Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we're asking the

question can you tell fact from fiction

this is prompted by an article I read in

the Atlantic this week by Noah Holly who

is lamenting in his mind the current

state of Journalism I thought that was

interesting a journalist lamenting the

current state of Journalism and what he

said I think is true he said that

journalism has increasingly become about

feelings not facts that what journalists

are doing are tapping into conservative

or liberal fears U mostly and

exacerbating those and mostly by looking

at possible futures if President Biden

loses to president Trump here's what

might happen if president Trump doesn't

win here's what they might do to your

family those kinds of headlines those

kinds of things they're tapping into

what Holly called the anxious part of

the brain playing the whatif game on the

possible Futures possible scenarios that

could be down there if so and so happens

and because we're all feeling fearful we

go looking for that and because we're

looking for that journalistic entities

which exist to make money are giving it

that giving us that it's a it's a

feedback loop they create things that

make us afraid which we go looking for

because we're afraid and around and

around we go but Holly's point is that's

not journalism that journalism's job

isn't to stoke emotions and journalism's

job isn't to tell you what might happen

in the future journalism is supposed to

be about facts here's what actually is

or did happen draw your own conclusions

in fact once you read this article you

can't unread it once you see it you

can't unsee it and what I mean by that

is just try me find an article on

whatever news site you like to go to

read it one time for the feeling it

gives you then go back and read it again

only this time skip anything that isn't

demonstrated evidenced fact you'll be

shocked at how many articles you are

left with zero in other words if you

redacted everything that wasn't proven

everything that wasn't demonstrated

everything that wasn't verifiable by

another source you would literally have

whole news articles that have nothing

that's because all they are is opinion

all they are is possibility all they are

is emotion and the consequence of that

is that as a society we are increasingly

unable able to tell truth from fiction

fact from feeling reality from illusion

and it's spitting us off into anxiety

and also into unhealthy states of mind

that I have personally seen harm

families and friendships and

relationships of all kind listen Jesus

said the truth will set you free he did

not say anything about journalism that

guesses or jism that is designed to

build your anxiety truth is not what CNN

writes or Fox News or MSNBC or whatever

you listen to or go to for your news

truth is truth it's what actually is

happening has happened and we have to

realize that we have become lazy in gers

of news the reality is that most of us

just take everything at face value we

exist in the Echo chamber of our

political tribe and whatever we read

whatever headlines we don't read the

articles we just go with the headlines

we think we know but facts are facts we

have to become consumers of those facts

God's people should be people of truth

if things are make getting worse we

should say so if things are getting

better we should say so we should not

let someone tell us whether things are

getting better or worse we should be

looking looking at the facts themselves

could it be that you and I feel anxious

right now because we are buying the

product of companies designed to profit

from our anxiety so start being a better

consumer of news start looking for truth

so that you can be set free from the

forces out there that want to whip you

into a frenzy and by the way while we're

on the subject of Truth make sure that

as you're inges in news media you are at

least one to one ingesting the news of

what God has done is doing and will do

in Jesus in the Bible because what

you're going to find in the Bible is

fact what you're going to find in the

Bible is hard truth of who God is and

that truth more than anything is what is

going to set you free hey thanks so much

for watching this video while you're

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