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Why act like the media just got here or has recently morphed into something different than its always been. I see myself as a filter and what I get out of news will be very different than the next person. Whether the ny times, Kos, drudge, Malkin, the onion, nbc, fox, or my first hand view of the realities i face every day I have to take whats important to me and sythesize it with my experiences.
Ive spoken face to face with the Cogressman from my district, the mayor of the city I live in and various other local pulic officials in the course of the last year. I vote, I read the local newspaper and I go to city council meetings. I watch the talkingheads national and local and combine all this with a world view thats devloped over my 46 years on the planet. I find it arrogant and offensive that anyone thinks they can tell me how to interpret and evaluate current events world news.
Is the sky falling; I have seen things alot worst that this . Then as now there are the domesday sayers but they would be rich if they really knew the future. Even the experts can't forsee the future.I won't believe anyhting on youtube.
The movie network is an example I use for the mere sake that it is quite apt. It is a comedic dark parody of the media establishment yet the movie has many subtle overtones about how our society functions at the mass level. Much of what the character Howard Beale played by Peter Finch states is sadly quite accurate.
The media today, be it print, cable, tv, or radio, is preforming much the same function at the same level that the Catholic Church and the Gutenberg Bible did for the Middle Ages. It is in the case of the latter as much about faith as it was about control. Todays media is no different in that it is as much about providing information and entertainment as it is about control of a given population.
According to the US census statistics, the average American spends about 3-4 hours per day watching TV which translates into nearly 1300 hours a year or about half the time the average American spends at work. Out of these hours spent in front of the tube how much of this time is spent being marketed to by various companies trying to get you to purchase their products? In addition, how much of the content of the actual programming is dedicated to providing the viewer subtle social engineering through the medium of entertainment?
I use Archie Bunker as one example but I can give an example of almost any program. During the time Archie Bunker was prime time, America was in a state of social unrest and high racial tensions. There were still many people in America who held bigoted beliefs towards various minorities. In the case of Archie Bunker, he was portrayed as the bigoted buffoon out witted at every turn by the elitist liberal meathead. The message was subtle but quite clear. Humor was used to deflate the bigotry of many Americans and while at the same time it hoisted liberalism to a pedestal. While you could not come out and say on national television that bigotry was old school ignorance since so many Americans still at the time held these beliefs, you could do it through entertainment.
This aspect of media using social engineering has not changed although it has become more nuanced. Media is marketing on many levels and as much as you say you don't believe Youtube, 92% of Americans say that Michael Jordan wearing Nike shoes does not make them want to buy them. Yet at the same time, Nike spends millions of dollars each year on Michael Jordan wearing shoes or Hanes underwear because it does in fact work, regardless if people say it does not.
People will say that they don't believe this or that about the media but as long as they watch it they cannot escape the grasp of its tendrils or the influence of its message. This is one of the reasons why it is the medium of choice of the political establishment, the religious establishment, and business, is because it works.
Give me control of CNN, Fox, and MSNBC for a mere 365 days of unrestricted control and I will change the face of planet earth forever, and this I can guarantee. There will always be those who claim they are not in its sphere of influence and there are those who read between the lines but the masses always prevail. When you control what the masses hear and see, what emotions to invoke, what issues should be discussed and what things are important through repetition and the manipulation of language, visuals, and tone you then have more power than any government or bank or business.
Media is much like our education system, it is meant to show people what to think, not how to think.
Do I brush with Crest because I am a zombie of thier advertising campaigns, no, I buy Crest because grandma owns alot of stock in Proctor & Gamble. Thats not to say advertising doesnt work but what would be the difference if I used colgate, I still have to brush my teeth. Just because someone actually owns and runs the media and uses it for their personal gain doesnt make it automatically bad. We still have free will in this country and make choices and decisions for personal reasons.
As far as Archie Bunker I just cant believe that his relationship with the meathead has more impact on my views of race than the fact that I went to JR & High school in the middle of a black ghetto.
By means of shrewd lies, unremittingly repeated, it is possible to make people believe that heaven is hell -- and hell heaven. The greater the lie, the more readily it will be believed.
However if you are not in a hurry, you can opt for subtlety repeated often enough that even the teller of lies begins to believe. If the media was ineffectual as you believe, then there would be no need for commercials, as cake and circuses would do.
In the case of Archie Bunker, he was portrayed as the bigoted buffoon out witted at every turn by the elitist liberal meathead. The message was subtle but quite clear. Humor was used to deflate the bigotry of many Americans and while at the same time it hoisted liberalism to a pedestal.
Not trying to derail the thread or anything, but the current trend is along the lines of "Woman: smart and good. Man: Dumb and bad." This is very obvious on television - especially in commercials - and has been for a while (e.g. Simpsons, Home Improvement).
We now return you to your regularly scheduled "programming"...
And more importantly, why does anyone believe one stinking word any politician, Republican or Democrat... has to say anymore? (Aside from one, of course - I won't mention his name... ahem.)
These are some of the most incredible times this country has ever seen... and... yet... most of America continues to sleep.
We are in the midst of quite probably the most horrible financial meltdown in the history of this country, certainly since the great depression, and the top talking point of Bill O'Reilly on Faux News this evening is Obama's pastor story. (I love to flick through the news channels... even Faux... if the situation in America weren't so horrible - what they do would be funny...)
And today, you have Dick Cheney in Iraq, declaring the Iraqi Invasion a "Successful Venture"... while the United States falls into deeper and deeper economic turmoil.
It all is just surreal. Beyond outrageous, beyond disgusting. It is like a total parallel universe experiement taking place.
A bit of advice for slumbering America: You have no idea what is coming.
And as I finish writing this, O'Reilly after his Obama tirade... leads into the next segment: "Paul McCartney's divorce settlement".
Buh-bye, America. It was nice knowing you. Before you got suckered by the Idiot Box... and the Idiot politicians.
Not trying to derail the thread or anything, but the current trend is along the lines of "Woman: smart and good. Man: Dumb and bad." This is very obvious on television - especially in commercials - and has been for a while (e.g. Simpsons, Home Improvement).
We now return you to your regularly scheduled "programming"...
Originally Posted by swagger
Not trying to derail the thread or anything, but the current trend is along the lines of "Woman: smart and good. Man: Dumb and bad." This is very obvious on television - especially in commercials - and has been for a while (e.g. Simpsons, Home Improvement).
We now return you to your regularly scheduled "programming"...
Is this why Everybody hates Chris?
Because he's smart? Or black? Or maybe both?
A large portion of the workforce, as well as homeowners, are Gen X'ers who have no clue what an economic turndown even means.
Gen Xer's grew up during the 1970's when boomers were partying, and a lot of city infrastuctures were decaying. They saw the 80's, where greed became a mantra. They graduated from college in the 90's and had trouble getting good jobs only to see Gen Y's make a starting salary equal to what it took them YEARS to attain, only to see jobs shrivel up in the early 00's.
Gen Xer's also had to put up with the attitude from boomers "I did it, why can't you" when the ripe abundance available to the boomers just wasn't there.
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Is this why Everybody hates Chris? 
