Strategies To Maintain Wellness When Bombarded With Negative News, Tricks & Bluffs

Ironically, we are told through the media that the pandemic is not over, all systems are overwhelmed, nothing is sacred, truth is subjective, and violent crime is increasing. Yet our opinions about these topics are being classified as misinformation. We must believe everything we read in the media, or we are the proverbial bad children. Even if a percentage of it makes little sense, dare we question it at least?

The misinformation concept has a great deal of hyperbole attached to it, yet it is chronically ill-defined. What exactly is misinformation? It is a conundrum, and a cauldron, a witches brew, that we do not want to inadvertently fall into. Nevertheless, we are lured into the debate, and whipped into shape.

We might logically say, do your own research, and draw your own conclusions. In fact the misinformation warriors are telling people to learn critical thinking. The problem is, they want us to think the way they do. Somehow they have a corner on critical thinking, and those who disagree are dangerous and even “killing people” with misinformation. Yet isn’t this type of conformity the very opposite of critical thinking?

One of the rising trends in the mainstream media, on youtube, and various other social media platforms, is an increasing level of hyperbole, and click bait type gloom and doom. There is also a significant amount of overt denial toward any information that is contrary to certain narratives, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

A moral compass has turned into a game of spin the bottle, truth or dare, squirrel and the nut, or a carnival type wheel with goofy prizes. Nothing shocks us anymore. We need shock absorbers and blinders. Play these games at your own peril, and most of all, hide what you really think, for fear of being ostracized. Good and bad got reversed somewhere along the line.

If there is no such thing as conspiracies, as just an example, why would there be so many romance scams? The losses surrounding these scams are growing exponentially, and are estimated to be well over a billion dollars. A high percentage of them are tied to very sophisticated international organized crime groups.

Yet people all over the world will sign up for online dating, and then fall in love with a phantom. One woman who had been married for seventeen years, had four or five children, and then got divorced, was taken in by what most would consider to be something straight out of a B grade movie. All it takes is flattery, and some people are hooked. Flattery and the belief there is no such thing as fraud in the fantasy world of instant love.

She claimed to have an incredible connection, and it was, only it was a connection she hadn’t bargained for. In no time flat her online Romeo had to go on a secret mission to Israel. For many, that would be a big red flag. But she was intrigued, so she stayed in constant contact with him. Then he miraculously inherited seven million pounds, the equivalent of eleven and a half million Canadian dollars. Such a claim is another huge red flag, as a prudent person might immediately see it as a lie, or worse yet, money laundering and organized crime.

But she went along with it, even though her suitor introduced her to other nefarious characters, and convinced her to go to Dubai where she was shown a suitcase full of money. However, for some strange reason, she had to keep paying to have it kept in a safety deposit box, as well as pay to have it converted to pounds. She ended up taking out loans to the max, and even though her son was going to the police, she still did not realize how sketchy the entire saga was. She is lucky she did not get thrown into a prison in Dubai, or simply murdered after they got all her money.

People do have to live their lives as they see fit. And there is no point in being completely paranoid. The key is to see the red flags, and avoid things like fear, deception, and flattery. Excessive flattery means you have hooked up with a fake flake. It does not mean you suddenly morphed into an object of divine beauty. It means you are being manipulated by a con artist. It may be tough to admit, but admitting it early will save you a lot of grief.

Conspiracies do exist, and have always existed. Some are small scale. Some are very large scale and convoluted. There is no shortage of devious schemes. Such schemes can surround everything from romance, to real estate, to health care, religion, and used cars. If there is money to be made, there will be schemes to go with it.

As far as mainstream media, some of it is true, and some of it is not. Instead of targeting a single individual, it is targeting the masses with sales pitches, or a steady diet of fear. The ways to counter this type of group think might be to avoid buying into garish titles, articles and talks. Alternatively, we can skim the topics and keep asking ourselves, “What is the motive here?” “What do they want us to believe?” They seem to be dealing in opposites and contradictions. Why? We should always be curious, and inquisitive because that’s how we learn, from the day we are born into this world.

We can be sure that in the competitive world of content creation, it is well known, people tend to gravitate toward negative news. In fact, there are numerous scholarly articles exploring the addiction to negative news.

Although much of the negative news is political in nature, it is not necessarily so, and not always a polarization between left and right. I believe a good percentage of it is competition based, marketing and profit based, and in the cases of certain individuals, ego based attention seeking.

It is one thing to aim for balanced content, and the sharing of ideas, but I believe if a person or organization is constantly steeped in gloom and doom, they are often trying to use negative news to emotionally bait and manipulate people.

