Being On “The Right Side of History” Is Not What You Think

Phillip Stutts
5 min readOct 16, 2020

Almost daily, I hear from someone in my life (or on social media) that their opinion, in these strange times, is on “the right side of history.”

Both sides of the aisle. Black Lives Matter supporters. Trump supporters. Almost everyone.

What if I told you that this is a false choice and you’ve just been manipulated into thinking it’s right by a segment of society that is preying on your fears — and they are doing it for two reasons…

Improving their status and making money.

We fell for it too. All of us. I certainly have.

I’m here today to say the right side of history is not a choice between President Trump, Black Lives Matter supporters, Wokeism, anti-Wokeism, coronavirus lockdown supporters, and coronavirus mask deniers…

It’s not that at all. We are getting it all wrong.

I’ve written extensively about how I see the data showing that we are perilously close to a breaking point in this country between political, racial, and social divisions. I’ve even predicted a future state succession movement or a civil war.

We’ve allowed ourselves to be seduced by a status-starved, money-grubbing entity that is almost solely responsible for creating these false divisions — just to increase their power and make lots of money.

Who is it you ask?

The media.

Social media and news media.

We’ve all been suckered by the social media companies and the news media, who’ve discarded our overwhelming common values and put lighter fluid on our smaller disagreements. They are the ones tearing down the fabric of our shared values as a country.

The traditional media reporters have done it to push their status and ideology. The social media companies did it for power and cash. This is decades in the making and the chickens have finally come home to roost.

Frankly, it’s dividing our country in a way we haven’t seen in 159 years.

Here’s what’s crazy, with the emergence of social media (in the last 10 years) on society, we’ve never had a bigger voice — yet looking at the actions of Americans over the past few months, very few feel seen or heard. The media knows this — they created it.

Let me give you a few examples:

  1. What would the right-leaning media have done if President Obama (during his presidency) had tweeted like President Trump? Would they have laughed and excused it, saying, “That’s Obama being Obama!” No, they would have stoked the flames of Obama hate and American division.
  2. What would the mainstream and left-wing media have done if a Trump supporter had tried to execute two cops in public instead of a BLM supporter (as happened in Los Angeles a few weeks ago)? And what would have been the mainstream/left-wing media’s reaction, in the aftermath of that kind of violence, if a bunch of Trump supporters blocked ambulances from entering a nearby hospital entrance (after the shooting) while they chanted about the shot cops, “I hope they die.” Yes, this happened with BLM supporters but you probably didn’t read much on it.

It’s not just Trump vs. BLM. Let’s also look at how the media has grossly manipulated all of us over the coronavirus.

Remember when we were told last summer that children attending in-person school would create super-spreaders and mass death? How did that affect you and your family? Turns out, according to the liberal publication, “The Atlantic” that’s simply not true.

What about this story about how the World Health Organization (WHO) now believes we shouldn’t lockdown over the coronavirus?

Doesn’t that feel like the antithesis of everything you’ve read from the media since March (except from a few fearless and principled reporters and researchers who have challenged the media power influencers of our society like Alex Berensen, Clay Travis, Jason Whitlock, James Altucher and Avik Roy)?

While doctors and politicians share the blame in these massive reversals, it’s the media that didn’t challenge these assumptions — even though, by definition, that’s a reporter’s job.

You see, selling fear gains followers. Selling fear gets clicks. Selling fear makes the media money!

Do any of these media narcissists, who judged struggling small business owners for wanting to reopen the economy or parents for wanting their children to go back to school, have consequences?

Do they ever consider the single mom, who can’t take her kids to physical school and must make the hard choice between working/putting food on the table and homeschooling? Do they understand the stress that puts on that family? That’s not a white, black, or brown issue. That’s a human issue.

But the media digs in because screw Trump, screw civil rights leaders trying to make peaceful change — instead, get followers, get clicks and make gobs of money.

I’m not lecturing you either, I’m complicit. I am a corporate and political marketer for Christ’s sake. I also get sucked into my phone’s endless news feed and I occasionally watch cable news. I’m addicted like you, even though I know it’s mostly destructive to my brain and my family. In fact, I’ve written about it HERE and HERE.

So, what is the real choice we need to make to be on the right side of history?

The right side of history is to stop allowing the media to continue to manipulate you.

The right side of history is when we turn off social media, put down our phones, turn off the cable news and spend time with our families, volunteer in our community, help others in need, protect the safety of our communities, and work to build bridges with differing racial and socioeconomic groups.

I’m reminded of a great quote from African American reporter and reasoned voice, Jason Whitlock, who recently stated “You can’t grow anything with hate.”

That quote is true for you and me — but unfortunately, the media has grown exponentially by promoting hate.

And I’m here today to say the right side of history is not a choice between choosing a side of what divides us. The right side of history is for us to stop playing into the media’s game. If we don’t do it soon, our society is doomed.

PS- I am giving you FREE access to all of our proprietary data + our two surveys analyzing the protest culture on consumers — just go to winbigmedia.com and click on the “Covid-19 Consumer Research” tab — my analysis of all the data is also found on this page. And if you know a business owner or marketer that will benefit from these key insights (and get an advantage over their competition), forward this article and/or data to them so they can use it in this critical moment. And when they subscribe to my exclusive bi-weekly data insights, they will always get first access to the data before any of their competition.

PPS — Heather Monahan is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and an uber successful entrepreneur. Her “Confidence Creator” show on PodcastOne, is a must listen for any business owner that wants to get an edge in these weird times. We talked political and civil unrest, how it has affected your customers and why these customers/clients are valuing price, and “friction to transaction” (ease of buying) over quality right now. Check it out HERE.

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Phillip Stutts

Founder/CEO: Win Big Media | Founder: Go Big Media | Repped by Vayner Speakers & Keppler Speakers | Author: “Fire Them Now: The 7 Lies Digital Marketers Sell…”