The issue of misinterpretation and mass delusion is one that was and is controversial for Western society. Some people prefer to avoid notions about the lying press and trust the majority of information that they encounter. The other type of people develops an apparatus for criticism of the messages coming from the mass media. Such a person was Malcolm X, who was an important political figure in the past century and interacted with the US press directly, suffering from its continuous attacks. Malcolm X devoted his work “After the Firebombing” to the matters of propaganda and methods of dealing with it. Further, in the paper, the most important quotations from his work are reviewed. Malcolm X was the man who claimed that the press uses the power of words to manipulate people, which is seen in his words. My position is that the excessive media’s freedom, which has developed in the Western world thanks to democracy and freedom of speech, now harms both democracy and freedom of speech.
“One of the shrewd ways that they use the press to project us in the eye or image of a criminal: they take statistics. And with the press feed these statistics to the public, primarily the white public. Because there are some well-meaning persons in the white public as well as bad-meaning persons in the white public. And whatever the government is going to do, it always wants the public on its side, whether it’s the local government, state government, the federal government” (Malcolm X 5).
These Malcolm’s words have not lost their relevance in our time, and on the contrary, they have only become more important. Having gained independence from external stakeholders in past centuries, the press is now voluntarily sold to those from whom it previously fled and with whom it fought. The state, individual politicians, radical extremists, wealthy entrepreneurs, and oligarchs all run the modern media, using money to control them. As a rule, people in power over countless other people’s minds completely enrich themselves. Thus, designed to provide people with truly unbiased information, a free press, albeit over time, became dependent on political groups and capitalists.
As such, looking at the events of recent decades, one can see clear aggression against Muslims by the media from the Western World, particularly the United States. Media aggression is explained by the fact that Muslims are part of a religion in which there are many radicals and very few secular and educated people, in contrast to Christian intellectuals and middle-class people. This statement is false because it is based on the maximum media attention on Muslim radicals, which, it should be noted, are a consequence of the monstrous colonialism of the westerners themselves. At the same time, intellectuals, scientists, and humanists, who are often also theologians within the Islamic tradition, are ignored. Malcolm X himself is a striking example of a Muslim intellectual.
“And this is true; this is how they do it. They take one little word out of what you say, ignore all the rest, and then begin to magnify it all over the world to make you look like what you actually aren’t. And I’m very used to that” (Malcolm X 2).
The above quote signifies an important problem associated with excessive manipulation and lies on the part of the media. I see a lack of critical perception among the audience consuming the content of influencers. People read the news, watch corrected debates and edited videos that corroborate false information, and believe everything that happens, unconsciously and often on purpose. People ignore the substitution of concepts, outright lies, and incorrect use of sources. For them, it becomes part of the general picture of the world, easy and logical, built on simplified and distorted facts.
As an important argument in the layman’s eyes, the substitution of statistical data is clear. For example, the racist ideas that the statistical correlation between prisoners of color and their crimes affects their social status reflect the manipulation of statistics. Moreover, the media and information resources are spreading among the lower class the idea that one day they will be able to compare with the white middle-class population simply by working hard and miraculously enriching themselves. Such claims ignore the huge socio-cultural problems within Western society, which are a legacy of both the colonial era and the views of those times, and even medieval beliefs and ideas. Hierarchy, militarism, xenophobia, and the love of manipulating the sources that people trust have become the norm in Western culture. However, the consequence of this is oppression, inequality, and suffering for many people. For this issue, As Malcolm X rightly declared in his book:
“But if you form the habit of listening to what others say about something or someone or reading what someone else has written about someone, somebody can confuse you and misuse you. So as Afro-Americans or Black people here in the Western Hemisphere, you and I have to learn to weigh things for ourselves” (Malcolm X 2).
It is necessary to mention the most frightening situation in its potential for manipulation and lies, the perversion of the reality of fundamental truths. As Malcolm X stated, the press can often easily turn criminals into victims and victims into criminals. Their ability to distort facts turns the aggression of giant states against small nations into “liberation.” Namely, Malcolm X underlined that “with skillful manipulating of the press, they’re able to make the victim look like the criminal, and the criminal look like the victim” (Malcolm X 4). This quote is illustrative of the power that the press has over the lives of people. The destiny of persons lies in the hands of people who can condemn or praise one because of the interests of a certain political party or someone’s financing.
Summing up what has been said, I can say that we are on the threshold of an alarming future. Manipulation, lies, and distortion of the truth is done by news channels of information, influencers, and people who are listened to by millions and billions. This is an important signal that the institution of a free press connects people with the outside world, after having submitted to capitalists and radicals, can cause the future loss of democracy. In a world where lies are a new truth, and the truth is considered madness, there can be no freedom for the individual, views, religion, and politics. There is only subordination to outside interests, eventually leading to complete tyranny. Thus, Malcolm X was not only describing the situation with the press in his life but also predicting the dystopian future that awaited Western society after the press’s coalition with the government.
Reference
Malcolm X. “After the Firebombing, at Ford Auditorium, February 14, 1965” MalcolmXFiles malcolmxfiles.blogspot.com. Accessed 23 Jan 2019.