"George W. Bush suggested that "dark dungeons of evil on the internet" were partly to blame for school violence." It was also said that "politicians from across the political spectrum focused on violent video games as one of the causes of the violence." What this quote is basically saying is the media and images that teenagers view online on tv and in video games etc, cause teenagers to act irrationally. People think that just because a teenager sees something on a video game they play or something online that they see that this will influence them to do horrible things and or make bad decisions. While sometimes this is the case it is not the case all the time. People have their own minds that they can make up while they view these things it may effect them in the decisions that they make. I would not blame all of their actions on these things though. People may see something and say o let me go do that. But that was them that made that decisions to go do that. Someone might have told them to do something but again that was them that decided to follow that. They could always make the choice and not follow that.
"One of the principle reasons why media images often become so controversial is that they are objectionable." Some of the media images that they put out there can be viewed as bad or good. I have a feeling that the media put images out there that will have a wow factor. The wow factor is what draws the viewers in. It is something that might shock or amaze someone. It draws a viewer in because its something that interest them or its something that the media makes it seem interesting. One of the things that upsets me is that I feel like the media does not care what they put out there. I feel like they are just there to do their job. It feels like sometimes they don't think before they act. They just want to do whatever it takes to get what needs to be done done.
"Consent is something that is won; ruling groups in a society actively seek to have their worldview accepted by all members of society as the universal way of thinking." This is completely understandable. Groups/society try to put out ideas and try to see if they can be acknowledged and taken on by other people. They try and see if they can get other people to believe what they believe in.
Sometimes I think people go to extremes to have their view accepted. Sometimes people even think their view is the only view.
Do you think Media (internet, tv, etc) influences peoples decisions that they make? How and why?
Well, I wouldn't say that a person would see something on TV and say to themselves "Wow, I am going to do that."
ReplyDeleteHowever, if we spend a great deal of time steeped in the violence that exists in the media we become more acclimated to it--we get used to it. Things that shocked the population ten years ago could be commonplace now.
Because violence is frequent theme in popular media, we are somewhat desensitized. While this does not overtly cause people to go out and shoot people, it does certainly make the decision a little bit easier to make. Someone who is disturbed and grew up in a society where violence in the media is commonplace, I don't think I am stretching too far to say that it would be easier to act out for this person than if they lived, say, in a society whose media showed more peaceful images. Where violence was shocking and unheard of.
I look at it this way. If you are surrounded by a group of people, let's say they are your friends. If the constant discourse that occurs when someone is offended (in the group) is
"Ugh, I'm so angry. I'm going to go kick that person's ass"
"Yeah, I wouldn't put up with that."
"We've got to go teach them a lesson."
etc.
This creates a kind of atmosphere in the group that allows space and even accepts violent and aggressive behavior as normal responses. It is much easier to fall into this kind of group mentality and behave and react similarly to the behavior that we see around us. Have you ever noticed yourself acting similarly to a friend that you hang around all the time? Its kind of like that. Of course I am speaking very generally, and of course “not all people” act like people they hang out with. But misery loves company, you know?
(sorry, that was a bit of a tangent).
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is yes, I do think that the media plays a role in influencing the decisions that we make on a daily basis. It influences how comfortable we are with the “norms” that the media establishes through the frequency of images produced. (i.e. the more straight people you see vs. not straight people, the more “normal” it is to experience them in real life, the more “normal” it is to BE straight).
Great thoughts in your post. Thanks for sharing. :)