How do you decide who to believe?

There was a thread recently asking people to post examples of the main stream media outright lying, which of course they do from time to time. The general thrust of the thread was that the MSM aren’t to be trusted because of these lies, and most in that thread said that they no longer took any notice of them.

This brought up a question in my mind; how do you decide who to believe?

If you see a conspiracy everywhere, if the entire professional media industry are in cahoots with the powers that be then how can you believe anyone?

In lieu of the BBC or CNN a lot of people here seem to put their faith in blogs and youtube pundits as though no one who has ever blogged has lied or got something wrong. If you can’t trust the MSM because you know that some have lied then why trust alternative media when we all know that they have lied just as much as anyone?

Going even further if you believe that the media is in the pocket of some mysterious shadow power despite its vast scope, disparate interests and often contradictory angles then why would you believe that Alex Jones, David Icke or your own personal “truth seer” is immune?

hoi

so really the only logical conclusion from this is that you can trust no one , not even oneself?

maybe were all embroiled in doublethink, replacing one twisted truth for another when convenient

break that cycle and your laughing

funbox

You've got it a bit twisted, the media doesn't really fabricate everything. They take an event that occured and twist it a little bit to serve their agenda. And of course every media employee isnt in cahoots. Most of them are just doing what they are told, and reading what they are told to read. They don't question the validity or the message, they read off a machine.

It's the people behind the scenes of the media, not the talking pieces, who are engineering propaganda.


Alternative media is not without flaw, but at the end of the day, much more truth comes from these sources.

ok... uh like this..

Don't believe anything, but believe what you want.

I will try to make this simple.

All of the MSM have a slanted point of view.
Each scew the news towards their point of view.

It can be good, or it can be bad, depending on your own personal point of view.
If your POV and thiers align then you would see nothing wrong.

If somethng is on the news, then be your own news and research,
connect the dots, when you think you have the truth, you are probably almost there.

So Don't trust anyone, but trust yourself.

reply to post by Mike_A


I feel your pain.
So what I do is this, I look at all the news cnn, fox,msn, yahoo, and so on until i feel what is wright or wrong I look for the deference's and playbook repeats and let my brain decide whats wright. I don't have much choice in this world where everyone from the white house down to my neighbor will tell a lie every now and then

reply to post by Mike_A


I just tend to cast a critical eye of any article of particular interest, I know that the media spin and exaggerate most stuff but there is usually a few nuggets of truth in there. The problem we have on ATS is that most people don’t seem to have the ability to critically evaluate a source and they also cherry pick the sources they will use. For example we have those who rant about how the NWO has infiltrated the mainstream media yet will quite happily use articles form the mainstream media to back up their paranoid beliefs if the article fits. I maintain the biggest problem on ATS is peoples level of education, despite what the survey said, people on ATS cant critically evaluate the media.

reply to post by funbox


If you believe what I describe in the OP then yes, I suppose you can't trust anyone.

reply to post by Tephra

You've got it a bit twisted, the media doesn't really fabricate everything. They take an event that occured and twist it a little bit to serve their agenda.

…

Alternative media is not without flaw, but at the end of the day, much more truth comes from these sources.

But why aren’t the alternative media susceptible to twisting things to their own agenda? They certainly don’t all agree with each other so some must be twisting things.

You say that more truth comes from the alternative media but you don’t say why you believe this. How do you know they’re not lying, twisting, or acting as the mouth piece of some hidden power?

Looking through ATS there are tons of threads that use blogs and youtube videos as sources, I’ve just watched one in which a man in a balaclava proselytizes about what the law “truly” means and everyone responds with adulation and “this guys knows his stuff!” How do they know he telling the truth, are his credentials available for scrutiny? Do we know where or if he got his law degree? No, of course not, for all we know he could be broadcasting from a mental facility yet there is no end to the number of people who will take what he says at face value all the while rejecting any mainstream source because “they can’t be trusted”. Isn’t this logic more than a little cracked?


@ Those who say we should looked at all sources and make up our own mind. I agree, however there are those that do reject anything mainstream and lap up anything alternative; which seems odd to me.

What does the Zionist MSM Propaganda Factory gain? Money, Power, Everything. What does Alternative have to gain? Well, a living I suppose, they aren't exactly getting filthy rich off it.

Even if they were getting rich off of it, look at the message alternative media has as an undertone:

Freedom, Liberty, Rights of Man, Distrust of government (Patriotism)

Now look at the message of the machine:

Obey, Fear, Hatred, etc.

Don't take anything for granted whether official or alternate (eg ATS). Never ever believe in something just because somebody says so! Cross reference info from multiple sources, get hard evidence if possible, apply logic to a situation and then make up your own mind. Try not to let Cognitive Dissonance make you ignore things just because they conflict with long held beliefs. Those beliefs could be wrong. Always always get to the original source of information, cherry picked summaries can often be misleading.

Remember the truth can be boring and several pages long!

Originally posted by funbox
so really the only logical conclusion from this is that you can trust no one , not even oneself?

Thats pretty much it.
Everyone makes honest mistakes. Mistakes in memory, mistakes in logic etc...
No, you cant trust even yourself.

