The Media’s Mind-Forged Manacles

The best way to reclaim your sense of joy is to turn off the television.

Jeffrey Folks | October 17, 2026

“Chilling final words” before a man enters a tiger enclosure and is killed.  Cornell suspends fraternity parties following rape allegations.  People discovered climbing into NYC manholes.  Selma Blair’s alleged attack on flight attendants.  Four teen killers react to life sentences.  Fifteen worst years to be alive in human history.  NATO warns Russia: “We will destroy you...”  Former San Francisco police officer allegedly kills wife and 24-year-old daughter.

Or just a few hours later: “The tragedy of Kaley Cuoco.”  “Celebrity plastic surgeon gunned down in his office.”  The Fed’s new warning for Wall Street.  “He tried the rope swing of death — and instantly regretted it.”  The tragedy of Jonathan Taylor Thomas.  “Clinically dead woman meets unsettling beings.”  I was tempted to click and find out who those “unsettling beings” were but resisted the urge.  As for the rest, who cares?

And that was only a few hour’s worth of headlines.  It’s not overstating the truth to say we are inundated with sensationalized and negative news to the point that we may come to believe that is all there is.  We may think we live in a world of pervasive violence and perversion, and that there’s little we can do about it except hunker down in our homes and avoid going outside.  That is a fiction, but it sells news, and it will continue as long as we continue to consume it and react to it.  The reality is very different.

The media........

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