Welcome to the first installment of “The Elephant In The Room”, where I will blog about unpopular opinions in conservatism, fire off the occasional rant, and other discuss unpopular feelings that you may share too but no one else dare write. I believe that “Elephant In The Room” will be a fun, informative new addition to the blog and one that will not only make you think, but laugh and ponder issues you may never have pondered before.
One such issue that you may not have pondered but is absolutely important to all of us is the topic of accountability in the alternative media and why it is NOT optional if we wish to rid ourselves of the influence and pervasiveness of the mainstream media.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s been on one of numerous conservative groups on Facebook only to find it littered by people sharing links with dubious headlines from sites named something along the lines of “dailyconservativefreedomwarriorsnews2016.net.com” or what not. It’s quite annoying and only serves to further promote the leftist, mainstream media narrative of conservatives being unintelligent, gullible and uninformed. Also, it is worth noting that these sites are usually created just to generate traffic and revenue for the owner of the site (who does not care if the information is valid or not)
What makes it worse is that these type of articles are often posted by people with suspect profiles and often times go unchecked by people on social media. Unfortunately, it’s also not an uncommon occurrence to see people lambasted for calling out those who post these articles and/or outing the articles as being fake news. Equally as unfortunate, a common rebuttal that those brave souls receive for challenging the validity of these articles is usually along the lines of “(insert name) i bet ur a stupid hilary supporting retard. . . go to back cnn, msnbc to see ur fake news! f*kin stupid!” or “fake news is ur face idiot!” or something of the ilk. Undoubtedly, this type of hostility usually only furthers very same stigma that we’re fighting to combat, that of the uneducated, hostile right winger.
Part of me can understand the frustration that these people respond with, as the true grand-masters of fake news – the mainstream media – have used every trick at their disposal to use the “fake news” label as a weapon against conservatives and or Trump supporters. But at the same time, I find the hypocrisy in our reactions to people challenging fake news in our ranks to be alarming. Are we really that sensitive and blinded by our fury for the MSM that we allow ourselves to automatically accept unchecked alternative media just because it’s not the MSM?
We as conservatives are the ones combating the mainstream media for the very reasons we seek alternative media. We’re sick of the lies, the fabrication, the deception, the bias and the discredited accusations that they make. Like so it is us conservatives who have to look at the alternative media with the same skepticism we have for the mainstream media if we ever want to have a news landscape that is more neutral, factual and worthy of our trust. And to do so, we have to keep in mind three things:
- We have to realize that being overly defensive is incredibly counterproductive as it makes us just as thinned skinned as the snowflakes we often times ridicule.
- We cannot be high on the notion that the we are “woke” or some how are more enlightened than others because “we are on the outside looking in” and “fighting the system.” This type of hubris can be downright damning if it goes unchecked, regardless of how marketable it may be. (more on this later).
- Just because someone is independent and has a blog/news site does not mean they are exempt to criticism. Healthy skepticism is fine, as information may not be 100% correct even if no deception is intended.
If we keep these three things in mind, we will be well on our way to defeating mainstream media bias, well on our way to creating a better media landscape overall and therefore a better informed public.
Before I finish, I would like to revert back to number 2 for a second as it’s probably the biggest elephant in the room as far as the issue is concerned. We seriously need to tone this “woke” or “awake” rhetoric down a good bit, because it is nothing more than a self serving prop for our egos. Not only does it help to enhance other people’s grandiosity, but it can lead to an arrogant mindset that is equally as damning as the mindset many of us claim the “bluepill” mainstream media readers have. We cannot think for one second that because we read conspiracy publications, listen to “guys who get it”, have been “redpilled” or get our news from non-mainstream sources that we are by default more adept or intelligent than others.
Guy Faux masks, Matrix aesthetics and pesudo-militant banter should never fool us into thinking that we are invincible or immune to the same problems everyone else can or does face and no aesthetic will ever be a substitute for genuine scrutiny. We should never let an aesthetic, a likable personality or someone claiming to be a “whistleblower” have the power to lull us to sleep. We should always check the sources of our sources and if possible, check the sources of our sources’s sources as well.
Never hand over your ability to think for yourself. Your trust is a valuable resource and should never been cheap. Just remember that every time a conservative takes the bait, we all get hooked. So think twice about any source.
Hope y’all enjoyed this post. Let me know what you think in the comment section and if you liked it, give it a share on Facebook or Twitter!
Thanks and God bless y’all,
– TDM