NeverGiveUp_Boy's Blog

“Clipification” is certainly not a word itself, but it is invented by The Minefield’s podcast hosts Waleed Aly and Scott Stephens. It is a word used to describe one of the processes of reporting news in modern life where pieces of breaking news or hot current affairs were cut out and made into a clip for people to watch, as a form of fast digestion of news in a nowadays world where we are overloaded with news and information all the time. However, “clipification”, though helping people to grasp news quickly, has its own downsides such as it only reflects a very certain dramatized angle of a much bigger picture, it creates ‘clickbait’ posts and it stimulate people to argue and think they know the issue, but instead, they actually don’t. Hence, people should really spend more time and read on topics that interest them in deep.

Let’s first talk about “clipification” downsides. As mentioned above, the very first disadvantage of watching news clips is the fact it can create a very biased point of view of what the media wants us to see. “Clickbait”, if you have not known already, is the word to describe article or post on social media nowsaday with shocking title, designed to have as many people click and comment on the post as possible, as a way to increase views for their platforms; while, if you actually read the article, it might not have anything as close to what the title translate to). Similar to “clickbait” posts, “clipification” are claimed to help summarize the news in short clips for busy lifestyle, but instead, it also create this polarized society. People who don’t actually spend time exploring the issue will make decisions based on just what the clips shown without further investigation into the big pictures. Every current affairs or problems root from somewhere deeper and broader. Spending time exploring these roots will help us to have better judgement and make more accurate decisions on our support and point of view.

It is easy to be the victim of “clipification” and I am not an exception. It is a short, few-minutes clip that after you watch, create the illusion that you have got all the important news of the day. However, big problems in society often does not run over a day or two but span across a few months or even years. Political issues have vast and vague links to each other and other social flaws in the way the society is run. In other words, they might intertwine together in such fashion that one, without spending time reading and digging, cannot have a sound and strong understanding of the relations between different problems in society. The current bushfire problems in Australia is a great example. Is it due to specific party’s policies? Is it due to climate change? Is it because of the work and decision of one particular person? We have just listed three very big issues that need to be dig deeper before the question can be answer. Data of climate change is there and yes it is claimed by several scientists that it is true, general temperature is rising, but is it because of human works? Is there a clear causable link over the past 100 years? Or it’s just part of nature since things changes all the time, species evolve, disappear, new ones are discovered. Coming back to the problems of “clipification”, we have seen there is a huge amount of information that needs to be exploited on a simple question, which cannot be conveyed in a single, 4-and-a-half minute clip.

Another problem with “clipification” is creating a polarized society. People claim they know about issues but instead not. In contrast, the majority of us does not knows enough of the issue we are talking about. Our knowledge is based on abridge information from biased media. We are easily worked up and attack people on the other side of the screen without knowing what they know. How many of those out there who are blocking the road actually take times to exploring climate change before they protest? How many out there that claim to become vegan because of animal rights have take time to explore if an all-plant diet is ideal for everyone before forcing their aggressive point of view onto other strangers on the street? By all means, I am not an expert on either of these issue, however, we need to see the bigger pictures and not just our own, personal choice or opinion. Hence, self-education is very important, and even after we know much about an issue, we cannot force our opinion on someone else. It is simply for our own good and knowledge so when we standing on a side, we can justify, for ourselves and always only for our single, personal self, why we are standing on that side and not on the other side of the fence.

Now it comes to how do people find time to read more in this busy modern life. The answer is: take your time and start with one. Start with one or two issues that concern you the most, or when you read news about them, it stirs up most emotion and frustration. Those, when read on, should grasp much of your interest and does not bore you. Start from basic, then read and be active in reading, linking what you learn gradually with the current news that you have read. Make plan and extract 30 minutes to one hour of reading time at the end of the day to help you educate yourself on social knowledge. If writing is your method, find a journal and jotting down dot points as you read. Learning takes time, but before you know it, you would have a great foundation on the issue that you are always frustrated about, but does not know how to argue back as being attacked by the other person.

I have touched on several sensitive issues in this essay but it is purely to demonstrate the importance of self-education. We are a species that have high intelligence and can make decision, not on instinct, but on emotion and judgement. Is it good to know a bit across several topics or is it good to know deep in one or two single topic? I like the way the host of the Minefield podcast conclude their talks and I would love to borrow that to conclude my piece: we got to empower the three words “I don’t know”! It is alright and it is acceptable to tell someone “I don’t know much about this issue, so my opinion is this, but it might change in the future when I have more time to explore this issue”. Hence, the next time after you watch a news clip on a big issue, remember, it is only a dramatized angle, a single point of view, a snippet of something much bigger, a sand in the vast desert of knowledge that is similar to what we know. Never settle for a side until you know what they are, never be a victim of “clipification” and most of all, never stop learning.