hope everyone is doing well ... THE NEWS WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON? by Michael Mackintosh "If you don't read the news, you are uninformed; if you do read the news, you are misinformed." What you are about to learn is essential to staying sane and successful this year. Do yourself a favor and pay close attention to what follows. These are not “normal” times. We have entered into an age called the “attention economy.” Everyone, including news, social media, advertisers - is fighting for your attention by almost any means necessary. Your attention is your #1 asset, which is why everyone wants to steal it from you. In previous generations, the news media was less biased and aimed to follow journalistic standards, such as a commitment to truth and willingness to check facts accurately, in context, regardless of the outcome. They were more likely to show stories that didn’t support their political views if they were accurate and relevant. They had standards and ethics and while there are still a handful of real journalists out there, finding them is like finding a needle in a haystack. Those days of unbiased news are gone. Instead, we now find ourselves living in an era of relentless, weaponized disinformation and manipulation at a scale never seen before. Over the last ten years, along with the rise of social media and ‘fake news,’ the mainstream news industry has taken a nosedive. Instead of attempting to share the stories of the day impartially, each company seeks to promote their political preferences, spinning tales to support their narrative or world view while killing stories that don’t. If you don’t realize this is happening or how severe it is, then simply read the same stories from various websites across the political spectrum. Read the news on someone else’s social media accounts - and you will see precisely how different companies are changing and twisting the truth to their liking. We may think we have a reasonable idea of what is going on. Still, when we go online to see the news, we are no longer getting “the story.” We are getting a highly edited, filtered version of reality, carefully selected for us through AI to reinforce our preconceived view of the world. Even your news search results on Google will be different from other people, depending on your past searches and preferences. We no longer see “the news.” We see the news that clever algorithms and news companies think will get them more clicks and engagement from us. The primary way the news media maintains its hold over people is through inducing fear and creating outrage. These two emotions - fear and outrage - have been proven in tests to get more “likes”, shares, comments, and “engagement”, which means the companies get more money from advertising and ratings. The news is not just competing with other news companies for your attention. They compete with social media, fake news, Netflix, YouTube, and all the other websites. This also includes your messages, emails - and of course, your real-life friends and family, and other things you need to do with your life. This means unless they have some pretty shocking, captivating, seemingly urgent things to show you, you will rightly ignore them. They keep finding ways to sensationalize and exaggerate stories to keep us engaged. We may think that we’re just going online to check out ‘what’s going on,’ but in truth, we are involved in a corrupt, manipulative system designed to keep us misinformed, confused, stressed, and all the while, putting money into the bank accounts of large corporations via the advertising revenue they earn when we consume their low-grade content. But it gets worse. Not only are we being misled regularly for profit and control, the act of absorbing all the lies and distractions is harmful to our conscience and capacity for discernment. By looking at that misinformation, our capacity to discern truth from falsehood becomes impaired. Approximately 40-5% of people today cannot tell the difference between truth and falsehood: truth and lies. The more we absorb social media and news, the less likely we will know if what we are reading is real or fake. Instead of being informed, we are harming our ability to see what is real and an illusion. This may have a severe effect on the rest of our lives. Many spiritual people are too trusting and naive about these things. They think that social media and the news media are neutral and ‘just doing their job.’ They don’t realize what’s going on behind the curtain or how they are being manipulated. But now you do. And you can do something about it. WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? The call of the times time is to be aware of this game and to stop going along with it. When we realize the game – “Your Attention = Their money & control”’ – then you can begin to see through the illusion. You can break the trance. You can stop feeding the beast. You can look at the news and social media clearly. It is a system masterfully designed by weapons-grade, highly paid manipulation experts to grab your attention by showing you specific content that they know will keep you obsessed. These companies don’t care about you and your spiritual and mental wellbeing! Their priority is not to make sure you have the best life ever! They care about remaining in business and competing with other companies through almost any means necessary. The purpose of real, useful news is to inform us of relevant things that impact our lives. Accurate news empowers us to see clearly and then take action in a positive direction and to provide context for our lives. If we had real news, we would feel clear and inspired. But let’s be honest, how much of the ‘news’ is useful? How many of the stories lead you to take positive action in your life? How much of the news allows you to make sensible decisions? Almost none. Instead, the news is low-grade entertainment that makes us feel distressed and disempowered, all the while making them money and giving them control and validation. We get nothing from it, while they benefit from our time being wasted. Most of the so-called news is toxic misinformation designed to create an emotional reaction - it is not a productive use of our time. As spiritual people, we have a mission. Our wellbeing and sanity are our #1 priority. Only when we are in a healthy space can we show up for others. Shine light. Smile and be a positive influence. See the news for what it is - attention-grabbing disinformation to waste your time. If you are interested in what’s going on, and don’t feel able to let it all go, then aim to check out the news from a few different websites on different sides of the political spectrum once in a while. Every now and then, take a few moments to see all sides of a story to understand the context better and realize your own biases. Life is complex. What is going on is complex. Things are not what they appear. It’s not black and white. We don’t have all the solutions for all of the problems. But we can make our own lives better and help those to whom we are connected. If you want to have a blessed life, then take time away from toxic information and instead invest that time to focus on the handful of things you can change in your own life. When you turn off all the noise and clutter, you will become 10X more effective, happy, and prosperous Be pro-active with the things you can change, so you spend less time on ad-driven media and more time doing things to empower you. Your life is precious! Realize the game. See clearly. Break free. How much time would you have if you turned off the noise and focused on your own beautiful life?