Excellent subject.
There can be conspiracy sheeple as well as MSM sheeple.
But if you are interested in finding the truth as opposed to automatically adopting a certain mindset, don't take the word of anything or anyone. If an article is quoted try to go to the source. Sometimes you will find it says something completely different to what, say a forum or youtube poster claims. Of course by that time it is all over the net and has taken on a life, and a truth, of its own.
Then think about the credibility of the source (Sorch Faal comes to mind). Also whether there could be other agendas - like selling books, vitamins, dvds, medical treatment...
Plus, as individual news channels have their biases, you sometimes need to go to different channels.
Try to have an open enquiring mind. That's the best any of us can do.

reply to post by Mike_A


It's not really so inscrutable. Machiavelli wrote The Prince in 1513.
The PTB mix truth with lies.

reply to post by Mike_A

I believe there is a way, Mike_A, and I suspect you do too. If you’ll post your way, I’ll post mine.

reply to post by Tephra


I think plenty of the bigger names make more than a decent living but money isn’t the only motivator; influence, a sense of importance etc all play a part. Maybe they do broadly believe what they say but that doesn’t make them right nor does it mean they don’t add their own slant or that they aren’t “selective” in what they report, all for what they perceive to be the greater good. But it is a fact that alternative media has been caught out lying or getting things wrong, so why trust them more than the mainstream?

As for the message that they are presenting, I think you’re seeing what you want to see.

You say the mainstream message is fear, hatred and obey as thought the alternative does share this message except it’s obey me not the government, fear the reptilians, hate the sheeple.

Conversely I can find plenty in the mainstream that demonstrates distrust of government, concern over freedom and rights etc.

But surely the general message isn’t that important if at the end of the day it is based on a lie? What good is preaching distrust of government if the truth is that the government is trying to help you (for example vaccination programs)?

reply to post by Mike_A


I guess sometimes I just can't help wondering just who is going to benefit from something. And that's a behavior I did not use to have.

Just as the world outside the USA did not believe the WMD story pimped out of Washington and London as promoted by major news media, THERE there was a history of deception that's been solidly established. Nowhere did I hear anyone challenging the government story with a very loud voice. I'll never forget the NY Times front page headline that labeled the French "Weasels!" rather than seriously question why other countries were not going along with it. I never read the Times again. So the population got an example dose of infantile name-calling instead of stopping to say "Whoa there. Why do other countries doubt this possibility?" (Remember Ambassador Wilson had a story that refuted the intel? And remember how the Bush WH outed Wilson's wife as a CIA operative?) So some people were trying to get it out to the outside world) And so while we viewers were shouting at the television set that other countries had their own intel too and it differed, many of us were clearly able to see down the road. How much of that was reported? We were given no voice, even when we really had bets on how long it was going to take the new pres (Bush) to declare war on Iraq.

So no, I do not see a conspiracy in everything, but I do tend to question everything government says, especially since corruption means leading by deceit, obfuscation of the truth and events, and of course the real purpose behind something. Simply because we have a very solid example of this.

With the subtle but nevertheless increasing loss of our sovereignty and rights, we should adopt a questioning attitude and not just blindly accept things. We don't have to outright disbelieve or accept, but we now have to question. everything. We owe it to our children.

reply to post by Mike_A

But why aren’t the alternative media susceptible to twisting things to their own agenda? They certainly don’t all agree with each other so some must be twisting things. You say that more truth comes from the alternative media but you don’t say why you believe this. How do you know they’re not lying, twisting, or acting as the mouth piece of some hidden power?

The alternative media is certainly susceptible to slanting the news to manipulate opinions and they sensationalize news just like the MSM. I think when someone says they prefer alternative media sources, they are probably referring more to the fact that the MSM has become very adept at intentionally keeping information from us, and many times the alternative sources will print that which the MSM doesn't want us to know.

To the O.P.:

Attempting to get to the bottom of anything to arrive at some truth nowadays is very hard. Not all journalists working within the MSM are trying to deceive us, and occasionally we get a surprise when unexpected info relating to government wrongdoing and lies manages to make it's way to the newspapers. The media world is too big, and TPTB cannot possibly monitor every single piece of info that reveals their wrongdoing in order to prevent it from making news.

As far as mainstream media goes, I've seen more investigative journalism exposing govt. deceit come out of CBS and ABC than anywhere else. Fox News and CNN are a complete joke. However, the entire MSM dove into the seedy underworld long ago and most investigative journalists trying to do a good job have to work miracles to bring us the fruits of their labors.

My advice is also to be careful of sources that sway heavily toward a particular political party. Remember that the art of taking a relatively insignificant event and twisting it into some bigger-than-life ordeal is what the political parties have acquired great expertise in. And our government these days is working overtime to make sure there is so much bullsh** put out their that we can't even begin to scratch the surface of truth.

Whatever you do, don't forget that your instincts and your gut reaction to information is a good tool to point you to truth. Our government has cornered the market on creating self-doubt within the populace so that we begin to question even the facts that we have witnessed with our own eyes and ears.

reply to post by aboutface

Nowhere did I hear anyone challenging the government story with a very loud voice.

The BBC did, they caused a huge controversy with the claims that the British government had “sexed up” the case for war.

The mainstream media, at least as I understand the term, doesn’t just refer to any one national media but all professional media the world over. There was dissent, perhaps not very prominent in the US media but it was available within the mainstream.

But my point in the OP isn’t to say that alternative sources should be totally rejected or that the mainstream is to be blindly believed; my question was really addressed to those that totally reject the MSM for the reasons I laid out but nevertheless believe alternative sources almost without question.

Reading your post it seems you would agree with the opinion already posted and that I agree with, i.e. all sources should be scrutinised.

reply to post by NightGypsy

I think when someone says they prefer alternative media sources, they are probably referring more to the fact that the MSM has become very adept at intentionally keeping information from us, and many times the alternative sources will print that which the MSM doesn't want us to know

As I said to the above poster this thread was inspired by a particular thread that did totally reject the MSM as totally untrustworthy while believing the alternative without question; though I don’t think anyone from that thread has posted here.

I don't believe, I just do and take in pleasures.

I don't take anything as real,no matter the source.
I read everything,i hear all the opinions and then calculate the possibilities of where the truth may lie.

Even in the MSM there has to be some truth.The trick is to find it.If you strip all the unnecessary blah-blah-blah and the opinion of the presenter you may find a truth.