The 6 Weirdest Things That Are Ruining Your Memory | Cracked.com.

What I love about Cracked is that it takes legitimate intellectual concepts and mixes them with just enough snark and crude references to make them digestible.

In this case, they’ve compiled a few physical and psychological tricks that can mess with one’s memory. A couple of them are simply good reminders to take care of yourself. The first two (#6 and #5, because Cracked always counts down) are of particular interest to those of you interested in politics and the media because they demonstrate how people can be mentally trained to think fiction is fact.

Like the email forward I just got in which some blogger claims the media are irresponsible in reporting on guns because it suits “the media’s needs.” Right. Until capitalist/corporate media completely dies and we’re all subsidized by agenda-driven foundations, the media’s primary “need” will be to make money. That explains Skip Bayless. That explains the “it bleeds, it leads” maxim. It would lead the media to avoid pointing out harsh truths on guns to a trigger-happy country.

But between false memories and peer pressure, it’s easy for ideologically blinkered dirtbags to cry conspiracy.