What passes for news these days has to be taken with a grain of salt. With our ability to transmit information in seconds around the world, whether what is published is factual, semi-factual, or fictional has become difficult to ascertain. Yet an entire industry has developed around the idea of turning “news” into entertainment and the advancement of personal opinion for the purposes of fame, fortune, power, and control.
Everyone under the sun has an opinion and so many people don’t care to verify what they’re basing their opinion upon. Few want to do the work of researching, tracking down facts, and determining whether the information they’re taking in or conveying is “real” or not. This has led to a new term: agnorance (arrogance + ignorance).
Arrogance has been taken to new heights. Behind that arrogance is the need to feel important, to be somebody, to be taken seriously, and to feel empowered and powerful. Many arrogant people feel entitled to their position because of their name, race, title, money, education, job, status, etc. That entitlement has increased and elevated societal friction. The result is the endorsing of deceit, manipulation, cruelty, racism, elitism, and even criminal activity and corruption.
Ignorance is the more insidious and destructive of the two. You’re already aware of the fact that education is on a serious downward spiral in this country, so no need to recite the depressing stats. In tandem with that is the fact that three ignorance-based mindsets have developed in our country.
- Those who choose ignorance as a way of life and who hold disdain for and are afraid of well-informed, educated people. This has given rise to groups that promote misogyny, racism, nationalism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-intellectualism, eugenics, and xenophobia. The effect this has on followers and crusaders is that this mindset generates greater insularity, social division, compartmentalization, disconnection, intolerance, and black-and-white thinking.
- This has created a legion of the “purveyors of ignorance” in numerous arenas who promote and reinforce misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories in order to manipulate the ignorant. This is done to advance political and religious agendas, gain personal fame and wealth, and to accrue power over others. Fear is the primary instrument used by people in order to achieve one’s schemes.
- A victim mentality has set in so that no matter how disparaging, disrespectful, hurtful, discriminatory, diminishing, divisive, and hateful a person is toward others for whatever reasons, they see themselves as the victim, they’re the one being discriminated against and their rights being violated.
Trying to reason with and combat purposeful and celebrated ignorance is like a fool’s errand. There is almost nothing as unyielding as willful ignorance. It doesn’t matter how cogent and factual one’s argument is, the ignorant can’t be shifted off their position — even if it’s working against them. Their stubbornness and unwillingness to see things from a different angle are staggering, as well as mystifying.
When it comes to taking in the news, they stick to the pundits who continually feed their fears and support their viewpoints, though the viewpoints and understanding being expressed are supported by the flimsiest of reasoning and actual facts. The spin the ignorant are fed is carefully crafted to keep the misinformation, disinformation, and fake news on point and the viewers reeled in. The “news” is nothing but misleading propaganda.
The result is that “news” is no longer news. Journalism was once the bastion of not only the reporting of world events but the neutral conveyor of information. Instead, it has now divided into two camps.
• Those who have created a platform for distracting noise and jacked up opinions through pandering news outlets and social media platforms. People now say whatever they want, spewing false narratives, hate, divisiveness, and outright lies. The sad thing here is that plenty of people listen to and read this “news” and believe that what they’re being fed is true. Zero critical thinking is employed and, thus, ignorance continues to spread like wildfire.
• The second camp is comprised of those who still believe in the tenets of journalism: providing citizens with accurate and reliable information through upholding an obligation to the truth, loyalty to citizens, the discipline of verification, independence from and objectivity of the subjects covered, being a watchdog for society, providing a forum for public criticism and compromise, storytelling that’s interesting and relevant, keeping the news comprehensive and proportional, and the employing of ethics and responsibility in reportage.
The World Economic Forum reported in their 2024 Global Risk Report that false information is one of the major threats people around the world are facing today. And in a Statista chart, the US ranks 6th for mis- and disinformation risk in the world (India ranked #1, the worst in the world).
Compounding this risk is that many people don’t care if information isn’t vetted. If it fits their world perspective, beliefs, values, insecurities, and prejudices, then it’s real. The other factor is that many people choose to follow leaders whom they consider “authorities.” This alleviates the need to use one’s critical thinking, which leaves them vulnerable to the predations of those seeking fame, fortune, and power.
In addition to this, we can now throw AI into the mix wherein whatever AI comes up with, it doesn’t provide any clues as to where it gleaned its information — or the fact that AI appears to be dispensing perspectives based not on critical thinking but algorithms that “scrape” the internet for “relevant” information.
We are trapped in the quicksand of phony news, the same as the dinosaurs that were trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. It seems there’s no way of extricating ourselves for one simple reason: Who and what can we trust?
So what’s the antidote to this “news” quagmire we’re immersed in? Well, there’s the obvious of standing up to what’s happening. Thankfully, there are many people combatting the rise of ignorance and willful blindness and avoidance — that includes whistleblowers, fact-checkers, and watchdog agencies willing to put their necks on the line.
Then there’s what we can do individually on a day-to-basis. The first thing we need to do is understand that ignorance ISN’T bliss. The more we operate in the la-la land of “ignorance is bliss,” the more we become disconnected and the more we become prey to those who seek to manipulate us in order to achieve their own selfish desires.
The second thing we can do is ask ourselves honest and uncomfortable questions. This may cause some distress and fear as we look at ourselves and the events going on around us. The idea here is to not get caught up in our emotions, which include remorse, blame, guilt, dislike, and hate, etc. Instead, it’s a chance to — from a position of neutrality and not judgment — observe ourselves and current events.
As Socrates allegedly stated, “the unexamined life isn’t worth living.” This is our chance to spend some time in introspection, self-reflection, and critical thought to more clearly understand ourselves — answering the questions “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” — and the world at large.
Thankfully, this isn’t something we have to do on our own. There are a multitude of groups one can interface with that can be sounding boards for our internal process of self-discovery. We can collaborate with others in order to gain greater perspective. The key is in questioning everything rather than just tacitly accepting. Another key is learning to listen and listening to learn. Always remain in student mode for the simple reason that the world holds many extraordinary treasures that come in many forms.
Additionally, we don’t have to take on the whole world all at once. Taking small steps so that we’re not overloaded with complex information takes the stress and frustration out of digesting so much stimulation and data.
And the last thing we can do to help ourselves is to not jump to conclusions about anything but to search more deeply in order to overcome our biases, fears, and insecurities. Life has so much to offer, so we need to be appropriately selective in our choices. That includes what “news” we pay attention to and follow. As the adage states, “The truth will set you free” — and now is a great time to begin freeing ourselves from mis- and disinformation, fake news, and spin!
