The media, and that
includes fake media reflect the world. Up to a point, that is, for
most what is taking place on planet
earth is of no concern or interest to media makers. It might be
therefore fair to say that the media
reflect the obsessions of the media makers and, since we live in
times in which profit trumps all other
motivations, of media owners. These obsessions, it must be stressed,
are very much in tune with what the
general public does obsess about – gossip, that is.
Everything in today's media
world is personalised. The preferred formats are the story and the
essay and these work best with
heroes and villains, who in the real word, that is far too complex to conform to the wishes of individuals, however do not exist. In
this sense all media are fake.
In fact, we are only free to choose what invented reality we prefer.
Needless to say, there is
a difference between, say, The BBC and Fox News. In my younger years,
I felt obliged to listen to
what both of them had to say for, I then thought, to be informed
requires to use a variety of news
sources and that includes the ones whose ideology I do not share.
These days are long gone.
Nowadays I only turn to media that, in my view, make a serious effort
to live up to basic
journalistic standards, whose goal it is to tell the truth. For the
truth exists, it is not relative, does not depend
on my beliefs. What Philip K. Dick once penned about reality –
Reality is that which, when you stop
believing in it, doesn’t go away – can also be said about truth.
And while we might never fully grasp
it, we certainly can aspire to it.
Covid-19 has taught me
that ignorance and the unwillingness to consider (seemingly
unpleasent) facts are much more wide
spread than I had thought. For many, to rely on their gut feeling
seems to be the natural thing to
do. If our instincts were as good as the ones of animals this would
of course be fine. Yet they are not.
As Schopenhauer pointed out: We are animals whose intelligence must compensate for the lack of
instincts and the inadequate organic adaptation to the living environment. In other
words, we need to activate our brains if we want to survive – and
when we deal with the media.
This applies especially to
intellectuals. Konrad Kellen wrote in the introduction to Jacques
Ellul's Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes that Ellul
designated “intellectuals as virtually the most vulnerable of all to
modern propaganda, for three reasons: (1) they absorb the largest
amount of second-hand,
unverifiable information; (2) they feel a compelling need to have an
opinion on every important issue of
our time, and thus easily succumb to opinions offered to them by propaganda on all such
indigestible pieces of information; (3) they consider themselves
capable of judging for themselves.”
Although I do not think of
myself as an intellectual – intellectuals tend to think in systems,
believe it to be relevant where
ideas come from – , I am without doubt a person who enjoys
thinking. And, I am aware that my
thinking has its limits for there are problems that I never get to,
that are outside my imagination. Virus
research, for instance. Moreover, given the strangeness of the world,
I'm not always sure what is a
conspiracy theory and what not.
So what is there to do if
I cannot rely on my own judgement, when common sense (which is not very common, by the way)
isn't much help? I need to listen to what others who have more knowledge than I do have
to say. No, I do not believe in a world where experts should have the
final word but I find it useful
if we were to keep our underdeveloped emotions out of the way when making decisions on
whether some news are fake and others not. To give in to our impulses
spells disaster, to aspire to the
sober mind of a decent adult would be beneficial.
