[Closed] Are we being desensitised by the media ?

The press are terrorists just like ISIS, just that one creates fear and the other makes money from spreading it. Nothing more sinister than that I think. Though, that's still pretty sinister tbh.

Negative emotions are strong motivators (anger, hate, fear, etc), so the press love to stoke them as they can increase circulation from them and Politicians can gain power (as fear rises, support for the incumbent party always rises).

Northwind - Member
The press are terrorists just like ISIS, just that one creates fear and the other makes money from spreading it. Nothing more sinister than that I think. Though, that's still pretty sinister tbh.

Ceeeeriky... I agree. 😯

The press are terrorists just like ISIS, just that one creates fear and the other makes money from spreading it. Nothing more sinister than that I think. Though, that's still pretty sinister tbh.

Arguably in instances the press [i]are[/i] terrorists in their own right, even if sometimes their motivations are unclear (even to themselves). The MMR hoax was nothing other than a groundless fear spreading exercise and an act of biological terrorism which resulted in 4000 infections, several permanently disabling cases of encephalitis and at least 3 deaths in the UK alone. Internationally the scale of the damage of the hoax is immense.The financial costs in trying to reverse the damage through renewed vaccination programmes and of treatment of 1000s of hospitalised victims internationally runs into £millions

If there were members of parliament like Northwind, I would take more interest in politics.

Sadly, he'd never make it. He's too honest.

Keep going though please, you help me feel like it's not just me 🙂

Edit: If NW & McC went into coalition, I'd take no interest in politics because I'd know everything woukd be just fine 🙂

If it bleeds it leads.

maccruiskeen is right tbh, I was too nice.

So you think were being desensitised and riled at the same time. Each time I see my super-sensitive president on the box I tell him to "Calme-toi François, ce n'est pas la peine de t'énerver".

Incidents like Paris are nothing new. Depends what form of media you watch or listen too.
Paris is just recent and local enough and highly sellable for the mainstream media.

What the press are terrorists how did you come to that conclusion? You know there are other sources than the mirror and sun, Reuteurs is a good start

Unless your "The Media" doesn't come with an option to look at something else or switch off, anything "it" does must Shirley be self inflicted. I'm sure I could have worded that better, but you get the idea.

The public want what the public get.

In very simplistic terms. Accept that, treat everything that purports to be 'news' with deep cynicism and live and love your life.

Media and politicians are and always have and will be a shower of shits.

Not really. We have access today to an amazing range of media opinion that allows people to make their own better informed judgements. Of course, large parts of the media are prone to hyperbole and sensationalism (Well Huw, in this latest EXTRAORDINARY development....) but that is for individuals to filter

But agree with ^ as we get the media we deserve/the media reflects society. The claim that the press are terrorists just like ISIS being a case in point (IMO - sorry NW!)

The press has too much power, and is just a mouth peace for whoever is in charge,and their misdoings are forgotten if they can serve a purpose - Rebecca Brooks & Macaroon spring to mind.

At the end of the day the media's role is too keep the proles in their place,and how much bad news has been swept under the carpet this last week?

Small case in point. BBC Breakfast news have just trailed a feature about combating radicalisation through the government's Prevent programme.

The images they used to show this?

Shots of armed police (more accurately, closeups of automatic weapons in police hands) and sniffer dogs.

Lazy work or sensationalism?

Both

But good that we are still sensitive to the fact!

Ignore main stream media, just a tool for those in charge.

Watching the news is bad for you: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli

I've not watched any news, read any papers for about 2 years. It's great.

There's also a great book called Flat Earth News that's worth reading: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flat-Earth-News-Award-winning-Distortion/dp/0099512688/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447923543&sr=8-1&keywords=flat+earth+news

That will put you off watching the news.

Not really. We have access today to an amazing range of media opinion that allows people to make their own better informed judgements.

The vast majority of the mainstream media is owned by the same few tax-dodging oligarchs and, somewhat unsurprisingly, supports the neoliberal establishment in all things, without question, and acts as its attack dogs to further their shared corporatist agenda. In this case the drumbeat to another (doubtless catastrophic) war in the middle east. If you listen to the voices in 'The Media' you'd think it was already a done deal, and that it was supported by a majority of the population. Though I doubt thats the case.

Even the BBC, that supposed hotbed of lefties, is actually about as 'establishment; as it gets.

The Murdoch press always uses the excuse 'we simply reflect the views of our readers, the general public'. This is clearly utter cobblers. There opinion is rarely in tune with the public. They are pursuing a shamelessly right wing corporate agenda

I've not watched any news, read any papers for about 2 years. It's great.

I haven't either, trouble is though there are a hell of alot of people who do [b]AND[/b] they believe it!!

The real issue is, though we all know it's a rigged game, we feel powerless to do anything about it, even though current events hold the fate of the planet and the population in the balance.

Resist while you can...

But agree with ^ as we get the media we deserve/the media reflects society.

I'm pretty sure it goes both ways and believe most any society is vulnerable to having 'lower nature' exploited by a powerful media which exists primarily to make massive financial gains for itself and its backers.

We are all raised from birth into a wider culture that influences our (individual) mental and (collective) cultural and moral development? Seeing as we dont develop in a vacuum, this would suggest (and certainly appears to me) that media/society is a mirror/mirror. No pun intended.

It feels to me like there is too much time dedicated to the news and too many channels and formats with TV, radio, apps, social media etc.

The result of this is companies are desperate to report on something so either non newsworthy stuff is shown or news is repeated and hyped up to the point that people either become numb to it or start to over react about stuff.

dragon - Member

What the press are terrorists how did you come to that conclusion?

I explained it in my post using short words, you could read that.

Thread reminded of the (imo very, very good) film 'Nightcrawler'. I believe it's on Netflix.

Also:

(possibly NSFW)