A quote I like:

"Though I obviously have no proof of this, the one aspect of life that seems clear to me is that good people do whatever they believe is the right thing to do. Being virtuous is hard, not easy. The idea of doing good things simply because you're good seems like a zero-sum game; I'm not even sure those actions would still qualify as 'good,' since they'd merely be a function of normal behavior. Regardless of what kind of god you believe in--a loving god, a vengeful god, a capricious god, a snooty beret-wearing French god, or whatever--one has to assume that you can't be penalized for doing the things you believe to be truly righteous and just. Certainly, this creates some pretty glaring problems: Hitler may have thought he was serving God. Stalin may have thought he was serving God (or something vaguely similar). I'm certain Osama bin Laden was positive he was serving God. It's not hard to fathom that all of those maniacs were certain that what they were doing was right. Meanwhile, I constantly do things that I know are wrong; they're not on the same scale as incinerating Jews or blowing up skyscrapers, but my motivations might be worse. I have looked directly into the eyes of a woman I loved and told her lies for no reason, except that those lies would allow me to continue having sex with another woman I cared about less. This act did not kill 20 million Russian peasants, but it might be more 'diabolical' in a literal sense. If I died and found out I was going to hell and Stalin was in heaven, I would note the irony, but I couldn't complain. I don't make the fucking rules."

- Sex drugs and cocoa puffs by Chuck Klosterman

I hate lies.

Manufactured news (or fake news) has always been happening, or there would be no reason to have public relation firms. The public is given what is interesting rather than what is important. The news we see on television is highly censored leaving out core details the mass media world should know. Corporations control what we hear, read and believe (Gabriel). Can you believe someone can control your mind?

Well it is true. Propaganda is the leading force of our world. We as Canadians are a free country, yet we are not given what is rightly ours, “we are being deprived of the history which belongs to us." (Berger 11)

http://www.thefakenews.com/archive.html

This site for instance has extremely weird news, but it is interesting and it captures the audiences’ attention. Most of the news stories listed has to do with prominent figures—the most common eye grabber in the field. One of the headlines read: “Pinocchio Become Real Boy, Sues Michael Jackson”. Imagine how many news sites produce this type of false information. Our human nature is to trust the news we hear and see because we have no other source of information. Journalists are being paid off to create manufactured news and newscasts are showing prepackaged reports.

Another prime example of fake news is in magazines. Most magazines produced for teenagers include nothing but gossip. Celebrities are criticized in every way possible—being caught on camera with a co-worker at the beach “skinny dipping” or having a mystery child. We are very gullible to the media: to the newscasts, radios, magazines, bias books, and even advertisements. These corporately funded organizations will soon be exposed because there are some people who are aware of the manufactured news, like you and me. If we want change it can all start from this one blog post.

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways Of Seeing. Great Britain: British Broadcasting
Corporation, Penguin Books,1972.

Gabriel, Dana. "Fake News and Propaganda: Shaping Our Reality." (2007): n. pag. Web. 8 Oct 2009. .

It's About Understanding

The Media Awareness Network believes media is, “the ability to sift through and analyze the messages that inform, entertain and sell to us every day. It's the ability to bring critical thinking skills to bear on all media— from music videos and Web environments to product placement in films and virtual displays on NHL hockey boards. It's about asking pertinent questions about what's there, and noticing what's not there. And it's the instinct to question what lies behind media productions— the motives, the money, the values and the ownership— and to be aware of how these factors influence content.”

Being media literate means you are able to analyze and understand the events or messages around you. The Media Awareness Network proposes three stages to being in control of the media around us: to choose what and when “what media to view, to ask questions concerning it’s production and what has been left out, and to ask, Who produces the media we experience—and for what purpose? Who profits? Who loses? And who decides?”

Media literacy is a skill that can always be mastered.

The Centre for Media Literacy says there are five core concepts and five key questions in Media Literacy:

Five Core Concepts
1. All media messages are constructed.
2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
3. Different people experience the same messages differently.
4. Media have embedded values and points of view.
5. Media messages are constructed to gain profit and/or power.

Five Key Questions
1. Who created this message?
2. What techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently from me?
4. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?
5. Why was this message sent?

Having said this, media literacy can take all forms. In our Mass Communications course we are introduced to five different styles of writing and presenting a point of view in the books we are expected to read. The following are some examples of what the audience understands when reading these book: Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs is a biased view of the author Chuck Klosterman, Ways of Seeing by John Berger looks at different forms of art throughout history and analyzes their context, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud presents many aspects of visual communication: visual iconography and history. Being introduced to these books is a form of media literacy—trying to understand their context and ask question (shown through class discussions).