One example to take note of is Jordan Peterson. Whether you admire him or not, and whether you agree with him or not, as a psychologist, he would know about emotional manipulation. He uses it in a high percentage of his youtube presentations.

In fact, he is now being shown crying in many of those presentations, as though the weight of the world is on his shoulders, and only he has the insight, the answers, and the predictions of what is to come. He seeks constant attention, and then he frets and cries about the attention he is getting. If he truly wants less attention, he simply has to back off the attention seeking. People fall into obscurity very quickly, no matter how famous they have become.

Just look at some of the top news stories of 2022, like the death of Olivia Newton John, or the Anne Heche car crash, or even the death of Queen Elizabeth. Before you know it, after a few splashes in every newspaper, they are soon forgotten, and life goes on. Anyone who is filled with self importance, must realize it is transient, and short-lived. Big egos of today, will be very disappointed to know how quickly they will be forgotten.

For a period of time a couple years ago, JP, his wife, and his daughter constantly aired their ill health and near death experiences. It was always very rare, and no one in Canada could treat those rare illnesses. After his bout in a drug induced coma in Russia, he started to recover, and it seemed like maybe he was humbled, and perhaps prepared to keep a lower profile.

But his self promotion could not be overcome, and he is all over social media covering every topic known to humans. He has a very distinctive style, and convoluted linguistic patterns. Nothing is straight forward. If he is asked a question, a yes or no answer is out of the question. First he reframes it, expands upon it, then tries to pull in the unravelling threads, then contradicts himself, and finally comes up with the conclusion. All this to prove the brilliance of his mind, and even more so, a rigid ego. However, don’t get me wrong, he has a right to express his many opinions in whatever way he chooses. 

To be honest, I feel sorry for him. Not because he is crying and using emotional manipulation as click bait, but because he is a walking contradiction, and does not seem to realize it. He has been speaking a great deal about the Bible, yet he does not seem to have faith. The Bible tells us the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Like many of the topics he latches onto, he has a superficial grasp, but fails to fully process the truth.

We cannot oversimplify things in order to understand them, and nor can we go down every rabbit hole known to the human psyche. It’s just not healthy. He sort of does a bit of both, and has attracted many followers, so who am I to say? It’s just that I do not agree with all of his claims. But admittedly, I often do not agree with those who claim to be brilliant beyond our own comprehension. 

We don’t have to be brilliant scientists, or align our opinions with the experts. In fact, the experts seem to be spreading more so-called misinformation than anyone else. In addition, the expert advice constantly changes, yet we are supposed to go along with it, even though the goal posts are constantly moving, and the game never ends.

Did we get a half time show? Do we get a chance to intercept the ball and run with it? Even if we are just playing our own game in our own back yard? Or will CBC show up with a camera crew, to make sure the game is full of gags?

The reality is that the world has been full of gloom and doom prophecies since the beginning of time. The Bible also describes an increasing amount of tribulation as we get closer to the end of the age. We almost need to recognize that fear is our greatest enemy. Or perhaps more aptly put, deception and fear are the arrows we must dodge on a daily basis.

One of our greatest assets is our intuition. Even though we conform to the laws and standards set out by the various authorities, no one can control another person’s mind. The best they can do is control behaviour. But truly, our thoughts are our own. There are certain hyper controlling individuals, and cults that do not want us to have our own thoughts, beliefs and opinions. The more controlling a person or organization is, the more likely they are to lose control. When we have a firm grasp of our own thoughts, and intellectual liberty, we are protecting our minds from the lunacy around us.

The reason we seek and speak the truth, is because when light shines on deception and darkness, it brings scrutiny, and scrutiny brings clarity. Clarity helps our thoughts, and give us confidence in our decision making abilities. Truth is not defective. It prevails in the end. Truth is our rock in times of trouble.

But consider this. We all have somewhere between sixty and eighty thousand thoughts per day. In many cases, we do not share our thoughts, and even if we share some of them, we could not possibly share all of them. Even in countries and times of extreme totalitarianism, people will still develop their own opinions, and many will not conform. Human nature is such that we question indoctrination, and many will independently seek the truth.

Even during the final hours before the Jim Jones massacre, as he descended into madness ranting and raving to a crowd of trapped followers, who turned into horrified onlookers, and then victims, there were many who tried to resist. They had been shut up and isolated, and had bought into a certain belief system for awhile, but many did try to escape. There were some brave individuals who stood up and tried to offer a voice of reason. Although it was considered a mass suicide, it was actually a mass murder, because most of those people did not sign up for such an atrocity. They were drawn into a massive deception.

