From what I can tell the overwhelming Majority of stories that news Organizations cover have no bearing at All on people's lives the gas will jump By two bucks in those kind of Glory what You know people I don't really care what Gas costs because they're not I mean That matters like you have to drive to Work and stuff And I think that's a huge story if gas Jumps dramatically if inflation is you Know over five percent for a persistent Period realm of actual inflation not CPI Out of nonsense but like the actual cost Of things that you buy is Riser faster Than your wages that's just a huge story What's bigger than that if our country Is approaching a nuclear conflict with The world's You know largest nuclear stockpile Why weren't we talking about that Why don't we talk about why do we make Make up racial conflict that doesn't Exist and okay if you do that once or Three times a year maybe it's a mistake Maybe you're the student most people Want to get it are stupid and they just You know just made a mistake but if You're doing that every week For like 10 years Maybe there's a reason you're doing that Is there a reason that you're not Covering any of the stories that Actually matter and instead focusing on
The ones that are certain to inflamed Division In your population It can't be a mistake I don't think I'm A conspiracy nut I'm not going to say a Word about UFOs or the Kennedy Assassination I'm just gonna do Okay Whatever I think you need to be a conspiracy now They're wondering like what is that Why are they not only not addressing the Issues that matter but they're kind of Going out of their way to ignore them And at first you think well it's because The people who you know decide what Merits news coverage all live in like a Very small number of coastal locations On the East Coast or in LA Familia from life experience for Everybody else I just don't know this is Happening yeah I don't believe that I Don't believe that for a second they Have no idea that the economy is sacking Really how could you not know that they Have no idea they were actively fighting Russia in a war okay maybe you're for That maybe you're not but maybe we Should talk about it don't you think Yeah Worth mentioning I think But they go out of their way and instead They're like oh by the way you You should hate him and he should hate
You back And I just think that's at some point You have to call it what it is which is Who I am Yeah line with a very specific purpose Which is to avert your gaze To pull your attention away from the Things that matter that's not news Coverage that's that's just become Classic propaganda exactly yeah it's so Scary if you think about it And it's scary for a really simple Reason first of all lying is always bad It's always going to have just one by Its nature You know it's it's just it's poison And it hurts the person who does it and It harms the person who receives it There's never a justification for it There are excuses for it I'm afraid of Being exposed for who I really am that's Why people why but there's never a Justification for whatsoever the right Thing And of course we all do it we're trying To hide from others who we really are Because we're ashamed I understand that I have a lot of kids and I always say to My kids you know if you think you're Hiding something We already know And that's true not just your children Are the people that you know and love People run around like I hope nobody
Knows about whatever everybody knows On you It's true I tell my kids this all the Time oh you think you're hiding it Nothing you're not everybody knows and They love you anyway yeah so you don't Actually have to hide who you are anyone But if you're continuing to lie about That And if the range of options for getting Information is shrinking and growing They have a huge huge problem And there are two main effects of this The first effect is to kind of end Democracy Again the whole idea of democracy is Based on the understanding that the People who vote will have some knowledge What the real issues are That they'll be informed they'll Informed and Citizen and that's why the First amendment is not the Eighth Amendment the first of them is the Predicate for democracy we can't have Democracy without free information Freely moving information Access to what effects And we can argue about what the facts Are and because of the first amount we Don't really have to argue because we Have an infinite range of perspectives Available to us no one has a monopoly on The truth as soon as someone tells you I Will not play on the truth and
Everything else is misinformation that Person is by definition why the Definition Years ago I worked for an editor in uh In Arkansas Little Rock Arkansas a Wonderful name from Paul Greenberg and I I found a piece and one a sentence began The truth is And he just was back when he like Literally filed a piece of paper and go To his office and tray and sent it back To you the assistant Mary's room Smoked in the elevators then He actually stopped smoking in the Elevators of the newspaper that worked There and like I shared the desk charity I don't know but my editor calls me in And it said see me I was like completely Confused the truth is that I walked in Those office things Paul Greenberg he Was a religious man A very wise man a Cancer in the synagogue he's saying his Prayers and uh and he said to me when Did you come to believe you possessed The truth The truth is Here Because it suggests humors it suggests That you believe that you possess Something that no human being can't Possess which is the absolute truth About something That's unknown for people we're not God What okay I was 2’ or I've been brewed
In that you know for the last 30 years But anybody who tells you that he Possesses the truth is by definition Lying to you and that's why we have an Unlimited variety of perspectives Available to us An unlimited variety you know amount of Facts about what's happening in the World and what we believe will happen Available to us the first time he Guarantees that we need that in order to Have democracy otherwise it's not You know if you don't even know what the Election is about if you don't Understand the consequences of your vote Could be then why does it even matter if You vote you're being controlled without Even knowing you're being controlled It's very Insidious Second problem with living in a War Where lying is the default setting of The news media either explicit lying Just like something is provably unsure Or much more common and I would say Scarier is just the exclusion of facts So you'll read the story and it'll be Factually true there's a lawyer would Sign off on it but it leaves out The essence Like there are things they're not Telling you So are they lying to yes they are maybe Not in a legal sense but certainly in a Deeper sense they arrived it was leading
You And the problem when you get that that's Always existed nothing new Under the Sun Because you know but when you get that At scale in other words with every Outlet is doing this what is the effect On the population of course they're Uninformed But it also starts to drive people crazy You can't believe anything Well that's very bewildered that that's Actually a form of chaos which is the One condition people just can't handle Chaos I don't know what's gonna happen I Don't know what's real it's on the Solution to Jack No serious And that makes people insane afterwards You don't take anything to finish it up And if you know if you know people who Are politically engaged or really Interested in politics You will have noticed in the past couple Of years that very smart educated Rational people all of a sudden Are willing to entertain theories about Things that would have seemed to Outlandish three years ago these are the So-called conspiracy theorists we're Told to be afraid of It has to be put in fact the conspiracy Theorists have a much better track Record of actors as in the New York Times I noticed
But there are also cases where I I have Posters like this or you know if they're Willing to believe things that seem even To me the most open-minded person you Will ever need ever I want to believe in Anything if you can prove it I've lived Long enough that I know anything is Possible because I've seen it Even I'm like that sounds a little far Out man A little far out but then I think to Myself don't judge When everything is Vape or feels fake And you can't believe anybody in power Why wouldn't people reach those Conclusions I'm serious like whose fault Is that actually If they can't even tell you the truth About a communicable disease that is Killing people they're absolutely lying To you about that amen With the knowledge that you must know That they're lying to that's the spooky Commercial It's it's scary Scared They know that we know but they don't Care and they keep going anyway