Media Coverage: It is All About the Eyeballs. Lies and Conditioning.

The wind rages around the house as I write this; whistling through the eaves and throwing dog and cat dishes, horse feeders, water troughs and anything else not tied down about the yard. It is bitter cold outside and below freezing in many cities.

Meanwhile, across America, we can be thankful that most have a roof over their heads.

The problem is, collectively we are guilty of a great travesty of not wanting to know about those who do not. If you are tempted to click away, may I remind you that you aren’t four (probably – maybe someone four does actually read my blog. It could happen.) Grownups should WANT to know the truth.

The media makes pretending so easy for us. They outright lie.
They manufacture statistics that are entire nonsense.
They spin and even ignore the truth.

They cover up what they don’t want us to know and condition us to believe their fantasies by when and what they do or do not report. Entire research agencies exist to control what we believe. Only researchers whose conclusions support what they want us to believe receive grants; those who want to publish the truth are ostracized.

COLD WEATHER DEATHS

It is because of the outrageous statistics regarding cold weather deaths in the U.S. that I am writing this post.

As I checked my favorite statistics company for information, what graphs are available are clearly lies. Apparently, global warming is more believable without real stats on deaths caused by freezing weather.

Turning to the Internet for research, I found some much closer to the truth about deaths due to cold, and came upon this jewel of a comment that sums up the truth about why the media covers hurricanes and not greater threats. “Crosspatch” wrote:

“But a hurricane is so much more spectacular to watch on television
than it would be to have a two-hour long report of watching a thermometer’s indicated temperature drop in real time.

Hurricane reports attract eyeballs which sell advertising
and that is the bottom line of the “news” business.
It is really the advertising business.

They don’t lose money if they broadcast inaccurate hysteria, but they stand to make a lot of money if they can create hysteria that draws people’s attention. And if they were wrong, they can state that fact at 3am on a Tuesday morning and never bring the subject up again.

It’s all about the eyeballs.

It is in the interests of the news outlets to enter into some informal, unspoken collusion to create “issues” which attract attention. It works to the benefit of politicians, too, who can then have an opportunity to be seen “doing something” about it. Whether it is real or not is beside the point.

Create a crisis, drum up the concern, repeat the most dire predictions you can find, and have politicans jump in to “save” everyone. Everybody on the gravy train wins.

Sorry if I seem so cynical in my old age.”

I could have written these words “Crosspatch” wrote. Those of us willing to actually admit to seeing the truth about the world we live in are called cynics. Or conspiracy theorists. Or “Debbie Downers”.

People who want to stay selfish do not want us
raining on their parades.

They want to keep pretending everything is beautiful and bad things
created by evil, greedy people only happen to people who “deserve it”

Don’t you see what they’re doing, yet?

By painting someone as lazy or “guilty”
they get the masses to collude in their
own system of slavery and oppression!

Government agencies and law enforcement make sure most never see the hungry faces or the individuals and families who were middle class and better off than you just a month or a year or go, but are even now homeless and hungry.

The media and authorities vilify and harass them for us so they will be ashamed and stay hidden. They make being homeless and hungry illegal.

Media has convinced us that the panhandlers, alcoholics, and mentally challenged people we see are what homelessness is about. That is so far from the truth – that is NOT who is homeless in America today. Please click the image to find out more.

We have so completely convinced people that it is THEIR FAULT
if they can not afford food or shelter that even their closest friends
and family won’t know if they’re reduced to living in their car –
or in a tent in a park or hiding wherever they can in constant fear.

Why It is NOT Their Fault – And It Will Not Be Yours, Either

The wealthiest few for whom no amount of wealth is ever enough – control the media, the educational system, and the government so they can make sure people are conditioned to believe that all you have to do is work hard in America and that can never happen to you. That way they can get away with highway robbery.

The wealthy few have created a game MOST can NOT WIN.
Anyone going hungry or homeless must be lazy,
worthless, unwilling to work.

They sell this idea by telling everyone anyone can get rich in America!
(If that were really true you would know people who did. Do you?)

And most buy into their lies, desperate to pretend poverty really can’t happen to them – because in their hearts they know how frighteningly close to that edge they live – and their grip is slipping.

But they just keep telling themselves they’ll “round the corner”
next week, month, year… They will “pay off that debt”
and “get caught up” any time now.

I know, because I remember my Dad saying that all the time when I was growing up: “turn the corner”. I am fortunate to have been raised in a family that was never really in the “Middle Class”. Oh, my Dad said we were. He desperately wanted to believe we were. He was lying to himself.

