Believe

They’ll have you believe that saving 30 cents on your milk is worth screwing over the farmer for all he’s got.

They’ll have you believe that the thing that wasn’t even invented this time last year is something that you need this year.

They’ll have you believe that inflated prices, houses that few can afford, destruction of some of the most pristine habitats in the world is all worth selling stuff from the ground to make their companies rich.

They’ll have you believe that the rich need to get richer for everyone to benefit (they call it the trickle down effect) when research tells us that as the rich earn more, the gap gets wider.

They’ll have you believe that your comfortable lifestyle is in fact, not comfortable at all.

They’ll have you believe that if a problem doesn’t make the 6 o’clock news, it no longer exists.

They’ll have you believe that you have the attention span of a goldfish and that you can’t consider a range of views and complex ideas.

They’ll have you believe that the short term economic growth, election cycles and popularity polls are more important than thinking and acting to ensure the world we leave behind.

Problem is, we often do believe.