Government & Media Untrustworthy

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Don’t Trust the Media or the Government, Posted 11/27/15, by Philip Hodges

This comes as no surprise. Who in the world would trust for-profit organizations like the national media and government to tell us anything other than what they think we want to hear?

The government is supposed to act as our representatives who abide by the Constitution in making sure our freedoms and liberties are never abridged. And the media is supposed to act as sort of a watchdog on the government in making sure they are doing what they were elected to do.

But are the government and media faithfully doing what they’ve been tasked with? Not according to respondents to this survey. Breitbart reported:

A national survey by Pew Research Center reveals how distrustful the American public feels about the media; 65 percent say the national news media impacts the country negatively.

Among conservative Republicans and Republican leaners, a whopping 82 percent say the national news media has a negative impact.

Americans simply don’t trust the federal government—only 19 percent believe they can trust the government in Washington to do what is right, with a paltry 3 percent qualifying that statement as “just about always” and 16 percent specifying, “most of the time.”

A twenty-two-point rise has occurred among Americans saying the government needs “very major reform,” from 37 percent in 1997 to 59 percent today. 32 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents feel anger toward the government; only 12 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners agree. 25 percent of whites feel anger at the feds; 17 percent of Hispanics and 12 percent of blacks agree.

Why are people so angry with the media? It could be partly how each person defines “the media.” Conservative Republicans would think of networks like MSNBC and CNN as “the media.” What they mean is the liberal media. They probably wouldn’t lump in a network like Fox News in “the media” category. I’ve heard people like Sean Hannity describe his show and Fox News as the “alternative media.” Uh-huh. I don’t think so. In fact, judging by ratings, Fox News is the most watched news network. It’s the most popular and mainstream. Love it or hate it, if you watch it, you’re a viewer, and that’s all networks really care about. Liberals would of course consider Fox News “right wing media” and consider liberal personalities to be the “alternative media.”

They’re all media, and they’re all equally untrustworthy. They’re there to get you to watch, because that’s their business. Viewers, ratings, and ad revenue. They’ll do anything and say anything to grab your attention and keep it. And there is competition in the marketplace. Some networks that appeal more to liberals, and those that appeal more to conservatives. Like the Infowars tagline reads, “There’s a war on for your mind.”

Politicians are pretty much the same. Politics is really nothing more than marketing. If you have a good marketing team on your political campaign, and you take their advice every step of the way, you’ll win the election. From there on out, all politicians care about is optics and image. Very rarely do people of actually good character win elections. That’s more likely to happen at the local level. The higher you get, the more you have to play the part. And when you play your part well, stick to the script and do as you’re told, you get financial kickbacks and whatever else your heart desires in return. Those desires might come in the form of escort services, drugs, booze, and they’ll all be used against you if you decide to start playing your own game. Those same marketing tactics that propelled you to victory can in a heartbeat bring you down. And they’ll use the media to do it.

No wonder people don’t trust the media and the government. What a bunch of greedy crooks and liars.

http://lastresistance.com/14921/poll-americans-overwhelmingly-dont-trust-the-media-or-the-government/