Nature Of Media
Entry posted by Moonlapse
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Television and radio are very important tools for influencing perception. I don't how many times someone has told me how people with opposing political views are basically brainwashed by the particular media channels they adhere to. It seems to me that most people are fully aware of this aspect, but once they pick their alignment, it seems that the caution involved in gathering information from their chosen corporate media is mostly disarmed.
I understand how practical this is, because I've unwittingly done it. Between all the responsibilities involved in our modern lives, who has time to really dig for something that they are comfortable in accepting? Just one issue can be incredibly time consuming, let alone the endless issues that we are all confronted with. Why not just focus on our own personal issues and let the professionals deal with the confusing important things?
Just recently I've come to grasp something that is probably not new to some people but has been an important realization for me. Even though television, radio and literature are all media and all used similarly, there's an important difference. Audio/visual media are essentially extensions of our senses, a directly input to our conscious reality. Literature on the other hand, while involving the senses, has to be filtered and interpreted in order for us to represent the content in the context of our conscious reality.
As a result, I find literary media to be far more subject to objective criticism. By our nature, we usually don't question our own senses, and this is the advantage of audio/visual media in its effect on perception.
While this may not help someone who has not based their principles on the real experiences of their daily life, this approach to media has helped me to make sense of current events while ingesting news from various different biases. I don't think I can say it enough - more books less TV.
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