By Daisy Luther
Who’s really got the power in America? Most people are living in an alternate reality created by those with the biggest platforms.
Individual “reality” is defined by what people believe to be true more than what actually exists. A firmly held opinion can create such a vast cognitive dissonance that many people can actually witness something that challenges their belief and still deny that they could be incorrect.
This sounds like the biggest conspiracy theory ever, but if you are here reading this, you probably at least suspect that there are manipulations at play in nearly everything we view or read. There are just a few hundred people who control the media, entertainment, and the internet, and unless we are completely unplugged, we are lambasted with their versions of reality relentlessly every day.
Let’s talk about how opinions are really formed and who has the influence to sway the people of America. No matter how well-informed a person tries to be, the truth can be hard to come by when bias is presented from so many primary sources.
The Places People Get Their News and Information
According to the Pew Research Group, people get their information from the following sources:
Photo Credit Journalism.org
This means that those with the power to influence are the people who pull the strings of network news, those in entertainment, those who make the rules of major social media platforms, and those with the biggest websites. Radio and print newspapers have little influence these days, and for that reason, most major print newspapers also have online outlets.
Notice also how people of varying age groups rely more strongly on different sources for their information.
Network News
Who remembers sitting at the table or just after dinner, being bored to tears as a little kid while your parents were glued to the evening news? I remember my dad wanted to watch the news from three sources because he wanted more than one opinion. I get it now, but at the time, it felt like “the news” would never be over. I usually ended up playing with my Barbies or reading a book.
It seems that times haven’t changed much, if the Pew survey cited above is to be believed, and it appears that the older people are, the more likely they are to watch the news on TV.
But here’s the catch.
Although there are thousands of news stations across the country, nearly all of them are owned by six corporations. In the 80s, the stations were dispersed through about 50 different companies – not a lot but a far more diverse sampling than you have now that your news is filtered through the lenses of billionaire corporations.
So, basically, everything we hear on the news is controlled by these six companies:
- Time Warner
- Walt Disney
- News Corp.
- Viacom
- CBS Corporation
- NBC Universal
Whatever their opinions are, those are the biases from which your news will be presented.
But it goes even deeper than just news because these corporations also control the entertainment industry. And what better way to control the masses than through propagandized drama in which the abnormal is normalized, and agendas are insidiously promoted without the knowledge of an unaware watcher?
Here is a glimpse at the networks owned by these corporations.
Photo Credit The Global Movement
As you can see, nearly anything you watch on any channel is influenced by a handful of people – those who run these major corporations. If they want to push an agenda, you can rest assured that agenda will be present on each of their outlets in some form.
The Rulers of the Internet
People under 50 get more of their news and information from the web than any other source these days.
One hundred websites get the majority of the traffic on the internet, and that traffic is massive. The people behind these websites are major influences in the reality perceived by Americans.
Think about this:
Google gets 28 billion visits per month. That means when you look something up on Google, you are provided with the answer Google wants you to have, which may or may not be the actual answer.
YouTube follows quickly behind with 20.5 billion visits. (source) I’m sure by now you have heard that YouTube has taken advertising privileges away from a lot of videographers whose points of view are contrary to the agenda they wish to promote. They’re saying that the content is not “advertiser friendly” – and obviously, this discourages people who dedicate their days to advancing the truth from doing so. They too must make a living, and video editing is a time-consuming process. One well-done 10-minute video can take 8 hours to produce.
These are the 100 websites that provide the “reality” for the majority of the people who rely on the internet for their news, as per Alexa.com’s traffic reporting system.
Photo Credit Visual Capitalist
Social Media
You may have noticed in the infographic above that a massive amount of traffic goes to social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
Both of those networks are notorious for censoring points of view that are not part of a liberal outlook. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably heard about Twitter permanently banning a bunch of popular Alt-Right people, most infamously, Milo Yiannopolis for his perspective.
Now, personally, I’m not a fan of the Alt-Right viewpoint. It seems like they’re presenting meanness as “truth” when they could just as easily state true things without being jerks about it. But that is beside the point. If these people are going to be banned for their unsavory ways of communicating, why does Twitter allow things like #RapeMelania to trend? Why does Twitter allow actual threats against the President? If you’re going to start banning offensiveness, shouldn’t it be across the board?
Then there’s Facebook, who has actually been busted running social experiments on its users by attempting to alter people’s moods with what they show in their timelines. But it doesn’t stop there. Nearly every blogger I know who works in the alternative news genre has been in Facebook jail at least once for presenting an unpopular opinion. I personally got warnings when I posted this article on my page – the article was taken down dozens of times and reported as “hate speech” when the “hate” it reported on was certainly not MY hatred.
