Although there are a lot of students that complained about the media in class, and the type of stories that are in the media, it is important to understand that we are the ones that fuel that garbage. It does become annoying when I'm flipping through the channels and the only thing on TV is Tiger Woods' sex scandal or someone like Heidi Montag getting ten plastic surgeries in a day. So instead of staying tuned to something very uninteresting, I watch things that actually matter. As we discussed in class, the media responds to ratings. During these terrible times, when people are losing their jobs, houses, etc., people are looking for distractions. People stay tuned to trivia and entertainment because for that half hour they don't have to think about the screwed up situation they might be in, they can watch a celebrity in a screwed up situation. If society wants to watch these things, this is what will be circulated in the media.
Americans don't worry about politics during these times because people are more concerned about how they're going to put food on the table for their family. Are people then couch potatoes because they actually have priorities? No! Why concern yourself with something like the health care bill? There are people that get paid to do that. Although many of us care about it, myself included, whatever happens is out of our control. My mother's company went under a year ago, and although she tries to read about politics, and what's going on in society (other than celeb gossip), she is more concerned about finding a job. This is the case all over our country. We are all intelligent enough to understand what is important and what is not. I think McKee is just a jerk and focuses on stereotypes, rather than actuality.
It is true that when you have to worry about how you are going to provide for your family, you are less worried about the minutiae of politics. However, there are big political issues that address unemployment on a state and national level. The topic of abortion may not be important to someone who is out of work, but job creation should be.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that society is eating up the trivial stories that appear in the media which is why they are so popular. I do think that there are certain venues for that type of stuff. Of course if everyone would just stop watching it, it would go away. But it is everywhere. On the 10:00 news, you can hear a story about a heroic rescue one minute and then a story about Britney Spears the next. It's all mixed in.