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TEN

MASS MEDIA

First, I want to clarify that the mass media is not just the news. Mass media refers to a diverse range of media outlets used to transmit information. This includes, but is not limited to, radio, television, and online broadcasts. The goal across all these formats is mass communication or broadcasts of the same information to a large mass. Sound a bit familiar to something we’ve already talked about? Remember when I introduced the idea of the herd? Well, mass and herd are relatively interchangeable words. It isn’t a far stretch to say mass media is really broadcasting communication for the herd.

Even though the media outlets making up “mass media” are usually independently operated, mass media is often referred to as another branch of government. That’s because it reinforces societal norms to the masses more than it questions them. To use a metaphor, if the formal education system programmed you, the mass media feeds you with continual software updates once you’ve left the education system. It sends you multiple micro-updates all day, every day. The updates are so frequent they nearly go unnoticed. They’re just part of your “normal” day. Unless you wake up to them.  

The Bad News: Let’s start to wake you up to the mass media’s role in the system.  First, how do you feel after you consume news? Does it make you feel good about the world and life? I bet you feel sick, scared, or worried.  I’ll never forget the first time I was told, “It’s not ‘the news,’ it's ‘the bad news.’” Was he ever right!  How had I never noticed? What he meant by this was the news was only reporting sad and bad stories! How had it slipped by me for so long? How had I never questioned this? I remember one evening when I was a little girl, I saw a news report about a woman whose entire house fell into a sinkhole while she was sleeping. Her entire house! A sinkhole randomly opened beneath her house and sucked it in! For years afterwards, I was terrified our home could fall into a sinkhole while I slept because I had seen it happen once on the news. Was it likely to happen? No. There was almost zero likelihood. But I was still petrified because the news had planted this horrifying possibility in my mind.

Mass media has that power. Because news feeds on sensationalism – those crazy headlines – the media feeds our fears more often than it inspires us. The more it does this, the more it conditions us to be afraid. Think about it. Do we need to be aware of all the ‘bad’ going on around the world? Is it in our best interest to KNOW everything that COULD happen? No.  Most of what appears on the news is not at all relevant to our lives, to our journey, or to our game. 

The media reports whatever is best for their stations, not what is best for you. It will give you a story, but not necessarily a real story or a full story. It’ll be an excerpt or an exaggeration that feeds their needs, not yours. It’s the same with every single station. They all curate their content and contour their stories. They will try to get you worked up as well as thinking one way. 

AND here’s the other thing. All these horrifically sensational headlines, like that woman’s home falling into a sinkhole, also serve the system by keeping society fear based. The system doesn’t want us to step out of the box. How better to keep us in the box than by keeping us afraid? By using fear, the mass media helps control the narrative of what is socially acceptable. It is really just boosting the rhetoric you’ve already been exposed to in the education system. 

Let me be clear. I am NOT promoting ignorance as bliss. Not at all. I am simply saying mass media can be dangerous to your character if you’re unaware of its effects. Your character is what carries you through life, and you want it to be strong. In order for you to maintain its strength, you need to know what it is up against and the systems that might actually be disempowering it. 

Once you have been awakened to what the news is, watching it may not serve you. Anything you really need to learn you can look up or learn from books. There is no need to know about every tragic event featured in the news every night. By avoiding the news you can choose not to let the strength of your character on the daily be diminished by what message is being pushed by the mass media. And don’t worry, you’ll never miss something you actually need to know about. If you NEED to know it, you’re sure to hear about it from social media or someone.

“Worry is interest paid on a debt you may never owe.” 

– Mark Twain

Later in School of Soul, you’ll learn how the brain doesn’t always differentiate from what is happening and sensory input, such as images, that it is fed. This is important when you’re encountering mass media every day. When you see a horrible incident on the news, your body receives that information almost no differently than if it had happened to you. Many of the same senses kick in, creating the environment of that tragic event. Your body is put under stress. Even if you do not realize it, and you might not fully feel the event’s emotions, your body is reacting to the stress on a cellular level. 

In studies, researchers have found that when our skin is observed and measured after being exposed to news, it already shows signs of stress even if we aren’t emotionally picking up on the stress. Why am I telling you this? Even if you don’t think the news affects you, and you feel immune to “bad news,” the news IS physically stressing your body. You’ll learn even more about this when you learn about the full power of the spoken word in Volume: Every Word. Energy fields are created by words anytime someone speaks. Words spoken to us send energy our way, and, you guessed it, bad news equals bad energy. People, including news broadcasters, can speak negative energy onto you. Scary but true! Mass media has played a HUGE role in our lives, way more than we likely ever realized when we were being raised on it! Now that you’re able to see how the system is at work, including the education system and mass media, you can start the work of releasing old conditioning and limiting beliefs that kept you from breaking out of your box. Once released, you will be able to make even more space for this new, expanded perspective to take root and begin to grow. 

Now, as you look around, you can start to see that you’re being gamed by the system in so many ways. Doesn’t that just make you want to start playing and playing your life to win?

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