Texas Scorecard By Jon Francis December 29, 2020
I was a cable news junkie, totally and completely addicted to 24-hour news on CNN.
I stayed up late and got up early to make sure I didn’t miss anything important. I missed classes. My grades suffered. Although I did graduate, my addiction continued after I got married. My poor wife was aware but didn’t know how to help me.
Then I read “State of Fear†by Michael Crichton, the famed author of Jurassic Park. After I read it, the spell was broken and I was free. In fact, I have been CNN free for over 16 years.
I briefly dabbled in another choice drug called Fox News. But I am happy to report I broke free of that and have been completely clean since 2016.
For all those years, I was under the impression that I would miss something important if I didn’t tune in. I am only half-joking when I say that I was addicted to emergency alerts, breaking stories, and warnings; it turns out brain chemistry is altered, and it is literally addictive.
Crichton broke the spell for me when he pointed out that there are at least three groups of people in this world that have a vested financial interest in keeping the public in a “state of fear,†including the news media, the government, and the “experts†in academia.
Each of these groups modifies the behavior of the public not for our benefit, but rather to suit their purposes. This new understanding allowed me to try to find the underlying and often unasked question of motive.
The news media, now including social media, make tremendous amounts of money the longer they can keep your undivided attention. The more you watch, the more money they make. It is a simple business model, and it works.
Governments and the bureaucrats and politicians that run them have a vested interest in keeping the public in a state of fear because they are able to achieve greater control and greater power if citizens are fearful. 2020 might be the best example of the truth of this premise.
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