How would you know if it is the end of the world? Would it be an asteroid hitting the earth? Would it be that we all kill ourselves through a nuclear war? Might it be alien invading the earth? Or maybe it is our loved ones breaking up with us?
In this modern world, the means by we get information about what is happening in the world is through the media. But there are certain factors that should be thought of in this source of information. The most controversial factor is bias and perspective of the news. Bias is the “siding” of a certain media to a side of the story that, more often than not, would distort the truth in the information. And also, the truth now may not be the truth tomorrow. Certain biases could be because of religious beliefs, political parties, gender, sexual preference, racism, sexists, and emotions. Religious beliefs have had been notorious in this aspect. The church, for the religions that are of the church, has great power over the media and can influence information to make it seem more beneficial to it. An example of which is what happened to Galileo. Galileo discovered that the world is indeed not flat but is round in nature. Though Galileo’s discovery is now debunked, he was more likely in the right track and obviously, the church’s belief that the world is flat was far of to the truth we hold now. Politics can also greatly affect the information we get from media. They can distort the stories behind wars that could make it seem right, even if the main purpose of the war was only for personal interest. Also politics can influence media to either exaggerate or to shrink certain news that could affect the current state of the government. Also politics can use the media to either hide or reveal disputes and controversies that if revealed, can cause great distress or confidence in the government side. Also, racism and sexism can influence the media. In certain countries, news of female abuse would be muffled because that country is male dominated, or certain news may be delivered as to seem that a certain race caused a dispute. Emotions also affect how the media deliver the information. Death of a hero, fear of natural calamities, love for country, hate for the “terrorists,” etc. again, the label, “terrorists,” was also from the media. They would not be terrorist to that where the bias is at their side.
Media can be of different forms, newspaper, movies, television shows, the internet, etc. but how do we know what’s real from the lies? One certain philosophy in handling information is best used in this. One must be curious about what is happening. One must not just rely on one source of information and analyse what really did this source make of the date they used? Did they make you seemed biased to a situation?
Well, maybe we all have our own brands of the end. But a question for the sake of it: how will you now if it is really the end and will you be sure?
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