Why More Lies Than Facts on Social Media, the Press and on Television?

I was instructed “not to believe everything I read.” Today, that must be extended to “everything you see and everything you hear.”

It has been estimated that 90 percent of what we read and see on the internet, including social media, is false or partially false. Television broadcasts are composed of approximately 70 percent lies and half-truths. How did this happen?

First and foremost, the fourth estate, which is protected by the first amendment, no longer exists. Their publications all follow the first commandment of Fox News in the 21st century, “sensationalism creates a larger viewership, and the more viewers, the larger number of advertisers.” Profit first and to hell with the truth.

Social media has allowed tens of millions of men, women, and children to become con artists impersonating someone they would like to be. More harm has been done to our nation’s future through social media than from any other information source.

Although our corrupt federal government denies the truth, facts prove that Russia’s use of social media in our 2016 election was partly responsible for the illegitimate election of Donald John Trump. Attacks on Hillary Clinton were frequent, false, and increasingly vicious. This resulted in a lower voter turnout in critical states and a victory for Trump in the Electoral College. This gave America another reason to abolish the unconstitutional Electoral College.

Social media and extremist right-wing organizations and their blogs like Q’Anon can tell thousands of lies each day, and there is no way to fact check their content which has no basis in fact. Lies travel at the speed of light while the truth can arrive as slowly as the movements of a tortoise.

People tend to believe what they want to believe. America is not and never has been a great country. White supremacist groups are numerous and came out from the shadows in 2017 with the illegitimate election of Donald Trump. Women continue to struggle for equality. Our government places the interests of special interests ahead of the majority.

Trump ran his campaign with the use of negative emotions, anger and hatred, and suggested violence in his name. Not once during his campaign did he offer solutions to the serious problems facing our nation, nor did he attempt anything to alleviate these issues for four long years. His priorities were golf, holding hate rallies, and watching cable television. He spread his lies and conspiracies every day on twitter. And twitter made no attempt to halt his intentional division of America.

This is the ultimate problem with America today. It is far too easy to mislead Americans because we are the least informed people in the world. We are too involved with our own pleasures to take responsibility for what happens in our government.

I am a loyal American. My priorities are my wife, my children, my friends, the American people, and finally every man, woman, and child on the planet. There is no basic difference between a family in China, and my own. We are not united by our beliefs, our culture, religion, and definitely not by our politics. We are united by our basic needs: security for ourselves and those we love. We are divided because our governments lie to us, and use “public information” to accomplish their goals.

One thing we all have a right to expect is truth from our country’s leaders. Sadly, this is rare. All governments depend on secrecy to save their very existence. Therefore, all governments lie. If we knew the truth about what happens in Washington, there would be a national revolution, and not a single politician in Washington would remain when the dust settled.

Television “news,” the mainstream media, and social media aid and abet the worst government in history. The fourth estate should be exposing corruption and revealing the facts to the American people, but instead collude with professional politicians.

My brother, who once held the highest security clearance available to a civilian, told me that today’s reporters depend upon information from our government for “news.” However, if they report something forbidden, they will no longer have access to their sources.

America in the 21st century cannot exist without lies and misinformation from those we elect. “The truth lives here,” and I can honestly admit that trust is very limited in my life today.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Sources:

Daily Kos: How to turn ‘I did my own research’ from a red flag to a weapon against misinformation

Bookings: How misinformation spreads on social media—And what to do about it

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Daniel Arrhakis’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License