I think I lost faith in America as I studied Chinese media. A common Chinese perspective is this: “We know about the media control in our country. It’s an organized, thought-out, and purposeful control that we can’t do much about. But in America, you all deny that control exists in any form, and you are blind to it, whatever it may be. Which is the scarier scenario?”
Obviously not knowing it’s there.
(Right?)
I’m not going to call out American media as being controlled by certain forces. It’s not really about media itself, but about how media affects and influences society and vice versa. It’s a cause-and-effect cycle that can’t end, except badly.
It’s not about the media, but about the message. (What is "the media," anyway?) It’s about the attitude that Americans have toward the rest of the world. How did we get like this?
My intent here is not to make a judgment, but to present thoughts and questions. What are your thoughts and questions?
5 comments:
I completely agree with you about the medium not being the message. So what is the message?
In your previous post, you explained your disinterest in engaging in American media, such as TV, movies, music, etc. While I do highly respect this (Americans WAY over-consume media), I would like to explain why I do watch movies and TV and use Facebook.
I don't think it's possible to be completely, purely removed from culture (I would even argue that it's impossible to have a religious worldview devoid of cultural entanglements). That said, I think that it's intrinsically important that I be well aware of the ideas that are shaping my culture and possibly even my own dispositions.
People think that they are consuming media for entertainment purposes, but there are deep, philosophical ideas behind just about every movie. Most people just don't realize them but subliminally consume and accept them. I don't participate in media so that I can carry on a conversation about the latest movie (that is really vain and not worth my time). I engage in media so that I can understand and evaluate the [modern and postmodern] ideas that influencing/reflecting the common person's thoughts.
Why do people like Inception? There's something deeper going on. What existential questions is the movie asking? What are its attempted answers? How does it rationalize the relationship between the self and the object? Etc.
The same goes with Facebook. There are some fascinating conversations that go on. I love seeing the ways in which people develop and voice their worldviews. I love deciphering logical errors.
As French philosopher Derrida suggested, "there is nothing outside of the text." The medium is certainly not the message, so what is the message our culture is trying to communicate?
In regard to this post, would you connecting some dots and clarifying for me?
You progress from discussing media control in China (A) to discussing media control in America (AA) to wondering about how Americans view the rest of the world (B). You question how we have come to think about the world.
Is this specifically in regard to how Americans view how China's (and other countries') media control? Or is this in regard to how our own media control has influenced the ways in which we view other countries?
Or both? :)
Last reply, I promise.
1) I love reading your thoughts. Really.
2) I think it is ironically funny that you have comment control on your postings. :)
I guess the point of my recent blog posts is that I didn't consciously disengage from media with a certain intent. Instead, I'm looking back thinking, "What happened to get me here?" Like I said, I'm not making a judgment. I'm assessing a situation.
Your third paragraph about media usage is kind of what I'm saying. That it's not about the media itself; it's the message about the culture and the viewpoint.
Your second post: both
And I have comment control because it's like an alert that someone commented - I used to not have that, and I missed so many comments! (I also get a lot of spam comments on here...)
Awesome. Thanks for expounding on this for me.
By the way, I wasn't condemning you for comment control. I assumed that that was the reason for using it... I just found it amusing in light of the recent post subjects. :)
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