Of course, when you sign up to use any of these social media networks, you agree to their terms and conditions. They’re businesses and are under no obligation to be truthful or have integrity. Go ahead and use them – I do because they are helpful to my business – but do so fully aware that what you see presented there reflects the opinions of the management and not actual reality.
So how do we get the truth?
There really aren’t any unbiased sources out there. Having worked as an alternative journalist, I can tell you honestly that no matter how hard you try to be unbiased, your personal feelings sneak in, at least a little bit. Maybe it’s with the background information you provide to support your story because you can see the direction what you are reporting on is going. Maybe it is with a little bit of snarky commentary or a pithy headline.
Because of this, many people pick the reality in which they want to live. Maybe they select ultra-conservative websites that reflect their religious beliefs. Perhaps they opt for anti-establishment outlets that gleefully point out in a non-partisan fashion that all of the politicians are sell-outs. For others, they want “news” that supports their warm, fuzzy liberal view of the world.
It’s pretty easy to get manipulated through the subliminal messages and the predictive programming, but some folks seem to be immune. You really want to be one of those people, and if you aren’t, you can get there.
I wrote about this previously:
What if some people are genetically more susceptible than others? What if some of us are immune to this constant bombardment of images, words, and ideas that most people seem to buy into without question?
Could this be the difference between the vast majority of the people and those of us are that are awake and aware? Are we just mutants? Is this why I can explain this stuff until I lose my voice and just get a blank stare from people who think I am the crazy one?
The vast majority of people in the United States are completely accepting of the official message:
- They believe that the government will be there to save them in all circumstances.
- They don’t question or inquire. They simply accept what they are told.
- They don’t share our fears that something big is on the horizon.
- They exist in a bubble and don’t look at the bigger picture.
- They refuse to prepare for bad things because they honestly don’t believe it’s possible that those things will happen.
Most people like us (those who are aware, the self-sufficient minority) watch less TV than the masses. Some of us watch no TV at all. I watch a few shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime, but we don’t have cable TV with its commercials and *cough* news. We have other things to do, things that will help us when there are soldiers on the streets “for our own protection.” Things that will help our kids survive when the store shelves are empty and the majority relies on government rations to live (if they behave well enough to get one that is, and behave they will because hunger is a massive motivator to do as you’re told.)
Even if you have a tendency to be mind-controlled, it’s possible to snap out of it. I wasn’t always the tinfoil-clad blogger you see before you today. When I was in my early 20s, I truly did believe that the government agencies like the EPA and the FDA were looking out for our best interests, that food or medicine wouldn’t be sold if it was harmful, and that schools truly were in the business of educating children. Most of us have to shake off our early training at the hands of the education system and the television.
And sort of like in the movie, The Matrix, if you can get someone to swallow the red pill, they become a lot less willing to believe whatever they’re fed.
Subliminal messaging can change people’s views, can change the way they think, can change what they want to eat, what car they want to buy, maybe even how they vote. All you need is the cash to get your message out there and buy a few split seconds of screen time.
It can sow the seeds that make acceptance of abnormal and dangerous situations easier. It can teach people not to question and to be good little sheep.
Sitting for hours in front of the television mindlessly watching the drivel produced by companies who call it “entertainment” is brainwashing people and turning them into idiots, making the best current day example of predictive programming the movie Idiocracy.
All you have to do is look around and you’ll see that it’s here.
What if you don’t want to live in an alternate reality created by the media?
First of all, this doesn’t even touch on other influences like the ridiculous fear culture perpetuated in our schools or the Marxist indoctrination in our colleges and universities, where they teach you that gender isn’t a real thing and you get to pick whenever you want. There are many more players in the alternate reality game than just the media, but you have to start somewhere.
My advice for those who don’t want to live in an alternate reality:
- Turn off the TV.
- Vet your sources.
- Try to get several points of view – even the ones you don’t like. The truth lies somewhere in between.
- Look out for talking points that are used ad infinitum like “deep state” or “with an abundance of caution” or “the Russians.” The things you hear repeated over and over are repeated for a reason – to brainwash you.
In the famous words of Fox Mulder, “The truth is out there.” You just have to seek it diligently.
I think what strikes me here is how obvious it is that the corporate world controls literally everything, I mean everything.
