Medium is the Massage

    Reading The Medium is the Massage, I found myself stopping to read quotes aloud to my roommate or to discuss issues in today's society and how they arose. This read has by far been the most successful in prompting me to compare a reading to my life, beliefs, and values. Something that drives me absolutely insane about today's society is how young people are completely dependent on technology and place little or no value in education. How many comics exist making fun of the way parents today blame teachers for the poor grades their kids receive? It isn't the student's fault for not reading the material, or studying for the exam, or completing the homework; it's the teacher's fault for not "preparing" the student. However, completing this reading made me realize, it isn't entirely the way parents raise their children today, it's the completely dominant presence of media in their lives.
Kids grow up with televisions, computers, smart phones, and other devices that throw media in their faces at all times. They learn about terrorism, the economy, popular culture, war, and crime from the moment they are old enough to comprehend it. Twelve year olds want the newest iPhone because advertising tells them they should; they have no idea what it is capable of other than texting their friends and updating their facebook statuses. I guess where I'm going with this, is that there is an ever-present exposure kids today face from media. Their ideas and values aren't molded by their parents, they are impacted by what they see on TV and in the news. They have access to the thoughts and words of their favorite music artists that week, and that may affect how they think and act.
     My favorite quote in this reading was "There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening." With upcoming presidential elections, political debates have recently become a big part of mine and my friends' conversations. While I think it is good to discuss political beliefs and maybe share a polite debate to defend your beliefs, nothing makes me angrier than my friends who are dead set in their beliefs and refuse to listen to others' justifications or ideas. If we could all discuss our beliefs and reasonings without a war breaking out, we might be able to learn something new about a particular topic, or find new reasons which support our current beliefs. However, political discussions do not usually work out that way. For example just today, I debated the worthiness of the welfare program with my friend Brent. He, in my opinion, hasn't seen much of our country, and very firmly believes that no matter what hand you are dealt in life, you should be able to work your way out of any situation and better your quality of life overall without assistance from welfare or other similar programs. I argued that this is not always the case, and that I've personally seen cases where people simply don't have the means to succeed in the ways they'd like. I realize that this tangent is completely off topic, so I'll try and pull it all together. Media does a great job making us all more aware of what topics are important and allows us, to a point, to see both sides of the story and to make a decision where we stand. However, we don't always take the time to see both sides, or to educate ourselves in such hot button topics. Media may skew statistics or beliefs, or only show one side of a particular story as well; this leaves us even more vulnerable as we grow up trusting media and base most of our beliefs on what we learn from it. One thing society as a whole could benefit from is learning to gain from our media based surroundings; use media to be informed, but also incorporate your own personal beliefs and values when discussing some political topic. Be informed, and use that information to make a change. Like the quote is saying, as long as we are willing to use media coverage to our advantage and to act on our feelings, there is no inevitable. We have the power and resources to make a change, we just need the willingness and drive.
       A third topic I found very interesting and engrossing in this reading was the piece about how media has caused society to return to a global village. When printing became available and suddenly everyone had the opportunity to become literate, it seems that more people were held accountable for their actions and lifestyles. As the book says, if someone commited a crime or horrible act, they were aptly punished for it, no questions asked. They had the means to educate themselves and know the rules, and still they broke them. McLuhan also says that the printing press brought about the ability to read alone, away from the rest of the world, and to form opinions that way; this disconnect is the reason for the "eye for an eye" system. However, today we are all so interconnected and informed on so many different situations, we learn to feel sorry for the criminal because we automatically assume there must be a reason for commiting the crime. The media so often take the time to tell us the criminal's life story, and how the abusive childhood or mental illness is the reason they were forced to commit the crime in the first place; this leaves us feeling sorry for them, and not placing the blame for the crime on them, but rather on the abuse, illness, or whatever the case may be. This idea resonated with me, because I often find myself feeling this way. I hear about a murder on the news and often wonder, what was this person's life like, what caused them to want to do this? Obviously I don't feel bad for every criminal, and I don't believe that all criminals have some sob story background which must be taken into consideration when handing out punishment. However, I can see the obvious connection between the media and this social return to a global village standpoint, particularly on crime.