Do you sometimes get the impression that you’re being poked, prodded, pushed, snowed and spun, that something or things don’t add up? That you’re being fed a lie or a line?
It could be on a product or a political matter or a social or cultural issue it doesn’t matter. Climate change, renewable energy, the gay marriage plebiscite are good examples but only because they are the issues that are in the news at the moment but it could be anything at any time into the future.
There was an example of a story in the paper today.
Join the dots on this.
It was Published in Fairfax, funded by GetUp, produced by a mob, Green Energy Markets who would obviously have a vested interest and the ABC were all over it in their flagship midday program The World Today.
When on holiday recently I got absorbed in a new book called “The Smear: How shady political operators control what you see, what you think and how you vote” by Sharyl Attkisson.
The main focus of the book is on what’s known as astroturfing (ie) fake grass roots organisations or front organisations that spin like a whirling dervish.
They’re everywhere and most people have no idea they’re being spun. Worth taking 10 minutes to checkout Sharyl Attkisson and her TEDx Talk.
As Sharyl Attkisson says towards the end of her talk, once you understand what’s going on it’s like taking off your glasses and wiping them and putting them back on. Everything all of a sudden becomes much more clear. Astroturf and manipulation of media messages