Thursday, May 06, 2010

Spin Classes

We can't believe all we read. Ever. Particularly in this age of instant news and more reportage than we've ever had in the history of humankind.

For instance, will we ever know the truth about:

The JFK assassination?
9/11?
The invasion of Iraq?
The invasion of Afghanistan?
Katrina?

And I offer you this ( tongue firmly in cheek, I hasten to add) as to how the news can be spun in any which way to fit an agenda:

5 comments:

  1. Sonny Kleinfield would never write such a story! but great headline. and you just never know who to trust.

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  2. *Like*

    It was one of the first rules that I earned when getting to an "advanced" (aged 14+) level in history - who is writing the story and what do they want you to think?

    This is pertinent throughout the history of written material (I've been re-reading my text books on Alexander the Great, which show how little you can trust writers), and is so important now when everyone seems to want to control how you think.

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  3. Journos so often follow each other's assumptions without doing any original investigations of their own. The result can be a widespread consensus that a few months down the line turns out to be total bullshit.

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  4. Filling space, meeting deadlines, and when they can't get at the truth - which might well be rather undramatic anyway - hinting at what they would like us to believe, according to their own or their bosses' prejudices - that must be a day to day routine for journalists I guess. Add a few frills and a screaming headline - et voila - a story!

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  5. "For instance, will we ever know the truth about:

    The JFK assassination?
    9/11?
    The invasion of Iraq?
    The invasion of Afghanistan?
    Katrina?"

    If someday we do know then what? It will be ancient history.We tend to believe that what happens here to be important. Do you think that the average citizen in China ,India and Africa gives a rats ass about that stuff? Its dick all on a big ship and this world is a very big ship.

    ReplyDelete

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