the truth is out there

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The truth is out there but very difficult to find. In this age of information unfortunately the virus of lies and propaganda has taken the dominant position. Truth is rarely spicy and exciting and remains silently buried. On the other hand, lies can be made as spicy and exciting as desired by the presenter and spreads fast in the world of headline news, micro tweets and picture posts where convenience and time takes priority over facts. Truth unfortunately lies in the details and not at the surface and is difficult to dig from the heap of lies, is time consuming and almost never convenient or entertaining. However success can be achieved only if you can achieve truth. Success cannot be achieved based on lies and false information.

Role of news media
Today conventional media is full of lies and propaganda. Presented by average Joe and sexy Jane they feed you with nothing but lies. The news presenters and the entire machinery behind them is doing it for name, fame, money, air time, ad revenues and top slot competition for which they want exciting stuff. True or false, accurate or inaccurate doesn't matter to them. Immediately this might sound as an extreme statement but as you start exploring the facts, you will realize that this is true.

Where is the truth
How do we find truth? First get rid the conventional media. If not intentionally feeding you with lies conventional media is full of reporters with less than average IQ and low ethics who present their opinions and interpretations and not the facts. You want the facts go for non-conventional sources of information. Go to documentaries and presentations by subject matter experts, scientists, researchers and hands on the ground workers. Listen to their interviews, chat shows, listen to their speeches. Take the information directly from the source and that is the only source of truth. If someone is presenting you information and that someone is not the original source of information itself he has most likely messed up the information already and whatever he is presenting to you will lack the essence or will be complete junk. Ironically some countries are proud that they provide complete freedom of speech but it is useless since there is no freedom of facts.

What is news media good for then?
News media is ok to follow when you are following a mechanical news, hard numbers, example Company X reported the following results for this quarter but don't take their opinion on whether the result is good or bad. Listen to the company promoter or research analyst for it. Similarly news is ok to follow if they say rocket xyz was launched successfully or crashed after take off but not if they are giving the reasons behind it. You really want to know why the rocket crashed or got launched successfully, then only listen to the rocket scientist and not to the average Joe or sexy Jane presenting the news. Some journalist and news presenters are good, unfortunately very few, very very very few. Follow them closely once you have built a trust with them. It is ok to rely on them for information. The point is before taking a piece of information first focus on who is presenting it, If the presenter is an idiot then what he is presenting is surely garbage. If the presenter is not the direct source then what he is presenting is either intentionally manipulated or unintentionally inaccurate. If it is directly from the source then it is likely to be genuine. If it can be confirmed from multiple sources then you probably have what is closest to the truth. There are some areas where there is very high degree of manipulation, politics, finance and healthcare are some examples.

How to do it?
Fortunately it is not that difficult now a days. Follow the genuine sources and experts on twitter. There are lot of you tube channels that bring you information directly from the source without having a news presenter or a news broker in between. Follow documentaries, interviews and chat shows instead of news channels. Learn to verify the authenticity of any news by correlating the presented numbers and information and confirming it from multiple sources. Similarly learn to identify lies by looking for contradictions and anomalies. Spend time. You want to get to the truth then spend time trying to get the details on the subject. Don't form an opinion based on  biased information sources, headlines, sarcastic/funny one liners and picture posts. Look for details. Spend time if it needs time.

How it helps?
 It helps your mind in the same way healthy nutritious food helps your body over poisonous and addictive junk food. I follow news around the world very closely to keep track of my investments and I have learnt it the hard way. News presenters are either too stupid to present the pure truth or are intentionally manipulating the information for various reasons. Don't follow or believe them blindly, build your own sources of credible, intellectual and genuine channels of information and follow them. Detoxify yourself from lies of the world. Once you know how to get to the truth, success in life will be easy in whatever field you are working. So it helps in becoming successful and getting a clear picture of what is happening.