Fact or Fake news
Bigstock

By Rob Morse

Our view of violence is wildly distorted. We don’t know the truth, but I think we can handle it. In the USA today, we think TV shows and the “news” represent reality. They aren’t. Instead of the truth, the news media feeds us the preferred biases of their selected audience spiced with titillating and emotionally charged subjects like violence and sexual scandal. That formula sells soap, insurance, and drugs, but it is also selling us a dangerous brew of politics. Unfortunately, that witches-brew of lies could get our children killed.

It is easy to think that the United States has become more violent over time. That false impression comes from our biased attention. Today, we carry a headline-machine in our pockets. Media algorithms deliver more of the kinds of headlines we’ve clicked. That is why we see more stories about violence, when in fact, the rate of violent crime has continued to fall for the last several years.

Due to our media-distorted perception, we think that mass murders are a hundred times more likely than they really are. In contrast, we largely ignore the danger of drugs, alcohol, and suicide because we don’t see those stories as often in the news. That distortion of reality leaves us vulnerable to political manipulation. It becomes too easy for politicians to sell us imaginary solutions to fictitious problems.

We know that 17 students and staff died last year (2018) during a mass murder at a US school. That is a horrible tragedy and I’ve written about how to save lives in schools. Because of the biased news coverage, we forget that the horrible murder toll in our schools is eclipsed a dozen times over on the streets of Chicago. Drug overdoses will kill more young people than that in a few days. We confuse the sensational with the meaningful.

The media continues its drum beat of distortion about mass murders that didn’t happen because it captures our attention. That distortion leaves us vulnerable and I’m afraid we’ll be manipulated. I fear that Antifa and the people behind them will attack a school to prove the politicians right.. and would do it shortly before the next election.

That sounds crazy to me, but we’ve already seen Antifa get away with violence. We also saw Jeffrey Epstein’s death while he was in police custody. Men who lust for power will always justify their actions.

The antidote to propaganda is more information.

The only way I now to stop such a plot is to read deeper. Set aside the ball games for a minute and study the risks our children face. Understand what really keeps our kids safe at schools. For extra credit, compare what you learned to what you were sold by the news media.

That could save our kids. And, it could also save our country.

New FBI Data: Violent Crime Still Falling
The ‘Ferguson effect’ is having a real impact on policing
How Badly Does The Media Bias People’s Views On The Types Of Deaths From Firearms?
The Crime Rate Perception Gap
The School Shootings That Weren’t
Drug Overdoses
Slow Facts – Posts from the FASTER Category
Wikipedia – Mass shootings in the United States

 

This article originally appeared at Rob Morse’s Slow Facts blog and is reprinted here with permission. 

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

80 COMMENTS

    • I’m still wondering why everyone – including POTG and the MSM – are dancing around the main topic in the middle of the room by throwing statistics and articles into the air for distraction.

      The main topic? “Shall not be infringed”. Let all be armed, at all times, in all places. Society will police itself, just like it did during the first 150 years of this country before we started mucking it up with “controls and restrictions” to embolden the criminals on the street, and the criminals in office.

      • Ooh I totally agree with you. The statistics don’t really matter. The problem is most people believe in privileges but they call them rights. it helps people who don’t believe in basic rights lean more toward freedom.

        A lot of people even on here confuse rights and privileges.

        If the statistics showed a reduction in suicides, murders or anything based on gun control I would still be against gun control. The problem with things like gun control is that you can apply it to anything. Cars, knives, pools, and other dangerous things lol. no one needs any of those.

        I take the position that if you are not willing to be consistent with your argument and let it be applied to other things it’s probably not a good argument. it works well for me.

  4. Why do people always call mass murder a tragedy?
    When a tornado knocks down a school with kids in it, that’s a tragedy.
    When somebody kills 17 kids, that’s an atrocity.

  5. More articles like this please.

    Also liked: “I fear that Antifa and the people behind them will attack a school to prove the politicians right.. and would do it shortly before the next election.”

