Fake News

One thing it’s very difficult to escape from is the news. Even without a television or internet browsing, or understanding the local language to read a newspaper, or WiFi to get today’s headlines, other people talk about it. That one moment I am in WiFi something comes in and I feel compelled to look at it.

However, it’s a surreal experience. I don’t know where home is anymore so news feels foreign and not real. I don’t mean in a fake news context, I mean the world of news feels like a crazy obsession with gossip about things that create fear, anxiety and misunderstanding. It suddenly feels like I’m experiencing it objectively rather than emotionally.

I stopped seeing the news as a valid source of information in 1991. This was the year of the Gulf War and I was living in Paris. My family and closest friends begged me to come home. I asked why. They told me I was in grave danger. I asked them why they thought this. They replied that the news is talking about how dangerous it is in Paris and I should leave as soon as possible.

I was greatly confused. The only change I saw at that time was that when I went to a bank there was a guard and he asked me to open my bag and show him the contents. This did not seem dangerous. It seemed like I was being kept safe.

Right there, I saw that news manipulates our views of people, places, and events. I didn’t want any part of it. Though I have read news and will continue to sometimes, I have always had a hard time understanding what the truth in it is. Back in the 90s I came across a great book called “Bullshit!” about the news and I guess we call it fake news now.

The other thing is that when I speak with people outside the US about the US I learn that we get entirely different information about what’s happening on any subject the news covers. I knew this somewhat, but now that I’m meeting intriguing, intellectual people I feel even more naïve and confused about truth. As I seek my own truth, I’m seeing that I’m also seeking some sort of truth out there in the world, and things that I had always known as “true” are now being questioned in my mind as I get access to new resources, websites, and stories I had never heard of. I mean, huge world events that might not be as we thought. People that have tried telling a different truth and been quieted. I realize that I greatly disagree with much of current mainstream thought and if I dare voice my opinion I know I’ll be shut down for it. (Does that matter? Who knows, but it’s not where I wish to place my energy right at present.)

Bringing news down to people, one of my best friends from childhood is a journalist so I know that there are people out there who I greatly admire and trust working hard to give us the objective truth. So I struggle even more with news because it’s also people doing a job the best they can.

And then there are the potato chips. In New York I watch a lot of television. I also crave potato chips like nobody’s business. When I travel and don’t watch TV, I have zero craving for carbohydrates. (Well, except that time I was in Cahuita, Costa Rica and got high from second-hand marijuana smokers…) I want to say I’m smarter than letting a commercial motivate me to put garbage in my body, but, apparently, I’m not.

I have even begun to wonder if economic crises are completely fabricated by people in power who want to use fear as a tool to control our behavior. I don’t know the answers, but I sure have a lot of questions! 😮