Recently, my Wife has been troubled by current events. This past Sunday, while driving home from Church, she told me she further believes the world is ending, and very soon. Now, to let you have some background, she has always been a pessimist, so I can’t hold it against her for having such “world ending” thoughts. But, the Church service we were just at had messages that said us Christians should be wary, since President Trump recently announced restrictions to USA entry for certain countries. It seems to me that the Church pastor wants to preach about possible similar prejudice situations for Christians. There are some reasons why this may be true, but in the end, there really should not be much to fret about.

The world is an ever changing place

I tried telling my wife that she should have no fear, since the world is currently ending and it always will be ending. No one knows when it will end. The world is an ever changing place, there will always be something to worry about. Personally, I am not worried about that fact. I told her my conclusion and she dismissed it. Hopefully the dismissal is just her pessimistic outlook on life. I have since come to think that her opinion may be a product of what she hears around her. Let me explain.

My wife does not watch the news or read the news (be it online or in print from). She gets most of her news through Facebook or what I tell her. Because of this, I have an opinion that most Americans are similar to my wife-they get their news from social media or second hand conversation. To me, social media is an echo chamber of nonsense. People complain, rant and yell all the time, “lets protest this” or “boycott that”. To a social media user, ever single thing they consume (newsworthy, that is) is most likely polarized and opinionated. There have even been examples of social media having polarization and/or “news” that was deemed important or less important to be shared. Some news was made to be popular while other popular news was hidden by social media companies. I have concerns that there could be an agenda or a process where certain news that the social media company likes is pushed to the masses. Some may find that hidden agendas are sinister, but I see them as a more common occurrence in our society where most people believe what they hear on social media. There is a powerful and large audience with social media, so the desire to send hidden messages to everyone disguised as news can be too tempting to pass up. I don’t know why the current news seems to be all about the world ending, or a disaster here and there. All I know is that sensational news with subjects as such sell advertisements an keep eyes and ears close by. Therefore, it is right for my wife and others to have a grim view of their world since they define their world by what is found on Twitter or Facebook.

Another way I find people tend to have world ending paranoia is through the 24-hour news cycle. Yes, it seems like I am going off into another rant about how the masses are fixated on their computer screens and not paying attention to anything…well I may be, haha. I am mentioning that there is a continued polarization in television news media. I see, especially during and after the election, an incessant drum pounding of news media whom are for or against Trump/Hillary. Everyone knows the age old joke about Fox News and how they are a stand in for the GOP. Yes, there is definitely a slant to the right for Fox. There is also a definite slant for MSNBC. Most people agree with this. What I am trying to tell people is that there are other hidden motives behind news media, besides the obvious one of political persuasion. Do a Google search for “6 media companies.” The results that you see are true, most American consumer media is founded under the wide umbrella of 6 large corporations. Now, the job of a business is to make money, everyone knows and respects that. However, when you get to be one of the 6 mega-companies who controls a machine that most Americans look at least 4 hours a day at, money becomes an afterthought. What becomes more lucrative, is power.

Think of any old bad guy/good guy tale. The antagonist has motives that usually sound something like they want/need/have power. For some men, power is far greater than money or fame. There are plenty of individuals that I am sure most folks have never heard of, who have a tremendous power in the behind-the-scenes America. Some of these individuals work in media. Their philosophy, their beliefs, their…agenda, flows from top down to the stations and tells them what to show. Since the TV is on at least 4 hours a day in every home, now you may realize why they call a show lineup “programming”. Its programming because the news media companies are programming the viewer to associate with the beliefs of the station and the owners at the top. Again, people may consider this to be sinister, even treacherous realization. Some may consider it to be un-American or completely ludicrous. I consider it normal, since the only logical step after maximizing profits is to further take advantage of every opportunity to lock in those potential, future profits. By wielding such power over many people, people see the world the way the media wants them to see. A dumb population who doesn’t want to do their diligence on story gathering and news reading is a population who believes everything they hear on TV. This is exactly what the media companies want-and by effect, is exactly why so many people, such as my Pastor and my wife, believe the world is ending. Its ending because its what powerful folks want you to think! Fear sells, and that means more eyes and ears to accept advertisements. Once people get their heads out of their TV and computer screens and relax, they will enjoy their life and find the world is not a place that is ending any time soon.

Enjoy your life! See this beautiful cardinal outside in the snow.