Shining Thru

I thought it was interesting today watching CNN…someone brought up the fact that the Media must have gone crazy…the only things that they have to say against President Obama is that there is an extra in a music video that looks like him and that he’s not showing enough emotion about the oil spill.  I mean, what do these people really want?  him to break down in sobs so that he can appear weak to the entire nation instead of strong and level headed.  They even insulted the fact that he was in business pants when he was down on the site…what did they expect for a Presidential Press Event?  I thought that the reporter who was commenting about this whole drama made a good point when he posed the question, do you want the President to play act the part for you, or go ahead and actually do something…

I have to wonder how often it is that the media gets people all hyped up about the wrong issues and how often people are pulled into the drama of the media craze….How often do people put their own priorities, thoughts and feelings aside because they have become caught up in the media frenzy and are now stuck on the point that has been driven into their head every time they have turned on the news or looked at the paper.

I wish our country would go back to thinking for themselves instead of being programmed into thinking whatever other people want them to think.

People tend to fight what they don’t understand…especially older people who are set in their ways, and already have their opinions on what certain words mean, certain theories, etc.  Watching some clips from the Daily Show that were shared with me, I realized once again how so many people form and express their opinions out of ignorance, or simply because they don’t want to see any change.  I’m not saying that they are right or wrong, but explanations that have nothing to do with the topic of health care, which was being discussed with expressions like, “we should all fear Obama” don’t really inspire me with confidence that these people have actually studied and thought about the topic at hand…instead it makes me think that they have simply decided that they don’t like it because some media personality has told them that it’s a bad idea, or because they don’t want to see things change….maybe my perception is wrong…but none the less it is what it looks like to me.  I don’t understand why so many people keep their pre-perceived information or what the media tells them to believe without being open to new evidence, or arguments about the topic that they are working so hard to fight without any facts.  The only arguments I have heard against Obama’s new health program plan do not have any facts to back them up…just phrases that are designed to scare people, as Jon Stewart’smock experts so nicely demonstrate.  I have a friend who says that people should always write down their logic on paper and read it out lout to see if it still makes sense.  I think this is a good policy since I think that as humans we have a great ability to justify all sorts of things in our own minds….but then when we take a step back and look at the logic behind our own thoughts, we realize that we may have missed a few things as our thought process made it’s mental leaps and went spinning through all of the thoughts on the topic.  I think that the evidence of a great mind is in that they can realize their own fallacies in logic. 

(If you’re interested in the clips that spurred these thougths for me you can find them with the link:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/11/jon-stewart-vs-town-hall_n_256272.html )

I don’t understand what makes our society fear change so much?  What is so bad about moving forward in our way of living?  What is so wrong with accepting that there is a new administration and although you may not agree with everything they come up with, it doesn’t mean that everything they come up with is automatically wrong simply because there are one or two things that you do not agree with.  I don’t know why people feel that they cannot be wrong, is it really that hard to admit when you realize that someone has evidence to prove you wrong?  I don’t understand why we have made that a bad thing in our society.  I would think that we would try to get people to grow from experiences like that, instead of making them feel that they need to fight for their honor, or something like that; that is how people end up making stupid arguments that only they think sound logical, and other people who wont give up the same misconceptions.

I started thinking about all of the types of news that people get every day:  personal news from family and friends, good and bad; news from work, good and bad, urgent or casual; media news on a city, state, nation, or world level, good or bad, happy or sad……people learn bits of news every day, and I think that every one of those pieces effects us, maybe in the smallest of ways, but I think that it effects us in the long run of things.  Good news builds and builds and makes a person feel good, but the same is with sad or stressful news in that it builds and builds until it starts to wear on a person. 

Some people take bits that they learn about life in stride and just deal with things as they come, try not to let it in if it’s negative, and are sometimes quite successful, but it is still now a reality in their life, whatever that news is.  While others take everything that they learn on a very emotional level, they can’t help but let the emotions overwhelm them sometimes; a lot of the time it’s a conscious effort to keep logic ahead of emotion when they learn of news in life. 

Some news reminds you how beautiful life can be:  falling in love, knowing that you have found the love of your life, seeing a new baby born, a sunset on the beach, children laughing, the view from a mountain top.  Other things remind you of how much life can hurt and how ugly it can be:  death of a younger person, natural disasters destroying homes and killing many, children lost or crying, someone you know becoming ill, etc. 

So, there will always be good news and bad news as long as we have emotions we are going to respond to those things.  It’s part of being of the human race I suppose, but sometimes it can really weigh on a person, I suppose that’s why we need to remember the good things that we have in life and always deal with what comes as best we can. We need to try and not leave ourselves vulnerable to letting the bad, stressful, or sad news build on our hearts or minds.

