Ever wonder why good things such as businesses, books, TV shows, webpages, or anything else in pop culture succeed or fail? Well, read on...
Precursor: I absolutely hope it doesn't, and personally, I think it will continue to thrive...
This is a chart of the news media and its aggregated bias.
Allsides.com states its mission, so to speak, is this:
AllSides™ strengthens our democratic society with balanced news, diverse perspectives, and real conversation.
We expose people to information and ideas from all sides of the political spectrum so they can better understand the world — and each other. Our balanced news coverage, media bias ratings, civil dialogue opportunities, and technology platform are available for everyone and can be integrated by schools, nonprofits, media companies, and more.
So why is this important, and why will it fail?
Opinion:
Many of us may or may not want to hear this, but the "news" has an agenda. I can't stress enough that no matter what I say, I encourage everyone to do the research for yourselves. I know it's time-consuming and tedious and without busy, busy lives, do we need to search for the truth constantly? Well, my answer to that would be yes- absolutely.
It's very easy to stop researching once we find the answer we want but it takes effort to research alternative points of views to cross refernce.
That's why Allsides.com is so so important. It enables us to have a real-time look at differences of opinions, alternative points of view, and facts from opposing points of view.
Many of us grew up trusting the news. We took it for face value; we took it precisely what it was intended to be in its purest sense- information.
So now here we are; 2022, politicians, PACs, independent parties, and special interests groups have taken over. It seems lately everyone has "A special interest."
According to the Cambridge dictionary, a "Special Interest Group" is A group of people who have particular demands and who try to influence political decisions involving them.
To put it simply, eloqently and factually- we are all each indiviudal special interests groups- we all have "demands" and we all want to "Influence" politics. Every tweet, every post every time you complain about Trump or Biden or America vocally and publically you are essentially voicing your ideas, your demands and your needs to whomever is willing to listen. You are special and you have interests and we all deserve to have them heard.
So what happens? If you are one of the 2.5 million viewers who watch Fox a day or one of the 2 million who watch CNN, it doesn't matter; we get direct programming that ultimately influences our decisions. We enter the echo chamber of our beliefs. The article in Psychology today I just linked is part of a bigger whole to understanding the code being used daily on the internet to fix our mindsets, fix our ideas, and control the narratives of our life. These comments I'm making don't necessarily express my support or descent from the current culture of the world, but I am trying to showcase how our thoughts aren't always our own. We often fall into groupthink or become so overwhelmed with information or misinformation that we become paralyzed from understanding anything. My opinion is that's exactly what is supposed to happen from whoever "they" are.
What are we to do? That should be answered by the whole of humanity and not left to the powerful corporations and their "special interests" but our special interest. Everyone deserves a chance at a decent life and a piece of happiness.
The rights of the few are the same as the rights of the many.
So why is it destined to fail?
Well, I absolutely hope it doesn't. Considering it's my favorite place on the internet. When looking at these massive media conglomerates, the billions of dollars they have at their disposal, the global reach they already have for the decades they have existed. We often have to understand the truth doesn't sell; there's no profit often inequality; if we all got along, what would the need be for politicians and celebrity sing-alongs? I say this comically, but in all seriousness- if we told the truth- what would ever be the need for multiple avenues of news? Why do we have so many news companies competing for our views and clicks? They aren't selling news; they are simply selling a story, a narrative, and an agenda. If you take anything from this article, understand this...
News is a for-profit business. They need you to believe in them, they need you to share them, they need you to make them rich.
It used to be a fair trade of information for money, but now they have taken advantage of our beliefs and our trust, and we are left rummaging through the garbage pile that, in many ways, they created. People aren't going to stop watching as they feel they need to watch; the only news you need to hear is that you absolutely don't need to watch; you're not missing out on anything. Stay free.
*its pimple