Mark Chappell
Most of us learn a lot of what we know about the world around us via mass media. How we communicate over these forms of media is known as mass communication. Mass communication is defined by dictionary.cambridge.org as, “something such as television or the internet that means that a message, story, etc. can be communicated to a large number of people at the same time.” Because much of what we see in the media is unfamiliar to us it is easy for the media to shape our entire idea of what something or someone is. The media has a lot of power, or control of resources. In this case the resource is the very information they provide.
Likely one of the most powerful forms of media these days is television. Many people in America shape their entire basis of the world around them from what they learn on T.V. Organizations like Fox news use this fact to their advantage by spreading negative views of immigrants, foreign countries, and politicians who oppose their agenda. We must strive to keep our media in check, factual information must be provided regardless of it being thought of as leaning to the left or the right of the political spectrum. Postman argues that,
…whatever power television might have to undermine rational discourse, its emotional power is so great that it could arouse sentiment against the Vietnam War or against more virulent forms of racism. These and other beneficial possibilities are not to be taken lightly. (p. 29).
In short we should the power of television to spread more positive messages, rather than ones that reinforce negative class hatred.
Often the modern forms of media will use poorer Americans and foreigners as scapegoats for issues plaguing our country. We see this today with the opposition towards programs such as food stamps and Medicare. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that 44% of SNAP users in Washington state are from working families. Many studies have been done that show these types of programs to be beneficial to society as a whole, but these are often ignored in order to create a more negative idea of these programs results. We can see examples of this same type of thing throughout our countries history. Takaki highlights one instance where a sermon given by Reverend Theodore Parker of Boston was used to shed un-justified opinion of poor immigrants, “…some people were ‘inferior in nature, some perhaps only behind us in development’ on ‘a lower form in the great school of Providence-negroes, Indians, Mexicans, Irish, and the like.” (p. 141). These instances are used to justify racism and hatred towards people that were viewed as lower class. Differences in social class, or level in the hierarchy of society, open up doors for hatred. When the people of upper echelons of society look down upon the lower class as lazy or stupid, rather than a necessary group is when we create problems. There will always be a need for the people that pick our fruit, cook our food, and help out at the grocery store. We must treat these people with respect just like we do someone with more money. In this way I think we have in way been removing the Agency, or personhood, of the poor people in our country.
Our community partner 4-h strives to assist poorer communities by providing things like recreational supplies that would otherwise be difficult to afford. They use television advertisement as one of their main ways of gaining national support for their cause. They also use posters and pamphlets at events to help get their name and what they doing out there. Programs like theirs help to take down financial barriers for poorer youths. I think these types of programs are great because they keep kids busy with a healthy activities, which help to keep them away from things like drugs and gangs. When asked how they typically spread word about their program representative Patti Segulja states,
Snohomish county 4-H leaders give me booklets to bring with the club whenever we compete or do our community service, incase families see us and want to know more. There’s a big online community, too. Every group I know, including my own, Broken Bits, has a facebook group for all our members and alumni to plan events.
Our group assisted 4-H in setting up a tack equipment sale that had the goal of making usually expensive horse riding equipment available to poor families who otherwise could not afford it.
The media has the power to paint the picture of how many of us see the people in our communities who are not as well-off as the rest of us. It controls how we view the ones who do the tough jobs that no one else wants to do, but are necessary in maintaining are functioning society. As we remove more resources from poor people and bring it to the one percent, we make life for the majority of our people un-livable. And when these types of things happen is when powerful nations collapse. It is entirely possible that if things continue on the route they are currently that we could have a revolution take place, whether it be political or by other means.
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References
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.cbpp.org/
Definition of “mass communication” – English Dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/mass-communication
P. Segulja from 4-H, Personal Interview. Feb. 28
Postman, Neil. Amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of showbusiness. Methuen, 2007.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Little, Brown and Company, 1993.
Communities of Power and Struggle 