Is TV Really The ProblemIs television (the media) really a problem? Is America affected in any way by what we see and hear? Many people will never have good lives
because of what they and their parents have historically been
inundated by; what is and has been on television. Cloaked in beauty
and coolness, this phosphorescent immorality and
dysfunctional behavior permeates most of society and the mores of
the common norm. Though people have a choice to select what they
watch or not watch, the societal infrastructure and social
interaction causes pressure to watch in order to be acceptable. When I talk about the possibility of the media's roll in shaping America, I am posing the inevitable classic question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Does the media set policy, or do the viewers decide the policy? I am not sure if anyone is really willing to contemplate the real answer this question. My discussion of the media is a result of a pet peeve of mine. Whoever does set the policy is not doing "the right thing." Yes, I know. There we all are, sitting in our Jacuzzis of life and here I come along throwing in a bucket of Ice water. The natural reaction is the one you’ve just displayed. I should just not even bring up this subject. Everyone bitterly wines and complains that things are not that bad, that this is the way things are, and that I am showing a paranoid extreme position. Yet, we all know that it appears this monopolistic politically motivated medium comes across as be righteous and claims to have American's best interest at heart. Then on the other hand, we see displays of extremely graphic sex & violence and the most non-cerebral minimalist programs which have ever been produced for all to freely see. So, if as you say, the public is the one that determines
the content of the media, then my indictment is of this public.
Then when someone says this about this public, they are inevitable view as imperialistic,
one who is non-accepting of people, or that they are psychologically
disturbed.
1. The fact that I must coexist in a society with people and must interact with them to earn a living and other fulfilling activities for living life. The people I have to associate with, discuss with each other the stuff found in the media and they expect me to interact with them about it also. Am I to be a hermit or do I forgo my beliefs and values? 2. The second fact is that I have to pay $20,000.00 in taxes every year and I don't take home that much more. It is the _blank_ that has set the policy which states that my hard earned money is to be given to those who are less or more deserving. This _blank_ can be seen every night on the media's evening news espousing that I am an evil person for earning money and patronizes those who cannot or who won't earn their own livelihood. The _blank_ is not an obscene word, rather a word that describes this unknown entity that most use the word "they" to describe. 3. And finally, there is very little quality TV
viewing on 600 available channels. It is a very common fact and
has been clearly stated by experts on all fronts that all of these channels
are attuned to the mentality of an 10 to 14 year old person. My
question is, where do they get the $12,000,000,000…something a day to
air or convey these channels? Are these 600 channels a true
representation of the mentality of the majority of the population or
does the broadcast monopoly do this out of sheer stupidity? Though the media can be seen precariously balancing on a tight rope, they are still using viewer's psychological insufficiencies to their best advantage. They are now the plow head of the juggernaut we call society. This beast is tightly made up of sponsors, the government, and the ratings game. Even though they dare not radically alter their programming, they do, frighteningly, have significant latitude in so far as the shaping of an overall generally accepted American societal ideology. Where do they get this power? Well, American's do watch a lot of Television (an average of between 3 to 7 hours per day) and they do buy the advertised products. It is estimated that the advertisement dollar is the pinnacle of most products sold here in America. The publicly funded television is also indeed very responsive to its funding sources, the biggest being government, to be specific, the National Endowment For The Arts. This body has openly stated on many occasions that they are an extreme left wing monolithic socialist thinking body. The media in its entirety has as its main theme, a centralized authoritarian governing system. Every program promotes and portrays a dichotomy of a deprecated society through its vulgar violent non-cerebral content. This same media desires to promote, in a journalizing fashion, that government needs to do more to fix problems, hence, lessening our personal freedoms. Ultimately, this appeal is to the least and lowest common denominator. E M 1999 P. S. So, what is the reason for my spiel?
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