Perspective

I read the news today, oh boy. And no, the English Army did not win the war. But there most definitely is a war going on, and I don’t mean the one in Ukraine. Our war is fought not with bullets and bombs, but with words, ideas, headlines, information. This isn’t the first time a war like this has been fought, and it certainly won’t be the last. The soldiers in this war don’t wear camouflage uniforms or drive tanks. They wear business attire and operate smart phones and laptops. Most people call them The Media. I don’t know what they call themselves, but it most likely is synonymous with God. 

Just like in an actual armed conflict between nations, our war has opposing sides. On one we have what some call, often pejoratively, The Mainstream Media. This army features the big three television networks, the old guard of newspapers like the New York Times, and somewhat newer entities like CNN. On the other you’ll find more recently created media companies, mostly on the political right, like Fox News, Breitbart and the Daily Wire. This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are other combatants in our war that aren’t really media companies at all but news aggregators like Drudge Report and Lucianne. Some of these have acquired large and devout followings. Do not underestimate their ability to influence battles. 

The title of this piece is Perspective. Why? Because each one of the aforementioned entities has one, or to be more colloquial – an angle.

No matter what you believe socially and politically, if you look around, you’ll find a media outlet that caters to your perspective, your opinion, your side. The internet has given everyone the opportunity to be a commentator, an expert, a pundit. Never in human history has so much information been made so readily available to so many and with such ease of access. With this access come, not pitfalls, that’s too small a word. Open pit mines is maybe more appropriate. Every eccentric, every lunatic, every brainwashed idiot has, for just a few bucks, the immediate capability to spew filth, venom and chaos across the world in a nanosecond. But here’s the magic part: We don’t have to imbibe it! Ignoring the weirdos among us - what a concept! Except that’s the easy part. It’s harder, much harder, to ignore what a trusted media outlet tells us. And this is where perspective becomes essential.

A news story was published recently about a Listeria outbreak. You can read about it here: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/listeria-outbreak-linked-florida-leaves-dead-22-hospitalized/story?id=86062567 As you can see from the url, this particular article comes from ABC News, one of those big three I mentioned earlier. They aren’t just television networks anymore, but you probably already knew that. There are other articles about this incident from other sources. News is news, after all. According to the ABC article, 23 people in 10 states were affected by the outbreak, with one person losing their life. Any way you turn and twist it, that’s awful and tragic for the family of that person; they have my sympathy. But let’s have some perspective, shall we? The article does not say over how long a period of time this outbreak occurred (It could still be going on; I didn’t research it further. Feel free to pick up where I left off.), but just for argument’s sake, let’s say it went on for a week. Seven entire days – 168 hours. Now let’s examine some other things that happened during our lone week.

Based on statistics I found here: (https://www.reference.com/world-view/many-people-murdered-day-united-states-4ce42c4182d89232) there were 44.42 murders per day in the US in 2018. (I didn’t dig too deeply looking for more current statistics; this was enough for my simple comparison.) That works out to 310.94 murders per week. That’s a few more than our single Listeria victim, don’t you think?

Some more statistics for you. This comes directly from the CDC, that most trusted and ennobled paragon of human health and medicine. (https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/dcpc/research/update-on-cancer-deaths/index.htm) In 2020 there were 602,350 deaths from cancer in the US. Know how many that works out to per day? I’ll bet you can’t do the math in your head. I couldn’t. So, here’s what my calculator came back with: 1650.27. And now how many is that per week? 11,551.91. And just for perspective’s sake, cancer is the number 2 cause of death in these United States. See where I’m going? How about one more, just for fun.

Drunk driving. These numbers also come from a US Government source. This time it’s the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving According to them 32 people per day die in drunk driving crashes. The arithmetic on this one is easier; I actually did do it in my head – 224 people per week. 

Where are the headlines for all 12,086.85 of those people? Why doesn’t ABC publish every single person’s name on their website or run a ticker at the bottom of their television news programs? Why does a Listeria outbreak that’s caused ONE (!) death even deserve an article at all when compared with these other things? 

I’ll tell you the reason: fear and ratings. 

Media companies like ABC make their money (and never forget – at that level, it’s always about money) from ratings, or in the case of the internet, clicks. Higher ratings and more clicks = higher advertising revenue. It’s really quite simple once you get past the hyperbole and the hysterics. The media figured out a long time ago what kind of story attracts attention and what doesn’t. In other words, what sells. “If it bleeds, it leads,” and so on. If they tell you about a Listeria outbreak, or the Corona virus, or Ebola, or some war, or a drug cartel, or insert-scary-disease/affliction/situation/conflict-here, what will happen if you are, like most, sadly, an unsophisticated news consumer? You become concerned. Maybe afraid. Then you start looking for more information about whatever crisis du jour they’ve cooked up for you. More clicks. Higher ratings due to higher viewership. More advertising revenue. More money. 

I should add one caveat: there are media entities out there who are not in it for money. Or, perhaps more accurately, money is what they need to keep operating, but not the sole reason for their existence. Those entities are, generally speaking, smaller local organizations whose scope and influence don’t reach much past the boundaries of their city or state, and their staffs work in near anonymity for the love of what they do and out of a sense of duty. Many of them are doing yeoman’s work, particularly on stories and issues that are not as visible to the general public as our Listeria outbreak was. I salute them, no matter what side they’re fighting for.
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And it really is a war. The generals of the armies are always trying to find new and more innovative (some might say devious) ways to attract the attention of the average person. And they are incredibly successful at doing so. Want proof? Look at how many salacious supermarket tabloids there are. My challenge to you is not to be dragged in by their sensationalism. Think beyond the headlines, look deeper. The three links I provided in this article took me about nineteen seconds to find. For all three. Total. Don’t just read or watch something and accept it as absolute settled fact, no matter where the information comes from. Be critical and suspicious of everything. Find perspective.