Global politics

I hate that when I am taking a class it influences my thinking so much. After class I'll continually think about whether it's true or not. When I was taking Physics, I was pretty bummed. It was so hard, and I wasn't certain if I would even pass the class so it consumed my thoughts. I always thought I should be studying instead of sleeping, talking, working or doing anything else.

I am very, very glad to have that class behind me. Now I am taking Psychology, which is very fascinating. So I feel bad for my friends and family cuz I pretty much talk about it nonstop. Do you know that our memory is reconstructive? That we have confirmation bias, hindsight bias? And that we always think the future will be better? I am just struck by my new understanding of the human mind and heart. Anyways, last week we watched this video about the PR industry. Its main premise is that the news can not be trusted because the stories we are reading and watching are being contributed by the PR firms of major corporations. So let's say company X is launching a new questionable product, which they want the public to accept. A common solution is to submit a very favorable story to a news source, already recorded, with a sizable financial donation. I was shocked at how easy it is to get a good word in for yourself if you have enough money. Now I know that many of the stories I thought were simply biased by actually have been paid advertisements.

Now armed with that understanding many things about the media make more sense. I always wondered why news about African countries rarely if ever make the front page of most American newspapers. I mean supposedly we really care about horrible dictators, suffering, violation and human rights. But we rarely hear what's going on in Sudan, the Congo, Uganda, and other countries where wars are being waged. I also don't read many front page stories about Latin America (except Mexico). Usually the news about these countries is buried in the middle of the newspaper or isn't there at all. That's why I've always been confused by why everything going on with Israel/ Palestine is very prominent in the news. It seems that this conflict receives a disproportionate amount of coverage. I don't know if this is primarily because of the media or because of the vested interest western powers have in seeing Israel succeed.

Now onto Mel. Mel made a very big mistake, he imbibed way more alcohol that he should have. But I have been surprised by how this story made headlines for over a week. I feel like Hollywood is determined to punish him for his success. Not because they really believe that he is anti a certain group, but because he did not play according to the rules. You are not supposed to make a major film about overtly religious topics and have it do well. When will they stop punishing him? I don't know. But hopefully in the meantime he will be gracious with himself as he seeks to remain alcohol free.