Narrative Warfare: A Media Rant

The media is about narrative.

This is fine when you're talking about entertainment, because the point of fiction is to entertain the audience. They want a story, so you tell them a story, and if you know what you're doing you deliver the story that the audience wants as the audience wants that story told. (Note: I exclude gaming here, for reasons I will explain--again--later this week.)

This is fraud when you're talking about non-fiction. The purpose of non-fiction is to inform the audience. They want facts that they can rely upon as verified to be true. They want those facts as they relate to a specific topic, be it as everyday as the quality of a new tabletop or videogame, or as important as the policy implications of a Federal regulation proposal. This is not the time to tell a story, in whole or in part; dealing in narrative is not only unethical, unprofessional, and immoral, it crosses over into Theft By Deception (i.e. fraud) because you actively and willfully choose to advance your agenda at the expense of the public good.

The problem, however, is not that the problem is pervasive. The problem is that it is institutional, and has been since some psychopath first appreciated the power of mythology to control what people believe, and therefore what people can and will act upon.

The purpose of religion, and thus mythology, is so a nation can explain itself to itself across generations and thus maintain not only a distinct identity (and its perspective) but also be able to usefully function in the world by providing a framework for action both great and small. A true religion squares with reality while simplfying it for the majority while allowing--even guiding--growth towards a maturity of culture that permits full engagement with that complexity, much as a good father simplfies for his children until they are ready to handle the fullness of life's complexity.

The perversion of religion comes when the narratives necessarily formed as part of that simplification get converged for the benefit of the psychopath and his allies at the expense of the people as a whole, turning the institution of religion away from its lawful role as a tool to serve and benefit a nation and towards the perpetuation of the perverts' power over them. Since then, we've had an ongoing issue with psychopaths and their successors corrupting religion to use as a fulcrum of leverage to gain and keep power over others, and reformers seeking to cleanse religion of that filth.

Then came mass media, and now those same sorts see a new--secular--avenue to the same ends as religion. Control over information is control over thought, so it is no surprise that as mass media matured technologically and as a business they sought to pervert it also for their ends. Starting with the first World War, the modern Public Relations field emerged as the fulfillment of that promise and the Narrative Warfare we deal with daily began in earnest.

But, as I said above, the media is about narrative. That's ALL of it. The reality shows push narratives; they aren't real, they aren't sincere, and the competitions are routinely fixed. The sports shows and leagues push narratives, and I'm unsure if the seasons are fixed or not. Yes, ALL such sports. Yes, even in your country. The news isn't news; under the law, it's entertainment, and as such has no obligation to do anything but avoid defamation (in practice, against those able to bring suit successfully)- it need not inform at all. We don't just have Fake News. We have Fake Media.

Fake in that it does not perform its lawful purpose, but rather is converged to serve the ends of the psychopaths and followers thereof instead. As with any such situation, the media institutions now serve themselves first and only- the people be damned. As far as they are concerned, the people are only good for fodder anyways, so treating them as cattle is only befitting. Herd them and use them until it's time to cull them.

And, as lurid as conspiracy is, this is not conspiracy. This is Groupthink.

You have a class that thinks and believes alike. It's a cult in all but name, and cults--defacto and dejure--are nothing more than religions writ small. Religions--true and false alike--run off mythologies that make the world simple enough for the adherents to function within it to useful ends. The media is in the hands of a cult, a massive cult, that hates its audience and seeks their annihilation.

Well, at least it is so in the West. The East? I cannot say, but I doubt that they're any better overall.

Fortunately, for now, we are in a position where burning the media to ashes and dust only to replace them with new alternatives that actually fulfill the necessary functions is viable and already happening. It is my hope that remembering how this went wrong before will prevent it from happening again. Kill the cultists before they seize control and you never need worry about your media (or your religion) losing its way.