Sometimes what we see isn't all there is in the world. There are so many angles to a story. Perceptions of truth are numerous, and you almost have to see in every direction to get a complete picture. The act of trying would occupy every moment of our lives. We must trust, instead, the organizations that exist to bring forth news to us that may impact our lives. It feels like we've entered a war of information between different parties battling for our attention.
Introduction
We like to know what's going on around us. If reports exist that gas prices will skyrocket in two weeks, for instance, we'd be interested in having this kind of information. We can inform ourselves as to actions or behaviors to implement that could offset that new price.
The world, unfortunately, doesn't always work this way. We can't always get a complete picture when we wish. Time pressure sometimes forces us to decide on an action based on less than ideal information. And then what? We hope for the best.
Bias for the Presidents
We see examples of bypass in the media, and it seems like they have tunnel vision. One glaring example involves differences in reports between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Both Presidents, at some point, tripped while walking. Donald Trump tripped while walking down a ramp. Joe Biden tripped while walking up the stairs.
- One media outlet negatively question Trump's physical and mental capacity to be the President after tripping down a ramp.
- One media outlet brushes off worries of physical and mental capacity after Biden trips walking upstairs.
I sometimes have difficulty dealing with media stories whose reporting leans towards the writer's own personal view. Does anyone else have a problem with this too? It isn't easy to even try to learn facts from organizations that combine their personal views or agendas with the facts they hope to report. Yet, it happens time and time again.
Vaccine Side Effects
In terms of medicine, a side effect occurs when an undesirable and unintended event occurs after consuming a medication. We can read about this on the pills we take or the commercials advertising medicine.
In COVID-19 vaccines, it's difficult for people to get an informed opinion given the urgency communicated by the media. The mass media proclaims that the "vaccine is safe," and there are only "rare" cases of severe side effects-so rare, that people on the news don't really discuss. The Centers for Disease control holds that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Their website is pretty bland. It acknowledges the existence of minor side effects and that if something should occur, contact your doctor or proceed to the emergency room.
A clear goal, for at least the United States, is to get people vaccinated. They'll send the message that vaccines are "safe" with "rare" adverse side effects. However, it's the government spreading the message. People won't completely trust them. Is their message true?
Their message is true, but they don't tend to discuss those "rare" adverse issues.
- Between December 2020 and January 2021, the CDC utilized a system called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) that received reports from scientists performing vaccine trials. Those participating in trial vaccinations got divided into two main groups related to Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF).
- Non-LTCF residents range in ages between 15-96 years of age. The total number of reports amounted to about 5,500 people. Headaches, dizziness, and fatigue were common symptoms. 7.6% of the test group suffered serious sides. There were 35 deaths between 0 and 20 days following vaccination. At the time of their report 16 of these deaths had underlying health conditions before receipt of the vaccine.
- The CDC received about 150 reports from residents of LTCFs that ranged in ages between 17-104 years of age. There were 78 deaths reported between 0 and 20 days following vaccination. Again, like people not admitted to an LTCF, their reports highlight underlying medical conditions that could have contributed to their death.
Is there a reason for not discussing this with the general public? Yes. The concern is that more people would reject vaccination. Perhaps the problem isn't that people would not be able to explain. Maybe the actual problem is that the experts aren't smart enough to explain it.
Vaccine Liability
At least within the United States, Pfizer and Moderna are protected from any liability stemming from side effects of the COVID-19. Did anyone know this fact? I just learned of it myself.
In February 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP). Lawmakers created PREP in 2005 to protect drug manufacturers from all liability. In this case, Moderna and Pfizer cannot be sued. The PREP act expires in 2024. I do not know if the U.S. Senate plans on extending the date.
The PREP act makes it incredibly difficult to sue medical manufacturers for side effects resulting from COVID-19 vaccinations. Again, this information isn't common knowledge discussed by the mainstream media. However, it's not restricted either. It didn't take long to find it. I hope for humanity that those who look for it do so to expand their knowledge. The bureaucracy is a nightmare.
Protests
The United States of America experienced two historical periods of rioting in our generation. First, it was the riots stemming from Black Live's Matter protests. The second was the riots at Capitol Hill. One was heralded as a state of insurrection and an attempt to overthrow the government. The other a series of protests that were not generally "unruly". Whether you're for protests or not is irrelevant. This is about how the people we are supposed to trust report things hypocritically.
- In one Twitter video published by Sputnick, you have a new reporter observing a protest. A building is burning in the background as he describes the riots as a demonstration that is not unruly.
News outlets across the land reported the riots stemming from BLM protests as peaceful practices of Democracy. According to Chris Cuomo, it's something natural that happens from time to time. We need to adjust to it.
The reporting done by politically-leaning organizations was ridiculous in terms of the protests. It was like powerful god-like children fighting over their toys...and the general public's attention was that toy. I fear that the prize of reporting has gone from reporting the truth to capturing the most viewers.