Knowing it is in our nature to gravitate toward negative news, we simply need a good filter. Like ask yourself, “So what” or develop and share an opinion, but don’t count on a pat on the back, or anything at all. The value in sharing our opinions, is because conversation, discourse, and open dialogue is part of democracy. We share so that we do not become like flies shut up in a bottle feeding off our own thoughts, or those of a handful of experts who are self serving, and more indoctrinated than we are.

Some people try to avoid all the negativity through the various pop art cultures surrounding the power of positive thinking that have cropped up in different genres throughout the past forty or fifty years. Never mind, just be happy and surround yourself with positive people and positive thoughts, and voila – it will all magically go away.

The balance must be somewhere in the middle. Do a realistic appraisal of what is going on in the world, and how to best navigate it and/or adapt to it. There are certain things beyond our control, therefore we do have to adapt or we might be fighting a losing battle.

We are not responsible for the choices other people make. No matter how much someone tries to control other human beings, we still have intellectual freedom. For those of us who believe in the Gospel, we have liberty in the truth and in our faith.

Even though we feel depressed or downtrodden some of the time, it does not mean we lose our minds. In fact maintaining a sound mind, and a gratitude for all the good in the world, is the best antidote for a mind-altering regime, and negativity in the news.

If the sky is constantly falling, go out and look at the sky. It is reassuring. When spring comes, plant some flowers and watch them bloom. The trees will turn green just like they always do. You chat with a neighbour, or a friend and can still find normalcy, laughter, and common ground. Even if you talk to people routinely in the grocery store line-ups, it is quite remarkable, and enlightening to learn that most of them don’t buy into all the media hype either.

Whether it is the chirping of birds, or a good bowl of turkey soup with homemade bread, or the reliability and consistency of the seasons as the days get progressively longer, we can stay grounded.

How many times have we thought life is about pursuing happiness? Or wealth? Or being talented and beautiful? All such things are fleeting. Peace of mind is the greatest gift. We do not achieve it by listening to experts, or the media, or by reading self help books on the power of positive thinking.

We achieve it through faith, and security in the liberty of our own intellect, discernment and intuition. Then we can get the joy in the little things, and filter out the constant bombardment of gloom and doom.

Clearly things are careening off the rails. Apostasy not only affects the church, but it also affects the government, and things are becoming increasingly strange. Some of the things we are being exposed to defy logic. Many Christians believe they will be raptured, which is based on a false doctrine. Yet they are unshaken in this belief, and deceived. I cannot find anything in the Bible to support this concept. It is based on a complete alteration of the Bible by John Darby in the early 1800’s, and advanced by various books and Hollywood movies.

Like so many things, the rapture doctrine is based on escapism. We cannot escape reality or truth though, try as we might. There are so many questions people should ask themselves about this doctrine. In my opinion, it is not much different than a romance scam. It is a belief that is a magical and attractive alternative to facing the truth of tribulation and troubled times.

It’s interesting, because my question is not only where they think they will go, but whether or not they think they will still be alive, even though they are supposedly going to be raptured into the heavens. They cling to this belief, yet they cannot make such an exit while still being alive, so paradoxically they are facing death anyway. And they are hoping for an early death, which is not a common trait among people in general.

I also wonder, where do they think they will be hanging out until Christ’s return? What are they going to be doing in the meantime? And where in the Bible does it say there will be a secret rapture to take the believers out of the world when the going gets tough? Personally, I think John Darby created one of the biggest lies in the history of the church. It is not just the rapture theology that is wrapped up in this alteration of the Bible. There are many other unbiblical teachings embodied in the alternative doctrine as well. Yet you can hardly find a church that does not preach this stuff.

It is true, we can believe what we choose to believe, and whatever religions, or doctrines a person embraces is their own business. But all people should know the origin of what they are being taught. All churches should clearly state their denomination and foundational beliefs, so people know what they are signing up for. False doctrine was introduced to the churches since the beginning of time. The Bible gives us many warnings to test all things and not to be deceived. We are in a spiritual battle with enmity toward the church, so we should all be careful what we listen to. The church can actually be far worse than the secular world when it comes to deception.

Nothing can separate us from God’s love, and nothing is going to change His plans for the future of this world. For believers, there can be no greater solace, or hope than what God has to offer. We do not have to be filled with fear and worry regardless of the times of trouble.

A filter in our minds is synonymous with discernment. If we seek the truth, we will find it. The world has a great deal to overcome, but thankfully, we do have help, and guidance.

So rather than making the standard Happy New Year statement, here is wishing you a New Year filled with gratitude, goodness, hope, truth, and plenty of discernment, in the months and seasons ahead of us. Have faith, 2023 will have good things in store for us.

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2023). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.