“Government is the entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” – Frank Zappa

Everything is filtered to us through the lens of news and entertainment. Many believe that news and entertainment are now basically the same thing.  

We have been fine-tuned to pay less attention to detail mainly because we have multiple free sources to access our news from. This tendency has seeped into our political perceptions too.

Simon Says:

Modern politics is now more accessible than ever. It has never been easier to obtain information before the YouTube era. People who do not have the time to read a full newspaper can get the main highlights in NowThis videos or social media posts, and I think that is beneficial for many of us but only in small doses.

For various western political news, my source has been Hasan Minhaj covering it in the Patriot Act or Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Indian political coups is half of what my feed on Twitter is about. And that is not a negative impact of the modern entertainment world. But should I base my political opinions solely on the “news” I receive from such TV shows or podcasts, where the hosts do not have any journalistic liabilities?

Random Personal Experience:

• When I first the saw viral video of Kunal Kamra (Indian Stand-up Comedian) calling out Arnab Goswami (Indian Journalist) in a flight, it honestly made me all sorts of uncomfortable. It felt intrusive, pointless and I thought it took the attention away from the actual story.
• But my echo chamber and internet in general, approved of Kunal’s actions.
• This changed the way I felt about the story and made me believe that may be such actions were necessary. But I did not exactly know why was it necessary.
• Later, while talking to a politically-inclined friend, I asked about her thoughts on the story. In her opinion (mentioned here without judgement), she thinks that Arnab deserved it and liberals need to be as aggressive as the opposition, to be heard in this country.

The point I am trying to make is this — I formed a political bias based solely on social influences. I later realised that my first instinct was probably more in accordance with my own political beliefs.

Blending Politics in the Mixture:

We are at risk of losing track of the differences between political events and entertainment. When political news is conveyed through the same lens as sports highlights or the latest developments in House of Cards, both start to blend together as pure entertainment, and we forget that the two should not get the same attention or reaction.

It is also true that everything is inter-twined now and that is why, it is difficult to draw the line. The actions of politicians have instigated the story-line for many TV shows like Saturday Night Live. Our current Prime Minister is also widely known for featuring in shows like Man Vs. Wild. It is entertaining and wild as hell. It makes for good TV but sadly, even better politics.

So many influential celebrities share their political affiliations, which impact the masses. This new social demand has also generated the problem of the media disseminating a large amount of political content, and much of that material is trivial, unreliable, and polarising. The news is defined by coverage of a never-ending barrage of sensational scandals—be they real, exaggerated, or entirely fabricated—that often is only slightly related to governing. Politicians are also known to control the news agenda.

In short, we get unconsciously manipulated by a lot of different information on different platforms and it is hard to keep track.

No New News:

Politics wasn’t always a mainstream topic of discussion. People voted, had issues they cared about, kept tabs on politics, and focused on their own lives.

In today’s time however, it seems impossible to have a conversation without politics coming up because it’s the be all and end all for everything wrong in the world. Family members stop talking, friends drift away – all because they believe that there is no grey area.

So how do we separate politics from everything else? Nobody fully knows the entire answer yet.

Aside from getting your news from reliable resources, may be lesser exposure to political conversations will help. Diverting attention to the policies enacted more than the politician’s personal life will help too.

But most importantly, understanding the difference between breaking news that wants to grab the attention of the masses from breaking news that is about actual substantial news and blocking all other white noise, is a good start.

All of this may sound repetitive for many of you. But we often forget that politicians are real people capable of doing real damage. That is why I think it is very important to consciously filter your news.