Knowing Your Audience
Don't waste your breath talking to a brick wall
Sometimes it’s hard to find anyone to talk to about the dystopia that we find ourselves living in here in the US. It’s not that conversations about our political figures, our military spending, our schools, and our “health”care system are not happening, it’s that these conversations consist of the repetition of the pre-thought thoughts provided by the mainstream media (in my neck of the woods, the favorites are CNN and MSNBC).
My nephew tells me that the Ukrainians are winning the war against Russia (because that is what his preferred pundits say). When I tell him that is simply not true, he responds, “then why haven’t the Russians taken Kiev yet?” I begin to tell him that taking the whole of Ukraine was not the goal of the Russians, and attempt to explain that Ukraine walked away from a potential peace deal early in 2022 , at the request of the UK’s Boris Johnson and the US.
When Zelensky said a few days after Russia’s invasion that Ukraine was ready for neutrality, a peace agreement was in reach. I know the details of this because I talked to key negotiators and mediators in detail and have learned much from public pronouncements of others. Shortly after the start of negotiations in March 2022, a document was exchanged between the parties that President Putin had approved, and that Lavrov had presented. This was being managed by the Turkish mediators. I flew to Ankara in the spring of 2022 to hear first-hand and in detail what happened in the mediation. The bottom-line is this: Ukraine walked away, unilaterally, from a near agreement. . . Why did Ukraine walk away from the negotiations? Because the United States told them to and because the U.K. added icing to the cake by having BoJo [Boris Johnson, the former U.K. prime minister] go to Kyiv in early April to Ukraine to make the same point. — Jeffrey Sachs
My nephew looked at me like I was crazy. The mainstream media folks never told him about this. Who are these “conspiracy theorists” that I listen to who provided me with such crap information, he asks.
I am surrounded by people who have never heard of Jeffrey Sachs, or Chris Hedges, or Aaron Maté, or Norman Finkelstein, or Matt Kennard, or Ray McGovern, or Cornel West, or Kshama Sawant, or Abby Martin . . . I could go on and on. One will rarely find such critical thinkers on any mainstream media network, for these are the investigators and researchers, writers and speakers, who destroy the status quo narratives.
I asked my nephew if he would mind if I shared some information with him about the history of Ukraine/Russia/NATO with him, and he agreed. Yet, I have no idea if he ever read the info, as he never brought up the conversation again.
The same thing happens when my sister insists that we need to support the Israelis in their war against Hamas. She is not interested in the history of Palestine and she insists that Israel is our ally (really?).
When I try to share with her some views that oppose the mainstream media’s (MSM) narrative, she’s not interested. “Who are my so-called experts?”, she asks. She’s never heard of them.
It’s not that my family members are bad people, it’s just that they are very happy to be swimming along in the sea of propaganda (which they don’t even believe exists), and have no wish to stress themselves in an attempt to swim against the current.
The vast majority of people I have known in my lifetime have no desire to inconvenience themselves with information that goes against the world view that they hold dear. They tell me that they can’t think about the horrors of the world, because, you know, they gotta protect their mental health.
I’m sure the mother living in the rubble of Gaza, starving to death while cradling her dead baby would love to have the luxury of protecting her mental health, too.
And, it’s not that I don’t understand the whole mental health thing. I’m not suggesting that folks spend all day, every day wallowing in the suffering that has always been present in the world. To miss out on the beauty of the world would be a sin.
It’s just that never questioning the status quo, and blindly believing the reports of the MSM, has led us to our current dystopia. And finding a way out of this mess will require some critical thinking, and some letting go of long-held perceptions.
I wish my family would join me in working towards changing things for the better. Yet, that would take changing their world view, and they haven’t shown interest so far. So, at family gatherings, I generally stay pretty quiet. You know, it’s that talking to a brick wall thing.
But, I don’t stay quiet otherwise. I try to insert “alternative” viewpoints than those of the MSM when talking to neighbors and friends. I don’t argue, I don’t push. I just try to plant a seed. It’s up to them whether they choose to water the seed or to let it die.
And, I listen. I allow time for others to express their feelings. I’m open to learning something that is new to me. We can’t ask of others what we don’t ask of ourselves.
But, if all you can offer is a regurgitation of the MSM talking points, with none of your own critical thinking to back up such points, and you refuse to hear another point of view — save your breath. That’s when I become a brick wall.
Propaganda works.