The Governor of South Carolina is missing…and yet nobody seems to be concerned.  He apparently just said that he needed time away from his wife and kids to write something and left…nobody knows where and nobody has heard from him in several days…and yet nobody seems worried…The media is just reporting it almost like it’s a joke.  I think that this situation is proving that the media decides what people consider to be a big issue and what can just be passed over.  Point and case, the governor has been missing for three days and nobody has said anything until today.  It seems like after 24 hours people would be concerned about a political official.  I know a lot of people in South Carolina don’t really like their Governor at the moment after the whole stimulus package ordeal, where he refused to take funds to help the state for a political stunt to get media attention.  Everyone knows he wants to run for President and is just trying to make a name for himself…but I think this disappearing act is just a little over the top.  It doesn’t really matter if you like the guy or not, it seems like your governor is someone that somebody would keep track of….Last I knew the governor was someone who was important in the running of a state, but maybe I’ve been misinformed all of these years. 

I mean, obviously the media doesn’t think it’s a big deal, they’re just laughing it off, and it seems like everyone else is just going by their lead.  It makes me sad that people don’t think for themselves any more.  If the media was flipping out about the governor and reporting on it every commercial break and had it on the front page of every paper, I have a feeling we would see a very different reaction from the people of South Carolina.

Why do so many people like to watch sad or scary movies….is there not enough problems in their life for them to worry about.  Are their lives so dull and boring that they need to experience sorrow and strife through movie characters?  I just don’t understand the appeal of opening yourself up to these emotions any more than you have to. 

I confess that sometimes I like a good thriller or two, but generally I like a good happy ending.  I hate sad endings.  I like it when the good guy ends, we all know it doesn’t happen often in real life, so it’s good to see it happen in a movie once in awhile.  It’s good to know that at least in some one’s imagination they still believe that it can happen in life. 

Movies can stir some of the most powerful emotions if the movie is made well…which is so strange because we know that they aren’t real people and yet sometimes when someone dies or a very powerful scene happens with a lot of extreme emotion you can usually see tears in a room of people.  Someone will be crying…..I think it’s pretty crazy that imaginary people can grab at your mind and your heart, make chaos of your thoughts, and take you on a ride of emotions in two hours, and yet some people you see every day can’t get any sympathy from you unless it’s something truly life altering.

I think it’s strange how sometimes you find yourself in a situation that you think can only happen in a movie and then all of the sudden your mind takes over and you’re thinking in the style of different movie scenes.  Cut to the Dr. for a reference.  Or fade out to a flashback and you go down memory lane, and you can picture it like it’s happening right in front of you.  I know at least my friends and I think like this.  I wonder what this says about the influence that television and movies has had on us.  We are big movie buffs, but I wonder if we create movies based on our thought patterns or if we have adopted the thought patterns because of movies? 

It’s the same thing with what we associate certain people with in our minds.  It seems like our mind will grasp one thing and hang on to it.  It’s generally how we remember people and how people get their nick – names.  At least all of the people that I know, I seem to always have the one thing that I associate with them more than anything else.  Like the friend that everyone seems to have that thinks they know everything or can at least embellish on anything said by another person is the person that I associate with being the “expert” that the movie cuts to, who is sitting in front of the fake bookcase and fireplace with their hands folded and talking about something that just happened in the real movie. 

I think it’s strange how sometimes our imagination takes over to help control our emotions, like when you envision doing something that you would never actually do, but it makes you feel a lot better to think about doing it in such away that you can see yourself doing it.  Our minds our strange things….I don’t know if we’ll ever really understand the way that they work.

Words are a powerful thing…I think that most of us have heard about the power of words at one point or another in some degree.  Have you ever stopped to think about the difference words have made in your life; somebody saying one simple phrase and having it stick with you for the rest or your life?  If it was a positive or negative phrase is irrelevant, the important thing is that you remember it, and because it stayed alive in your mind, and stirred some type of feeling, it’s power came to life, when it influenced who you are. 

Words can do the same thing to the masses.  Words are what make people fear, argue, agree, or ignore.  The way words are spoken, the connotations of the words used, the jargon that is given out freely by the media.  Words can also inspire an entire group, generation, or nation.   Look at the influence of all of the different ways words are delivered, from the nightly news to the newest song played on the radio.  The words that we surround ourselves with have a big influence on who we are.  Having the right words at the right time can be amazingly powerful, you can change someone’s day, or outlook on life, or start a revolution by influencing the masses and convincing them that it’s time for change.  Change comes through words.  This philosophy is demonstrated and and pondered in the book that I’m currently reading, Ender’s Game.  Like 1984 and The Giver, the book uses some sci-fi type qualities to make some very real, current, and relevant points to our world today.  Think about how long books and poems stay alive in circulations, in libraries, in homes, in classrooms, etc….continuously being interpreted and influencing people.  Or at least some books are treated with that reverence….some are never even published.  It’s all about having the right words for the right group at the right time.  Some people have a gift for writing that reaches many people over centuries, generation after generation, the words are valued.  But this gift is rare….

