Don’t BELIEVE the “hype”

When we, all or any of us sit down for a nice relaxing evening and somehow by flicking through channels on the TV we come across a news channel. We are taken in by what we are hearing, the images displayed to us and the tone in which the news is reported to us.
Can I say I am a believer of all? Not too sure about that one.
In Ireland, growing up there was a saying we often quoted to each other in some joking way or another,
“don’t believe everything you hear & only half of what you see”.
Kind of makes a lot of sense doesn’t it?Getting back to the news channels though and even your evening shows that you like to watch. The daily themes of the soaps that you are highly tuned in to. These are all influencing us one way or another. The themes being chosen, the story line or the reporting of the “factual news”.
Change the channel and receive a completely opposite side, an opposing agenda if you like.
One channel tells you about some devastating occurrence in the world while failing to report to you some very disturbing local news, which may well be of more interest to you.
I suppose the idea that “The Simpsons” has laid out a world theme, way in advance of anyone ever believing it to be true. The course of time has proven their episodes to not only be jokes of their time, now to find so much of their themes to have come true. Astonishing really.

The current situation globally is definitely very much about political unrest in several different countries. Unrest may be a little strong, perhaps uncertainty is a better way to put it to you. This uncertainty is designed for what reason?
We believe what we want to believe is a fair statement.
Our TV channels, our social media channels, the advertising networks and all that is consumed by us daily is hyping one thing or another and there has been no let up for quite a number of years.
“oh, but wait I am not a consumer” I hear you say. Example,
I click the link to wish someone a happy birthday because I was prompted by Facebook in the morning in my notifications, this is language we all understand, right?
I then, later that day go to clear out my spam folder in my email and I am reminded by a catchy title of an email that says, “the perfect gift idea” or “true friendship rings new designs”.
Did these email just appear by accident?

Allow me to venture to another concept for you, the print newspapers will print a story on a far left political ideology. Another newspaper reports and prints a far right political ideology. The TV channels provide for us a debate or two, again, one is lobsided left and another channel lobsided right.
A Facebook post or promoted post on Instagram is offering you a master class in improving your life through a capitalist work program designed to help you gain traction in the corporate world of selling to consumers. A promoted tweet or article on Facebook shows you the ins and outs of the benefits of marijuana in your life.
All of the influences are bringing you “hype” of one sort or another.
It is based upon what you want to believe is how you will see it. The concepts you will consume are the concepts that fit with you/for you.
Some of us will believe all the hype in one direction and a whole bunch of the rest of us will believe the completely opposite.

This has led to and continues to breathe into our daily lives, uncertainty.
We are seeing it now in the political uncertainty, economic uncertainty, pension uncertainty, global warming uncertainty.

I am certain of one thing. I WILL DIE.
I am certain of another thing. YOU WILL DIE.

After these two issues, I am certain of nothing else.
Why write this out for you? And I might add that, why do I wish to have you read this & bring a little snippet of thought into your day?
It is through your own thinking process and how you believe whatever it is that you want to believe that you will begin to see and make more positive choices of where you actually allow your influences come from and begin to build a tiny little bit more certainty into your own life.

If you like channel A. over channel B. Or should you be right wing or left wing politically? Try something new and think for yourself. Try on the other shoe for a day or two, give the other view point a little of your time to see if you may indeed find that perhaps a happier life for yourself can come by making tiny changes in how you think.
And as I began with,
Don’t believe the HYPE.

Aidan Mc Nally author.
TWO sons TOO many,
17 & Life,
My Grief, the last 3 years,
Layman’s Handbook, in life.