Stop Being Informed
I warned y’all in my inaugural blog last month that I can’t be trusted to stay on one subject. For this one, we’re leaving behind music for a slightly less savory topic: politics.
Don’t fret. I won’t be telling you who or what to vote for, or even whether to vote at all. In fact, I have nothing at all to say about any politician. Instead, I’d like to discuss “The News.”
“But that’s not necessarily political,” you might say. Well, that’s where we disagree.
The past year has been a crash course for me in a number of ways. I’ve learned how to use more technology since March than in the ten years previous. I’ve learned some good, hard lessons about myself, my family, and my work. Also, I’ve discovered a near-guaranteed way to cure the hiccups!
But the lesson I would like to discuss is about the news. Here it is, plain and simple:
It’s not healthy.
Now, I will concede, perhaps there are people (you may be one of them) who can watch or read the news, process the information, weed through the bias, and get on with the pleasantries of their daily existence with little issue. I, however, am not one of those people.
It has come to my attention, over the past ten months, just how ruthlessly political anything we might call “news” has become, especially on the national level. And that is where I wish to direct the reader’s attention. This blog is not an invective against your local paper or news station. It is a warning siren against the CNNs, MSNBCs, FOXs, and other widely watched reporting institutions of the Western news media apparatus.
If you don’t believe me, I recommend you read or listen to any of the recent musings of Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, or Tim Pool. I do not condone the language, messaging, or worldview of any of these men. But I will tell you this much- as former agents of said media apparatus, they have seen this stuff with their own eyes.
What is the “stuff” to which I refer? Well, quite frankly, it’s the whole enchilada. Every breaking story, every panel of talking heads, every headline. All of it is- at least, potentially- harmful.
We need to remember that news stations are businesses. Their purpose is profit. As a strident capitalist, I take no issue with this reality. What I do object to, however, is the way that many of us seem to have forgotten that fact.
News organizations are like most media companies, in that they make revenue from advertisers. Their primary goal is to get eyes and ears on their channel or website so that they can sell their advertising space/time, make their money, pay their employees, etc. It’s all about clicks and views.
Does that mean that such networks never report the truth? Certainly not! What it does mean is that all of these organizations are incentivized to report the truth through whatever lens captures the attention of their audience. Liberal, conservative, or otherwise, each company profits from a perpetual cycle of sensationalism, outrage, and confirmation bias. Their readers, listeners, and watchers experience righteous indignation as the figureheads that they consider to be “objective journalists” coo, cajole, and caterwaul in tones that resonate their particular echo chambers. In other words, they tell you what will keep you tuning in.
Of course, if all of this is nothing more than my anecdotally based opinion, why should you care? But allow me to argue, for these last few paragraphs, that there is in fact a Biblical basis for my cynicism of these corporate giants of alleged “journalism.”
1. Guard your eyes. Matthew 6:22-23 says, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” As believers, we have a responsibility to be careful what we let in. I know this is especially true for me. Movies, music, and media of all types affect me. Deeply. What I see and hear sticks. We should choose what we read and watch carefully, not casually.
2. Guard your mind. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” We are what we think. Whatever we think about the most has serious consequences on everything else in our lives. For me, this is the root of my personal problem with “staying informed.” The news that I consume, more often than not, ends up consuming me. To be clear, I am not arguing in favor of ignorance, especially the willful kind. But if I have to choose between knowing about the distant problems I can’t solve, and giving my full attention to the close ones that I can, the choice is not difficult.
3. Guard your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” When the pandemic first arrived, I felt that I had to follow the news if I wanted to be a responsible leader for my congregation. Maybe, for the first few weeks, I did that successfully. But slowly, stealthily, sinisterly, all that carefully crafted propaganda crept beneath the surface and began to instill in me a whole lot more than just information. This inner transformation finally revealed itself a couple of months later, when my wife looked me in the eye and told me, directly and plainly, how miserable it had become to live with me. She wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest. I had grown angry, impatient, and inconsiderate. I was constantly preoccupied with the opinions of the experts and pundits. I was heartsick, and the poison responsible was oozing out all around me.
Look, not everyone is like me. Not everyone is as impressionable. But some of you are. And you’re being manipulated. You’re being strung along by soul-sucking ideological vampires. And the worst part is, you think it’s good for you.
I urge you to consider, thoughtfully and prayerfully, that it’s not.