Illustration #6. Terrorism

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=29938

My 6^th illustration is going to be based on terrorism. I have found this concept from chapter 10 of our Issues In Social Justice textbook. Reading this chapter got me thinking about how much the media overemphasizes the term terrorism or terrorist. The chapter compares all the different types of terrorism that has taken place through out history from the 21^st century to the time of the Nazis. As I was reading this chapter I was thinking of how terrorism is seen in the media. I found an article discussing how the media tends to use these acts of terrorism. The Professor who wrote this paper mentions how the term “Al Qaeda” is a term create by the media. The media all over the world has adopted this term and turned it into a big propaganda. It creates social and ethnic issues because once again we are using what we see on the media and putting it towards our everyday lives. Hollywood has adopted the term “Al Qaeda” and has used it towards making movies. We look at this certain group of people (Muslims) and characterize them as one. We believe they are all terrorists and are out there to destroy the world. This is because the media is focused on the moves of the Muslims. When there is a bomb threat or a suicide bombing right away it is on the news and first ethnicity that goes throw the viewers minds are Muslims. The article also mentions how the politician and corporate media along with Hollywood always depict these “Al Qaeda” as evil people and the cause of all the terrorist attacks around the world. Again I am not saying that the people of the “Al Qaeda” are good, but we should not be judging all Muslims out there as terrorist. In the media they are a joke and played as people who are just there to bomb a plane or a city. The media takes it to a far level where the more we see, and the more they try to flush into our brain, the more we will be on edge with the Muslim community and see them as the “bad guys”.

Illustration #5. LGBT

http://postnoon.com/2012/04/12/homophobia-the-underlying-fear/43062

For my 5^th illustration I have chosen to write about the LGBT issues. I read about the LGBT community in chapter 2 of our Issues In Social Justice textbook. I found it interesting to read about the lives of those apart of the LGBT community. It is sad to look at how they cannot live a happy life or be free in society without facing some sort of gay bashing. Even though it does not mention anything about the LGBT issues in the media, I still found it easy to relate this issue to the media. In the media the LGBT community is always stereotyped in the same way. Gays have the same characteristics of a girl’s best friend and all they do is shop and check other boys out. They are not seen has people with careers and normal lives. Lesbians are always seen as sexually active who never have anything else to do. This causes issues in the moral and social areas. We as a whole society begin to judge those of the LGBT on how we see them in the media. We think it is morally wrong for these people to like another of the same sex, again because of how they are depicted in the media. We do not get to see the hard working side of them, just the stereotypical way. The article I have chosen for this topic is talking about the issues the LGBT community faces. It mentions how they walk out onto the street and face a society of homophobes who have nothing better to say then rude comments and labeling these people as “queers”. Just as it was mentioned in the book it is mentioned in this article how the LGBT community does not feel safe in society and are moving away to form a new society and face complete isolation. In the article it also mentions how the media and campaigns are more focused on getting the gay bashers to face punishment but never on how to stop the gay bashing. In society they are found as a wrongful sin and in the media they are just great characters to have to make a movie funny or just to add in an extra character.

Illustration #4. Framing.

http://www.smmirror.com/#mode=single&view=34423

I have chosen to do my 4^th illustration on the concept of Framing. I found this concept in chapter 6 of our Mediated Society textbook. I found it interesting how true is that the media plays around with stories. They do take the abnormal and make it normal. The media tends to take the most important aspect of a story and throw it under the rug and turn the story into something else. The article I have found for this concept is one on a columnist who feels the case of Trayvon Martin has gone through media framing. Stajich, the columnist, is discussing how the media has framed this case into a racial issue and have ignored the fact that Trayvon was killed with a gun. He speaks about how any case that takes place the media tends to ignore the important facts and begin to turn the story into a big drama. I do understand Stajich’s point here. I am not agreeing with him with the fact that Trayvon’s death had nothing to do with racism, because in the end his killer did stereotype him has a young black man in a hoody up to no good. But I get the point where it is true that the media is side stepping the gun. They ignore the fact that a gun was involved and will not look at the gun policies in that town or the fact that Zimmerman (the murderer) owned one. The media has framed this whole case into a racial one. These are all examples of moral and social implications because the framing the media does controls the ideas and beliefs and morals of society. We are focusing on the race of Trayvon and Zimmerman instead of the fact that Zimmerman had a gun, and that that gun killed Trayvon. The media has a problem with framing. They guide our minds to a new story within a story. A murder case of a young man has turned into a racial issue that has taken over the minds of Presidents, citizens and celebrities. No one is worried about the fact that Zimmerman was able to live with a gun for so long, and how easy it was for him to have one too. We have all turned our attention to the fact that Trayvon was a black kid and Zimmerman was a white man who killed this black child.

