Think about it. We have all heard the phrase 'Fake News!', many see it as a joke, the paranoid rantings of a political figure, used to describe anything that paints him in a bad light. It has quickly become a buzz word in the public imagination, marginalising the more serious issue of media bias, and silencing those who question the status quo.
Most of us go no further than reading the tabloids or watching the BBC and assume we have a good idea of what's going on in the world. When we begin to question the injustice in the world, the press hand us conveniently packaged monsters to blame; immigrants, terrorists, people on welfare or even the disabled. If all else fails, there's the latest celebrity break up to keep us distracted and firmly within our comfort zones.
This is nothing new, for centuries, those in power sought to control the masses through distraction and propaganda. The Romans called it "bread and circuses" , keep them fed and keep them entertained, and you can lead a population by the nose.
Are We Being Controlled?
You don't have to be a serious researcher, or dig very deeply to answer this question. All you need to do is step outside your comfort zone and connect a few dots.
Homeless people who are dying on our streets are being fined and having their possessions confiscated. The NHS is in crisis and doctors are warning us that it's a deliberate sabotage to pave the way to privatisation. The world watched in horror as Grenfall burned due to cost cutting profiteering, and the victims are yet to receive the money raised or, in some cases, are still waiting to be re-homed. These are just a few examples of the horrors of injustice and inequality prevalent in our society today.
Are we on the streets protesting? Are we knocking on the doors of power demanding change? Is our momentary moral outrage making any difference at all? Of course not!
We are lulled back to sleep, reassured by our media that, our leaders are 'doing all they can', that there 'just isn't enough money', and that we are all ' facing this austerity together'. In the meantime, there's always Facebook to distract us with 'LOL cats', endless selfies and motivational memes to make us feel better.
Social media also gives us an outlet for our outrage, we heatedly comment on the issues of the day, confident in our facts, firmly maintaining our political and moral position. When our personal narratives are challenged, we switch off and dismiss it as political activism, with the same level of disdain and ridicule, reserved for conspiracy theorists and subversives.
We convince ourselves that we are decent, hardworking members of society, we go to work and pay our taxes, go to church and give to charity. We abrogate all responsibility by telling ourselves that it's the job of government to sort things out and after all, there's nothing we can do.
We trot off to the ballot boxes to cast our vote for one of two parties, and convince ourselves that this is democracy, never questioning the validity of the system as a whole. Once our votes are counted, whoever is given the keys to the kingdom, has carte blanche to rule as they see fit, for the next few years and your opinion is no longer required, that is, until the next time they need you to place your cross in the box.
Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics.
The papers and news channels are full of impressive looking graphs and pie charts to show us the state of the economy. Experts are wheeled out from the hallowed halls of respected universities, to explain to us why we can't afford police officers, nurses, doctors or social care. We are told _"there is no magic money tree" and we shake our heads in despair as our sense of helplessness washes over us.
We briefly raise our heads in anger, when we hear of tax breaks for the wealthy, the Panama Papers, or bank bail outs, but not too worry..... look, there's going to be 'a royal wedding'. Nothing like a prince marrying a commoner to give everyone a sense of hope and optimism. There's even a cause to rally around.....the removal of the homeless from the streets for the occasion.
Yes, my decent, humanitarian public, protest the treatment of these unfortunate people, blame the monarchy, blame the local council, hell, even blame the homeless themselves, but whatever you do, do not question the blatant inequalities and fiscal inconsistencies, emanating from the higher reaches of power.
Are We Truly Better Informed?
There's absolutely no doubt, that with the advent of the internet, we have access to far more information than ever before in human history. Literally every subject at our fingertips to satisfy our curiosity, answer our questions or chase away our boredom.
Not all information is created equal, however, and the search for truth is hindered by an overwhelming array of scientific studies, expert opinions and political commentaries. Both sides of a debate, will use the same 'credible' data to validate their position, and once more the public polarises and argue amongst themselves, confident of their facts, firm in their beliefs and completely in the grip of the propaganda machine.
We don't need to look very far to discover which newspapers donate to which political party, or which large corporations are paying huge amounts to party funds, to discover who is really controlling the lawmakers and influencing policy.
Political Scandal.
How many times have we seen disgraced politicians, splashed over the front pages of our newspapers. A seeming contradiction when considering the possibility of a biased media. We hear about, misappropriation of public funds, fraudulent expenses claims, and paedophilia all the time but, why do we never question the fact, that the perpetrators are not behind bars?
When did our leaders become immune to prosecution? Oh, I know, every now and then an example will be made, to satisfy the public outcry for justice, but for the most part, they will publicly apologise, be quietly forgotten by the media, and retire with a nice golden handshake into obscurity.
Not only are the public distracted by the next sensational piece of media mind fodder, but they are beautifully steered away, from investigating further, and finding out just how extensive the corruption is.
There is little doubt, that we are getting far more than just information from our media. Our opinions, feelings and political viewpoints are all carefully manipulated by the strategic dissemination of (mis)information. Uncovering the truth is a time consuming, arduous, and frustrating task, one that few people have either the time or the energy to undertake.
Surely it is time to wake up? We don't need statistics to tell us that poverty, homelessness, and injustice are morally wrong. We don't need a degree in economics to see the ever increasing gap in financial equality, and we certainly don't need a corporate controlled media to tell us that the very victims of the system are the ones to blame for all our woes.
What we need to do, is to reconnect with our humanity, direct our outrage away from our keyboards, and start voting with our conscience. We should be hammering on the doors of our local politicians, demanding change, we should be on the streets exercising our right to protest and most of all, we should be uniting as a people with one voice and one mind against the morally corrupt and self serving institutions of power, who perpetrate these crimes against humanity in our name!