    I think that’s an incredibly good assessment and I whole heartedly agree. I catch a lot of heat on this blog everytime I bring it up, but I think the left in this country is far more dangerous then we often portray them as. Everytime I bring up left wing violence, I’m told:

    “oh yeah all these weak feminist Vegan soy boys are gonna kill us all, right Merle.”

    Well, as I’ve been saying, the left isn’t entirely made up of feminist soy boys, and there are plenty of examples of why you don’t need someone physically strong to carry out a terrorist attack. Look at the Boston bombers. Neither of those kids were particularly jacked, hardcore militants. The crazy idiot who shot up the GOP baseball game was an old, overweight leftist. The BLM supporter who killed 5 cops in Dallas is another example. Al Queda is another example. Al Queda wasn’t made up of guys who could stand toe to toe with any well trained military. But they could plant bombs, abduct people, and shoot unarmed women and children. I believe Antifa could indeed morph into that style of group, and still have media support even.

    • Three words

      Presidential
      Assassination
      Attempt

      I don’t think they’d have a single problem finding a martyr for their cause & it would turn public opinion of damn near everyone against us. Just look at what happened the last two times.

    • Merle,

      I think you are correct. Add to you concern the far-left employees in Federal and State beauracracies, and far-left operatives in Justice and Intelligence.

    • The Israelis train their fighter pilots to go into a fight expecting to confront the world’s best fighter pilot as their adversary. Our side would be well advised to do the same. It would be foolish to think all Leftists are soy boys. There are plenty of examples of Leftists with military training – the commie West Pointer former Ranger, Lt Rapinoe, comes to mind – and there are more like him than you might expect, both former and currently serving in the military. The Left has something our side doesn’t, namely, organization. They have nationwide Antifa affiliated groups like the John Brown Gun Club who regularly get together to train to kill us and Antifa has repeatedly proved they are willing to use violence to intimidate people like us. In the recent past, Leftists have mobilized thousands to take to the streets to confront a comparative handful of Right wingers. So far, our side has been unable to generate a like number of people to confront THEM. If anyone thinks a civil war would be an easy win for our side because “we have guns”, I believe they are sadly misinformed because Leftists have guns, too.

      Our Forefathers didn’t win the Revolutionary War by mindlessly rioting in the streets. They were extremely organized and they had people who were willing to sacrifice everything for the Cause. We won’t prevail unless we emulate their example.

  6. Leftards are not interested in fact or truth,they tend to be for the most part useful brainless idiots,willing to drink the kool aid of their Marxist masters.

  8. Information as antidote sounds good. Let’s ask Mr. Tyson how that worked out for him. The people we’re dealing with are ignorant by design. They actively deny reality. All the information in the world won’t change that.

  9. Instead of the truth, the news media feeds us the preferred biases of their selected audience spiced with titillating and emotionally charged subjects like violence and sexual scandal. That formula sells soap, insurance, and drugs, but it is also selling us a dangerous brew of politics. [emphasis mine]

    That there, ladies and gentlemen, is a truth-bomb of epic proportions.

    The people of our nation would be wise to know and remember that fact. In a nutshell: our news media does not exist to inform us and better our lives. Rather, our news media exists to sell advertising and advance the Socialist agenda.

    • U_C,

      Well said. Taking it a bit further, there are a few industries that dominate all advertising: pharma pays for between 20% and 40% of all advertising dollars. That is a lot of clout. No media organization will risk losing that money by reporting accurately on pharma ops. Pharma also has two lobbyists in DC for every Senator and congressman.

      Aerospace and Defense have similar clout.
      So does High-Tech.
      So does the rest of the healthcare industry, and the insurance sector.

      With mainstream media and Legislators dependent upon corporate sponsors, mainstream news and entertainment will reflect the interests of the sponsors, as will all legislation.

      The way out of this mess is through the independent media that do not rely on corporate sponsorship.

  10. The antidote to propaganda is more information.

    The only way I now to stop such a plot is to read deeper. Set aside the ball games for a minute and study the risks our children face. Understand what really keeps our kids safe at schools. For extra credit, compare what you learned to what you were sold by the news media.