Seduction of Science
I'm biased. I have a bigger bone to pick with science than any other subject matter. I've been involved with electrical power generation so long that I barely remember any other job. I have to generate, review and develop projects and analyses that keep management informed enough to make sound decisions. What bothers me greatly about concepts like clean energy is the rest of the story everyone fails to report.
Humanity tends to jump on the latest fad without considering the product lifestyle. Solar Power, for instance, is all the rage in the climate change industry. The technology produces electricity without the release of ANY greenhouse gases or wastes. There is no doubt that solar technology development is important for the world's future.
We need to figure out what to do with all that toxic waste, eventually. We started using the technology before we knew what to do with the waste products again. We've had this issue with several concepts:
- Nuclear Power
- Wind Power
- Solar Power
- Coal
- Concrete
The list goes on and on. In this issue, we are partly to blame. The powers tend to report only the benefits of a device while we, the consumers, aptly use what's given to us without a care in the world. We tend to seek out the path of least resistance for the greater reward.
In Closing
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
I will say, to our defense, that I feel we are learning to be more observant. We have to keep our distance from those spinning a tale for our just delights.
How do you feel about the differences in reporting by the media? Am I wrong to believe there's always a different narrative? Is there any way to reduce hypocrisy?
Thank you for reading and following on throughout my Hive journey.
If you like this post, please upvote and subscribe to @scholaris!
HIVE Regulation - Bonus Discussion
One area of the intense debates in the blockchain is regarding downvotes. I normally sympathized with those receiving them, but now I can sympathize with both sides of the aisle. There are groups of people that take the responsibility to search for acts of fraud like plagiarism, theft, vote farming, and many more. It appears to be a thankless job they carry out consistently and responsibly.
There are always more sides to a story than the one you're reading.
Differing forms of abuse require regulation that provides for stability in any system. If there's an outright crime in a city with no enforcement, one side effect is an exodus of people from that city. Similarly, if people tend to plague this blockchain with behaviors that either lead or could lead to fraud, groups must exist to combat it. The blockchain can't survive otherwise.
In my IRL job, clear communication prevents catastrophes from occurring. The same could be said here. If you receive a DV from someone, be professional and inquire about it. If you don't agree with the DV, report it!
I'll have more to follow on some of the HIVE standards including links from other works to provide greater clarification. I hope to cover this topic in more detail through later posts.
There are rather attention wars on the Hive blockchain.
Many people publish posts, but only a few people write comments under them.
There is already war in the attention economy? Why do I wonder, that is always the first thing we do.
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You are correct, of course. It's something I didn't consider when writing this article. Upvoting is certainly easier than engaging. I guess someone needs to be passionate about what their reading to be engaged enough to comment.
Quite a questioning and informative post on the topics you mentioned. The parts about technology and media took my attention most on it.
To me, scientific developments has served for military purposes at first and new technologies has always been introduced and let for public use after a better or a newer one invented for the same purpose. I must state that I may be totally wrong or right to some extent, too. Who knows I may be misinformed due to the infollution created by media and social media lately because there are so many conspiracy theories out there.
Difference reports of media is probably a worldwide problem that most countries may be suffering from. Unfortunately in many of them those differences are not restricted by only a few topics. It is almost in every topic like politics, sports, vaccines (not only about Covid19), art, movies, education, etc. The list can go on. Unfortunately, those differences create a great disagreement on even simple issues among people which may lead to serious problems for public peace. People tend to defend what they are imposed blindly.
Thank you for your response and compliment. I'm flattered. Sometimes, my wife criticizes me and my sons for having tunnel vision on any particular topic. We see a thing, and we must pursue it. It's not so different than anyone else, actually.
In the case of communicating information, nothing could be further from a falsehood. We can only see in one direction. We must contemplate varying points of view to understand a topic to the max extent of our abilities.
We rush to report the truth and sacrifice accuracy for the sake of notoriety.
Regarding technology, a lot of the research papers out there are quite legitimate but aren't adequately covered. The media has three things working against them:
That's so true.
Thank you for your reply too Sir.
I think it is not criticism. Until we get married, it is our mothers, then wives become as much concerned as them about us :)
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Thank you very much for the mention. Have a great day!
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Thank you very much!
If only politicians were more like engineers--having to look at everything from the best to the worst that could happen and having a plan for contingencies! But they only "think" in sound bites and their horizon never stretches beyond their next election. !BBH
It’s a problem I have. We see them speaking the sound bite but they are not in control of the narrative. We see a snippet of a comment, but the logic of their position is not communicated. It could be that the politicians are our friends. I don’t know that I will ever know the truth.
Thank you for you response and support. I hope you have a great day and weekend.
Because this is such an awesome post, here is a BBH Tip for you.
. Keep up the fantastic work
Thank you very much!
A very balanced piece of writing. Thank you. I enjoyed reading it.
I'm glad you did. I appreciate the feedback. There will be more that follows!