Am I Being Conned?

Jump to a section:

Why Information Doesn't Educate
Power Is The "Devil"
Doing It Ourselves
Know When We Are Being Conned
Judging For Myself

Professionals are counting women out. They don't feature us on news shows. They don't highlight our achievements in politics. They don't report on the difference we make in keeping "life" going healthcare for families, support for schools and libraries, gluing neighborhoods together. They interpret our staying away from outspoken politics as not caring. How wrong they are.

return to top

WHY INFORMATION DOESN'T EDUCATE

We are caught in a circle of stupidity in a web of apathy, paid for by advertisers that filter what we are told.

Where do we turn to get our information? TV, radio, newspapers. However, something strange has happened. Since cable TV began broadcasting "news" every day all day, what we get are cozy news readers masquerading as reporters reporting on what other reporters are reported to have reported on events that "might" have happened.

Since our news is privately owned and the owners sell primarily to advertisers, everyone turns to consumer research to find out what target audiences already think. Then they tune the news to what people already know. In this way, polling creates news. Polls tell sponsors what people already think. Sponsors then pay for advertising to fund shows and newspapers that sound like what they think we think. And then they tell us what we think and think about.

We women often feel too busy to scream at the shallowness of news and the selfishness of politics. Most of us are too far from the power of ownership to compete, so we mentally walk away. And we leave the impression that we don't care. As an obvious example, the news "experts" don't explain why money is needed to run for office, since most of the money is used to pay the news media for space and time. They just tell us that in the latest polls, the public does not care about campaign financing.

return to top

POWER IS THE "DEVIL"

The cliche "the devil is in the details" needs to be rewritten. The power is in the details. The pollsters and the sponsors of the news do not explain the details of cases in the courts in which women's rights are either ignored or argued away as unnecessary. What the news says is that the female public does not care about Supreme Court appointments and can't think that far ahead.

The pollsters and sponsors of the news do not explain how our tax dollars are spent and what works and doesn't work. It is in the details of the budgets that the legislators show their different philosophies and their differing abilities to solve problems and make life better. Because we don't make ourselves heard, and we don't respond to the pollsters, the news corporations and their sponsors assume that it is too boring for busy women to pay attention to details. Research explains that attack ads are designed to keep thoughtful issue-focused voters away from the polls.

By the time that they say that voter turnout will be low it often is.

return to top

DOING IT OURSELVES

WomenMatter knows that we are smarter than the news. What's more, we are not just the entertainment we tune into to relax and laugh. We hold responsibility for the Life Issues that make every day happen.

So what do we do? Some of us are angry and work hard to change things. Some of us, the very satisfied with the way things are, are afraid that change will hurt what we have and work hard to prevent change from happening. Many of us are so tired of being talked down to that we tune out of the public debate and just walk away from public talk and public policy.

That leaves the superficial sound bite guys in charge of information. And information isn't education until it tells us what we need to know and we act on it to support what we already care about.

return to top

KNOW WHEN WE ARE BEING CONNED

So -- this is our guide to analyzing an argument and knowing when we are being conned. Let's use it, talk about it with each other, and teach it to our children.

Watch out for ----

When a TV, radio, newspaper expert (a pundit), a political candidate, office holder, or someone at our own dinner table says, "the main point is". "the cause of it is," "it is really simple," watch out. No Life Issue, on which we are experts, and no analysis of jobs, prices, or wars, can be boiled down into nitwit catch phrases. No political party or its candidates can be summed up as just "special interests" or "tax and spend." There are serious differences and we can find out what they are.

• Where do their thoughts begin? What is their philosophy of life itself? Do they believe that there is little anyone can do, that life just happens? That if we leave problems alone, the strongest ideas, people, and organizations will always win? Do they believe that history repeats itself and that there is no point in trying anything new? Do they believe that fate or God makes everything happen and that people are not responsible? Or do they believe that we are our brothers' (and sisters') keepers and are morally obligated to help the less lucky? If we listen closely, it is a serious game to find the speaker's basic belief and notice how all the "facts" they tell us are colored by it.

• When they go to prove their point, on what do they base their assumptions and their conclusions? Do they use science and its proofs as evidence? Do they base their views solely on their own experience? Do they mostly just rely on their personal beliefs without showing any proof? Do their ideas come mostly from fears, which they then try to pass on to us?

By analyzing the over-simple analyzers we can find out fast whether they think we are smart or dumb. Do they take the time and do they have the ability to explain and prove their point of view?

return to top

JUDGING FOR MYSELF

WomenMatter will give us the details we need in order to understand what is really going on. Then it will present what the different points of view are, each as sympathetically as we can.

By checking in regularly with WomenMatter and getting e-mail alerts, we can track the Life Issues we care about most, making up our own minds where we stand.

Then we can listen to candidates and our government representatives and let them know what we support right from this website. And we can join up with action groups that match our views.

Research tells us that more women vote than men, but we sprinkle our votes around instead of pooling them with other like-minded women. WomenMatter will help see to it that we can time and target our voices and our votes to make a difference.

return to top