Truth as entertainment: how truth is lost.

I don't know about you... but I'm tired of watching endless conspiracy theory documentary after endless conspiracy theory documentary about how many Americans don't know the truth, or, they don't understand. And, I'm also tired of watching all of these intellectuals always saying that people don't know what really is going on.

I think most people in America do in fact know the truth. They know that our world is filled with problems. Allow me to present to you a not-so radical hypothesis. I think that the truth has been vastly sensationalized. Hollywood elitists have let the truth be known to mass sectors of the population via the movie industry and they've made the truth seem like entertainment.

I think it's fine to have entertainment. That's part of what a free society has. Entertainment, however blurs the line between fantasy and reality and opens up more what-if questions. It's all fine when it's done ethically. It's not a problem with capitalism. I don't think capitalism is at fault here. I think that the people who write these scripts about the CIA chasing bad guys, and, how the bad guy ends up actually being a good guy wishing to expose what the government did... like with the Bourne films- they all make it seem so fantastic, and it's so out there.

They have these films like Mr. and Ms. Smith- where it portrays a real situation where ex-CIA agents or ex intelligence agents are operating within the confines of the business worlds and former CIA agents are paid for their business. This actually happens in reality. But rather than show all the ethics violations and all of the implications and what it means- they make it out to be like it's just one big game- where you either lose big, or you win big, and it's all done innocently.

They have films like Avatar- another truth as entertainment film. In the film the Avatar people relate to it because it's like the military invasion of Iraq in 2003, or, it's like any other anti-colonialism film out there. What this film does- is it gets people excited about future technology.

So rather than the film bringing up questions about how negative imperialism is- well there was part of that, the main character fell in love with a women from the indigenous population... and it showed the effects of the invasion on the native land. Rather than doing that- what's left in most people's minds, is the question about what invasions of other planets in the future will be like? The truth once again is lost as entertainment.

There are also films like the National Treasurer, the Davinci Code, W, and Angels and Demons. In Angels and Demons- which I haven't seen yet, the illuminati is portrayed as a group of enlightened men rising up against the church, which they were oppressing before. It is the Illuminati that are the good guys. It is true that the church has opposed scientific advancement in the past... but this film makes it seem like the illuminati was working for the betterment of everyone- which it may have been, but that's not what most people would say about it.

In the National Treasurer- the whole movie is about stealing the declaration of independence- and it has a back story of the freemasons and the knights of templar. And all their real aim- is just to get gold. Freemasons were involved with the making of the constitution. That is true. But who would believe that after watching a movie like the National Treasure? It makes the truth look like a whole joke.

I won't even get into the Davinci Code. But, I think I've made my point. People know the truth. The problem is- my hypothesis is- that the truth has been oversensationalized. Lots of people know that the government is corrupt. They know that politicians are liars. If you talk to someone you can get a pretty good conversation about how corrupt Washington is.



I think political talk shows do have some influence on this. But I think most of the blame can be placed on the entertainment industry- which- can in my mind isn't all evil. But, I wouldn't say that's the real issue here.

Everyone seems to agree that our government isn't that perfect. The problem is- that they have been conditioned not to see the truth, again, I'm not blaming capitalism with this thread that's not my intent... I just want to propose a new hypothesis here to counter the idea that people don't know the truth. I just think that people can't see the truth because they've been conditioned to see anything truth-oriented as fantasy, and, hence they would tend to discard it, or they believe in an over-sensationalized version of reality.

[edit on 25-3-2010 by Frankidealist35]

[edit on 25-3-2010 by Frankidealist35]

I agree with your general hypothesis. Millions of people have seen movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, X-Files, etc. But I think most people go to the theater, watch the movie as pure entertainment, and then go home and forget most of it. Basically the same as a joke going over someones head. I truly hope that is not the case, but I could count on one hand how many people I've talked to that actually thought Close Encounters could be real or could happen one day.

As for sensationalism. Oh yes. Anything and everything can be seen as grand nowadays through the power of IMAX.

reply to post by crazyinthemiddle


Yeah. And also like there are films like the Matrix as well. People find these films interesting. But like the whole problem is- people don't understand that movies are kind of like books. They get their philosophy and their back-story from things that are real (mythology, philosophy, religion, history, etc).

So like with Starwars- the Jedis were revolting against an evil dictator (Darth Vadar)- that's kind of how it is in a lot of these poor countries, when a lot of people revolt against their dictatorial leader they don't really think they have much of a chance to succeed and the revolution ends up taking a lot longer than they expected.

As with the Men in Black... the film by Will Smith. A lot of it was taken to be comedy. Like- it was about aliens invading Earth, right? There was also all this other stuff in the film about being on a secret team and the US Government covering up aliens. It makes people wonder if they really do that sort of thing- but people just treat it like a fiction film.

I guess you're kind of right. People go to the movies for entertainment- and when they see these films, everything goes above their heads. So like they may be real and all that- but they don't know and they act like it's just for fun. So they don't take them seriously.

That's the funny thing. Books are taken far more seriously than movies. So why is it when people watch movies do people discard the truth of the movies- but not when people read books?