Don’t Believe the Hype!

It takes a nation of millions to hold us back.

Happy Friday Friends.

My next door neighbour’s a smashing bloke but he disbelieves almost everything that comes out of my mouth about the environment, and you know what, it’s not his fault and I’ll explain why.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course but one of the hottest current topics is how can opinion be formed from information sources that have never ever been so questionable.

It took nearly a hundred years to regulate the newspaper industry just before it’s decline due to the new digital world and its ability to deliver immediate and constant content from a gazillion different contributors every millisecond of the day globally

At no point in human history has there been such an information overload.

Don’t Believe the Hype was released in 1988 by Public Enemy from the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to hold us back and is of course, this week’s tune.

Chuck D from Public Enemy stated it was inspired by the American professor Noam Chomsky who was a public intellectual known for his works in the field of cognitive science, linguistics and social criticism.  Just imagine if Public Enemy and Noam Chomsky were experiencing life in 2023.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or maybe X as it’s currently called, YouTube, TikTok, Linkedin, Discord, Reddit, Threads.

We are literally bombarded every second of the day now by self-proclaimed experts and content creators and influencers.

Keto diets, Climate Crisis, house cleaning hacks, the Carnivore diet, climate change, intermittent fasting, the ULEZ, red wine, ultra-processed foods, meditation, sunlight, exercise, sleep patterns, breathwork, air pollution, covid, calorie deficits, coffee and conspiracy theories. My favourites of course this week were the TikTok shop bathroom extendable cleaning brush and the vegetable cutter, dicer and slicer, both delivered yesterday!

All types of self-proclaimed gurus now exist on social media, including me with my blogs and save the planet posts, and I generally enjoy most of it, especially the massive creativity and humour on TikTok. My greatest dislike, however, is how these platforms allow the likes of Tommy Robinson, Trump and Katie Hopkins spread their bile and hatred.

So how do we separate the real influencers, mindset changers and pure entertainment from the batshit fruitcakes that pepper our browsing time with negativity, lies, scepticism and bullshit?

Do you know what? I’m not in the slightest bit worried, because I believe in humanity. I wholly believe that most people are good and will make the right decisions if not at first but eventually. That’s how the general public always pick the most genuine people on I’m a Celebrity and also on a more historical note, how we outsmarted and outlived the dinosaurs.

I listened to Steven Bartlett talking to Chris Evans this week. Apart from being an extremely successful entrepreneur and a Dragon on the BBC he has a super successful podcast called the Diary of CEO which I love and follow avidly despite me being nothing like a CEO. He said a brilliant thing which I’ll probably quote wrongly, but he thought the success of future generations would be linked to the ability to develop the mindset of change and lean into it reaping the opportunities and benefits it offers rather than dismissing change outrightly through fear of adoption or other negativity.

And there in lovely readers, ‘lies the rub’ as Shakespeare once said.

As much as I seek to change the story, change how we behave and change the world, my lovely neighbour will always be needed and quite absolutely right to ask the question why.

All will be well!

Thanks for reading, Have beautiful weekend.

Mike.