Smart Person's Guide To Dodging Dumb Media, Podcasts, TV Or Faux News

▼Judicious Deliberation vs. Misinformation & Disinformation (Part 2)▼

Training Resources Above & Further Below ⬆ Images Hyperlinked ▼

Maria Shriver (Excerpted & Bulleted Below)

MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS | 2022 EDITION | VOLUME 26

With power, comes responsibility. So, remember to pause and reflect:

PAUSE — and take the time to find out, what’s important to you. Find out what you love, what’s real and true to you — so it can infuse and inform your work and make it your own.

PAUSE — before you report something you don’t know is absolutely true, something you haven’t corroborated with not just one, but two sources, as I was taught. And make sure that they’re two reliable sources.

PAUSE — before you put a rumor out there as fact. Just because you read it or saw it on TV or the Web — no matter how many times -- doesn't mean its true. Don’t just pass on garbage because you want to be first. There’s no glory in being first with garbage.

PAUSE — before you hit the “send” button and forward a picture that could ruin someone’s life — or write something nasty on someone’s Wall because you think it’s funny or clever. Believe me, it isn’t.

PAUSE — before you make judgments about people’s personal or professional decisions.

PAUSE — before you join in and disparage someone’s sexuality or intellectual ability.

PAUSE — before forwarding the untrue and inflammatory tidbits that have made it so difficult for would-be public servants and their families to step up and lead. Edmund Hillary once said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

Sometimes when you pause, you’ll realize you’re gonna have to hold yourself back from acting out on your ego and your first impulse.

PAUSE — before forwarding the untrue and inflammatory tidbits that have made it so difficult for would-be public servants and their families to step up and lead.

With power, money, or access to unlimited web-enabled devices, TV or Youtube channels, and podcasts comes responsibility. And with media and pop culture awash nonsense and extreme information disorder today, particularly in the fragile and decadent free world, it has never been easier to be considered “well-educated” by friends and followers, yet clearly stupid to those who know better. Whoopi Goldberg's suspension from The View for ignorant views on the Holocaust is Exhibit 5 million of why I've also unapologetically argued that smart people don't watch The View. Or Bill Maher, or even Elon Musk — thanks to Twitter.

In the case of Goldberg, the "why" is below. And it has nothing to do with the fact that she earns $8 million annually for hosting and moderating the popular talk show.

Among others, I hold a double major BSc. in Political Science & History—a pre-Law degree Americans call a double major, — having minored in Jewish History and spent time at the Jewish Holocaust Museum making sense of it all (on my own dime).

I earned that degree after six grueling years during which time I simultaneously worked full time as a tech engineer and consultant. That we are both Black, yet she's more successful and wealthier, I couldn't be genuinely happier. She IS talented and gifted, and deserves all the success. Yet, it doesn't change one of the core reasons #iTHiNKLabs exists:

News is not show business. Even if most Americans ignorantly think so.

News is not a Burger King or luxury cuisine served up by favorite chefs adorned as opinionated, overpaid anchors, hosts, talking heads, or celebrities.

Smart people understand that. They understand that news is more than whatever is happening, happened, and/or in the world, — uncensored. And the less broad background knowledge you bring, the poorer your insight or comprehension.

Except, in a world in which time is a scarce resource and one is civilized, some things matter, and others don't.

Smart people also know the difference between misinformation and disinformation (images hyperlinked), the toxic danger both pose today, and how to choose wisely, — especially, as a deadly pandemic which isn't over, rages on, claiming millions of lives. It's bad enough that the average American journalist can't, or doesn't even bother attempting to correctly pronounce Moscow, Iran, Iraq, Xi Jinping and other global names their foreign colleagues respect.

What's worse, the average American doesn't even know he or she consumes low quality or simply trashy and dangerous “news”.

In Africa, the Global South, and poorer, repressed countries the world over, people on smartphones face a similar predicament. Unless they know how to transcend their limitations.

So, while Newsguard apparently is useful, as a tech minimalist, I offer below, a much simpler test:

Always ask yourself and patiently answer this question yourself:

1) WHO is benefiting from this media being pushed to me via the web?

2) WHY is something — like this app — that I can freely use here, blocked or sanitized elsewhere?

Further:

A limited, and updatable list among the vast news sources #iTHiNKLabs periodically uses. No affiliation. However, one caveat:

Unless one is a dedicated researcher working on something relevant, #THiNKLabs believes news should be about the length of BBC Newshour (my go-to news source), or WION Gravitas (below) — whose relevant videos I selectively USED to use, say, to bolster certain stances or arguments. 1 hour max.

The disturbing scientific reasons, in case you missed it, can be found in: COVID-19 Era Digital Distraction & Short-Term Pragmatism, as well as above.

We call it the Smart Person's Guide because it takes hypersane and truly perspicacious observers to appreciate that we live in a world now where few can comprehend not only what they see and hear in their own language, but even more so when noisy.

One may be addicted to drama, sensationalism, and therefore likely gullible to US-style ratings craze/brain hack, propaganda, fake news, and mental health problems (downstream) if, as in the case of The View and several NPR, PBS, CNN Live programs, and podcasts, one becomes emotionally attached. Including to their hosts.

The Quick #iTHiNKLabs Reliable News Safe List

① Reuters News | Reuters World

② BBC Newshour | BBC World Service

③ DW: Deutsche Welle | News | DW Documentaries

④ WION Gravitas Live (previously with Palki Sharma Upadhyay who is now anchor of) and Vantage, FirstPost via on Youtube ❌ Both no longer recommended ❌

Why?

I've concluded that the basic toxic format, formula, agenda, and business model of the two networks comprise:

Denigrate Pakistan at every opportunity. If not with opening story, as soon as it finishes its staple, namely blaming the West, the USA specifically, or China, all while exploiting U.S. & Western grievances against China — the ultimate agenda apparently being to bolster India's own grievances against China, and shield Modi's undemocratic governance and India's questionable or unethical Ukraine Invasion (including lucrative Russian oil purchase/profit, effectively funding Putin's genocide) policies, all while preaching nationalism, which only fuels WION and FirstPost's nationalist cult followers.

For example, nothing about anti-democratic crackdowns in Modi's India, Modi's dirty past prior to his premiership or anything about the heavily censored BBC documentary that even Twitter has been accused of working with Modi's government to block from Indians from watching in India, is mentioned on these networks. To the best of my knowledge.

⑤ CNN International ✔ OK — CNN Live (USA) is mostly trash ❌ | PBS ✔ | NPR ✔ (in moderation = 1hr)