Thursday, October 15, 2009

Smoke and mirrors

Has anyone else noticed how the mainstream media have been running cycles of news around the topics of the H1N1 virus, health care, Afghanistan, and the economy? Several writers in the libertarian blogosphere have been warning that when the media hypes up one topic, we need to pay attention to what is really going on with the others.

While we talked about the H1N1 virus, Congress was marking up the health care bills. While the media hyped the health care crisis, President Obama was considering troop increases in Afghanistan. While the media hyped Afghanistan/Pakistan, the stock market rose (which I believe will be only temporary). And when the stock market hit 10,000 -- who knows what's going on in one of the other fronts?

Obviously, there is movement on all four fronts, and news will be reported as it occurs. My point is that the media do not care to investigate or analyze anything. Instead, it seems to be more in their interest to use one topic to conceal what is going on in another.

Since we cannot trust the mainstream media, we have to put more effort into understanding what is really going on.

"Eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson

No comments: