THE MESSAGE

Newsreel 

By James Strauss

There is a constant drone that comes out from all media outlets, whether that’s radio, television or even most of the Internet.  The one-way nature of that drone makes it impossible to comment, argue with or make a return impression in any way so the media’s expressed opinion remains the only one there really is.  It’s all about the formatting and presentation of the message these days.  The mass media presents the argument that one source or another fashion’s the message very well or very poorly.  That they themselves, the presenters, are the fashioners and those expressing the message out to the public is ignored and, even though the message-presenters are much like the man behind the curtain portrayed in the Wizard of Oz movie, the presenter himself or herself is ignored.  Yet, the message being discussed is determined by that presenter, not by the original source or the person or source submitting that message.

Today, everyone in the American culture lives with a degree of economic inflation not seen in forty years.  The very ‘objective’ manner that all media uses to discuss this troubling phenomenon tells the public absolutely nothing about why the prices of everything that seems to mean anything is going up.  There is no discussion of profit-taking, political advantages, restrictive measures to raise prices and so on.  There is nothing about that kind of discussion, although there are plenty of potential sources where such subjects could be brought to the table.

In today’s brand-new communications network world of television, radio, Twitter, Facebook and more, the message is not delivered as a result of almost anything that has happened…it is delivered by expressing the results of a ‘fashioning’ or ‘direction’ of creation to arrive at conclusion.  In other words, the messages being broadcast as received today through all these constantly delivering sources is to induce belief changes (or maintain them) and affect belief systems.

Sergeant Joe Friday, in the very ancient television show called Dragnet coined the phrase ‘please, just the facts,’ when he was investigating a crime or what might be a crime.  These are not new times for this practice.  Over a couple of thousand years organized religions have been doing the same thing.  God does not speak out to members of the human race, He is alleged, promised and quoted by men and women who claim the role of God-interpreter.  The Bible was not written by God, it was written by men and women, eventually becoming, as proclaimed by men and women the word of God.  The words of these ‘prophets’ have become minimized over the years, as organized religions have fallen into less favor than evangelical groups and individuals who can have a complete break with following the message of others that have come before.

The receiving public, getting messages almost every second of every day, except for times when that delivery can be tuned out, has almost no control at all over what the messaging content is, or is going to be.  The huge problem that this has created has little to do with the determination of what direction life itself is moving in.  It’s giant damaging ‘wedge’ of combating forces fighting for mental possession has created the most depressive atmosphere of all time.  Fully one third of developed country’s populations are taking some sort of mood-altering drug (psychotropics) quite legally and with professional advice to do so.  This is a result, of course, over the never-ending and secretly intense fight for leadership and control by almost every member of the species.

There is plenty of food being produced to feed the entire world’s population, many times over, every day of every year, but this is not being discussed.  There is plenty of wealth to allow every human on earth to have health care, shelter, warmth and cooling, but this is not being discussed at all.  This result, the survival and comfort of the few, is all about the results of delivering a message.  That message is primarily about how life is not about competition or the oppression of everyone not in some sort of position of control or power.  The facts about all this are right out there in front of us all, but they are disguised…with no Joe Friday to sift through and arrive at truly factual conclusions.  There is likely no fix for this long ago created and delivered form of presenting the facts.

The question becomes, as the birth rate in every developed country continues to dive downward, is how will the species survive if it becomes convinced that it’s not worth it anymore?