Apocalypse? Um...Not quite

United States
October 14, 2010 2:37pm CST
Is the Earth coming to an end? Is this the Apocalypse? Um...Not quite. We aren't living in the Apocalypse, we are living in a media induced Crock-o-lypse. The media blares in our ears every scrap of ratings inducing bad news it can lay hands on literally every minute, 24/7/365 unless you turn all the electronic yappers off. Nowadays, the media includes TV, radio, and often worst of all, the Internet. You mention people over 40. People over 40 came from a time where you didn't hear the dirty laundry of the planet spammed 24/7, they only got news an hour a day from the TV, maybe a blurb from the radio, and perhaps a newspaper hawking the local bits. All this news/information was rather dry by today's media standards. TV broadcasts were carefully edited, often black and white, and narrated by such as Walter Cronkite. Now, you get Nancy Grace giving it to you gut punched in Technicolor. Many of these older folks don't understand the difference between increased bad news and plain old media saturation. People with agendas aren't going to explain this fact of life, they will simply ride the hype for all it is worth adding as much drama as they humanly can. A bit of distortion can move a lot of info-tainment 'news'. Shell shocked, the Walter Cronkite generation turns to churches, who will fill pews with more sucker punches in the "It's Apocalypse Now!" vein. Many are guilty of discussing news and politics to the saturated crowd. There is no escape.
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6 responses
@GardenGerty (157047)
• United States
14 Oct 10
I think it is out of line for any institution to jump on the hype. I know that news is over reported and is not always news. It is good to not always watch the news, or to look for positive information. I think churches need to hold off from predicting the future, it is not really Biblical. No one really knows the times and seasons of the end. It is more the responsibility of churches, and social organizations to help us cope with what is going on.No matter what is coming, all the worry and panic in the world will not avert it.
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@GardenGerty (157047)
• United States
15 Oct 10
Yeah, I think they say "If it bleeds it reads"
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• United States
17 Oct 10
Then there's the lovely what-ifs brought upon the TV viewer via Disaster Documentaries. We get animation and dramatic narrative while volcanoes explodes, Earth shakes, and waves splash at hundreds of feet high. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Disasters - Then the weather channel brings on 'documentaries' exploring disastrous weather that happens in other states in glaring color.
• United States
14 Oct 10
Very true, getting all blathered about an asteroid that may or may not fall on your head is silly, yet saying "stop that" may not solve the problem of news overconsumption. - Sadly, the regular (television and cable) networks are blind to what is or is not over the line. Their vision is tunneled to profit. Getting people hot under the collar is a good way to keep them glued to the tube. Hype is also a good means of manipulating people to do as you want. Note should be taken to "trash politics" and smear campaigns on election years.
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@Adoniah (7513)
• United States
14 Oct 10
The media is to blame for most of what is wrong with America...They keep everyone stirred up all the time....They keep everyone afraid of each other. No one trusts anyone anymore. We have to keep everything under lock and key even in places where it should be safe, because we are afraid. They pound us day and night with horrible news. No one ever says anything good. We are going to be attacked by the terrorists...Everyone is a terrorist now. I am sick of it. If you call folks bad long enough, they turn bad...Enough already. Shalom~Adoniah
• United States
14 Oct 10
Your point is beautifully made. We must limit our exposure to media. Then, seek out factual data from all sides, not sit passively as the info-tainment industry saturates our brains. This is a global problem, not just American. Electronic devises are increasing in population and reside in the most unlikely of places. Personally, I actively search the Internet for more than one voice on a news topic and rarely indulge in television.
• China
15 Oct 10
this is your American situation? i can hardly believe it. i think Amercia is a democrate country, not like China, where media also speaks for goverment. it is on doublt that there are so many patterns of media, we can not escape of all these informations, but we can judge from our own opinions. we could figure out whither it is right or is forged. and i do believe there will be an end of world, we exploit too much of the nature, all the energy will run out.
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• United States
17 Oct 10
America has its propaganda. It is more subtle and is not forced on the citizenry as it is in North Korea or to lesser extent China. In some ways, subtle propaganda is harder to filter out than the forced varieties. It hides under the veil of entertainment.
@smacksman (6053)
15 Oct 10
Thank God we still have the off switch. Media saturation is there for all who want to watch it (and, sadly, may actually believe it). I'm worried about the countries that don't have that option. They see what they are instructed to see and have no alternative. Maybe they will be the source of the Apocalypse?
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• United States
17 Oct 10
Forced propaganda with out other sources of information is becoming harder for even the hardliner regimes to maintain. Smuggled DVD's and videotapes are getting in to places like N. Korea, and smuggled news is getting out via a cell phone in a sack of rice. - China is having real problems keeping its media closed, as there are determined hackers slipping news both in and out via computer Internet. - Iran's protests were Twittered using the cellphone. - However, this is derailing the thread...
@evanslf (484)
14 Oct 10
newspapers and news channels need to hype things up to make money. Hence the factual balanced reporting of news has gone out of the window - instead we get sensationalism, poorly researched stories, exaggeration, etc, etc. There is the often quoted saying 'no news is good news'. Perhaps we should turn this on its head and say: 'Good news is no news' Only bad news is news as far as the media and the papers are concerned.
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• India
15 Oct 10
Media is flourishing because there is an audience for them. Those who pay heed to what they say are equally to be blamed.
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• United States
17 Oct 10
That is so to a point, although some media exposure, such as when your in a waiting room or restaurant, isn't voluntary. TV's are proliferating in public places where we don't have the option to switch the channel or shut it off.
• Philippines
15 Oct 10
this is just for my part,i do believe that the we are now in the last days, the count down is now starting, the apocalypses is the revelation of GOD to john his disciple, that tills the end of world and those thing which GOD reveled to john is now at hand you might not understand these but it is now happening, later these earth will be under the hands of Satan.........and those days will deferent than ever nor it will be happen after.
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• United States
17 Oct 10
Thanks for your input...interesting.