As IF Times

Source: When Silicon Valley Took Over the New Republic – The Atlantic

We seldom get to see the kind of naked honesty about the present state of journalism discussed in such candor as in the linked article.  Of course this will be a shock to those that have their worldview shaped by Facebook news or for that matter, many of the popular news outlets.  In the parlance of phone email services, the trends are all about push news, not pull news.  In other words, you don’t look for news; news is pushed onto you.

I have extensively pointed out the sinister creep of push news for years, starting with of course, my favorite, Climate Change, tactfully re- branded from Global Warming.  Given the recent inconvenient publicity that Al Gore has received once again by the supportive media, we are expected to believe that his discredited bleats are in the forefront of the average person’s consciousness.  The first fantasy movie that he produced was such a success, that apparently, people are waiting in rapt anticipation for his newly released sequel…well, at least those that didn’t sell everything and are hunkered in the mountains waiting for high tide Armageddon.

That Gore continues to attract the media spotlight is amazing until you consider all of the other annoying spam that gets media exposure…like a staph infection that won’t go away. I refer to regular revelations of the Kardashian Clan, the Jenners, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, etc etc.  On a too often basis, we get the most recent Michael Moore utterance.  If you believe the media, at this very moment, the life of Diana has suddenly attained must know status for people.  Diana.  She’s been dead for 20 years!  Yet the entire media are splashing headlines about her as if she just had breakfast.  You know the tabloids are running out of ideas if they revive a long dead story to get clicks.  Next in line; is JFK really dead?

Most people don’t even know that they are the victims of push news.  The effectiveness of modern push media is such that confirmation bias is rampant among much of the populace. If your peer group confirms the same worldview based on their sources of news, then an entire fake reality becomes real…without anyone knowing why.  They’ve become parrots who regurgitate what’s been repeatedly heard.  Let me say this: if climate change is really the number one concern among your peer group, you may have been co-opted by push news.  If you think transgender bathroom issues are at the top of society’s concerns, you may need to expand your news sources.  Do people really think Russia, Russia, Russia is a valid news thread?  The linked article confirms what many have known for years and perhaps many more are awakening to:  News is no longer news. It’s structured to get the most clicks.  It’s a business…with a world of unwitting customers.

link Doomsday clock set at 5 to midnight – CBS News.

We last visited this doomsday clock back in 2010. http://asiftimes.com/2010/01/14/thats-a-relief/  Over the many years since they first brought out this metaphorical measure of human extinction back in the early 1950’s, you’d think that the purveyors would have worn out the skin on their hands from all the wringing.

While it’s hard to argue with the reality that since the 1950’s when only two parties had access to the big kaboom, today there are many nations with nuclear bomb making capability.  No longer the exclusive domain of the Americans and the Soviets, the new players include the 17th century nations of North Korea and Pakistan.  Pakistan of course got the bomb because arch rival India got it years ago.  Nations that house their people in tin roofed shanties nevertheless have the capability to ixnay their neighbors if they were to go all Richard Sherman one day.  Iran has aspirations to join this exclusive circle as well, so the players keep a-comin’.   Despite this arms buildup, it’s unlikely that any of them would be dumb enough to fire the first shot, since that would likely mean a large mushroom shaped cloud would in turn be directed their way in minutes not days.

The stated reason for the metaphorical clock is to warn against a “civilization threatening catastrophe” which in the day meant an atomic bomb event.  If you ask me, the word “civilization” strictly speaking  doesn’t just mean people in general, as those living in Syria, the Sudan or North Korea will attest.  There is no civilization if people are oppressed, enslaved, starved and unable to enact free will.  There is just a large majority being pushed around by a very small minority.

In nations such as those, there is no long history of democratic free will or the establishment of ‘civilized’ protocols for its citizens.  Education and information flow is both low and controlled, so people can be more easily repressed.   Instead, their histories are marked by autocratic rulers who determined the rules of society as they saw fit to enact.  Typically, violence is the preferred method of enforcement.  Life is miserable anyway, so nuclear angst is probably low.

Therefore when they talk about ‘civilization ending catastrophe’, they really mean western civilization, because in parts of the world where despotism prevails, no one spends their days worrying about anything other than getting through their day alive and fed.  However, even in the ‘enlightened’ western world, the angst of imminent doomsday, nuclear or otherwise, is a bit down the list of concerns for the average Joe, perhaps adjacent to how they get the caramel in a Caramilk bar.

Unless of course you are in the professional doomsday business.  While nuclear warfare may exist as a theoretical possibility, that dynamic has evolved into a circular firing squad, so the chances of an event are slim.  Over the years, numerous other imminent world ending scenarios have had their turn in the spotlight as the pending disaster du jour.   Remember global overpopulation?  Bioterrorism?  Today, there is  the possibility of the earth colliding with a wayward asteroid; massive volcanic eruption; or solar flares.  Let’s not rule out alien invasion.  Of course we can’t forget the current imminent disaster headliner; climate change.

I think that the doomsday crowd should pay some attention to the real civilization ending event(s) that are going on right now.  This dynamic has been going on forever and is as prevalent now as it has ever been.  As mentioned above, this is where the small minority are pushing around and enslaving the large majority.   It’s the dumb preying on the dumber.