An understanding of the media message

[Viola]

I don't see men like Homer Simpson or Ted Bundy, as good role models for the young and impressionable.

Ted Bundy?!

Didja mean Al Bundy of Married With Children? I don't think ANYONE uses Ted as a good role model.

Since Al was a constant drooling moron with a crappy life who constantly bemoaned his state of affairs I doubt anyone looked up to him, either, but he was at least harmless.

Viola

 

[Lady Day]

My mother always hinted to me the fact that if I bleieve what I see on TV, then Im stupid. Its MY job let TV or the media in this case present an argument (at least Id hope so) and then it is up to me to:
a) take it at face falue
b) believe it
c) dispute it
or
d) research it

Many a time I have done d, and rarely a or b. I need to know what I can without making a profession of it. That is one reason I took a very interesting marketing class. It opened my eyes on the psychology of how products are presented to us and the science that goes with it. I am able to see so much crap now because of it, also it was a reason I trashed my tv.

As for the original post, and the family with the car, wasnt the tag line for that something of 'out of the ordinary' or 'the unexpected'? I have no problem with the crap that is on tv, Id like to consider myself smart enough to judge what I watch and do not.

LD

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I am surprised we still argue how today's youth and media are driving us over the edge.
For every example of the decaying of our society someone can point to at least one example of the misery of "the old days". I cannot imagine what our parents and grandparents blamed for the corruption of the youth of their era. Perhaps it was the jazz, robber barons, integration, film noir, rock 'n' roll, voting (for the specific corruption of our young ladies), etc. Today we look back on those harbingers of doom with a smile and nostalgia.

The more one reads of History the clearer the old expression "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

You do raise a very good point. However, it seems that it has been taken to a higher level than back them. The big difference being access. Today, the media is everywhere. Everywhere we go we are exposed to some sort of media. We even have tv's in the grocery store! It is this constant exposure, the shoving of it into our faces, that makes it even more desireable for the younger generation to emulate. Within minutes, sometimes seconds of even the slightes scandal, we know about it. It's just everywhere, and makes it so much more effective. Although the points you bring up about yester-year were considered sometimes scandelous or bad back in the day, in comaparison to what is presented to the young and impressionable of today, it was lighter, for there wasn't a constant exposure to it. Not every home had a radio, a tv, it's possible not every home had the newspaper, and if they did, I really don't know how many young kids were reading it. I doubt, or I should say I Hope, that we won't look back on all of the violence, sex, drugs, and nudity, etc. in todays media that is being shoved down all of our throats, and think light of it. If anything, 50 years from now, we might be looking back and saying "oh, that's when the decline of America began". Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this will happen. I'm just thinking it's a possiblity given what the young people are shown through outlets of the media.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I am surprised we still argue how today's youth and media are driving us over the edge.
For every example of the decaying of our society someone can point to at least one example of the misery of "the old days". I cannot imagine what our parents and grandparents blamed for the corruption of the youth of their era. Perhaps it was the jazz, robber barons, integration, film noir, rock 'n' roll, voting (for the specific corruption of our young ladies), etc. Today we look back on those harbingers of doom with a smile and nostalgia.

The more one reads of History the clearer the old expression "the more things change, the more they stay the same".

It's a matter of context. Today, we are assailed by a multi-media blitz that is unprecedented. We look back on those harbingers of doom with a smile and nostalgia of course, because they seem so innocuous when compared to the evils our society is experiencing today. You're right in saying that the more things change the more they stay the same, however, the ante is always being upped in this game. The media has been increasingly insidious and pervasive over the years, and it's content is increasingly subversive to our families. Resulting in the societal ills we read about in our newspapers every day.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I have no problem with the crap that is on tv, Id like to consider myself smart enough to judge what I watch and do not.

LD

Yes! My sentiments exactly. We are all intelligent and discerning people here and we can just refuse to watch and believe all the crap.
But I truly pity those that can not percieve the mind control that's being foisted on them. And I dread the results. Results I fear we are seeing now.

