Media: Do you drink the Kool-Aid?

A well know American idiom goes along the lines of "I don't drink the Kool-Aid" or sometimes posed as a question like in the title "Do you drink the Kool-Aid?" So what does Kool-Aid, a popular sugary drink, have to do with the media? To those unaware of its meaning allow me to shed some light on it:

The term “drink the Kool-Aid” is used to describe blind acceptance of something. I could go on about the origin of the term, but if you really have a obsessive interest in the phrase, I'll let wiseGEEK explain the rest. 

 I want to challenge you on whether you  blindly accept information fed to you by the media. Even if I am part of your media intake, do you just blindly accept what I say? Or try to verify/challenge my thoughts and links? If you aren't, then you are "drinking the Kool-Aid." When people don't get the right information, they can't make informed decisions on how to vote and develop their opinions on different issues. When we fix the problem with media, then we should can properly address everything else. 

The fact is, no matter how trustworthy you think a news agency or corporation is, you're still some way from the truth. It's been plainly obvious that media organizations like Fox News and MSNBC have political agendas ( each representing the right and left respectively). But these news organizations aren't only limited to the United States. Fox News works all over the world and especially in Europe. CNN has a massive international presence and many of these companies don't operate under their same names. Likewise, the NYTimes and The Wallstreet Journal represent different perspectives on everything from economic to social policies. If you find yourself getting your information from one of these conglomerates you are always going to be missing the full picture. Certain organizations, on purpose or not, miss certain pieces of information or don't provide full coverage of the topic. News organizations also tend to shy away from less "flashy" stories and try to accommodate trends in user interest rather than divert readers' attention to important stories. The mass killing where 3-4 million people have been killed in the Congo over some 20 years is constantly referred to as one of the most under reported stories (every single year). This despite all the deaths and despite the fact that rape is used as a war tactic where entire villages of women are raped to intimidate enemies.  

Also, ask yourself this: When reading about foreign topics, how much effort do you put in reading from international (and not U.S. related) news media organizations? The fact is you will never gain a good understanding of the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict if you only look at it from Western media. Likewise, you will never truly understand the essence of drugs wars in Mexico from U.S. media because they may report on the topic occasionally and based on safety, but Mexican media is on the ground 24/7 talking to the people almost none stop. Language barrier you say? Most media organizations have their pages to be translated to English for you to read. If you still have issues. Download Google Chrome, it has a built in automatic translator for any web page you go on.

I'm certainly not being hypocritical. Since launching this blog I've cited articles and videos from CNN, Haaretz, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, FOX, Wikileaks, Time Magazine, Mashable, Techland (and more I can't name from memory)and the list will continue to grow. I'm trying to present news from the perspective of organizations that may seem foreign to you to give you a better understand of everything this blog talks about: Politics, Philosophy, Technology, and more. 

Sure, it's easier to just stick to one channel, a channel that reflects your views, but are you really being informed? or being spoon fed bull$*&#? The fact is, independent reporting is dead because of the massive control these conglomerates have. I've given up with the cause to try to reform all the media of the world to a more practical one: Rather than try to reform everything, by getting your news from a wide array of news sources (I'd say 2 sources on the same subject at the minimum -- though it isn't that hard to check more) you can get the fullest and most accurate picture of what is really going on in the world around you. If ever the saying "Knowledge is power" applied, it definitely applies today. Empower yourself. Don't drink the Kool-Aid.