A few years ago a friend showed me the Zeitgeist movie which was for me, the first real eye opener of some root causes of the socioeconomic turmoil facing humanity today. In case you haven't seen it, here is basically what the film argues:
<< Religious institutions are based on the same story and control society through mass deception
<< 911 was orchestrated so that America could justify its (most recent) war in the Middle East
<< Money = Debt and is created out of thin air by a private foreign corporation
I have often heard the phrase - "take everything with grain of salt." These words are definitely worth taking into consideration whenever coming across something contrary to what you understand to be true. However, what Zeitgeist taught me is that we should probably start challenging our own understanding of truth and being more critical of all media that comes our way.