 

[Feraud]

It's a matter of context. Today, we are assailed by a multi-media blitz that is unprecedented. We look back on those harbingers of doom with a smile and nostalgia of course, because they seem so innocuous when compared to the evils our society is experiencing today. You're right in saying that the more things change the more they stay the same, however, the ante is always being upped in this game. The media has been increasingly insidious and pervasive over the years, and it's content is increasingly subversive to our families. Resulting in the societal ills we read about in our newspapers every day.

I really do see your point and agree it is a matter of context. For sake of arguement, let me agree that society is really heading over the precipice as some seriously believe. At what point do we fall into the abyss? Shouldn't it have happened by now? People have been predicting the end of society and the world for a long time now and it has not happened!
I see social ills ebbing and flowing like a tide. Some years it is up and others down. Society moves in trends. Crime rates rise and fall. Certain decades are decadent and others are conservative. This is what keeps the world going.

 

[RedShoesGirl]

By any objective standard, television largely caters to mediocrity,
low-brow entertainment, and plain fluff. And what little wheat-wherein
TV's chaff-hardly alters this.

see, when you use words like "any objective standard" you lose validity because the statement is too sweeping. you can have your opinions, but you simply can't speak for "any" objective standard. you really can't judge, especially if you don't watch tv!

watching tv is like anything else we do for entertainment, it isn't for everyone and one must have standards of their own.

rsg

 

[RedShoesGirl]

Really? I haven't found it yet. I now only watch TCM, and even that channel pisses me off now and then.
When I am exposed to the stupidity (on the screens at the gym) I can't even believe people watch that drek.

yes really? unless you watch every single program and find them ALL lacking then you can make a statement that calls all televsion drek.

there is good witty writing and innovative storytelling with good actors out there - you just have to kiss a few frogs in order to find the prince.

yes, really.

rsg

 

[Harp]

Response

see, when you use words like "any objective standard" you lose validity because the statement is too sweeping. you can have your opinions, but you simply can't speak for "any" objective standard. you really can't judge, especially if you don't watch tv!

watching tv is like anything else we do for entertainment, it isn't for everyone and one must have standards of their own.

rsg

I was stating my opinion. And I have had sufficient exposure to present-
and-past television to have formed a personal opinion regarding this topic.
Television is not called "the idiot box" without justification.

 

[RedShoesGirl]

That is scary. One simply can not deny the fact that there is a definate link between media content and the decaying state of our society...
I believe that the family unit is the main target of this multi-media assault. All of the negative media output is designed to destroy the traditional family.
It's no wonder that we are all of a like mind here in our love of days past, and the traditional values with which we were raised.

i think the target is much greater than just the traditional family. i think it is the american way of life, period. any family, traditional or non-traditional that provides a loving caring environment is fine with me. it is the larger picture i am looking at.

i was thinking on the way home from work about when things began to really change. when the hippy movement really took hold, when the people stood up and said get us out of Vietnam. when lennon sang "imagine" about a world of peace - the powers that be, the military, big business that makes money from war and hawkish politicians became afraid. peace would not be good for business.

people had started to not be sheep. and sheep-people do what they are told. they do not rock the boat or cause unrest. Non-sheep people are a threat to the government.

mediocre tv and film — i agree that much of it is mediocre (but i watch a lot and study it a lot) in its mediocrity pollutes the minds of the young and keeps the sheep sheep. money for education is cut year after year because a stupid population is non-threatening. as long as people are kept relatively happy, and willing to send their sons to war they will not rock the boat. the little good programming that is out there soon is killed off to be replaced by more and more violence.

watch the reality show "cops" some times. this is considered entertainment. but it shows men and women behaving in the most atrocious ways - and that's the cops! and we accept that behaviour. we accept more and more restrictions to our personal lives, all in the name of security and protecting the environement. closing roads - channels us into smaller and smaller boxes - easier to keep track of a population that you limit where they can go.

tv makes it all easier to accept those restrictions. hours of watching sports, kids watching hours of whatever parents put on their little dvds - a passive society is born.

a passive society is a non-threatening one.

whew, that's a lot to say.....sorry for the soapbox.

lara

 

[RedShoesGirl]

I don't know about that, but you are right, even TCM is going downhill. This month they have Rob Zombie hosting and their promos are horrible.

i was really surprised the other day when i was working from home and had tcm on and the movies were not classic, and really dumb! trying to appeal to that all-important demographic of 19-34-year olds i guess.

rsg

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I have no problem with the crap that is on tv, Id like to consider myself smart enough to judge what I watch and do not.

