The Buddhist concept of patience differs from the Western concept in that it demands awareness instead of stoicism (i.e. patience isn’t suffering without complaint; it’s an understanding of the situation).
With this in mind, I feel that the news media are biased in any given situation; therefore, it is nearly impossible to ever fully understand the situation. But what has helped temper the information I receive and attain my own world view is an understanding of the underlying motive. The first filter I apply to everything is the reality that we do NOT live in a democracy; we live in a capitalist society with representative government. The reason I do not consider this democracy is that monetary concerns actually govern while our representative government exists within these capitalist bounds. If we accept that our society is run by the corporation of which we (the public at large) are at best minority share holders, then the reasons behind the information we receive become more apparent. Once the reasons/motives are understood, we can begin to grasp the situation. What the motives are differ by name and explanation, but they all point to money or power. And with money and power essentially being the same by Western capitalists’ standards, there’s really only one god in our current structure. So if we assume that worship of this dead god is the driving force behind every organization (including government and our society), then we get a limited view of the impetus for the information exchange we call news. (more…)