The Unsafe World of Media

Fabio Vinicius Dumaszak

Prof: Hannah Griggs

Writing and Reading

The Unsafe World of Media.

Information is strongly related to people’s life. They provide understanding of the world and it has a big influence on people’s behavior. However, the control of information is a powerful tool. Countries government, big companies, and broadcast media have great manipulation power toward people. They know that controlling the broadcast they enhance their influence and make people think what they want. Handling the informations the broadcast media might make someone be loved or hated, make people believe in things that may not be true, or even change their behavior in society and family. People usually accept everything that is shown on tv or anywhere else without questioning if it is true. Specially, when it provides videos or pictures. Information is hidden, modified, or falsified stories created every day throughout the world. We are going to discuss forth some examples that happened and still happen.

One of the most catastrophic uses of manipulation of information is regarded to war. Hitler spread out through German a lot of lies about Jews which made people hate them. A recent big event that made the whole world question the truthfulness of information was the Iraq war. The wave of terrorist attacks, the tragedy involving the twin towers(World Trade Center), and the possibility of mass destruction weapons started this war second the US government. However, a lot of people all over the world questioned and still question if it was the real reason of this war.

“The decision for military action had nothing to do with 9/11, the war on terrorism, the UN weapons inspections, weapons of mass destruction, Iraq human rights, or any of the factors that the US government would like you to believe are the true motives for war. The only people who will benefit from the war on Iraq are the elite wealthy oil men who finance Bush's election campaigns, and people like Bush who have huge personal investments in the oil industry. Oil company profits have already increased by fifty percent this year because of the war, and the invasion hasn't even started yet (Habsburg)!”

Other great broadcast act to manipulate people looking for financial benefits which happened in South America were the Avian Flu and Suine Flu. Many people believe that it was a clever trick done by the pharmaceutical industry to earn lots of money. As a matter of fact, it worked very well. It is difficult to anyone to question about something showed on television when it threatens their health. People followed the instructions that was given to them. They paid for vaccination and for expensive medicines as the Tamiflu, which was sold as the treatment to Suine Flu. The alcohol gel started to be sold like water as a prevention to contamination. I even knew that alcohol gel exist and that it is used to cleaning of hands. We do not have concrete proof that this disease really exist or if it does not. However, it is difficult to believe that a mysterious flu appear from nothing, became pandemic, and suddenly disappeared in the next year it was discovered. Nobody ever heard about it again or knew somebody who knew someone who had one of these flus. In my opinion, creating fake stories to scare people regarding to their health, looking for earn money is very unfair. Everybody would take the precautions that are given to them to keep them safe. On the other hand, it was not bad at all.  In Brazil people got the habit to clear their hands often and do the basic hygienic habits to prevent the common flu, which is the same of the other fake ones. As I mentioned, I even knew about the existence of alcohol gel and now it is in almost every public place in the country. “Handwashing is often cited as the primary weapon in the infection control arsenal” ( LeTexier) . Washing hands often decreases drastically the possibility of get a infectious disease.

In conclusion, information is an essential item for human and society development, but it is not a safe ocean to sail without concerning. What is supposed to be an open book to the society, impartiality, and an unchanged truth is a tool of manipulation for big companies, always looking to enhance their profits. People started to notice this acts of bad using of broadcasts, but fix it is one of the greatest battles that the society have ahead. One thing we can be sure of is that many of what we know by television or any other media is untrue and there are a lot of facts and events that are hidden to us.  

Habsburd, John. “Is Oil or Big Business an Undisclosed Motive for War on Iraq?”.The Debate.Web 28 April, 2014. <http://www.thedebate.org/thedebate/iraq.asp>.

Ruth A. LeTexier, RN, BSN, PHN, is a nurse educator and Program Director of Surgical Technology at Northwest Technical College (East Grand Forks, Minn).