The News And The Gulf Oil Leak

How The News Is Reported

This very brief post is really nothing more than a quick RANT.  Why am I annoyed?  It’s because yet again the news is reporting things POSSIBLY accurately (who knows?) BUT (and this is my point) they are presenting it yet again in such a way that people viewing it will have their opinions created FOR them.

As I write this (on June 22nd, two months ago) the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is still spewing oil.  Of course I can’t know yet what the outcome is, but it can’t be good whatever happened, but WITHOUT A DOUBT, your opinions are going to have been controlled and possibly even DICTATED by the news/media.

How Are They Controlling What You Think?

For YEARS, certainly for as long as I can remember (and I’m old!) when referring to gasoline, GALLONS were used as the unit of measure by EVERYBODY (including the media, such as newspapers and TV etc.).  When referring to Oil, these same people always used BARRELS as the unit of measure.

So What?

NOW that OIL is being leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, GALLONS are the units of measurement being used!  Why is this significant?  Because they are deliberately MANIPULATING what you should think.  In this case, they want to make you think the oil spill is about 50 times WORSE than it really is (because there are approximately 50 gallons to a barrel).

So, instead of saying something like “20 barrels of oil per hour are leaking into the Gulf” they will instead say “1000 gallons of oil per hour are leaking into the Gulf”.

What Does It Matter?

In this particular instance, it MAY NOT matter.  However, if they are prepared to do this on this issue, to (in effect) sway your opinions, what ELSE will they do this about?  Politics?  Health? Social Welfare? World conflicts?

The next time you watch the news or read it, just think about HOW it is being presented to you.

Luke.