Have you noticed that the same basic data is being interpreted in a completely opposite manner by so-called journalists and social media? One person reads a transcript and sees a crime. Another person reads the same transcript and sees nothing wrong at all. How does this happen?
I’m going through Leslie Householder’s Mindset Mastery program and this statement stood out to me today:
“”Facts” come in. Simple data. Every thought that enters our mind is nothing more than basic input. WE are the ones who attach meaning to the input. In and of itself, the input just is. It is what it is.”
I was thinking of this in terms of all the “news” we see reported every day as “facts.” Most of what we see and hear is not “fact.” The information we are bombarded with throughout the day has had meaning(s) attached to it. It is no longer “fact” but “opinion.”
Example: Did you hear about the commercial about a man giving his wife a piece of exercise equipment for Christmas? It’s a simple fact… this equipment exists and could be used as a gift. Yet, social media got hold of this and turned it into an offensive thing to give your wife a piece of exercise equipment.
The fact is… here is a piece of exercise equipment. It could be given as a gift. The meaning attached to it was that this misogynistic man couldn’t accept his wife as she was and wanted her to be more perfect. She wasn’t good enough in his mind. Giving her this exercise equipment was cruel and an affront to all women.
Where did that come from? The stories, the insecurities, the drama, fears, and false beliefs of a society that constantly and never-endingly looks for offense in the most benign places.
This happens on a grand scale with the “news” we’re fed. It isn’t news. It’s adulterated data. If we are ever to know the truth, we must find some way to detach “facts” from the meaning we and others attach to them. An exercise bike is just an exercise bike.
“Just the Facts, Ma’am”
So the next time you hear something controversial…
a) Look at the source data. What does it say? What was actually said in an uncut, unedited version in complete context?
b) If you attach no meaning or bias, what do the facts say? What does it say if you do no “reading between the lines” and make no assumptions?
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