    Unfortunately, I do not believe that is a winning formula. Far, far too many people are emotional and for such people facts and truth are utterly and wholly irrelevant. There are also far, far too many people who value entertainment so much that truth, knowledge, and reality are effectively irrelevant to them as well. (Whether or not such people are a subset of emotional people I will not venture a guess.)

    While I would never discourage anyone from trying to share the truth, facts, and reality with anyone, I WOULD encourage everyone to have a Plan B when our attempts to share the truth, facts, and reality fail.

  12. In the animal kingdom predators use camoflage as deception, in the human kingdom they seem to use their voice. ( Ehh Im wrong on that too, theres a predatory lightning bug that mimicks the flashes of other lightning bugs, so Im thinking flashes are the bugs voices) Im sure there are other exsamples but as a majority humans talk a lot of sht.

  13. Best way to keep your children or grand children from being a victim in a school shooting is for them not to be there. Home school is the safest and best choice. They’ll get a better education, won’t be a victim of a school shooting and the staff (you) can be armed as well as some of your students (your children)!

    • The encroaching vaccine laws are forcing more parents to do just this. One of the positive unintended consequence of the pharmaceutical industry’s assault on our rights.

      • Let me translate your comment into plain English for you:. “I have a right to spread diseases to other people.” I bet you agree with Big Gay about removing penalties fot failing to inform sex partners of their HIV positive status.

        • “Big Gay” 😂 I like it. And when you say it like that, it’s completely true. I’ve never thought about it that way. And I totally with you. The left legalized a form of murder. Just because it takes 10 years to kill someone doesn’t mean it’s not murder.

        • Oh, so you’re one of the people that believes the pharmaceutical industry DOES have the right to force the public to use its products? Products that have no liability? And products that have never been properly safety tested? And maybe you can explain how healthy unvaccinated people are spreading inflections they don’t have to vaccinated people that are supposedly protected against said infection? Can you?

        • Vaccines that have been used safely and effectivel for decades. Enough said. And I see that you agree that an a HIV positive individual has a right to “share the wealth.”

        • I and all my children were vaccinated. I believe in them. If you are vaccinated, why do you care what this guy does? It’s none of your business

        • TonyL, the risks isn’t to people who are vaccinated, it’s to young children and babies who haven’t yet been vaccinated. Also there isn’t a need by the government to use vaccines to poison everyone with. If the government really wanted to force everyone to consume a particular substance they’d just dump it in the water supply like they do with fluoride.

        • Yes, vaccines have been used for decades. That they have been safe and effective is your unsubstantiated opinion. There is no study or existing science that shows vaccines to be safe, and we have millions of parents worldwide reporting otherwise. Maybe you’re aware of the 1986 Childhood Vaccine Injury Act? Has paid out over 4 Billion in damages? And that we know less than 1% of vaccine injury is reported? The most interesting thing about your position is that on a thread about media misinformation, you are repeating some of the biggest misinformation we are being fed today. Well done.

        • tdiinva,

          Unvaccinated people do not spread diseases to vaccinated people. Thus unvaccinated people pose no threat to vaccinated people.

          While unvaccinated people could spread disease to other unvaccinated people, those other unvaccinated people took on that risk willingly. Thus, unvaccinated people are not committing any crimes or doing anything inherently destructive for society.

        • tdiinva,

          And where does it end? If I sneeze in public and end up causing three people to catch a cold or influenza, am I criminally liable? Just how sick does someone have to be until they are obligated to quarantine themselves? Do we punish people for failing to exercise, eat healthy food, and take vitamins since they will be spreading diseases to society?

          I do agree on one front: if you know that you have a serious communicable disease such as Hepatitis, HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, or HPV, you have a moral, ethical, and legal obligation to inform everyone before subjecting them to your bodily fluids.

