Or, The death of Necessary Factual and Normative Context.
I’ve watched social media and blogging transform over the years, shifting from relatively open spaces where people expressed themselves freely to platforms often overrun by manipulation, bots, and state-sponsored interference, advertising etc. A friend and I were discussing this shift recently, and he asked if there’s any real upside left to publishing one’s thoughts online. My immediate answer leaned towards ‘probably not most of the time.’ However, what I didn’t fully articulate then, but realized later, is the motivation behind pieces like this one: an attempt to share constructive information, to offer context that might help us navigate the current environment and move forward collectively. This observation about the changing information landscape leads directly into the core concerns I want to address…
As editors and news organizations fail us by omitting crucial context, the public often doesn’t realize that the way significant global shifts are reported—often trivially, like the weather—is a stark deviation from our shared understanding of normalcy.
The abnormal gets reported as normal because context is missing. When people are ‘disappeared’ from the streets,with out notice or warning, it’s reported merely as news; no context is offered to emphasize that this is profoundly abnormal. Say the words to yourself. This is not normal. This is not normal.
Therefore, your own change logs must serve as your proof. Start keeping track yourself. Make lists. Understand where your values lie and where your lines in the sand are drawn. The grasp on fundamental concepts like values and virtues is weakening; these things are disappearing. Meanwhile, the Overton window isn’t just open or shifting; it’s been smashed. And this destruction continues precisely because no context is provided to frame it.
You must provide the context yourself. You cannot rely on others. Dispute the text. Question the video. Understand the motivation, because each and every piece of information, every image, every post is designed to move you to action. It’s not a distraction; it’s the plan. It’s not entertainment; it’s manipulation. Advertising or nation state actors diving the populace all using the same platforms and methods.
For example: Regulation is disappearing—another change occurring without context and by design. If context were provided honestly, the connection between deregulation and harm would be clear. Instead, the narrative often omits that regulation brings us vital protections like seatbelts and controls on air pollution. Proper context would show that less regulation can lead to disasters like a train derailing in your backyard, poisoning communities, and potentially devastating families for generations.
This marks the day editors died, but perhaps they’ve been dead for a long time, replaced by a generation raised on the internet, often lacking a fundamental understanding of what’s truly important and why. What was hard fought for and won for a reason. For God’s sake, you often can’t even find the basic ‘who, what, where, when, why’—the inverted pyramid structure—in 90% of the articles you read. I’m not even going to talk about the sprawling articles that say nothing over thousands of words.
Everything is changing at a magnitude faster than in the past; the pace has accelerated dramatically. The global world order I learned about as a child, which had seemed stable for 50 or 60 years, was turned upside down in mere weeks and months sas context of course.
Observe how business leaders adopted this change with fealty, signing up for photo opportunities and donating millions to causes of destabilization that ultimately could cost their own companies billions. Doesn’t it seem obvious? Consider the line-up (or procession) of tech leaders at the recent inauguration—it serves as a stark marker of this fealty. That photograph will likely endure for a long time.
So, watch the Overton window and track its changes. Keep note of what’s truly meaningful, because those traditionally responsible for this task (the press, editors) are no longer doing it effectively. In fact, they may now be incapable. The Fourth Estate resembles a dilapidated shack on the side of a road we once traveled—a road founded on an ideal we’ve largely forgotten. Keep your own context.
There is no guiding light. There is no shining city on a hill. There is no light on the hill anymore. There is only you, potentially, to hold that light and illuminate the way forward for others. But you cannot do this if you don’t possess context or provide it yourself. Start tracking it now; it will serve you well later.
Be your own editor. Dispute the narratives presented to you. Your ability to deploy critical thinking is becoming your single greatest differentiator—the most crucial tool you possess for navigating towards wealth creation, safety, and health and the world itself. Dispute the text