Think about how revolutions throughout history have began…with words.  There is always someone from an intelligent and more experienced group that rallies the masses with WORDS.  Pamphlets, speeches, songs, whatever it takes to spread a common message and influences the masses that are needed to really make a difference.  If the numbers aren’t there than the intelligence is just going to stay an idea in one person’s mind and maybe be discussed on a rare night when nothing else is happening….but it never goes beyond the circle and into the masses if it’s not delivered at the right time. 

Word choice is extremely important if you want to use your words to control, then they need to be considered with all of the connotations(associations) as well as the denotations(definition) that come along with words.  The media has a lot of control over the masses because of their word choice.  The media has the power to scare or reassure with pretty much any story that they put on television or run in the paper.  Either way, word choice is key. 

The internet makes the spread of words amazingly fast…we have advanced now to the spread of video.  In a matter of minutes an entire school with have a video clip that someone took on their cell phone of some unfortunate or fortunate student or teacher…..Think about how many people from different backgrounds, cultures, and countries read the same passages on the Internet….even this blog is read across the world…which is amazing, at least to me. 

Words are very powerful things, they can be used to inspire or knock down….the thing about words, especially the written word, once it’s out there, it’s almost impossible, if not completely impossible to ever get them out of circulation, out of people’s minds, especially with the wonderful world wide web.

I think it’s pretty awesome that we are allowed to have our own thoughts, and opinions in this country.  However, I find it pretty fascinating at how vast of differences those opinions can have, and how the media will always try to do their best to persuade your opinions to those that will sell the most stories, papers, magazines, etc….

It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a good thing or a bad thing in reality, the media is going to spin what they put in front of the nation into whatever story is going to sell.  If they feel a good human interest story is the best bet, then they will go for it, but generally speaking they go for the scandal aspect.  The latest with the scandals is that President Obama took his wife for a romantic evening in New York City.  Personally I think this is awesome, but the media is slamming him.  What is worse is reading some of the comments to the articles…some people are thinking for themselves, others are simply repeating exactly what they saw in the article.  Unfortunately, this is what our society has come to, being brainwashed by the media.  The majority of people in this country will believe whatever they hear, as long as they hear it on the news. 

I think it would have been interesting to see what people would be saying about the night out if the media would have taken the nice human interest approach, rather than the slaughtering approach.  And by the way, I think the President is doing a pretty amazing job if the worse thing the media can find to report on is that he took his wife out for a romantic date and is doing a great job keeping up with his relationship and his new job as President. 

I wonder what those people would be saying if the media would have promoted the good aspects of the situation….and I also wonder if this would be happening with a different president.  It seems to me like the President has always done family focused things and have always been applauded for their efforts.  Would the whole nation be supportive of the date nights if the media twisted the story into a positive light??  Will we ever be able to teach our general majority to think for themselves again or will we always be dependent on the media to feed the opinions of the masses.

It’s crazy how controlled our society is by the media that surrounds us.  The news, radio, papers, etc.  All of them press the ideas that they want people to believe, or simply ideas that will sell…that people will want to know about.  The majority of our society buys into whatever the media says, no matter how absurd it sounds. 

Take the most recent media frenzy, the swine flu, for example.  The news pushed the issue so much that people were panicking everywhere over it, despite the fact that the regular flu that went around this year just as it does every year.  People still went crazy because the media made such a big deal out of this particular strand of the flu.  The flu medication is the same, the symptoms seem the same, yet people were in a massive panic. 

Now all of the sudden the media has stopped pushing the issue, someone must have clued them in on the fact that the regular flu still kills thousands and this flu had only killed a hand full of old and frail of health people.  Now that the media has stopped, I haven’t heard a word from anyone about it.  Now that the newspapers have stopped reporting on it, it’s unimportant, people have stopped stocking up on the vitamin C and the hand sanitizer; all of the sudden they are unconcerned.  Simply because the media has stopped telling them to be fearful….. 

I think this is one of the scariest things that has happened to our society.  People of our society are losing the ability to think for themselves.  What will we do when the media has complete control over thought…in reality it’s not that far fetched of an idea.  So many people already allow themselves to take what they see on the news as complete fact, instead of including it as only a source of some information, information that should be questioned.  All media sources have their own interests to keep in mind when reporting on the “facts”.  Information that is left out of the nightly news, can be just as important, if not more so, than the information that is given on a single thing. 

I think that as a society we need to reclaim our right to question the information presented to us, remember that we can think, discover, and reason for ourselves.  If we don’t learned to grasp these skills again, I am afraid for what our world will look like in another few short decades.  Our society is getting too use to being handed things the easy way.  Instant gratification is what people want these days, but we need reo remember that some things are more important that to see the results instantly.  Sometimes it is better to work for something, puzzle something out, instead of simply accepting what is handed to us.