I have seen this ramp up so much in my field of work that it sickens me. The “corporate speak” and culture invade every aspect of life, it determines policy, writes legislation, shapes opinion of the masses that accept the pablum, and generally seems to have a goal of turning the masses into good little politically correct zombies/consumers/snowflakes. This opinion comes from someone a decade ago that was probably considered left of center.
All we can do is try to be aware, try to find some semblance of truth, however illusory it may be, and yes, realize we all have our own biases and our own truth and we perceive it.
I am thankful for knowledge you and others are willing to share. I am grateful to have insight in the last few years that I was never cognizant of. Like I tell my son, knowledge truly is power, or as close as one can get…..
I’ve been “red-pilled” for a long time and follow George Carlin’s first rule…”Don’t Trust Anything The Government Tells You”…
https://youtu.be/Hy-sVByUHqE
You can tell when someone is still asleep, blue-pilled and living in an echo chamber by the way they parrot and regurgitate the msm propaganda filled narrative.
As George Orwell said — ‘Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
And, this article might help open some eyes too~
16 Signs That You’re a Slave to the Matrix…
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/04/16-signs-that-youre-a-slave-to-the-matrix-2946950.html
Daisy, I reposted this over on “Gab” with via @daisyluther included. Thanks again for another great article to help wake up the sheeple.????????
A great look into what’s wrong with traditional media. I must recommend that you read the dystopian zombie novel Feed by Seanan McGuire. I’ll give you a hint – it’s about bloggers who saved the world when traditional media wouldn’t. Great job and keep informing people 🙂
Dang it! They got my idea! 😀
You just had to get that liberal dig in there didn’t you cunt.
Profanity aside, Ashley, I think I gave a “dig” to all sorts of groups, not just liberals. If you’ll notice, I also mentioned ultraconservatives and Alt-Right in less than glowing terms. That wasn’t the point of the article. You might need to reread it if you think the point was being mean to liberals.
Anyway, I’m not a big fan of any type of extreme views. I’m a libertarian.
Wow, that was expository. How much research did that involve?
The more I open my eyes, the more people like this vapid twat become the enemy. What I want to know is when are we going to get impunity to clean up this mess and take back our country from scum like this?
I am over 60 and learned in the late 1960’s to question EVERYTHING the media puts out. From Vietnam to Watergate to the Iran/Contra Affair, to the 2017 non-hearings by congress I have had to look for the “truth” between the lines of every media story. And that anything resembling “Truth” is too few and far between.
The sad thing is that even tho I tried to get my kids to learn this simple fact, the older one believes the tripe (the one who went to college) and the younger believes that nothing any individual tries to do or contribute means anything or helps in any way.
It is no wonder that the media has become the monster in the closet. Even when you point out facts no one believes them because the monster has control.
Your response to Ashley was so kind. You turned away her filthy and uncalled for remark with amazing grace and class! and then even invested a bit more time trying to have a decent conversation with her. It was so enjoyable to read the article followed by the comments that the mean spirited, hateful response from “Ashley” stuck out like a sore thumb. Obviously, Ashley is crippled by anger. I have often wondered what we, as a people who are willing to listen to each other, can do to heal our nation’s people of this awful division taking place right now…and I realized you did the only thing we really can do…turn away a harsh word with kindness.
I wish your comment section has “likes” as all comments (except one) added greatly to another well written, exceptional article.
Thank you for continuing to write extremely educational articles.
Yes, Joan, and thank you…
I second that! My sentiments exactly!
Thank you, Joan! I will look into that. The one plug-in I had considered that allowed it, I rejected because it forced people to log in in order to comment and vote. I wanted to leave it open for people to comment without giving up their privacy. But there’s gotta be SOMETHING out there.
I always appreciate your input. 🙂 Thank you again!
It used to be that virtually all of the key management positions in the media where held by people who were also members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). I find that very interesting considering the Presidents, Secretaries of State, Secretaries of Defense, CIA Directors, corporate big-wigs, university leaders, financial institution leaders, labor union leaders and think tank leaders, who are (or were) also part of that organization.
I don’t know if the people who run the Internet are part of the CFR, but I’ll bet they are.
When you have all of these people in positions of influence as part of the same organization, doesn’t it seem reasonable that they can produce a plan and then manipulate the public into supporting that plan by use of their media megaphone and a constant drumbeat to wear you down? If they make a lie big enough, and repeat it often enough – people will believe it.
If interested in seeing names of these leaders, their government positions and their companies, they can be found in part two of a document called: The Future is Calling at:
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/freedomforce/pdf/futurecalling2.pdf
This rather stunning list starts on page 12 and goes through page 15.