Journalists are giving us news and “facts” based on self-interest and groupthink
Not long after the world locked down last year, a story surfaced on The Epoch Times and other “fake news” sites claiming that COVID-19 had originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, and not at a grungy wet market as widely believed. Even more shocking, the story alleged that the U.S. government had funded research at the lab.
When Li-Meng Yan, a Chinese virologist-turned-whistleblower, confirmed the claims, the story went viral — and it’s not hard to see why. Imagine if the virus that had killed hundreds of thousands of people and brought civilization to a grinding halt had been…
The insanely high cost of living that’s ravaged blue states is hitting the rest of America
A few weeks ago, my partner and I made an offer on a house.
It was an 1,800-square-foot home, built in 1954, on a quiet street in a middle-class neighborhood. It sold for $318,000 in 2018 but was now listed for $665,000 — a staggering increase in three years. Our realtor said there were multiple offers, so we threw our hat in the ring with $700,000. Insane, right?
But not insane enough. We later learned there were ten other bidders, and offering $35,000 over asking put us “in the middle of the pack.” …
Well-meaning white people should focus on being anticlassist, not antiracist
Human beings are funny creatures.
We’re often reluctant to change the way we think or move through the world, but when we’re forced to do it, we don’t ask questions. We go all-in and don’t look for middle ground.
When terrorists highjacked planes on 9/11 and airports turned into mini Gestapo states, we never asked ourselves if it was possible to fly safely without shredding the Constitution. …
Fewer than half of all Americans trust the news they’re supposed to trust. But the media has a plan to fix that.
According to the newly released Edelman Trust Barometer, the U.S. is currently in the grips of an epic “trust”crisis.
The sobering report suggests that while Americans crave facts now more than ever, they simply don’t know what to believe anymore. As a result, they have a deep and accelerating distrust of almost everything, including leaders across every area of their lives. But nowhere is this absence of trust more apparent than in traditional media:
- 56% agree with the statement that “Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations.”
- 58%…
The Establishment is using technology and “wokeness” to silence anyone who threatens the System
In the past week, you may have heard some fuss about a company called GameStop and the crisis it’s causing on Wall Street. And you may have tuned it all out because you’re not interested in financial markets. But I encourage you to try to understand what’s happening — not just because this drama highlights who our broken financial System really serves, but because it’s yet another sign of how technology may be used in the future to silence anyone who threatens that System.
Here’s a quick rundown of what happened:
Wall Street routinely places bets against struggling companies by…
When emotions trigger us, it’s impossible to “hear” what anyone says or understand where they’re coming from
“My lips are moving and the sound’s coming out
The words are audible but I have my doubts
That you realize what has been said
You look at me as if you’re in a daze
It’s like the feeling at the end of the page
When you realize you don’t know what you just read.”
— Missing Persons, “Words”
For the past year or so, my partner has been begging me to limit my Facebook posts to family photos and recipes. Long before The Social Dilemma blew the whistle on twisted algorithms that addict us to screens and draw us…
Government doesn’t need to silence us. Their social media partners are doing the job for them.
“It is much easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.”
— Unknown
In the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have launched a purge of Orwellian scope— taking down websites, removing channels, and closing user accounts en masse. It’s a warp-level acceleration of a crackdown that’s become part of our “new normal.”
Until now, many of us have tried to ignore the suppression that has slowly ratcheted up each year. …
Walking the final leg on the road to equality will require black people to unite with others against a common threat
“[Martin] spoke out sharply for all the poor in all their hues, for he knew if color made them different, misery and oppression made them the same.”
— Coretta Scott King
I wrote this article last year in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. I could see then that America was fast approaching a dangerous precipice in race relations, and I felt MLK’s message could offer a path towards unity. I never imagined that four months later cities across the country would burn from unrest following the horrific death of George Floyd. …
Rampant censorship is breeding paranoia and mistrust in America
According to the The Washington Post, nearly half of Americans today embrace at least one political or medical conspiracy theory. And there’s no shortage of theories to choose from.
Not long after the Coronavirus pandemic erupted, rumors surfaced that the virus was developed in a lab. Many even speculated that vaccine guru Bill Gates was using the pandemic to control the population. When Black Lives Matter protests gained momentum this summer, billionaire George Soros was blamed for instigating unrest in his quest for world domination.
While it’s obviously crazy to believe that conspiracies lurk around every corner, it’s probably just…
Russian meddling was bad, but this is a lot worse — and corporate media is downplaying the problem
Election 2020 may (or may not?) be over, and it’s been unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Recounts and litigation have spanned multiple states, and for the first time in U.S. history a sitting president has refused to concede as a President-Elect anxiously awaits a transition to the Oval Office.
There have been allegations of dead people voting, food trucks packed with bins of ballots arriving at precincts on election night, counties where the number of votes cast exceed the number of registered voters, and votes that were electronically “flipped” from one candidate to another.
This is the kind of sordid…
Monica Harris
Unplugged from our distorted reality. Check out my book, “Reality Bites: Insights on Bridging the American Divide.” https://tinyurl.com/realitybitesbook
