Having found myself spiraling down a vortex of negative energy as of lately, I have had to take some time away from the internet. This happens from time to time, and typically does what I need it to do. A reset on my “bs” meter. A dump of the nonsense from my brain and soul.

If you are a connoisseur of news, you will find news. All kinds of news. Typically, op-ed pieces and opinion articles dominate news feeds and headlines. Yes, where facts should be, we find subjective information. To be clear, information that follows a bias and opinion based on the writers’ thoughts. Journalism intrigues me, always has.

Stemming from studying journalism as a teen and into my collegiate days, it was always mandated that you report factual data. You didn’t turn in a piece without sources cited and your angle fact checked. Of course, that can differ on the style of journalism one is expected to produce. The days of Dan Rather are over. This is now the masterpiece and ratings monsters of most news media outlets. All the major networks and publications bank on their sensationalist opinion pieces for views and engagement. Who wants to read the “boring facts”? Well, not a whole lot of people. Hence why those that only publish facts tend to be very unknown and live in the shadow of the rest.

The anchor used to give the viewer the facts and allow them to develop an opinion. Not anymore. The anchor hurls propaganda saturated information at you and tells you how you should feel.

I was on YouTube watching documentaries yesterday and ran across a Tucker Carlson piece from a few days ago. It was outlining “Insurrection 2.0”. Baffled by the title, and not a viewer of his, I had a few minutes to burn before diving back into a nature docuseries I was enjoying, so I played it. For the first several minutes, he gave belief to the fact that the Capital was attacked AGAIN. That another insurrection had taking place and was again, endangering our democracy. Confused as I heard nothing on this, remembering, I was off these type of channels for almost a week. Maybe I missed something?

He went on about this and then out of nowhere, the name Stephen Colbert came from his mouth. Not being able to factually piece what he was saying in my head, I picked up my iPhone and searched Stephen Colbert and Capital. I found that his production team was apprehended while filming a segment of comedy with a talking puppet dog. They were in an area they did not have credentials to be at. That was it. They were not supposed to be in that certain building and were detained and later released. They incurred fines and such, but that was it. That was the facts, the story.

Still confused as where Tucker was going with this, I chalked it up to parody. Yet his viewers do not realize this. He knows this. His network knows this. Yet I went to review this in detail and found the network ran this as an exclusive “Breaking News” story. Knowing lunacy lives within this network’s core values and agenda, I just shook my head and moved onto my docuseries. A series that entailed how people really are good deep down, with those devoting their lives to helping nature. Yet money and power push others to do anything in pursuit of it. When a FOX employee states something, it becomes fact in the social media world. Sad, but true.

I would challenge you to find and support a source that support factual data. PBS and NPR are decent, but I have found others as well. They are low budget and lack the infrastructure and apps the others possess. I have been let down by CNN at times, but you can find factual reporting and insight on that platform. MSNBC is moving towards the opposite of FOX. As for social media? The town square of anything goes best defines social media. You have to understand what it is and only consume in small very moderate amounts. Otherwise, the emotions that grab you let it overtake you.

There is a large amount of people in this world. From in-depth research and personal experience, I have found humans are good. You have to wade past the noise to get to anything that makes sense. Of course, for some, what makes sense to them is what someone has them believe is real. Honestly, the bad noise makes it to the front. That goes with people and news.

Find positivity and reality. It hides behind the noise. Trust me, it is there.

dK