LD

You are a well-informed educated adult, and it sure sounds like (from this post and others where you have mentioned her) your mom was a caring woman who often gave you good advice. She raised you right.
I would like to think that a majority of adults are smart enough to judge what they watch and don't watch, what they believe or choose to mimic and what they don't (although I'm sure there's some amount of adults that aren't capable of this). I don't think that any show should be taken off the air. Well, they shouldn't be taken of the air because what they portray, but should be simply because they stink But, my point isn't about what an adult watches on tv. It is the right of every person to watch what they want to watch. I think it's great that technology gives us so many options to see just about anything. I also know that, well for the most part, what I see on TV is not reality. My person is already developed. I can go through slight changes, but I am old enough to know right from wrong, good from bad, so on. We are adults, we are our own decision makers. I don't agree with censoring any of these shows, even the ones I think are silly or bad.
In this case, we are discussing the ability of the media to make impressions on our children, pre-teens, and teens. Especially those teens that aren't under the watchful eye of a parent, guardian, or possibly a protective older sibling.
As for the Ford commercial, I really didn't think it was bad. I was more saddened by it. I remember thinking to myself that the family has changed so much, especially in the last 20 years, that it is more profitable for a company to advertise to a family that has been broken up. So many tv shows used to portray the family as a happy functional unit, even if that wasn't truly the case. And now, that really isn't truly the case, but I still think it would be nice if tv portrayed it as they used to. I guess what I was really thinking was how media, being as impressionable as it is, could use that ability of impressionism to send some more positive messages. If it does such a good job teaching the young about the negative, it might actually make a difference in our youth to show them lots of positive. I know that it is the job of the family to raise their own children. But, since media makes this ginormous impact and is so visible to all the public, it's a nice thought that they might actually try to do some good. They have a lot of control, in a better world they might actually try to make a change for the better.

 

[RedShoesGirl]

I really do see your point and agree it is a matter of context. For sake of arguement, let me agree that society is really heading over the precipice as some seriously believe. At what point do we fall into the abyss? Shouldn't it have happened by now? People have been predicting the end of society and the world for a long time now and it has not happened!
I see social ills ebbing and flowing like a tide. Some years it is up and others down. Society moves in trends. Crime rates rise and fall. Certain decades are decadent and others are conservative. This is what keeps the world going.

doesn't it seem like in the ebb and flow it just never just quite goes back to 'normal"/ it is always just a little worse?

i think the abyss will be on the horizon and our current leaders will decide that in order to save us all they will have to declare martial law or whatever they have to declare and go outside the constitution to stay in power.

rsg i gotta get back to my tv watching, good stuff on tonight.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

I really do see your point and agree it is a matter of context. For sake of arguement, let me agree that society is really heading over the precipice as some seriously believe. At what point do we fall into the abyss? Shouldn't it have happened by now? People have been predicting the end of society and the world for a long time now and it has not happened!
I see social ills ebbing and flowing like a tide. Some years it is up and others down. Society moves in trends. Crime rates rise and fall. Certain decades are decadent and others are conservative. This is what keeps the world going.

I hate to appear as a pessimist, but I can't help but see the steady decline in our society's overall morality, not only in my lifetime, but throughout the past 50 to 100 years in particular. The media's increasing influence is a large part of it. We have only been subjected to television programming for roughly 60 years of our history. Television in particular, of all the media, is the most recent and all pervasive influence on our collective mentality. I can not help but see the effect it has had on our world, as I was raised on TV to a certain extent. Programming was inarguably much more innocent in television's early days. I have not experienced any real ill effects from having watched The Twilight Zone, Topper, and Andy Griffith,(to name but a few) but I have seen the effects of more recent media offerings in the simultaneous rise of violence and crime, and in the compromising of our values and ideals. Particularly disturbing are the unprecedented killings of school kids by other kids. I can only surmise that recent media input,(TV and etc.) which many kids are constantly exposed to, is at least partially, responsible for this insanity.
I fear we are in a downward spiral and things can not get better at this point. Unless the media completely changes it's tune and denounces the greed, commercialism, and materialism that it has fostered.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

You are correct, Ma'am!....

