In terms of modern media, one must look at a number of sources in order to have any degree of dependability. Today in class we talked about Senator Obama and the allegations that he grew up in a terrorist training camp, which is completely false. There are many things to consider when viewing media--political slant, time of publication, source of data, just to name a few.
Professional historians are taught to look at what is essentially the equivalent of the sociological imagination in order to discover the truth. At many points in history, the men who recorded it were of a certain school of thought or perception and some have outright lied. It is the job of the historian to get the facts straight and disseminate them as such. This idea is similar to what we must do as media viewers. To take in more information about a subject is one way to be more objective about it, and I feel it is in this way we will become an aware society. The further we analyze our gatekeepers and media in general, the more able we will be to sort the fact from the fiction, and just as important, to find the kernel of truth under layers of hearsay.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Media and Reality
Reality is a funny thing. From the earliest stages of cognitive thought we take reality to be what we perceive, understand, and assume. For example, as a small child, I believed that my grandmother had served a stint in a pirate navy in her youth because she loved telling me fantastical stories. Today I know that the farthest away she's been from her home in Penn Hills is Toronto and that she had been a telephone operator, not a pirate, as a young woman. I believed her stories because (aside from the obvious "because I was eight") I had nothing else to base my opinion upon. In other words, the only media I had were Grandma's stories. Had I engaged other media (maybe my mom) I would have found evidence to refute my beliefs.
It is in this way that one's sense of reality is drastically limited. Today, our reality can be limited by the media as much as it can by imaginative grandmothers when we are children, albeit for different reasons. One example was used early in this course: the natives of our continent had no idea that there were any white men headed to a "New World" and at first believed that the canvas sails of the explorer fleets were deities. Furthermore, the Europeans hadn't a clue that they'd encounter people there, thus limiting the respective realities of both cultures. In a more modern vein, the reading includes an account of an island inhabited by French, English, and German residents in the pre-Great War months. Since the mail ship was still weeks away, the citizens carried on as friends until they heard the news of the Archduke's death and the subsequent violence. Now their view of reality was totally different, despite the fact that the impetus of that shift occurred long before.
In the interest of length and readability, I'll make a new post for the rest of the topic.
It is in this way that one's sense of reality is drastically limited. Today, our reality can be limited by the media as much as it can by imaginative grandmothers when we are children, albeit for different reasons. One example was used early in this course: the natives of our continent had no idea that there were any white men headed to a "New World" and at first believed that the canvas sails of the explorer fleets were deities. Furthermore, the Europeans hadn't a clue that they'd encounter people there, thus limiting the respective realities of both cultures. In a more modern vein, the reading includes an account of an island inhabited by French, English, and German residents in the pre-Great War months. Since the mail ship was still weeks away, the citizens carried on as friends until they heard the news of the Archduke's death and the subsequent violence. Now their view of reality was totally different, despite the fact that the impetus of that shift occurred long before.
In the interest of length and readability, I'll make a new post for the rest of the topic.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Favorite Media
Books are my favorite media. I grew up in the sticks (Adams Township was still sticks until about 5 years ago) outside a small farming town without cable (until my sophomore year in high school) or the internet (much later). I didn't see my friends outside of school or Boy Scout meetings unless we had our folks drive us down into town, so most of the time, my brother and I just played out back or went for hikes. When I got tired of that, I went down into the cellar and perused an old set of Encyclopedia Britannicas that my grandma had given us awhile back; I remember being mostly fascinated with history and space.
As I got older, I read everything I could get my hands on and became a huge science fiction fan. Heinlein, Niven, Pohl, they all became demigods to me--I must have read every piece of literature on space in the Mars library! During this time, my teachers gladly fed me some classics as well and I guess I never stopped reading.
The written word is the first form of media after language and song, so hopefully we can hang onto that. I wouldn't be too happy if it was gone.
As I got older, I read everything I could get my hands on and became a huge science fiction fan. Heinlein, Niven, Pohl, they all became demigods to me--I must have read every piece of literature on space in the Mars library! During this time, my teachers gladly fed me some classics as well and I guess I never stopped reading.
The written word is the first form of media after language and song, so hopefully we can hang onto that. I wouldn't be too happy if it was gone.
Media Checklist
1. I use my cell phone all the time. I just read that book Cell, by Stephen King, though and now I wonder if I ought to start sending smoke signals.
2. I listened to a speaker about the Synoptic and Gnostic Gospels awhile back. The other speeches I’ve gone to have been for class.
3. I almost never IM. I guess I just never get around to it.
4. I email quite a bit.
5. The new Jet album, but I got it for Christmas. I would have bought it anyway, so that counts, right?
6. The premier of American Idol, the one with the guy that Simon called a monkey, because my mom was watching it and it was funny to watch those poor schmucks who think they can sing.
7. Probably the ALF movie back in the mid-nineties.
8. Theater, Children of Men, which was great. DVD, under protest and with my mom, The Devil Wears Prada, which was two and a half hours I’ll never get back.
9. DVE, they were doing the Gladiator spoof bit.
10. World War Z, by Max Brooks. It was about the zombie invasion.
11. The Herald, because it was on the table in the TUB.
12. The February issue of Popular Science, because I wish I was smart enough to be a scientist.
13. I used to write to my Grandmothers pretty frequently, but I think the last time I wrote to anyone was from the AF Detachment at Ft. Wood, because it was cheaper and quicker than a phone call.
14. NationStates, the online political simulation game. I was just on there yesterday. Why? Because I’m a nerd.
15. I have a Facebook profile. I wanted to see what people were talking about.
2. I listened to a speaker about the Synoptic and Gnostic Gospels awhile back. The other speeches I’ve gone to have been for class.
3. I almost never IM. I guess I just never get around to it.
4. I email quite a bit.
5. The new Jet album, but I got it for Christmas. I would have bought it anyway, so that counts, right?
6. The premier of American Idol, the one with the guy that Simon called a monkey, because my mom was watching it and it was funny to watch those poor schmucks who think they can sing.
7. Probably the ALF movie back in the mid-nineties.
8. Theater, Children of Men, which was great. DVD, under protest and with my mom, The Devil Wears Prada, which was two and a half hours I’ll never get back.
9. DVE, they were doing the Gladiator spoof bit.
10. World War Z, by Max Brooks. It was about the zombie invasion.
11. The Herald, because it was on the table in the TUB.
12. The February issue of Popular Science, because I wish I was smart enough to be a scientist.
13. I used to write to my Grandmothers pretty frequently, but I think the last time I wrote to anyone was from the AF Detachment at Ft. Wood, because it was cheaper and quicker than a phone call.
14. NationStates, the online political simulation game. I was just on there yesterday. Why? Because I’m a nerd.
15. I have a Facebook profile. I wanted to see what people were talking about.
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