        • But I continue ask this question of all the anti vaccine believers here. I think the entire underlying argument behind the anti vaccine movement is simply incorrect. At the heart of the anti vaccine argument is that the government is trying poison us all with certain substances a number of reasons. But like I said already, why? It’s been proven that the government can already pour what ever chemicals they want into the water supply at whim without any fanfare. Any chemical they wanted to induce the population with could easily be done in this manner. Add in bottled water and you could nab over 80% of the US population in an afternoon. So why bother with a huge, expensive, elaborate vaccine program?

        • Merle, it’s not an anti vaccine position. It’s a medical freedom position. Hard to believe gun owners wouldn’t understand this.

        • TonyL I’m arguing in favor of forced vaccinations. Believe me, if the government started going to door to door wanting to inject people with any substance, I’d be right there on the front lines with y’all. But that’s not the case and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I’m really only arguing against the conspiracy at the heart of the anti vaccine argument that the government is trying to induce us all with certain chemicals, and that we should fear and reject vaccines. I do not think there’s a need to fear vaccines as they stand today.

        • There’s a global push to mandate vaccines. It’s not the government, its the people who pull the government strings, globally. It should raise eyebrows that these products have not only never been adequately safety tested, but also that you cannot sue the vaccine manufacturers themselves when their products cause injury or death. If you think it’s about safety, think about this, in a growing number of states kids with active HepB are protected by law to go to public schools, whereas healthy kids, kids without HepB and who have not been vaccinated against it are denied access to public schools.

        • If real vaccine safety science existed, tdiinva would have spammed me with it and rightfully embarrassed me for making an easily provable false statement. But he didn’t, because he couldn’t, because the safety science science doesn’t exist. You should be very worried about these products, especially if you were familiar with the ingredients.

        • The Vaccine Injury Compensation Board has paid out over $4.5 billion, to date. All payouts are under gag-order.

          Despite some publications that claim the threshold that claimants must meet is low, it is actually very time consuming and expensive to sue this ‘vaccine court’ for damages. Claimants must pay their own attorneys while government paid attorneys defend the Vaccine Compensation Board.

          It is extremely difficult to win in vaccine court and many claimants just give up.

          If you have an open mind, check out The National Vaccinne Information Center. Link below. They have a great library on vaccine issues. If you have already decided that all of us anti-vaxxer are ignorant and anti-science, the information here may not make a difference to you.

          https://www.nvic.org/

          ONE LAST POINT: I came to be a gun-owner because I watched our government and our media become captive to the pharmaceutical industry, and I watched that industry pay for legislation to make their products mandatory and to persecute doctors and parents who insist on medical choice.

          I will not comply.

        • TonyL: “And maybe you can explain how healthy unvaccinated people are spreading inflections they don’t have to vaccinated people that are supposedly protected against said infection?”
          Have you stopped beating your wife (or other SO) yet?
          Obviously people who aren’t sick can’t infect others, because they don’t have any illnesses.
          However, unvaccinated people tend to contract illnesses vaccinated people don’t. When that happens, then unvaccinated people do spread those illnesses to other unvaccinated people, endangering their health.
          The way you phrased your question fails to reflect reality in that it’s a fact/truth that unvaccinated people to indeed get the illnesses vaccinated people don’t,and when they do, they can (and do) spread those illnesses to others who are similarly unvaccinated. And many of those illnesses have serious results.
          If you’re cool with that, then when someone you love comes down with such an illness, you share responsibility for the costs, both financially and physically.
          And that’s not even mentioning the conspiracy theory about vaccines causing autism.

        • LMFAO….As Big Bill “injects” one of the worst straw man fallacies I’ve ever seen into a science discussion. Comedy Gold Bill, keep em coming. And when you’re able to answer the question with science and facts, I’ll be happy to take you seriously.

        • Hey, Possum!

          Everyone knows you critters are extraordinarily healthy.

          Here is some info I found on what to do if a possum bites you:

          “Wash the bite site very well with soap and water

          Apply an antiseptic on the bite site and put a band aid on. Keep an eye on the wound and look out for sign of an infection. The probability of an infection is also low because possums seldom have harmful bacteria in their mouth like dogs and cats.”

