Has anyone ever noticed how manipulative the media is? I usually choose what to read from news sites that I somewhat trust. However, ever since this gruesome pandemic has struck, I’ve been watching the evening news. What a shit show. The emotional manipulation is astounding. Do people see this as well or is it just me? Let’s run down the stories that were on the six o’clock news tonight.
The first story was about a brazen shooting in downtown Toronto. The shooting was on King Street near Blue Jay Way. It involved a local rapper who was said to be the target and unfortunately was murdered. In the story, they showed new footage of the shooting from different angles. In the video we can see a shootout happen in the middle of the day, with no regard for innocent bystanders. One of the bystanders was a six-year-old child who was separated from his mother. He was nearly struck. On the video we can see the bullet hole in the sidewalk just inches behind the boy. As a parent this story fucking kills me. Just a normal day going out to pick up some random things and BAM your child is caught in the crossfire. I can’t even imagine how the parents feel.
The second story reported was a young girl who “fell” from her 24-storey balcony. In the story, the family of the victim claims that the girl was actually pushed from the balcony by the police who were called to help her because she was having a seizure. The family was bawling, as they should be, it’s a truly emotional story. Watching the mother and sister sob while describing the victim is gut wrenching. But what really pucker punches the viewer the most is that the story is completely plausible. The victim was a young woman of colour. Unless your head has been buried in the sand for some time, you know the police do not have the best record when it comes to people of colour, which brings me to the next story.
The following story was about the riots that have broken out in Minneapolis due to the murder of George Floyd by the police. The video showed the Longfellow neighourhood burning to the ground. Looters are going into shops and destroying as much as they can. Violent protests have been occurring for two consecutive nights. People are pissed. It’s not like this is a one off. Unfortunately this shit happens way too often. The most infuriating part, from my point of view, is that the pig who killed George Floyd will most likely go free. Gotta protect the badge at all costs, right? George Floyd will not get any justice, and the city knows that. Hence the riots. Burn baby burn. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Now, all of these stories are important and should be reported. I am in no way saying they shouldn’t. But let’s face it. They’re fucking heavy. All at once, the news just slapped the viewer repeatedly across the face. As if things weren’t bad enough right now, we’re subject to more and more shit. It just keeps piling up. But not to worry because the media has some fluff pieces to follow.
After broadcasting these atrocities, the news stations know that the viewer can’t take another negative story, so they report some bullshit about a donkey that interrupts Zoom meetings. I like animals as much as the next person, but this is clearly just a story to stop the viewer from leaping out their 9th storey window, or stepping in front of a bus the next time they venture outside. It’s all good though. Cause it’s international hamburger day and celebrities are celebrating it online, so the world’s all good now. Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows baby. Who the fuck cares? Seriously? And why do hamburgers get their own fucking day? You don’t need a special day to eat burgers.
This blatant attempt at controlling the viewer’s emotions is appalling. As already stated, these stories are important and need to be reported, for sure. But do they need to do it in rapid fire succession? We have a huge mental health crisis as it is. Do we really need to be exposed to more stories that will most likely increase people’s anxiety and depression? Now I know what you’re going to say. You could just turn off the TV. And I get that. I’m just pointing out something that needs to be discussed. The media manipulates. It’s sick and needs to stop. Maybe if we all collectively turned off our television sets, things would get better? Not likely. But at least we wouldn’t know.
Observations of an Oddity 