Manipulation

Can you believe what you see?

Or are you only being shown what someone wants you to see?

How do I know what to believe?

The first thing to do is start at the source.

Watch our Truth in Two to find out what to watch for (full text + hyperlink below).

If you are not seeking different vantage points you are not informed.

Subscribe to “Truth in Two” videos from Comenius (here). Mark is President of The Comenius Institute (website). Dr. Eckel spends time with Christian young people in public university (1 minute video), hosts a weekly radio program with diverse groups of guests (1 minute video), and interprets culture from a Christian vantage point (1 minute video). Consider becoming a Comenius patron (here).

Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat

FULL TEXT

In the 2008 movie Vantage Point we learn about the attempted assassination of a U.S. president from different perspectives. The mystery encourages the viewer to ask questions such as, “Where is the camera placed? From which angle do we get the shot? and Who is holding the recording device?” Media reports of such an event would include other questions like, “What words are used in the narration? What is the tenor of the voiceover? and What media outlet controls the story?”

Movies like Vantage Point can teach us to ask questions of every life event, every media outlet, or every news program.

Francis Schaeffer knew manipulation of the camera would tell us how to see what we are seeing. Francis Schaeffer’s How Shall We Then Live? Is a 10-part video series made in 1977 and is still applicable today. Each 25-minute episode gives a 30,000 foot Christian view of history since Jesus. In the tenth and final video episode, Schaeffer outlines the importance of mass media manipulation.

A staged riot scene on a city street is seen from two different points of view: that of the protesters and that of the police. The first view is given from the side of “peaceful protesters” versus the “trigger happy police.” The second view is given from the side of “our guardians of the peace” versus “hoodlums.” Schaeffer then summarizes by saying,

“Television can tell any story it wants to tell. All mass media can be used for manipulation.”

Camera placement, editing and announcing are all manipulated to tell a story with the same footage but from different vantage points.

At the Comenius Institute we agree with Proverbs that cautions against being misled by words. After all, words and pictures can all be manipulated depending on a person’s vantage point.

For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.

[Find Episode Ten here watching from minute 6:45 to 10:00]