    • Have any of you seen this crap?

      https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/10/accomplished-charter-school-leader-fired-for-publicly-worrying-about-academic-excellence/

      or:

      https://dailycaller.com/2019/10/31/honors-classes-math-racist-activists/

      Do homeschooling, private/parochial schooling, or something.
      Yeah, and before anyone says “But my kid’s school is different!!!”: for how long will that be? Until your school hires a SJW, a Marxist with a desire to preach the gospel of envy and totalitarianism, a white-hating racist(who by extension, hates successful minorities). They universities that produced the crazies in the links I posted are producing others as well.

      • “But MY kid’s school is different!”
        Are you sure of that, how do you know. Have you gone to their classroom and looked at their books.

        I have young relatives that were going to a “good” school. They graduated from highschool as dedicated socialists.

        School teachers are subverted while the go to college to get their teaching degrees. There may be a few who resist the brain washing but many fall for it.

  14. Number of mass public shootings in 2018….12. Total killed, 93. That info. is from Mother Jones….. the majority of gun murder happens in democrat controlled voting districts, committed by criminals released on bond from jail, or from prison on ridiculously short prison sentences….democrat judges, politicians and prosecutors who keep letting these criminals loose….that story should be covered more and more….

  15. The 1976 movie “Network” was a prescient look at today’s news business The movie was made four years before CNN debuted. There is only so much information out there so a 24 hour news station had to fill the time and they usually fills it with junk and repetition. That junk is often local crime news that had no effect on the viewer but they treat a murder on the other side of the country like it happened next door. No wonder people get the false impression that crime is up.

    • This is why I quit watching all the national news networks and their local/regional affiliates. So much garbage.

      I kept asking myself why a guy like me would need to know about any given thing they reported, and the answer to 90% of it was that it served no useful purpose at all — unless sensationalized junk and disinformation were useful.

      And of course that stuff *is* useful to a lot of people for a variety of reasons, none of which are useful or good for me and mine.

  16. Rob Morse is a prison all friend and one of the smarest and most articulate defenders of our God-given Natural rights that I know. He’s one of the hosts of “The Polite Society Podcast”. Give him a listen and read his “Slowfacts” blog.

  17. ” I fear that Antifa and the people behind them will attack a school to prove the politicians right.. and would do it shortly before the next election.”

    With that statement the Author lost all credibility. The only Witches brew of lies that the Author refers to is the Author himself. He promotes wild conspiracy theories about Anti-fa who to date as far as I know has not been responsible for any of our mass murders nor I believe any murders at all. I believe the Author went to “The School of Trump” and majored in scapegoating, propaganda and fear mongering. Show me a single case settled in court that was proven and was laid directly at the feet of the boggy men of Anti-fa.

    “It is easy to think that the United States has become more violent over time. That false impression comes from our biased attention.”

    In the 50’sand 60’s mass murders were very rare while today they happen almost weekly. Drug addition and mental illness and the corresponding violence that stems from these problems are now common among even young school children, something again that was almost unheard of in times past.

    “We know that 17 students and staff died last year (2018) during a mass murder at a US school. That is a horrible tragedy and I’ve written about how to save lives in schools. Because of the biased news coverage, we forget that the horrible murder toll in our schools is eclipsed a dozen times over on the streets of Chicago.”

    The Author fails to realize both problems are closely related and to say that since we have one serious problem we should ignore the other one makes us wonder if the Author needs to see a mental health expert.

    Our problems are complex and not all of them can be laid at the feet of gun control but the Author seems to suggest we do nothing about gun violence in the U.S. Rather than suggest solutions to the gun problem without actually banning guns seems to be beyond the comprehension or understanding of the Author as he mentioned none of the obvious solutions because it would not sit well with his hard core base. Little does he realize his base is not the majority of U.S. Citizens today. The longer we wait to take action the more draconian will be the knee jerk reaction after the upcoming elections and its headed for us like a runaway freight train and that will hurt everyone both gun owners and non-gun owners alike. It appears as though we gun owners are sitting in front of an overflowing Damn during a deluge, shrugging our shoulders, and then waiting for it to burst and sweep us all away.