Illustration #3: Advertising.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304444604577342160866262708.html

For my third illustration I have chosen to look at advertising. I was reading the section on Advertising as Mass Communication, in chapter 4 of our Mediated Society textbook. I found the subsection of Advertising: The Phenomenon, very interesting. It is talking about how advertisements are everywhere. This is a source of media that we all run into everyday. It is all over our cities. The section discusses how there is media inside of the media. An example of this is how advertisements pop up while we are on the Internet the other form of media. From my personal experience I agree with this chapter. We do see advertisements everywhere. I cannot drive on the street without seeing one. But where I see the most advertisements, and where I tend to pay attention to them most is when they are on the TV. The article I have chosen is talking about advertisements and the media. The article was found on the Wall Street Journal website. In the article it states how magazines are loosing their advertisements because people are not paying attention to them in the magazines. Advertisers are now moving all their work over to the digital media. The TV and Internet will be benefiting from the advertisements now. It has been found that we pay attention to the ads more when they are on the TV and Internet, which is where we tend to spend most of our spare time. Advertisements firms are now going to spend more money on Television, Internet and billboards to send their messages our way. There is a political issue associated with this new change. It will now cause politics between magazine companies and digital media companies. They will be competing to make themselves more entertaining to the reader’s eye, 1) so they can gain more advertisements and 2) to gain more money from us viewers paying attention to the advertisements they are supporting. These sources of media will find ways to control society by throwing all these ads at our faces and finding ways to interest us in staying with their magazines by gate keeping. They will start to share the news that only they think is important and will keep our attention and talk about more negative news and gossip instead of the news that is truly important and has a good side to it to keep us reading their magazines.

Futility Theory.

In our class during the lecture notes 6, we talked about the futility theory. I chose to talk about this theory for my oral blog because I found it very interesting. I agree with what the theory has to say, it states “we believe the media said it, so it must be true”. I notice this when it comes to watching entertainment news then watching everyone’s reactions about what was just said. We believe something is bad, or someone is bad because the news channels tell us. We believe a celebrity is a drug addict or pregnant because that is what Entertainment News or online websites like Perez Hilton has said. Our only source of news or entertainment is the media. We will never know the real truths about these celebrity’s lives because we only focus on the lies the media has told us via news and websites.

Mind of Social Thinkers.

Cool concept: 1 of the 3 ideas that are exercised in the minds of social thinkers about the effects of media on society. I found the concept of integration or disintegration really interesting. I would have to agree with both of them, the media brings us together and is splits us apart. It brings us together with world news and entertainment news. As soon as something major has happened world people come to together and talk about it. We discuss the latest tragedies and come together as one to help those who have been affected. But at the same times the media can also tear society apart. We do not always on everything. A good example would be media coverage of a certain trial taking place. People will agree and disagree on the verdict. This causes a separation in society and people are divided along a line of disagreements.

Impersonal and Anonymous

In lecture notes 4 we talked about how the news can be impersonal and anonymous. We can all watch the same news but take the message differently. Some of us can be touched by a sad story that comes on about some harm that has hit a family, and some of us can just take it as news and brush it off. I have seen this in real life. In my household, we all watch the news. But we do not all take the messages the same way. Some of my family members are more sentimental then the rest of us. I tend to stress out over news to do with natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes, but the rest of my family just takes it as whatever and moves along with their lives. It is interesting how we can all watch the same TV with the same news and take the message in our own ways.