Dear Editor,
Christophe Rocancourt, the international con artist who plied his trade in Whistler in 2001, stated in an interview that he wouldn’t be able to lie to people if they weren’t willing to believe his lies implying that those who choose to believe his lies are the problem. He is merely the lier.
I concur.
It’s the willingness of the masses to believe almost anything without question if it serves to entertain them (which Rocancourt excelled at) that is the problem. What is portrayed as the news today is in reality a scripted sales pitch with actors posing as news reporters.
In what amounts to a relentless campaign of propaganda the same 15-minute news segment plays over and over again through a two- or three-hour newscast in what amounts to sell, sell, sell and sell some more. The script uses words to imprint the desired message on the subconscious of the intended target, the viewer; fear, death, kill, save, only chance, only hope for survival, care ad nauseam.
The reason it works is that the news is scripted to come across as all about issues that affect you, the viewer. The subliminal message is “We really care about you. We want to protect you. The whole world is working hard to make your life better.
Towards this end, we have Justin Trudeau wringing his hands while he recounts how he is pleading with the makers of vaccines to deliver the promised 500 million doses that he needs to protect Canadians. The fact that the population of Canada is less that 50 million doesn’t register with most viewers, because they are being entertained, and entertainment mesmerizes.
For years I have witnessed the morphing of the news into entertainment scripted to sell. Now the book, Manufacturing Consent, confirms and expands on what I am seeing.
We can choose to read Manufacturing Consent and be jolted back to consciousness.
Or we can choose to be entertained and confirm what Rocancourt alluded to; that we are the problem.
David MacPhail, Maple Ridge
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