    • This article really demeans “T Tag”. It is a good example why we need to reopen State Mental institutions and reserve a place there for the Author.

    • You really aught to attend an English class.While your at it, attend a class on history, criminology and a basic class on statistics. Also check out some actual books on the subject, such as “why crime rates fell”. Reddit, Wikipedia, and 4chan are bad places to learn.

    • “Rather than suggest solutions to the gun problem without actually banning guns seems to be beyond the comprehension or understanding of the Author as he mentioned none of the obvious solutions because it would not sit well with his hard core base.”

      What “gun problem”? If murderers started to throw their victims out of high buildings, would you call for solutions to the window problem?
      In that novel of yours I must have overlooked all the solutions that you proposed to appease the gun grabbing flood.
      Call me hardcore if you wish – I’m all done compromising on my constitutionally protected human rights. Not One Inch Further! And I want my cake back!

    • “” I fear that Antifa and the people behind them will attack a school to prove the politicians right.. and would do it shortly before the next election.”

      With that statement the Author lost all credibility.”

      Correct me if I’m wrong, but (apart from specifically targeting schools) didn’t the Christchurch shooter do exactly that?
      IOW, the author’s fears aren’t divorced from reality. They have already played out. To dismiss them is to dismiss reality.

  18. Yes, the headline machine in our pockets that feeds us content based on our clicks and searches. Who hasn’t searched for a tactical light only to misspell flashlight and now get fed content for sex toys? Or is it just me? 🙂

    • You just have to keep the feeding the search engine machine more objects until that “other” one falls of the list. I know if I visit an online PC parts store I will get targeted ads about specials and hardware I was looking at. But I don’t mind seeing ads for CPUs, mainboards, SSDs, and HDDs as I’m designing a new PC to replace my 8 year old hastily thrown together mash-up.

  19. Three things sell everything from automobiles to zebras. Sex, violence, and, babies, not necessarily in that order. The idea of any news organization doing anything other than making money for the owners and / or, stockholders is bullshit.
    Mom used to say, “if you hear it, or, read it don’t believe any of it, if you see it with your own eyes, only believe half of what you see.” That was before TV.
    I don’t like anyone telling me what to do. I grew up my parents stopped telling me what to do. I got out of the military, they stopped telling me what to, I am not always right but by God I am never wrong. I take responsibility for what I do or don’t do. I certainly don’t want a government that I have paid a ton of money to forcing me to do anything. The ten commandments are sufficient to know right from wrong. The right to freely swing your fists, stops an inch from my nose. My right and responsibility to defend my nose starts anytime that inch is crossed. Simplistic view of the world? It’s only complicated if you want it to be.

  20. I guess Dan either is having a day off to recover from too much Halloween partying, as I am doing, or is missing this vaccine argument for some other reason. I thought we were not to be subjected to this crap. Not that I liked it either, but go back to SIG P320 bashing, at least some of the comments then were funny.

  21. I would recommend that everyone peruse and reference data from the FBI.

    CRIME IN THE USA is well known.

    Less known is LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS KILLED AND ASSAULTED. The detailed, caliber specific information is particularly insightful. Extrapolating to the data on ordinary citizens reveals that about 1% of all homicides are committed with AR-15s or other “assault rifles.”. More people are killed with the shotguns that are favored by Elmer Fudd.

    • More people were killed by blunt objects, knives, or even hands and feet than were killed by any form of rifle. Check out the FBI statistics for homicides.

  23. We would like to invite you to list your business (thetruthaboutguns.com) with allcbdstores.com, the world’s first CBD business directory with a global reach. Some of the reasons to list with us includes: lifetime listings, receive leads from potential clients via lead contact forms and receive a powerful backlink from an authority site.

Comments are closed.