OPINION: Are you brainwashed?
Brent Regan
The short answer is yes, we all are to some degree brainwashed. Our society is flooded with competing messages designed to influence your viewpoint and perceptions. Some brainwashing efforts are small and localized while others involve the entire country or even the world. Regardless of scale, every stream of information seems to have a bias.
The reasons for this are power and money. So called “news” sources have a financial interest in attracting as many eyeballs as possible. Revenue is a direct function of attention, so their programming is structured to get as much attention as possible by feeding their audience exactly the information they want to receive and let confirmation bias build viewer loyalty. There is no penalty for lying or misrepresenting the facts, but there is an immediate penalty for a loss of viewers so the truth is sacrificed for clicks and views.
Remember that reality is a construct within every individual’s mind. What you perceive as reality is the sum of all the information you have received and no two people receive exactly the same information. In the information age, most of what you “know” about the outside world doesn’t come from direct experience. What do you know of the situation in Ukraine other than what you have been told by people who have no direct knowledge?
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