Three Sides To Every Story

Obligatory "Six companies that own all the media infographic" [open in new tab]:

I count only three?
Also wow, the top company that no-one ever heard of owned by the guy no-one ever heard of.
(Apply "almost" where needed)
- My mistake:
- I don’t have time to look it up, but his wealth is also listed as net worth, not income, so I suspect that might be a private company, which would explain why we haven’t heard as much about him.
  Edit: I have time now and yes, it’s privately owned.
  Edit 2: but maybe it’s about to be merged into a public company? I’m not sure, this is pretty nebulous, possibly because it hasn’t been finalized yet.
How tricky would it be To create a browser extension that notified you if you visit a site owned by these big6 (and more) and which one?
- That's...a lot of domains.
- You could just assume that whatever you see is propaganda.
- Thanks!
  Some of these names turn my stomach. Well, at least one: Rupert Murdoch. He's a monster.
- one of those guys is not the fuck like the others

What if I don't believe that the media controls the people, and rather, that our culture is really just this genuinely sickened and backwards?

In any society, the culture is created and maintained by the media and other apparatuses of the ruling class. Collectively, this is referred to as a society's superstructure
This superstructure reinforces and perpetuates the ownership and norms of productive forces in society, known as the base of a society.
In the USA, the base is oligarchic capitalism, and the superstructure is a neoliberal managerial-cultural apparatus
The media creates the culture.
- It is deeper than that. If there was no media we would still have culture. People would tell stories and copy and adapt each others mannerisms and fashion. Local culture would be much stronger and vary a lot more.
  What media does is control these elements by distracting us and occupying our attention with curated topics and lines of thinking.
- Yes, nobody has any agency except the powerful.
  How manichaean of you.
I feel like theres lesser of the ladder than the former. People like to be told what to think. I really dont understand it myself, but something about big brother telling you what to think is somehow comforting for some people. Ive seen the behavior from multiple family members, just parroting what their media source of choice is saying.
- *latter
- Knowledge can be a status symbol like clothing. People show what they know if they can signal their status with it.
  In that form, knowledge is not verified by own thoughts. The value of the knowledge comes from the reputation of the source and the value of the people who agree with it.

Everyone thinks they are an above average driver.

I know I am above average.
Still doesn't make me a good driver.
Not me. I always think I did something wrong when I hear a honk anywhere nearby.

I believe I'm being controlled by Lemmy.

I know I'm being controlled by Lemmy. I've been using Linux for the past six months.
You are being programmed to be more compassionate. What a shame!

there's also people who hate racism, yet unknowingly act racist and become extremely defensive when called out, just because they don't consider themselves as racist

I don't believe I am controlled by the media, instead I am controlled by my emotions and biases.

Good point, meme-that’s-trying-to-control-me!

Amen

you start doubting reality so much that you go down the rabbit hole and become an unhinged crazy conspiracy theorist.
Isn't the alternative to this a class-conscious understanding of reality? Which can only be achieved through defeating ignorance via a genuine and true education?