Works Cited


"Media Literacy." 2009. Media Awareness Network, Web. 7 Oct 2009. .

Opinions Always Vary

The term “mass media” is more than just the entertainment, television, books and movies. Mass media is the part of the world that keeps every human being connected. I agree with Marshall McLuhan when he says that media forms a “global village”. Information travels in seconds from one part of the world to the other through newscasts, radio messages, cell phones and the Internet. In McLuhan’s Playboy Interview, he mentions how the printing press has changed the way many things are used such as the Bible. When the Bible was first created it was a rare religious book that was locked up. The establishment of the printing press produced the bible in different languages that distributed and was available throughout the world (The Playboy Interview).

This is where I believe the term ‘mass’ comes in. The word mass is often referred to as a large body of matter with an indefinite shape—this being the earth and it’s people. Mass media is the world’s media. Media is constantly changing the world’s environment. When I was a child, my daily routines were to go to school and come home and play. In high school my daily routine was going to school, doing homework on the computer (while chatting on msn and Facebook). Present day my routine is to go to university, listen to the news on the radio on the way to class, message people on my blackberry and take notes on my computer. Do you see what I mean? Media is changing our daily routines in the smallest ways possible.

McLuhan believes that media ecology should not be viewed as good or bad and this is where I disagree. I agree with Neil Postman when he says that media ecology should be viewed in a moral and ethical context (Postman). I believe that everyone’s opinions are different due to their experience. What I may find positive, another may find negative. The person reading this blog may completely disagree with me or have similar views. For some people, the mass media dominates their life—for instance, I do not know how I would cope throughout one day of my life without my cell phone. If I ever lost my phone I would feel I lost a part of the world and myself (my cell phone has email and web browsing). I feel secure when my phone is with me. Media is a huge part of my life and I know many people would agree.

The mass media is the world’s way of communication and it still advancing. Word of mouth says that advertisers want to send commercial videos directly to cell phones (I think this is awesome). I am a huge fan of media and its capabilities and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.


Works Cited

The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan. Playboy Magazine. 1969. 10 October 2009.

Postman, Neil. “The Humanism of Media Ecology.” Media Ecology Association. Accessed October 9, 2009.

A Risk.

The concept of blogging is challenging for me—I’ve never really liked it because I prefer to voice my opinion aloud than on the Internet.

The only social networking site I use is Facebook, and even there I do not post blogs or notes (I wouldn’t willingly read someone’s blog posts). I always found blogging to be pointless and I never read any type of blog. Whenever I browse the Internet and I stop at a blog, I immediately switch to another site. I am not too sure as to what exactly I don’t like about blogging although you never know until you try. In this class we are expected to set up a blog with a specific blog entries (it is worth fifty percent of our final mark). So far I have a few classmate’s posts to this topic and I found some of them very amusing. I am not only writing these blogs for my mark, but for myself. Who knows how the world may change by reading just my opinion. There may be another person who feels the same way as me and isn’t voicing their opinion.

I really enjoy networking and meeting people (usually in person) and this type of medium will allow me to introduce myself in a new way—it is healthy to change habits once in a while. The posts that I have read so far seem to have a lot of emotion and passion in them. I didn’t think there would be other people in the same boat as me, but there is, and this makes me a bit more comfortable with blogging.

Setting up the blog was simple—bringing myself to write the first blog was very hard. I didn’t know where to start! I just started to write whatever came to mind and then it all started to flow. As you can see I have considered trying something new in hope that it will benefit me in the future.

It is important to get involved in the community—contributing to the public sphere. I feel that my opinion is just as important as everyone else, even those who are prominent (government, actors etc.). There is no reason as to why I shouldn’t continue this blog, what will I lose? I believe I will gain more because people are bound to reply possibly with the similar views or opposing views. Like Neil Postman, I believe the role of a medium (the medium being the blog), is to create culture: "A medium is a technology within which a culture grows; that is to say, it gives form to a culture’s politics, social organization, and habitual ways of thinking," (Postman). Overall I think that taking risks and learning from other experiences are important. People will benefit from my point of view and I hope this blog is more than just words for people. I hope it gives insight and meaning to life.



Works Cited

Postman, Neil. “The Humanism of Media Ecology.” Address. Inaugural Media Ecology Association Convention. Fordham University, New York. 16 June 2000.