Recently there has been much ado about an obsession and a depression. Let's talk about the depression later, though, in my apparent attempt in saving this woeful woebegone blog from being a gloomy whiny one. I know I am whiny, shut up already.
Presently a media student, always immersed and submerged in a media world, I cannot deny the power and influence of the media (advertising and all). Sometimes I wonder if this is all a Truman show kinda experiment and sometimes I imagine this life quite like that of Diana Wynne Jones' book. No, not the parallel universes, although that intrigues me just as much..but we're not talking about parallel universes today, we're paying attention to those ambiguous (not?) powers sitting up on that high chair (the media) up there looking down on our everyday lives as though it's a game (in truman's case, a reality show, a form of entertainment. Tomato tomahto, you get the drift anyway).
Can I safely say that all of us are, in a lot of ways, governed by the media, whichever we choose to expose ourselves to? The magnitude of the media is now immeasurable, I mean, come on, there's the traditional stuff, and now the new media. I recall a major part of my life spent sitting in front of this machine computer as if it's all cool - ICQ, IRC, MSN, Friendster, Facebook, blogging, twitter...
It's freaking outwardly for the love of godliness scary.
What's scarier is all this pop culture and trends and fads and the Hollywood mean machine we devour and turn ourselves into. We need to be aware that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do based on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on the media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.
Individuality is now only a door away from normality. There's nothing much too shockingly different these days - if it is, then it's called a mental illness. Public opinions, perceptions, decision-making, etc are all formed by our exposure to the media.
I think that we have created a new kind of person in a way. We have created a child who will be so exposed to the media that he will be lost to his parents by the time he is 12. So says David Bowie.
But? I know i know, some people are doing the Madonna and banning the TV from their kids and people are carefully choosing their media and this is an already stale realization. But the fact remains that media (whatever media) is whatforms clouds our public opinion and we can never escape from it. And writing this now does not mean that it's just dawned upon me, I was just too immensely bored in the office :) don't be stupid. I can't help wondering though - we are all born different for a reason and why is it that we struggle to do the same things so as to 'fit in'? Wearing the same trends, liking the same music, defining what beauty is and having a religion, off the top of my head. Heck! We get obsessed with celebrities (Yes, Barack Obama is one) and now they're going to be teaching Celebrity Studies in schools very soon. Redundant much?
Please don't waste your breath in denying all of that. We can never be too different in order to be deemed normal. And if you're not deemed normal, you'll belong to the condemned psych ward...or just be condemned ;)
I swear, if I was granted a chance to be the evillest of beings and not get punished for the consequences / repercussions, I would take a new born child and keep him sheltered away from all forms of media (even humans, if that's what it will take) and suddenly open his doors to the world on his 21st birthday and see how he's going to accept and adapt to 20 missing years of media effects in this world. Of course, food will be provided and languages taught. Just a pondering, lots of things to be executed to successfully carry out this plan, it's not going to happen don't worry. Back to the point, I would honestly like to know, as twisted as it may sound.
Now sue me, burn me alive, stone me, strap me to Old Sparky. I plead not guilty. Words, though...need not be translated into action for this is asking too much. Said plans are not possibly executable. There is no such thing as to being a smart media consumer, and there is no need for me to bring forth the multiple media theories that could be applied. We are, after all, only humans. This is just baseless rambling just so we know. I am just helplessly aware and prepared to see this world spiral into further complications.
Come One Come All Into Nineteen Eighty-four.
I will therefore celebrate my peculiarity and not stargaze and not be obsessed about fame...fortune, though, has to wait, for I am not done chasing it. teehee.
Presently a media student, always immersed and submerged in a media world, I cannot deny the power and influence of the media (advertising and all). Sometimes I wonder if this is all a Truman show kinda experiment and sometimes I imagine this life quite like that of Diana Wynne Jones' book. No, not the parallel universes, although that intrigues me just as much..but we're not talking about parallel universes today, we're paying attention to those ambiguous (not?) powers sitting up on that high chair (the media) up there looking down on our everyday lives as though it's a game (in truman's case, a reality show, a form of entertainment. Tomato tomahto, you get the drift anyway).
Oh, great altar of passive entertainment... Bestow upon me thy discordant images at such speed as to render linear thought impossible! - Calvin, Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons.
Can I safely say that all of us are, in a lot of ways, governed by the media, whichever we choose to expose ourselves to? The magnitude of the media is now immeasurable, I mean, come on, there's the traditional stuff, and now the new media. I recall a major part of my life spent sitting in front of this machine computer as if it's all cool - ICQ, IRC, MSN, Friendster, Facebook, blogging, twitter...
It's freaking outwardly for the love of godliness scary.
What's scarier is all this pop culture and trends and fads and the Hollywood mean machine we devour and turn ourselves into. We need to be aware that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do based on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on the media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.
Individuality is now only a door away from normality. There's nothing much too shockingly different these days - if it is, then it's called a mental illness. Public opinions, perceptions, decision-making, etc are all formed by our exposure to the media.
I think that we have created a new kind of person in a way. We have created a child who will be so exposed to the media that he will be lost to his parents by the time he is 12. So says David Bowie.
But? I know i know, some people are doing the Madonna and banning the TV from their kids and people are carefully choosing their media and this is an already stale realization. But the fact remains that media (whatever media) is what
Please don't waste your breath in denying all of that. We can never be too different in order to be deemed normal. And if you're not deemed normal, you'll belong to the condemned psych ward...or just be condemned ;)
I swear, if I was granted a chance to be the evillest of beings and not get punished for the consequences / repercussions, I would take a new born child and keep him sheltered away from all forms of media (even humans, if that's what it will take) and suddenly open his doors to the world on his 21st birthday and see how he's going to accept and adapt to 20 missing years of media effects in this world. Of course, food will be provided and languages taught. Just a pondering, lots of things to be executed to successfully carry out this plan, it's not going to happen don't worry. Back to the point, I would honestly like to know, as twisted as it may sound.
Now sue me, burn me alive, stone me, strap me to Old Sparky. I plead not guilty. Words, though...need not be translated into action for this is asking too much. Said plans are not possibly executable. There is no such thing as to being a smart media consumer, and there is no need for me to bring forth the multiple media theories that could be applied. We are, after all, only humans. This is just baseless rambling just so we know. I am just helplessly aware and prepared to see this world spiral into further complications.
Come One Come All Into Nineteen Eighty-four.
I will therefore celebrate my peculiarity and not stargaze and not be obsessed about fame...fortune, though, has to wait, for I am not done chasing it. teehee.
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