Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk: On Freedom

 by R.B. Eustace

I seldom read newspapers. A lifetime spent trying to understand the nature of my fascination with journalism and the nature of journalism, has taught me better. Nowadays, I look back at my younger years up until the early 40s, and I see a time of total brainwashing. It took me some serious research to understand what was a newspaper. A much easier task has been comprehending the basics and principles of Quantum Physics. The Double-Slit experiment and the Quantum Entanglement theories are a piece of cake when compared to the controversial ways employed by modern journalism and media.

Einstein would say that the first symptom of madness is carrying out an experiment again and again without changing the parameters but expecting a different result. I guess I took so long to actually understand what journalism was about, because I was incapable of changing the experimental parameters: but how could I? Consider that I was born in some sort of megalithic era where most people would never dare questioning the facts discussed within the daily newspapers: if it’s printed on a paper IT MUST BE TRUE!

To cut a long story short my approach towards journalism has changed a lot over the past decade and here are a few rules that I try to follow when reading a newspaper article:

1)   I check who is the author, the editor, the owner; I try to find out where they stand and what is their agenda: there is always one.

2)    I try to avoid columnists who are keen in explaining why Tom, Dick and Harry are just the right fit for this or that public position.

3)   I never pay too much attention to what is being published but I always wonder about what is missing: what actual news didn’t make it today to the front page? And why?

Of course there can be also many other rules, but eventually the actual difference in creating better information outlets is made up by all of us, ordinary people, standard readers and their own wise judgement. It is not about journalists or editors being corrupted, or being depicted as corrupted, it is more about the way actual power influences all of us and can change for the worst the best people. Media corporations are companies just like any other company, while newspapers are corporate by-products; when evaluating a newspaper we should therefore try to look at the bare facts and avoid all the BS about saving the world or big speeches about any unlikely moral superiority. Real heroes are rare and usually die young, as such it is logical to conclude that there are very few heroes in the world at any given time, least of all amongst the journalists of the western media where risks are generally very well calculated, while the unexpected worst that could ever happen is travelling for an interview and end up in a hotel room with external and shared to*ilets.

I started off by stating that I seldom read newspapers nowadays. As such it was with great surprise that a few days ago I came across and article in which it was reported that Jeff Bezos – the owner of the The Washington Post – had put an end to the old habit of his paper of endorsing this or that presidential candidate. Finally!, I screamed out loud. But there was more. Apparently, while defending his decision, Mr Bezos wrote: “Most people believe the media is biased. Anyone who doesn’t see this is paying scant attention to reality, and those who fight reality lose”. Splendid! Worth a Nobel Prize mention and the Quote of the Year Award!

Mr Bezos is a gentleman and therefore he carefully carved his writing; however, that same sentence could be easily summed up as follows: “The media is kind of biased, wake up!”. Having already explained that my own waking-up involved a lot of pain, a lot of research and attention to “reality” I feel like skipping any further related comments. In fact, what we should be concentrating on is the silver lining: here we have a media mogul telling his clients to wake up and pay attention to what actually happens within the real world around them, to pay attention to some questionable dynamics! Rather than saying Thank you for the heads up, Mr Bezos!, rather than wondering: why was there a need for an endorsement in the first place? Shouldn't the media always maintain a healthy distance from the political palaces?, some readers threatened to cancel their subscription, others did exactly so, while a few employees may have left the organization. Among the other unbelievable remarks and criticisms Bezos received, there were some which went so far as to speak of “cowardice” and of the death of democracy!

These are unfortunately the ways of our crazy up-side-down world: the sheep always need guidance and they go wild when they are set free. Yet, it shouldn’t take long to any thinking mind to realize that with his decision Jeff Bezos caught two birds with one stone: on the one hand he saved the credibility of his newspaper and of the media world as a whole, on the other he gifted us all with a higher degree of freedom, just like Elon Musk did when he purchased Twitter. Over the past decades we have seen too many social gurus kneeling down to power, selling out our freedom, what about if the new trend is the long awaited sign of some relevant change of direction?

Let’s be clear, by paying strong attention to reality – and thus following Mr. Bezos’ advice - we would soon find out that even this extra freedom we were sort of granted is a mere illusion; it is so because freedom is not a gift that can be “granted” by anyone, but also because freedom is just like a rare fragrance, it evaporates while you are smelling it and you will never have enough of it. Still, even when gone, some special aromas tend to make an impression on our mind, they tend to have an impact and they are not easily forgotten; even inhaling them just for one single magic moment can make all the difference between living and pretending to be doing so.

 

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