your Mom's comment- and leave it at that, then you are complicit-
I say this, because I just had a very heated conversation with my brother last night about this very thing-
He even hung up on me-
And I called him back- I asked him what he knew about the statement Kerry made- Asked him if he understood it was not only an incredibly bumbled mis-statement, but if he had listened to anything other than the news media's sound bites?
After over an hour of 'disgusting' (one of my sons mistaken, but profound word-gaffes for "discussing") conversation, He not only said that Kerry had been screwed over, but that the joke he had intended to make was pretty 'spot-on'.
I IMPLORED him, to look beyond the sound bites- and gave him this 'epiphany' that taught me about how the media uses our 'busy-ness' to manipulate and influence us, often without any clue on our part.
Shortly after the 9/ll incident, I was driving the carpool of kids into my youngest son's school. Of course we were discussing what had happened, what our thoughts and feelings were-
I'm not one to let the half hour drive be spent in silence - the oldest boy, who was 9 at the time said:
"I think we should shoot Ossama bin Laden with a machine gun like he did us"...
"What are you talking about Zach?" I asked, trying to figure out why this normally peace loving, mellow child would suddenly come out with such a statement.
"I saw him on TV-" he said, "They showed him kneeling down and shooting his gun at the buildings in NY, and then the buildings fell down"-
And sure enough as I took the time to really pay attention- I saw that the footage played OVER and OVER and OVER again, were the burning towers- an old clip of bin laden with his AK-47, and some silly 'training camp' video, all linked together- to GAIN EFFECT-
- to plant the connection in our minds, that it was all so slick, simple, and clear cut-
Since that day, I've been very aware of the 'clips' and 'teasers' that the media throw out at us- Children take things in very literally- and they notice, and POINT OUT what for many of us, is often over-looked. What the media is subliminally programing the 'masses' to simply accept-
Call me paranoid, call me an 'over-thinker' but I have found this experience to be a profound lesson, in listening to what is NOT being said- and why what IS being said. To question why what has been chosen out of all available sources of 'news' and 'imformation' might have been picked to pound home to the people.
Take the time to ask your Mom what she knows- and help her learn the truth- Then SHE can pass along the truth to others who are as plagued by the 'tyranny of the urgent' - sort of an opposite kind of 'gossip'- spreading knowledge, and TRUTH, rather than distortions and lies-
It's worth the effort- if we give in and let things 'go' because we don't want the argument- then we are playing right into the hands of those who will use any means possible to advance the lies- and the agendas that benifit those who least need their agendas advanced.
sorry this is so long
blu