Michael Snyder, Contributor

Activist Post

For decades, the mainstream media in the United States was accustomed to being able to tell the American people what to think. Unfortunately for them, a whole lot of Americans are starting to break free from that paradigm and think for themselves. A Gallup survey from earlier this year found that 60 percent of all Americans “have little or no trust” in the mainstream media. More people than ever are realizing that the mainstream media is giving them a very distorted version of “the truth” and they are increasingly seeking out alternative sources of information.

In the United States today, just six giant media corporations control the mainstream media. Those giant media corporations own television networks, cable channels, movie studios, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, music labels and even many prominent websites. But now thanks to the Internet the mainstream media no longer has a complete monopoly on the news. In recent years the “alternative media” has exploded in popularity. People want to hear about the things that the corporate media doesn’t really want to talk about. They want to hear news that is not filtered by corporate bosses and government censors. They want “the truth” and they know that they are not getting it from the mainstream media.

We are watching a media revolution happen, and many in the mainstream media are totally freaking out about it. In fact, some in the mainstream media have even begun publishing articles that mock the American people for not trusting them.

For example, a recent CNN article entitled “Still ‘paranoid’ after all these years” portrayed Americans that don’t trust the media as paranoid conspiracy theorists that have left rationality behind…

Ever have the feeling you’re being lied to by the news media, the authorities, the corporate world? That somebody — or something — is out to get you? You’re not alone.

Welcome to 21st-century America.

Look around. Trust is hitting historic lows. Just a third of Americans have a favorable view of the federal government, a decline of 31% since 2002, according to the Pew Center for People and the Press. Gallup has Congress’ approval rating is in the low 20s, after nearing single digits last summer. And the news media aren’t much better off.

‘Negative opinions about the performance of news organizations now equal or surpass all-time highs on nine of 12 core measures the Pew Research Center has been tracking since 1985,’ a Pew report said.

The article goes on to make it sound like it is very irrational not to trust the media, but in this day and age it is imperative that we all learn to think for ourselves. Blindly trusting someone else to do your thinking for you is very dangerous.

Anyone that does not acknowledge that the mainstream media has an agenda is not being honest with themselves. The mainstream media presents a view of the world that is very favorable to their big corporate owners and the big corporations that spend billions of dollars to advertise on their networks. The mainstream media is the mouthpiece of the establishment, and the worldview being pushed on the big networks is going to be consistent with the economic, financial, political and social goals of the establishment. The mainstream media loves to talk about things that fit with that agenda, and they don’t like to talk about things that suggest that there is something wrong with that agenda.

The following are 25 facts that the mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about right now…

#1 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that gun sales are absolutely skyrocketing in the aftermath of the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

#2 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that disarming the population has resulted in some of the most horrific massacres in human history. The following is from the Warrior Times…

1911 – Turkey disarmed its citizens, and between 1915 – 1917 they murdered 1.5 million Armenians.

1929 – Russia disarmed its citizens, and between 1929 – 1953 they murdered 20 million Russians.

1935 – China disarmed its citizens, and between 1948 – 1952 they murdered 20 million Chinese.

1938 – Germany disarmed its citizens, and between 1939 – 1945 the Holocaust occurred. 1956 – Cambodia disarmed its citizens, and between 1975 – 1977 they murdered 1 million Educated people.

1964 – Guatemala disarmed its citizens, and between 1964 – 1981 they murdered 100,000 Mayan Indians.

1970 – Uganda disarmed its citizens, and between 1971 – 1979 they murdered 300,000 Christians.

#3 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that a bill allowing for the “indefinite military detention of US citizens on American soil” was passed by the U.S. Senate on Friday.

#4 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that volcanoes all along the Ring of Fire are roaring to life. It seems like a new eruption is being reported every few days now. In fact, a red alert has just been issued for a massive volcano that sits along the border between Chile and Argentina.

#5 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the use of genetically engineered seeds has caused on explosion of new “super weeds” that are incredibly difficult for farmers to kill.

#6 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that renowned trends forecaster Gerald Celente is predicting a “financial disaster” in 2013.

#7 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that it is easier to get into Harvard than it is to get a job as a flight attendant in America today.

#8 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that nearly 400 TSA employees have been fired for stealing from travelers since 2003.

#9 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that giant corporations such as Facebook are funneling gigantic amounts of money through offshore banking havens such as the Cayman Islands in an effort to avoid taxes.

#10 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the U.S. dollar is in danger of losing its status as the primary reserve currency of the world.

#11 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that Barack Obama has gone off to vacation in Hawaii while the rest of the nation hopes for a fiscal cliff deal to get done. Of course the mainstream media has to mention that he is on vacation because they always keep track of what the president does, but they are not making a big deal out of it because they love Obama. And it sounds like Obama is having quite a good time on his little vacation…

The president is expected to indulge in some of his favorite pastimes on the island where he was born and raised: golf, an expedition for the local treat ‘shave ice,’ and an evening out with family and friends. He hit the links at the nearby Marine Corps base under sunny skies on Saturday afternoon.

#12 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that there are government websites that give immigrants instructions about how to come over to our country and apply for welfare.

#13 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the U.S. economy is losing millions of jobs to nations where it is legal to pay workers slave labor wages. The mainstream media is totally married to the one world economic agenda that their corporate owners make so much money from, and so they say nothing as a steady stream of businesses and jobs continue to leave the country.

#14 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the recent tax increase is causing large numbers of wealthy individuals to consider moving out of the state of California.

#15 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that hunger and poverty are absolutely exploding in the United States at the same time that they are telling us that the economy is “recovering”.

#16 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that North Korea now has a three-stage rocket with enough range to potentially hit the western United States.

#17 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the United States Postal Service is losing 25 million dollars a day and is on the verge of financial collapse.

#18 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that our biggest oil supplier in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, still kills people for changing religions.

#19 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that political correctness is taking over America. The truth is that the media does not see any problem with that at all.

#20 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that nearly half a million employees of the federal government are making more than $100,000 a year.

#21 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the birth rate in the United States fallen to an all-time low. The elite are actually absolutely thrilled that less babies are being born.

#22 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that violent crime in the United States increased by 18 percent in 2011 and that many major U.S. cities are seeing violent crime totally spiral out of control.

#23 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that Barack Obama received more than 99 percent of the vote in more than 100 precincts in Ohio on election day.

#24 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that during the first four years of the Obama administration, the U.S. national debt grew by about as much as it did from the time that George Washington took office to the time that George W. Bush took office.

#25 The mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about the fact that the Federal Reserve created the conditions for the last financial crisis and their mismanagement of the economy has now brought us to the verge of another horrible economic downturn. According to the mainstream media, the Federal Reserve is “above politics” and should not be criticized.

Are there any other items that you feel should be added to this list? Please feel free to share them by posting a comment below…

This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.