Fake News vs Climate Change

The Battle of the Titans

An open letter to those on Social Media emotionally embroiled in the Climate Change Debate

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Dear Emotional people.

I understand it’s incredibly addictive and time consuming, reading and responding to the overwhelmingly ridiculous comments spread on social media, comments currently pointed towards the Climate Change debate, but comments that cover every other major matter. It's easy to detect, just look for spurious emotion spewing out on every social media platform, and we “god love us” believe a lot of the people who write these comments are real.

Being an unintended soldier in the information war, a war raging behind every seemingly endless newsworthy trend, is something this decade may be remembered for in future generations. One things for sure a lot of media outlets and platforms make a LOT of money from this emotion.

The spreading of Misinformation, fake news leading headlines, and the comments that underpin this information is IMHO a bigger crisis than climate change purely because there is uncontested evidence that this information is used to divide people and is a tactic used to distract people from other greater matters, or from people mobilizing around taking control of the matters before them. The division this information causes can set people against each other and can be weaponised or orchestrated in such a manner to destroy anything it wishes..

When information divides us, it takes us to a point where democracy breaks down. When democracy breaks down, Those in control of the narrative are the ones that become the power.

When people “step off” buying in to the emotional bait, bait often planted by those trying to invoke division, we as people have a much better chance of coming together as people, and deciding on tangible outcomes to the issues we care about.

I am yet to meet two different people personally, who agree on the specifics of what’s required to address this Climate Change issue, isn’t the specifics what we should be focused on, i.e. putting in place the mechanics of how we facilitate this change, rather than just talking Climate Change?

I have to declare I am not a writer (can't you tell) and am uninformed more than others, especially in relation to the Climate Change debate as I don’t watch the news, and I don’t try to take part in anything that I don’t see how I can affect the outcome of.

Neverending Whac-A_Mole

However this post is not about Climate Change per se, it is about recognising the never ending game of Whac-A- Mole, a game where events create curated news and commentary, where the battle is to whack every comment you don’t agree on “the Mole”. This is a place where one can get stuck in an emotional loop, one robbing you from your own time and potential and turning you into an emotional wreck.

I see this with a LOT of the people I mentor.

If the goal of Whac-A-Mole is to whack Moles, there are multiple ways of achieving the goal, however most people won’t look for any other ways to achieve the goal, they will be happy with what they are told.are the rules...

Here are some ways to win at the never ending version of Whac-A-Mole

• 1: Endlessly keep whacking Moles hoping you will win. 
• 2:Gaffa tape over the holes so the Moles won’t appear.
• 3: Go to the back of the Machine find the power cord and pull it out.

I would imagine Most people pick number 1 

Which one would you pick?

If you are someone who feels burned out, lost, tired, someone who has a goal one getting their life back, rediscovering how amazing your life is and or realising your true potential, It might be time to stop fighting one another and wasting precious time on social media, stop watching the never ending breaking news stories that are on repeat 24 hours a day and start investing in actions you can control the output of.

If

You’re passionate about Climate Change don’t be like the Jehovas witness that turns up at your door or the person collecting for charity at the supermarket, the person telling others what they should do, do something different. 

Do it yourself.

How about setting up a number of activities that will have definitive results and mobilize around working towards those outcomes. Take positive constructive action that you yourself control.

As opposed to

Spending time complaining to others that “They” or someone else needs to do something.

Be wary of propaganda

I love this image, however its message plays out that we won't die if we believe in Climate change, secondly it portrays that "Belief" is enough...

In my experience, changing the world takes a lot more than belief, however this type of propaganda can help build an expectation that belief is simply enough, especially in the eyes of the young who don’t know what they are up against.

But hey, I could be wrong and belief could be all it takes.... If that is the case I certainly have lived in a different world.

The Reward

What I would like to see, is the people that believe in climate change enough that are spending 10+ hours of their time a week no charge, actioning outcomes recognised, celebrated..

The Inventors, Misfits, Rebels, people working with nature, technology, startups, social enterprise.

These are the people that I resonate with and IMHO people that I believe will action change and demonstrate their power. Unfortunately history teaches us that change is hard, especially when there are too many financially vested interests who lose when change is implemented.

In my book this just means that the narrative around change and the evidence that showcases growth not loss is not yet established.

Why not change the Narrative, provide evidence that showcases gains to these vested interests. What would happen then?

Could the outcome be better than what has currently been tried?

I'm not sure.......

I believe that, People who believe, create their own world and amplify their own power. Complaining and protests do F#%* all except sell papers, keep the masses tuned into media outlets, block cities, and in some cases create injury, and greater levels of distrust and division between race, government , police etc......

Isn't it better to come together to solve things through positive action, if the answer is No I would ask, so how is it currently working?

There is a Big upside of all this, Facebook, Google and others continue to grow their market cap and their valuable data, data that contains your personal emotional profile.

Alas, It seems people need drama, they need to be distracted to feel better about their lives. It will be an unfortunate turn of events if, in the future our personal emotional score taken from potentially constructed conversions is used against us.

There is a positive here.

We are more connected than ever, we have everything at our fingertips to create our world.If a young girl can create rallies around the world you can do anything you want if "you want to bad enough"

Don't fall into the trap of wasting time on emotionally responding to posts on Social Media, no one really cares. Go and explore, switch off the news, connect with others, amplify passion let go of hate.

Peace out.....

Fin

#climatechange #fakenews #creativity #psychology #war #information