A funny old world

Subject: A funny old world

The word "false" is well and truly in vogue right now. Fake news is the current media speculation with information being beamed 24/7 aimed at distorting actual facts, what ever that may mean. Facts are hard to pin down at the best of times and in the murky world of politics, almost impossible.
The question of who is doing the beaming and who is at the receiving end of the beam, has its usual culprits, Russia being one. the actuality of what we call facts, controlled as we are by a self serving political system, telling the truth, is just plain difficult.

 Mrs May bangs the lecture, Mr Putin gives his icy stare and the Russian public lap it up, inthralled to the will of an inflexible ringmaster.

With the poisoning of the ex Russian spy the spotlight has also turned on RT the external media service of the Russian State. People here have been getting very huffy over the opportunity for the Russian State to portray the West in a poor light and therefore use the channel as a propaganda tool to undermine Western democracies. This along with the claims that the Russians interfered with the democratic process which enabled Donald Trump to defeat Hillary Clinton in the Presidential Election. Cyber Space and the use of targeted media messages which were used to sow seeds of doubt in the minds of gullible voters has in some quarters been proved and therefore the claims against RT have gained traction.
My own experience of using RT as an alternative to the domestic news programs is always with a measure of scepticism just as is the news one gets through Fox News or the local variant, Sky. Even the BBCs editorial staff will pick and choose as which media story to broadcast.
There are always some 'unpalatable truths' as one knows, or believe you know (accepting the version of truth you are happiest with)  but it is useful to see the alternative view displayed since one has to acknowledge, from ones own experience,  there is always an alternative viewpoint.
The more we listen to both sides of any argument the clearer will be our own ability to understand any situation but in the end you are faced with the sad fact that you can't do anything about it anyway.
On a completely different tack but also inclusive of the word "fake".
I was listening to a program in which women were encouraged to phone in and describe the the procedures they had gone through to enhance their features. Botox, breast enhancement, lip injections, eyelid injections, and this includes the normal cosmetics such as false eyelashes, eyeliner lipstick, and the powders to enhance or hide a woman's normal complexion. The list goes on and one has to wonder what is the reality of a woman who has to undergo all this, each morning before she ventures out into the real world. Is their world so full of "wishes" that facts are blown away. Is the necessity to deceive themselves healthy. Does the time spent, (never mind the money) not leave them open to the claim that they spend this inordinate amount of time and money only to decry men when they get wolf whistles from the guys. Can their be any sense in being beholden to how they appear to the opposite sex only to decry that sex when it responds.
It really is becoming a funny old world.