Well, the debate in class today was interesting to say the least. Both sides brought up pretty interesting points, and though I was on the side for media conglomeration being a harmful thing(surprise, surprise!), I found myself agreeing a lot with what thye other side said. So...here's my response.
One thing that the side for media conglomeration being a good thing said that I really didn't agree with was the fact that because the media has so much money, they can use it to present us with the most important news stories. Their job is to tell us what's important, so we should trust them. Okay. I can live with that. But think back to the big stories that the media has been covering lately. For me, the first thing that pops into my mind is Anna Nicole Smith. Yeah, she was a trainwreck and it's sad that she died with all that drama, but is that REALLY important to society as a whole? What was going on in the world while the big 10 was covering her sordid life story for this past month? Maybe I'm going out on a limb, but I'm gonna say a lot has happened, stuff that we should really know as citizens of this country. Yet we're not being told. The big 10 knows that the important stuff doesn't sell as much as trashy human interest stories, so often times they don't cover them. They're abusing their power.
Something I didn't really agree with coming from my side as I heard it was the argument that the media takes away the individual spirit and all that jazz. This is very true--it's hard to be original in this media focused society, when everything innovative is quickly exploited. However, that doesn't mean that a person can't stay an individual. No matter what the media does, you're still going to be who you are. The media can't change that, it's not THAT powerful. Yes, your clothing style and whatnot will be affected, but last time I checked, you're more than what you wear. Ultimately, your opinions and personal beliefs are going to stay the same, unless you let yourself be completely taken over by the media, in which case I would be very sad for you.
One final point--maybe it's a good thing that the media causes a bit of conformity. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes we need conformity. I mean, if a bunch of people got together and refused to compromise, instead choosing to say "I am an individual and you can't change that! So Boo on You!" or something like that, then nothing would get done. Am I making sense? Sometimes we NEED for our opinions to match up. If they didn't, we would be a society constantly arguing, to the point that nothing would ever get done and we would eventually self destruct.
So my conclusion? The media as it is right now is in a bad place. However, if they stopped abusing their power and started showing us things we need to know, things would get a LOT better.
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2 comments:
I defintely agree with you when you said the media brings us news that isn't very important at times. I also think that it's good to have news that is entertaining and different from the every day war in Iraq stuff. But when stories like Anna Nicole's death go on for weeks it's like "come on! there are more important things in this world to talk about!" My parents had the news on one night and the were like debating over who Anna Nicole's baby belonged to or something, and they went on forever! Does anyone really care?? I know I don't.
Wow, some good points raised in this blog. One thing I definitly agree with is your rebuttal of the arguement "for conglomerates" -the group I was in- made.
Our arguement: because conglomerates have so much money they have give us the information that is most important more quickly and effectively.
Your counter: Anna Nicole???
hahaha.
so anyway, this is obviously true. If conglomerates have so much power, why are we wasing our time with stories that are of little imporatnce to the masses.
perhaps our arguement should have been worded "conglomerates have the ABILITY to report the most importat stories to us most quickly and effectively."
They have the ability, but they don't always use it. Maybe somebody needs to play that scene in spiderman to the major media conglomerates, the one where uncle Ben tells Peter Parker something along the lines of "with great power comes great responsibility."
Will they be moved to tears and have a change of heart? Probably not...
So maybe there is something we as an educated group of students can do... then again maybe I'm getting a little to idealsitic here.
I think i have another blog topic now!
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