The Medium is Not the Message (II)

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?

Don't Ask "Why?"

Something I have noticed recently, and especially in Beijing and on my flight home, is that when announcements are made in Chinese, no good information is given. For the most part, Chinese people just do what they're told and don't ask why. It's so different in the U.S.

When my flight out of Beijing was delayed, the English-speaking announcer would say, "We have to remove some cargo from the aircraft because we are too heavy. First the crew will have to come from the other terminal, so the wait could be up to an hour." Another time he said, "We are being delayed because there are about 10 aircraft in front of us. Each one is taking about 2 minutes to take-off, so please be patient and expect another 20 to 25 minute delay." But, the Chinese announcer would just say something like, "In order to meet the airport's standards for take-off, we are being delayed an hour," and, "Thank you for being patient, we will take off in half an hour." Absolutely no explanation was given in Chinese. It's possible that the Chinese announcer didn't understand the English explanation, but I see this lack of explanation other places, too.

A final example that sticks out to me is a sign I saw in a restaurant in Beijing. The English said "Employees Only" but the Chinese said "Do Not Enter." Yes, we foreigners like our explanations and reasons, thank you very much.

Flying Home

In Beijing, my flight boarded on time, but then we sat on the runway for over two hours waiting to take off. I understand that there was a lot of snow on the ground and canceled flights from the day before were being made up, but honestly, the Chinese system of dealing with problems really sucks. Instead of coming up with an efficient plan when problems happen and telling the staff change things a bit, they just let things go and hope they're okay. They're not. I'm not mad about the flight, it's just an observation.

So, when I got to the U.S., I was late for my flight to Columbus. Obviously, a ton of other people were late, too. Also, the day before there had apparently been a 'security breach' at this airport, so all the flights were rescheduled for today and tomorrow. Basically, every single person at the airport was stressed and angry. I tried to be nice to the lady rescheduling my flight. It paid off. Because my flight was delayed due to weather conditions, I wasn't supposed to be given a free hotel room. Because I was being nice, the lady asked where I was coming from, how long my flight had been, how old I was, etc. She took pity on me and gave me a hotel voucher and meal coupons. Awesome.

So now I'm at a hotel. I ate a turkey sandwich, took a hot shower, and am looking forward to taking a nap in one of the two king-sized beds in the room. What a way to return to the states!