Are YOU Rich or Poor? Are You SURE?

The truth was you can not afford a family on an Air Force lifer’s pay.

We qualified for food stamps – but he refused to take them because he was proud and men are supposed to be able to provide for their families – not take assistance.

Better their children are a little hungry all the time than take a handout from the very system that makes sure you can’t earn enough to support them.

I went to college by winning a scholarship “primarily intended for the disadvantaged and minorities” because it was based on how little my Dad actually earned.

By then most moms had to work, too, and mine wasn’t able. We have gone from one person being able to comfortably (but modestly) support an entire family, to needing at least two adults working, to many people working multiple jobs. THAT is inflation.

DEBT AND INFLATION WILL PUT YOU WHERE WE WERE

What many are not realizing is that debt – yours or the government’s – and inflation – make it inevitable and unavoidable for anyone who is not a multi-millionaire to escape rapidly approaching poverty. If you work for a living – even if you have no debt – and get raises, inflation will make it impossible to maintain your current standard of living.

This short video explains some of why, but there IS HOPE. Read on below the video.

WHAT WE MUST DO TO AVOID POVERTY

There is hope. There IS something we can do that will make sure we all have water, food, and shelter no matter what the dollar does or how high the debt goes or whether we have jobs or not.

First, we have to redefine what we think is important and what we “need”. We have our priorities all wrong. Clean water must come first. REAL food – not that stuff in packages and cans on store shelves – is what keeps us healthy and we should be willing to make whatever that costs a high priority. Modest homes instead of Mac-Mansions – or taking others into your mansion if you prefer.

Then we have to care about each other. When anyone loses their job or home or does not have enough to eat, we have to be willing to step in and help them and when we do, someone will be there to take care of us when we are in need – and I do NOT mean the government!

See the GrowMap YouTube Channel on the Economy
for how to prepare and additional information.
Subscribe to that channel to get updates.

I consider my impoverished upbringing a blessing. It makes it clear to me what necessities are: water, food, shelter. EVERYTHING ELSE is a luxury. I am very fond of many luxuries I enjoy. Air conditioning. Heat. Hot running water. And I realize they really ARE luxuries that many Americans can no longer afford and many around the world never even had.

We are well past the time we should be focusing on acquiring
even more “stuff” we never needed in the first place!
(If you’re in debt that goes double for you.)

PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT

People are difficult. Hard to understand. Hard to get along with – I get that. Animals are cute, soft, and don’t talk back. I get that, too. But people are more important.

While we have been conditioned to rush in to save cute little puppies and kittens, and we even “rescue” horses, we let people go homeless and hungry every day.

We are allowing people to DIE Not figuratively – LITERALLY – DIE
From heat, cold and lack of food. So we can have WHAT really?
Here. In America. What IS wrong with us?
And isn’t it about time we fixed it?

This post is dedicated to all those in need. It is a message to the people in their lives and crossing their paths: friends, family, strangers, who could forgo more new “stuff” or even just a Starbucks trip to feed or shelter them – but do not. And it is especially dedicated to those who die because we don’t care – like Tommy Schmitz’s buddy Carl who froze to death last week.

How long will we allow people to suffer and die
because we value things over people?

“Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of these least, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life. “ Matthew 25 American Standard Version

WHAT YOU CAN DO

There are many things anyone can do. Some don’t even cost money, such as allowing someone to use your mailing address so they can get work and receive important mail.

If you don’t have a place to keep your clothes or take a shower, it is harder to support yourself. If you are afraid to let someone have a closet, a place to sleep, and a shower you can buy them a membership and locker at a local gym. They won’t have a place to sleep, but at least they can hang something to wear and take a shower.

Food banks are feeding more people than ever before. They need food donations. They need volunteers to stock shelves, pick up food from the larger foodbank warehouses, to man the counter where people pick up food, and to deliver to people who can not pick up food themselves. Find out more on my Causes page.

Buy someone a meal. I suspect the reason for fasting is so you can understand what it is like to go hungry. That one thing makes a huge impact for someone who has nothing to eat.

When a family needs your help – as a mom and five kids still does – ask yourself, if you don’t help when you can, who will be there to help you? We have to change our priorities and build communities who can help each other NOW before things get worse.

If we keep doing what most are doing,
things are going to be far harder to handle.
If we change our collective ways now – even some of us –
those we help today will be able to help us tomorrow.
Will you be a leader? Contact me for details.