1) The mainstream media selectively reports on tragic events like the Trayvon Martin shooting based on what will garner the most attention, rather than addressing more numerous but less covered tragedies. 2) Television has a powerful influence over society, with the average American watching over 4 hours per day. Prolonged TV watching is linked to negative health effects, desensitization to violence, and less time spent on other meaningful activities. 3) The mainstream media uses techniques like dividing people into "us vs. them" to stoke fear and prevent meaningful discussions about issues like war, violence, and their underlying causes. This shapes public views and priorities in ways that maintain the status quo.

1. What the Mainstream is not Telling you About
Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman
The events that lead to George Zimmerman firing on Trayvon Martin made for a tragic end. A
young life was lost and another ruined. The state was unable to prove to a jury of peers,
beyond a reasonable doubt, that Zimmerman acted with malicious intent.
Most people, depending on which media outlet they receive their information from, think that
Zimmerman is a either a hero or a villain. Deciding whether or not George Zimmerman is a
villain or if Trayvon was an upstanding teen or a thug, is not the task of the media even though
they all too often assume this role of judge, jury, and executioner.
The question that should be raised from the unfortunate events of the Zimmerman/Martin case
is this: Why do so many people only care about the death of someone they don’t know when
they are told to do so by their television? I am not attempting to imply that the death of a 17
year old boy is not a tragedy, regardless of the circumstances. However, over 1,000 children, 16
and under, are murdered every year in the United States. Why aren’t they receiving the same
coverage?

2. Why was the death of Trayvon Martin made so popular by the mainstream when there are
literally hundreds of other murders, just as, or even more tragic? Why aren't the echo
chambers in the mainstream addressing the child murders carried out in foreign countries by
NATO forces and written off as collateral damage? Why doesn't the MSM help to stoke
empathy for the dozens of infants and children killed by US drone strikes in Pakistan and
Yemen? Why hasn't the MSM plastered a several years younger photo of Jordan Davis, another
17 year old black male shot by a white man in Florida, on the front page of every paper or
television?
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each
day (or 28 hours per week, or 2 months per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9
years glued to the tube, and for children these numbers are often higher. Another tragedy is
that most people’s entire lives revolve around TV. Imagine being that 65 year old person who
has watched 9 YEARS of TV. They would probably have more memories of television programs
than real memories.
There are over 4000 studies that have been done on the effect of TV on children; some of these
are very disturbing. Did you know that the average time a parent spends having meaningful
conversation with their child in a week is 3.5 minutes? Also, did you know that the average
child spends 1,680 minutes a week watching TV? Seventy percent of all day-care centers use
television. Fifty four percent of children age 4-6 when asked if they would rather spend time
with their fathers or watch television, chose television.
The average kid spends 900 hours a year in school and 1500 hours a year watching TV. Just a
few more statistics before we move on to the effects of these. An 18 year old high school
student has witnessed 200,000 violent acts on TV, and an elementary student will have seen
8,000 murders. The average child will watch 20,000 commercials a year, while the number one
spender in youth advertisement is fast food. Fifty four percent of the shows on TV are devoted
to crime. Fifty nine percent of Americans can name the Three Stooges, while only 17 percent
can name at least 3 Supreme Court justices.
These statistics should disturb you. Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they
fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to
Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV
viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms, two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical
diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate
viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too
much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching. The
power that TV has over an individual’s thought process is incredible.

3. The United States is becoming or has become a nation raised by the TV. Not only does it
eventually start to control the thoughts of a person by controlling most or all of the information
they see, it is also terrible for one’s health. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
released in October 1995 found 4.7 million children between the ages of 6-17 (11% of this age
group) to be severely overweight, more than twice the rate during the 1960′ s. The main
culprits: inactivity (these same children average more than 22 hours of television-viewing a
week) and a high-calorie diet. A 1991 study showed that there were an average of 200 junk
food ads in four hours of children’s Saturday morning cartoons.
According to William H. Deitz, pediatrician and prominent obesity expert at Tufts University
School of Medicine, “The easiest way to reduce inactivity is to turn off the TV set. Almost
anything else uses more energy than watching TV.”
Children are not the only Americans suffering from weight problems; one-third of American
adults are overweight. According to an American Journal of Public Health study, an adult who
watches three hours of TV a day is far more likely to be obese than an adult who watches less
than one hour.
Sometimes the problem is not too much weight, but too little. Seventy-five percent of American
women believe they are too fat, an image problem that often leads to bulimia or anorexia.
Sound strange? Not when one takes into account that female models and actresses are 23
percent thinner than the average woman and thinner than 95 percent of the female
population.
We are entering into uncharted territory; television is fairly new, relatively speaking. Some of
our parents didn’t have TV when they were growing up. However now we are reaching a period
in time in which it is completely possible for two consecutive generations to be raised on TV. As
degenerative as television is, imagine the prolonged effects of a society that is dependent on
TV. We have the potential to be a mindless populace that cannot wait to get home to sit down
and start getting pounded by an onslaught of violence and consumerism. I would wager that
some in this country are well past this stage.
Is TV evil? No, not in the least. The invention of the Television has been an incredible part of
history. We have been able to witness remarkable events such as the speeches of Martin Luther
King Jr., and the first steps onto the moon. These attributes of the television are and have been
a beneficial ingredient in the progress of society. However these magnificent events that were
once witnessed are being replaced with celebrity fluff, violence, commercials, and infotainment
fear propaganda that some refer to as news.

4. Scientists can see trends in Americans when studying desensitization to violence from
television. Desensitization to violence is a key development that is particularly dangerous.
Literally thousands of studies since the 1950s have asked whether there is a link between
exposure to media violence and violent behavior. All but 18 have answered, “Yes.” The
evidence from the research is overwhelming. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics,
“Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive
behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed.”
Very rarely is actual human suffering and loss portrayed, most of the time violence is either
humorous or completely illogical. Repeated exposure to TV violence makes children less
sensitive toward its effects on victims and the human suffering it causes. Viewing TV violence
reduces inhibitions and leads to more aggressive behavior. This behavior is also carried over
into adult life. With that said, is it such a mystery why violent crimes carried out by one’s own
government could seem laughable and innate? In today’s society, especially with our
remarkable level of information exchange, we should have been peaceful a long time ago. It’s
only because of lack of understanding or the lack of ability to see the controlling factors that
anyone would go to war anyway, right?
We have the ability to communicate freely with the entire world; nevertheless the majority
continue to rely on television to bring them information. They rely on television to feed them
their views of the world and have no idea that it is a system of propaganda out for its own
interests. It is dedicated to keeping you tuned in, in order to sell you a product, a politician, a
war, or a bill of goods, regardless of its outcome or effect on the population.
Perhaps the most harmful effect of MSM is their uncanny ability to stoke divide among
otherwise friendly groups. The MSM employs a very old tactic that appeals to humanity’s tribal
instinct called US vs. THEM. If someone threatens the status quo they are quickly labeled as
THEM, sometimes through obvious means such as name calling, and sometimes through not so
obvious means, like creating a negative character association; aka, guilt by association fallacy;
John Doe is bad because he bumped into Jack Doe once, and Jack Doe got caught stealing.
The effects of a massive delusional culture are everywhere. People trample over one another to
acquire some plastic good made by slave labor. Instead of helping others in need, the smart
phone is whipped out and the suffering is filmed. Instead of addressing the root causes of
violence and murder, groups are divided into US’s and THEM’s and told that they must support
Zimmerman or support Martin. Instead of calling for an end to war, fears are stoked and wars
are expanded. The American public are but putty in the hands of professional marketers; only
these marketers deal in human life, and the creation of and elimination of its value.