### This is a repost, I'm still getting the hang of steemit and I wanted to post a cleaned up and easier to read version of an earlier post.
### TL;DR in the form of my very sarcastic Facebook (henceforth referred to as Failbook) post at the end.

# Intro:
Hey guys,
First time posting here, so go easy on me. I heard about steemit through a friend, and I thought it was an interesting an idea, so here I am.

The meat of my first blog isn't anything new, I'm going to be talking about media bias and the people on social media who immediately share their narrative on Failbook, only to show everyone how progressive they are, of course.

I live in the land down under (Australia), and there's been some interesting news out of the Northern Territory somewhat recently, so let me give you a quick summary of what the news outlets are reporting.

# Source for those who aren't familiar with the story (my post explains most of this):
http://i65.tinypic.com/2mrdw1w.jpg
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-08/dylan-voller27s-troubled-past/7701704

## Explanation and my take on the events:
The story goes there is a Youth Detention Centre operating in Darwin, and they have been treating their detainees very poorly, of course there is video footage, and what the viewer is treated to is certainly very disturbing. I want to make a quick note here and say I am against the sort of treatment we see of the youths in the videos, but the point of this post is to highlight media bias and the lack of journalistic integrity.

One of the detainees, Dylan Voller, has been at the centre of this controversy since day one. Indeed, there is some disturbing footage of Dylan allegedly being restrained in a chair with a bag secured over his head. The media has of course made him out to be a saint who has done no wrong, because their current narrative is that the evil people running this detention centre are nothing but sadistic men out to get their kicks by torturing young delinquents. My main gripe is about the media (specifically the ABC in Australia) only reporting one side of the story, and their rabid followers parroting everything they say onto Failbook and other platforms. This is a common occurrence in Australia, and I imagine globally.
Recently some interesting information about Dylan has come to light. Mainly that perhaps he wasn’t as innocent as we thought, and perhaps the reason he was restrained wasn’t because his saintliness was bothering the other detainees. The new information to come to light details a troubled past with a mother who doesn't care and a tendency to violence and crime. Supposedly Dylan received a regular visit in the form of a Salvation Army office named Andrew McAllen. Andrew would bring him candy from the vending machine each time he visited, except the one time he didn't have any change on him and he didn't. The result according to this story was Dylan grabbing the nearest heavy object, in this case a fire extinguisher, and bashing Andrew's face in. The result was blindness in one eye and an airlift to get emergency surgery, all for the crime of not having any candy.

It was directly after this fiasco that Dylan was restrained in the chair, and a hood (spit mask) positioned over his face, according to these new claims. This is where ABC comes in, they completely fail to report on the prior actions that culminated in him being restrained, and instead report ONLY on him being restrained so "inhumanely". The result of this complete lack of integrity on the medias behalf is a royal commission into the detention centre, and truthfully, perhaps one is required. Although it may be necessary, I am sick to death of media outlets treating us like children and only giving us one side of the story. The media’s job should be to report ALL the facts and let us form our own opinions based on what they report. Instead what we get with current media is a curated narrative invented to push public response one way or the other, a complete lack of journalistic integrity in my books, not to mention using their influence for what they deem to be the correct result.

It also turns out someone is up again for election soon, and the whole outbreak of this story coincides very conveniently with his hopes of getting re-elected, ostensibly by showing the evils committed here, and how he is going to bring about change. Like most politicians I’m sure he really cares about Dylan’s plight, and is not just using his hardships as a stepping stone to political gain…

I hate the media landscape we live in today. It seems media outlets always have a narrative they want to pursue, and they’ll carefully curate the information they bring to light to ensure it helps that narrative. Alternate media seems to be the only way to get all the facts and form your own opinion anymore. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t go that far, all they are concerned about is virtue signalling and showing the world how tolerant and progressive they are. Why bother fact checking a report when you can share a post on Failbook and prove yet again why you are such a fantastic and virtuous human being?

Well, this is the end of my little rant, sorry if it’s a bit of a mess, this is my first blog post ever, so I probably need a lot of practice. If people are interested I can provide links to news stories, just let me know.

## My Failbook post:
I’ll leave you all with the post I made on Failbook about the issue of bias media and mindless followers who parrot everything they say, please read it with a heavily sarcastic frame of mind.

“But the TV told me the staff are evil and the kid is a saint, if you can't believe sensationalised and completely bias news outlets trying to pursue a particular narrative, who can you believe?

I don't want the pressure of having to think for myself and explore both sides of the story, that would take up way too much of my valuable virtue signalling, "offended at everything", slacktivist time!

If I can't share a post on Facebook with zero fact checking to show everyone how I'm a forward thinking and progressive crusader for the rights of every living thing, then what's the point?”

## Your thoughts:
Feel free to let me know what you all think about this story in the comments, always interested to hear another point of view.