the values of todays society

most people can tell you who won the super bowl,  who the newest celebrity couple is ,and what happened on jersey shore last week. however, most Americans will find themselves puzzled when trying to remember  our governors name, what the last speech our president gave was about, or any of the important ongoing social and political issues in our world. what is the cause of this? some would say the media. throughout our days we are fascinated and captivated by the radio, the television, magazine articles, and the internet. Walter Lippmann was an American journalist, he believed that the people are more willing to believe images that they see rather than think and judge critically for themselves. in other words, propaganda works. In a sense Lippmann is correct, its easier to just go along with the flow of what the media wants us to think rather than think for themselves about a debating issue. Another point is that the people simply don’t care about political/social/environmental issues. I am not speaking for everyone but there are massive amounts of people in this world who would rather watch MTV than CNN. they are more concerned with things that are amusing to them, they don’t want to hear discouraging news or worry about global warming. It is a choice of what you want to do with your spare time, what issues you want to be concerned with( ex. missing an episode of teen mom or registering to vote) I believe people need to be brought aware to the fact that the media is changing the values of today’s society.

the media

Media plays a very strong role in everyday life if you ask me. How we act, what we wear, who we associate ourselves with are all influenced by media.for example nobody wants to sit with the nerdy kid in the lunch room because it is not consisdered "cool" they would rather sit with the popular kids who are wearing name brands such as Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch. Media is also found everywhere, you see ads on the sides of buses, on bilboards, on the television, even the clothes we wear repsresent a brand name. Almost undoubtedly media is one of the largest influences on everyday life. I would probably say I consume media more than I produce it. i find myself watching music videos and the televison consuming what they feed me uncountiously.  Even when just walking around i seem to buy things just for the sake of buying things, Which in a way in itself is me producing media.I walk around with a shopping bag with the name of the store on the bag, i wear brand name jeans that you can see the specific design on the back pockets. So i suppose i both produce and consume the media, if i did not consume it i would not be able to produce it. The media course i am taking this semester at pennstate seems to be interesting, what i hope to get out of this course is being able to recognize how media affects the way people think, and how the people controling the media use it to get people to act, look, and buy things how they want then to.