Nam in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1964 President Johnson attacked his opponent Barry Goldwater by suggesting that if you voted for the Arizona conservative there would 500,000 men in Viet Nam. Just over 27 million Americans voted for Goldwater and darned if LBJ wasn’t right.
By 1970 media prestidigitation had turned the Viet Nam War into “Nixon’s War”. To this day the misnomer is a staple of the American media.
The manipulation of language is but one of the media tactics used to support their poorly disguised bias. They routinely engage in censorship, disinformation and, dare we say, outright lying. What follows are some examples of opinion manipulation that you can use at social events, especially with groups that you don’t really want to see again.
Climate: The art of ignoring predictions that prove to be wildly inaccurate
On November 17, 1967 a LA Times writer produced an article entitled: Dire Famine Forecast for ’75. In all fairness he might have meant 2075.
On October 6, 1970 Paul Ehrlich, the clairvoyant lepidopterist, predicted that “The oceans will be as dead as Lake Erie in less than a decade.” If Ehrlich tells you the sun will come up, in the East tomorrow…face West in the morning.
In 1974 The Guardian carried a headline announcing “Space satellites show new Ice Age coming fast”. One wonders what other types of satellites there are.
You will search in vain for corrections, clarifications or red-faces among the chattering class.
As those stories are from 50 years ago you might think that the media has, for once, manifested a learning curve. Alas their learning flatline rolls on. Scientists/fear mongers had predicted that the Antarctica Ice Cap was shrinking, losing about 142 gigatons of ice per year from 2011 to 2020. The rending of garments was deafening. But hold the phone…from 2021 through 2023 the Ice Cap grew at a record rate, increasing the mass by more than 20%. These data are securely hidden next to the Ark of the Covenant. Al Gore has cancelled his plans to kayak across the South Pole in December.
The Misleading and Wildly Inaccurate Headline
The WAPO headline after the assassination attempt in Butler PA was: “Trump taken away after loud noises at rally”. You might recall similar headlines in the past. December 8, 1941: Oahu residents angry about loud noises at Pearl Harbor on December 7. Or September 12, 2001: Amateur pilots created a safety hazard when they began an urban renewal project on Manhattan.
An Instinct for the Capillary
A recent medical paper raised serious questions about the efficacy of transgender treatments being prescribed or surgically inflicted on children. It was noted that the paper had been peer reviewed. The media response was to ignore the issues raised in the paper in order to laser focus on the need to identify those who performed the peer review. There are two possible motives for this sudden interest in the corroboration of a document (compare and contrast the rabid disinterest about the Steele Dossier): (1) the desire to apply professional pressure/ostracism on the people who conducted the peer review; and/or, (2) getting the names into the hands of Luigi Mangione for appropriate handling.
Playing the Race Card, early and often
There have been a number of recent statements by Black media personalities suggesting that life has never been as bad for Blacks in America than over the last decade. In May 2020 George Floyd, a career criminal, died of a drug overdose while in police custody. This led to “mostly peaceful” riots which may have impacted the Presidential election. The media were in high dudgeon and the plight of Black Americans became the focus of much hysteria.
To perpetuate this level of dudgeon requires a selective amnesia that defies explanation. Our racial legacy has to be erased. Compare and contrast the George Floyd story with a real tragedy that occurred in 1955.
It is the story of Emmett Till, a 14-year old Black youth, who was murdered in August 1955. It was a racist attack that shocked the nation and provided a catalyst for the emerging civil rights movement. Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, when he was accused of harassing a local white woman. Several days later, relatives of the woman abducted Till and he was beaten beyond recognition, shot in the head and his body dumped in a nearby river tied to a metal fan. Till’s courageous mother insisted on a public, open-casket funeral for her son to shed light on the violence inflicted on Black citizens in the South. Till’s white murderers were acquitted.
Worse now? You be the judge.
And we have not included the mangled coverage of Covid, the January 6 “insurrection” or the October 7 invasion of Israel by the ghouls of Hamas. Nor have we discussed the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia MS-13 gang member, trafficker of illegal tourists and marital pugilist.
But let us not forget the four year media blackout of Biden’s short trip to dementia. Note: A medical study has been conducted to determine if it is possible for a complete moron to achieve dementia and whether it would be noticeable absent a debate with Donald Trump. However, the study will not be published because they have been unable to find anyone willing to conduct a peer review.
Your media at work!
Answers to pop quiz:
What philosopher noted: “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”? Soren Keirkegaard, Father of Existentialism
What author wrote: “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.”? Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World
What science fiction writer said: “There is simple ignorance, not knowing, and willful ignorance that refuses to know, that covers the light of knowledge with the dark blanket of bias.”? Elizabeth Moon
Which philosophe said: “The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.”? Voltaire