Media manipulation can be a real futhermucker

Salutations my keen following of fellow bloggers, I am back with a penchant for writing more insightful posts that explore and delve into the intricacies of Language and literature.

But before jumping the gun (Much like America did in the 2000s), it’s time for the WOW word of this post. Courtesy of the American people’s new president, the word demagogue is one that beautifully encapsulates the person of, and campaigning strategy of Donald Trump.  Defined as an individual who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational arguments. Even though my stance on the outcome of this election is neutral, I feel this word fitting of the new presidential elect in what I believe was the most disgraceful election of all time. An apt use of this word would be “By his demeanor and campaign strategy, Trump was seen as being unabashedly a demagogue.” 

Now getting to the point of this post, the statement, “Deception is just as bad as telling an outright lie,” is one that I STRONGLY disagree with. In my opinion it is far worse than telling an outright lie. When first presented with this question, my viewpoint was more ambivalent however after watching the Al Jazeera documentary, Control Room, which gives insight into the war on Iraq from a non-American perspective, my thoughts in regards to this changed from intellectual hesitation to visceral certainness. In war that plagued the Middle East for the last 10 years and has had repercussions that will have continue to have effect for generations to come, the media was almost entirely responsible for how the rest of the world viewed the war. The western broadcasts, from the very onset, portrayed this war as a war for freedom. A war of attrition against the supposed dictatorship of that time, the US were portrayed as the heroes of this war, going in with the selfless aim of liberating a people begging for their help. In actuality however this was not the case. Innocent men, women and children were killed; Iraqi citizens wanted nothing to do with their American “liberators” and instead wanted them gone. This was a blatant example of deception. Worse than the outright lie of telling people they were there to help, the entire world was led to believe that the Iraqi Government was sent from hell with the American intervention being nothing short of heaven sent. The entire world was turned against and put in favor of the US, only seeing one side of the story. The greatest deception of this all, was the fact that false situations were created in which inhumane acts were committed, an example of these being the writings of Jill Patterson. This is conjunction with the bombings of news stations that were not pro American, serve to further show deception as being worse than a lie. Once the truth is revealed, what is left is a visceral hate towards the American Government and the deceit they spread worldwide. In conclusion that is why deception is worse than telling an outright lie.