Not Everything The Media Shares is True

Personally I don't believe that everything we are told is the truth and it concerns me to see information being shared in a way that frightens people rather than truly informing. Now more than ever, I think it is vital that we question what we are seeing in the media.

An easy example of this is the information on mainstream media about the corona virus.  Just scrolling through the headlines, my gut says that a lot of information that is being shared is intended to frighten people rather than truly inform them and my head begins to spin at the number of times I see conflicting information.  Where is the truth in all of this?

When all of this first began, my father and I had a few conversations about our concerns related to data.  It is always fun for me to find topics my dad and I agree on, since there is a whole lot we don't see eye to eye on (i.e. politics, religion, the importance of feelings, to name a few)  :-)  Fortunately, data is one place where my dad and I are on the same page because we share a belief around the importance of truth and facts. I'm including a picture of my dad here, in part because I realized recently that this picture of my dad, taken decades ago, was taken at the very beach that I live by now. Little did I know way back then that this is where I would end up living.

A big point of our agreement is around the data being collected and how that information has been shared. We discussed the fact that saying "someone died of the corona virus" who had many other health ailments they were already battling isn't an honest representation of the virus. Most of us know that if our immune system is weakened (by other diseases and ailments), we can be more susceptible to viruses and have a more difficult time fighting them off. My dad and I have been concerned that without including data on what else people were already battling, it seems like everyone is dying from the virus alone, which really skews the truth.

Another point of agreement was around the lack of comparative data i.e. how many people die every year from the regular flu. We found some data at one point and were shocked how high the numbers were for the "annual flu" and then strangely enough, we couldn't find that data again a few weeks later when we looked for it.  (Note to self, when you find a good source of data, write down the URL since some browsers only keep a weeks worth of history).

From a young age, we are trained to believe people who are in a position of authority so when information is shared by a doctor or a nurse or someone with lots of initials after their name, we assume that it must be the truth but if that was the case, then information coming from doctors and nurses would always be in alignment, wouldn't it?  I am finding many cases where one "expert" seems to contradict what another "expert" says and it can leave us feeling pretty darn confused. Who do we believe?

One of the thing that I think will help us is if we start relying on our own knowing, our own ability to discern the truth. When you read something, you can sit with it for a minute. Ask yourself "Does this feel in alignment with the truth? or Does this feel in alignment with my truth?" and see what comes to you. Or pay attention to how you feel while you are reading something. Do you feel frightened by what you read? or do you feel informed?  I personally find that when an article is written in a way that frightens people, there is often a hidden agenda.

The other thing I have found is there can be a mixture of good information and misinformation in one article. I'm learning that just because an article starts out with good information, doesn't mean the entire contents of the article can be trusted.

I'm suspicious whenever the article include finger pointing (it's his fault, it's their fault, etc) - anytime there is blaming or shaming included, my gut tells me to be careful about believing everything in the article because if our goal truly is to inform people, then it shouldn't be trying to sway people into polarity.

As I said, the current situation with the corona virus is just one example.  I think this can apply to just about anything we are seeing in mainstream media.  I have a feeling it is going to become even more of an issue, with misinformation being shared along side good information and information being shared to frighten us into submission.

It is going to be up to us to discern for ourselves what is the truth and the more we can "build that muscle" right now, the easier time we'll have in the coming months.