I love my football team; I’ve supported them since I was seven. This means I go to watch them play live and on the TV. I am unashamedly biased when it comes to my team. I’m the same with my family and friends because I care about them. I also care about some local issues, which others may find trivial. That’s fine because I’m sure I won’t care about some of the things other people care about. I don’t want to pick sides on every single issue of the day.
I do not care
Most things in the news and current affairs, do not concern me. They are none of my business, so I don’t care about them. This may sound harsh and uncaring, but I only have some much emotional bandwidth to spare. I do not want to waste my emotions on things that will not affect me or things I cannot control.
Content creators on Social and Mainstream media, however, want me to care about things I don’t need to know about it; Things that don’t affect me or my family & friends. Until they do affect me, I will shun them.
What if I need to know about something?
If there’s something I don’t know about and I want to find out about it, I will try to hunt out unbiased views. This is difficult to do because people have their own agendas and innate biases. In these cases I will try to get an amalgamation of views by consulting, online, various opinions from across the spectrum. In this way I will hopefully arrive at a balanced view.
Divide and conquer
The Roman Empire was successful. I can tell this from the fact that it spanned a thousand years and stretched from Carlisle, England to what is now Baku in Azerbaijan. There is also a Roman Road less than a mile from where I live.
How did they get so successful? They conquered vast swathes of territory, by playing the incumbent tribes and territories against each other. They knew that a united enemy was less likely to submit, but they could defeat a divided enemy swiftly.
It’s the oldest trick in the book and I see this tactic today, all the time. The oligarchs and politicians know that if the mass of the population decided, they could overthrow any regime. However, if they can divide the population into fragmented groups, they can easily subdue the masses. How do they do this? They make us pick sides. They are not bothered which side you pick but pick one you must. This keeps you distracted from what’s really going on, what’s really important. Your freedoms. This is another trick practised by conjurers and pickpockets from time immemorial. I distract your attention over there, whilst my hand steals your wallet over here.
Stay neutral; Don’t pick sides
In things that don’t concern you, stay neutral. You don’t need to pick sides. How do you decide what concerns you? Well, that’s up to you and your values. As a guide, though, think of the following areas of concern as paramount:
- Your physical and mental health
- Your families well being
- Your faith
- Your career or purpose for being
- Your finances i.e. your ability to look after yourself and your family in the future
- Your local neighbourhood and community
- And maybe once every General Election, your nation
You can leave anything outside of these areas well alone for the time being. It will help your mental health. Leave things alone in which you have no control.
Is the issue a manufactured agenda?
A way to find out if an issue is part of a manufactured agenda designed to take your freedoms from you is to ask the following questions?
- Is it a global issue?
- Does it require a one size fits all approach?
- Is debate shut down and silenced?
I learned this from Neil Oliver. If all the answers to the above are Yes, then it is a con. Reject it.
For more on this, read my post on Why the Media Wants you Scared, where I also show you how you can protect yourself from being manipulated.
So, the next time you’re urged to take a side, pause and ask yourself: does this truly matter to me, my family, or my future? Or is it just another distraction, another way to keep me locked in a debate that leads nowhere? Your energy and attention are valuable. Spend them on things that genuinely impact your life, not on narratives designed to divide. Stay aware, stay independent, and most importantly, stay in control of what you choose to care about.