mblog

In the midst of shootings, police brutality, health care issues, and the growing size of our nation’s children, it has been too easy, in this time of political uprise, for the media sources to point fingers and build the dividing intensity of politics. News papers, television and uncensored non-journalistic Internet hot heads are missing so many of the points that our nation feels sadness so deep, we don’t know how to get out of it, we just watch the machine go. We need to better understand our own reactions to begin to understand how to apply the pressures needed for change. With this, we better need to understand how much of our emotions, views on race, sex, and religion are negatively stimulated by ourside factors.

In the wake of a Summer that was plagued with violence and death, the entire city is now crying out for anything to stop what’s happening. With the most recent loss of an innocent, young person on one of Canada’s busiest pedestrian strips, the straw has said to be have been broken. Candle-lit vigils, complete with sensitive quotes from desperate preachers, tied in closely with the election, seeing political leaders reap the benefits of the loss have been happily handled and twisted by publications, both Major National and Minor Dailies.

This morning’s paper, (24, One of Toronto’s daily rags) told of how masses of people prayed for salvation from God. Contrasted by the Conservative Leader claiming that his party can save our ‘Ravaged City’. Also printed were headlines about how ‘Racial Tensions are Soaring”, and quoted a black preacher outraged that only the death of a white child would cause a reaction like this. The emotions that passed through me almost made me cry on the TTC. Intentionally heated, mixed messages are being sent by the arrangement of articles. Phrases target emotions in each person differently, you are just supposed to feel sad and angery and lost and saved at the same time.

It is in this confusion that we see so much anger. Above all of our personal politics, our gender, our faith or lack of is structured on the media. This confusion has rational and caring people question the intentions of different races, it has our needs as people tied up in our political leaders, and yet, our news sources offer no help. It has come to my attention that actual humans create this hysteria, and that those very humans can personally be held morally accountable for their actions. And our of experience with CHUM editors, they do, they just forget.

If each person could express to a minor media employee what could be differently stated to cause less harm, wouldn’t they have no choice as kind beings to adhere to this. If each person who felt manipulated could take the time to write to the editor and say how irresponsible they were with examples, would the editor not see this as a personal slip-up? I think they would.

We need to take less time being affected by the words and images we see, and spend more effort pressuring the media. They are the ones responsible for how we vote, how we view ourselves, our safety, our race and thoughts in others. As a people, left to our collective devices, we are kind and caring, and respectful of humans and the environment. But all of our good intentions are gobbled up by the need to entice us into feeling bad.

If you made it this far, please don’t just read this. Get into a calm discussion with someone you know in media, either private or public. Write to editors, and write to journalists, write your own articles and spread compassion, help apply pressure to change the objective and delicately placed fear tactics that are doing more damage than gunshots, they are helping to cause them.