Decline and Fall of the Media and Rise of Democracy
By Thomas B. Cross
“Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.” British General Ismay wrote, “The words burned into my brain.” That day, the British Combined Intelligence Centre reported its belief that Hitler would make no decision about invasion until the outcome of the air battle became clear.”* Never in human history has humanity faced such peril until now. The press or what is left of it is so fragmented by the tens of millions of influencers who are not at all writers, researchers or often good story tellers.
The traditional press has fragmented itself into splinter groups more often with bias and often don’t even realize it.
Never has any story been ever told without some slant, viewpoint, script, research, reporter or reporting. Often the reason is there is not enough time to tell the story and that every story is written by a person even with the sincerest goal of truth is limited by the words chosen to tell the story. Here are some examples the New Yorker reported: “Mr. Churchill is the only man in England today who consistently interprets the quiet but completely resolute national mood.”* And this “In Churchill’s eyes, all through the long months which followed, defeatism was the only crime beyond forgiveness.”* When you read these words, your mind is changed by the way you read them, not by what was said.
The real bias in humans is really inside ourselves, we are overwhelmed by what we see, hear, read, think, talk to, do and then believe or think or know is fake.
The reason why the press has failed is that there is simply too much of all that in our minds as we often really don’t know what we really think about or believe in. Even the moments you read this, your mind is trying to “think” about what I am trying to say and your mind is telling you to believe this, argue with it, dismiss it, ignore it or possibly just think about it. I would like to leave you with my favorite quote from the Scottish psychiatrist, R.D. Laing: “But what we think is less than what we know; what we know is less than what we love; what we love so much less than what there is. And to that precise extent we are so much less than what we are.” You can read that and understand that in your own way and if I would add listen not to what you hear, see but do think really think about that and listen less to the press and … and to that precise extent that is what democracy really is. The media/press is really dead as everyone is the press yet democracy through protest remains stronger than ever.
I have been working on helping companies build their own media as democracy can only survive if people “take back” control of their own media. If you want to explore your own social media and streaming media channel, email us at cross@gocross.com
*Excerpt From
Winston’s War
Max Hastings