Today, on a day when I raved about the FBI's new online, fully-searchable information data base with thousands of their files and field notes on every imaginable thing they've investigated in the past six decades or more (it's called
The Vault) I thought it might make an interesting topic to write about a matter of concern especially based on reading so many comments posted on Rants and Raves over the past 24 hours since my return to the fold.
The topic is motivation. No not that which inspires us to exercise or commit to a goal, but rather that which encourages some people to put out information and others to subsequently buy into that information. Breaking it down, I contend that most informed adults are well aware that historically used car salesmen will tell a buyer what needs to be told in order to make the sale. This is not to say that any or even a large percent are slimy as the trite jokes maintain. Rather, this is to say that there are methods, some quite sophisticated, to tell people either what they want or need to hear in order to persuade them to do something or believe something that have been perfected by salespeople in general. In the information age, it seems important to recognize and understand the equivalency in that the members of the media are information salespeople. Now a used car salesperson's motivation for telling a potential buyer things that are 'true' about a particular vehicle is to close the deal and make his or her commission. Likewise, the motivation of a newscaster, reporter, or writer in the media has a similar motivation, to sell the information. Most tend not to notice or think about this because, especially in today's world where most news comes to our sphere via media source we perceive to be free. Are you paying to read this? Did you pay to watch the nightly news last evening? You may or may not have paid for yesterday's newspaper – if you did, congrats you are officially a dinosaur. Most of us are growing more and more used to getting our news from free sources. If you live long enough, you will know in no uncertain terms that nothing but the air we breathe and sunlight is free anymore, and there's little doubt someone will figure out how to charge us for those in the near future. All these 'free' sources of news and information are being funded by a variety of sources usually people trying to market products to us who pay for those tiny little ads on web sites, product placements in the background, and so on. Back in the "pay for a newspaper" days, journalists could honor their traditions and ethics more prominently because that was partly what people were buying when they bought the newspaper. In a free news world, however, there's a blurring of that responsibility visible in the growing propensity of broadcasters to drop cardinal rule of journalism number one when it comes to reporting the news and that is plain old objectivity and reluctance to editorialize. The levels of editorializing, however, has skyrocketed to the point of some networks putting on entire broadcasts that are nothing but the opinions of the people speaking. There is actually very little, if any, real news reporting. For older generations, this prompts confusion because they grew up in a world where when Walter Cronkite said something, it was a fact. He did not go on the evening news and state his opinions about matters, unless he made it very clear it was just his opinion. Today, however, time and again you will hear the daily newscasters tossing in their opinion about anything and everything. This is not the objective way to deliver the news. The very worst of it in print and online media comes in the form of sensationalistic headlines that are editorials in and of themselves designed to mislead and cause you to click to read. How many times have you been disappointed that the story did not deliver? But the online print media sites don't care, they just earned money because another page of their site was viewed. So, it goes to the point of motivation.
Motivation becomes the key to understanding what is happening in the world and opens a month's worth of rants and raves to be sure. When one receives information from somewhere, the first question should be is it true or not. The question should be who is motivated to give this information to me and why. The truth is there is no truth. In a corollary to Einstein's paradoxical law of special relativity, it turns out there is no such thing as truth. Truth is all a matter of perspective based on point of view. We like to think there is truth. Children are taught to tell it. The fact of the matter is it cannot be ascertained. However, motivation can be discerned. People are motivated to tell us one thing and withhold another for a reason. Discovering that reason is generally far more powerful than the whatever we do or do not believe to be the truth anyway.
Try it out on these questions...(a) Why is Donald Trump motivated to spend his own money on a team of investigators to determine if Barack Obama was born in Hawai'i?
(b) Why is Scott Walker motivated to break the government unions in Wisconsin?
(c) Why is an Australian billionaire motivated to broadcast FOXNews to every home in America 24 hours a day 365 days a year?
(d) Why is the Westboro Baptist Church motivated to picket the funerals of American servicemen and women?
(e) Why is the GOP motivated to stop funding for women's health issues?
(f) Why was Fox motivated to help Glenn Beck move on?