The whole reason "The Media" exists is very simply this: to sell the greatest number of people the greatest number of goods as efficiently as possible. And what we see in the media around us is clearly what does the best job in selling those goods. We might not like the tone it takes -- but the mere fact that we don't buy into the latest trends of the moment means we aren't the target market they're trying to reach in the first place...

I always remind myself that I'm not the consumer that they are trying to reach. Those ads are so targeted to specific demographics that every last detail is thought out to play on the emotions of the targeted 'victim'. It is a sad commentary though that the research for which the advertisers pay so dearly, indicates that there are consuming individuals in those categories - people who will respond and spend their money accordingly.

My particular choice of worst ever is that Hummer commercial that shows the character being slighted and disrepected then using their Hummer purchase as a way for 'getting even'. That's a nice message!(?). Reminds me of the old bus placard I saw in L.A. years ago for a furniture store: "Truly Snooty Furniture" - yeh, that's the image I want my home to project!

I just tune 'em out.... thank God for the 'mute' button!\

-dixon cannon

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

i think the target is much greater than just the traditional family. i think it is the american way of life, period. any family, traditional or non-traditional that provides a loving caring environment is fine with me. it is the larger picture i am looking at.

i was thinking on the way home from work about when things began to really change. when the hippy movement really took hold, when the people stood up and said get us out of Vietnam. when lennon sang "imagine" about a world of peace - the powers that be, the military, big business that makes money from war and hawkish politicians became afraid. peace would not be good for business.

people had started to not be sheep. and sheep-people do what they are told. they do not rock the boat or cause unrest. Non-sheep people are a threat to the government.

mediocre tv and film — i agree that much of it is mediocre (but i watch a lot and study it a lot) in its mediocrity pollutes the minds of the young and keeps the sheep sheep. money for education is cut year after year because a stupid population is non-threatening. as long as people are kept relatively happy, and willing to send their sons to war they will not rock the boat. the little good programming that is out there soon is killed off to be replaced by more and more violence.

watch the reality show "cops" some times. this is considered entertainment. but it shows men and women behaving in the most atrocious ways - and that's the cops! and we accept that behaviour. we accept more and more restrictions to our personal lives, all in the name of security and protecting the environement. closing roads - channels us into smaller and smaller boxes - easier to keep track of a population that you limit where they can go.

tv makes it all easier to accept those restrictions. hours of watching sports, kids watching hours of whatever parents put on their little dvds - a passive society is born.

a passive society is a non-threatening one.

whew, that's a lot to say.....sorry for the soapbox.

lara

I hear ya. The dumbing down of America is also on their agenda, it seems. Ignorant people are easy to control. Intelligent people are dangerous to any control-freak despot. History proves that the power crazed always first elliminate the college professors, non-conformist artists, and intellectuals in their bids for domination.

 

[Terry Lennox]

First "The Media" does not exist only to sell the greatest number of people the greatest number of goods.

Are we taking Television as the "The Media" or do we include everything else such as Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Puppet shows, street performers, Movies, Cell phones, video games, Billboards... the list goes on and on.

If I recall, there's a channel of television that's been on the air for quite some time called PUBLIC TELEVISION. It doesn't sell anything. In fact it's what many of you would call "good family" viewing.

And as to all the shows that so many people don't like, well, here's a thought... Don't watch them.

You have a choice. It's not Clockwork Orange you know.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

I always remind myself that I'm not the consumer that they are trying to reach. Those ads are so targeted to specific demographics that every last detail is thought out to play on the emotions of the targeted 'victim'. It is a sad commentary though that the research for which the advertisers pay so dearly, indicates that there are consuming individuals in those categories - people who will respond and spend their money accordingly.

My particular choice of worst ever is that Hummer commercial that shows the character being slighted and disrepected then using their Hummer purchase as a way for 'getting even'. That's a nice message!(?). Reminds me of the old bus placard I saw in L.A. years ago for a furniture store: "Truly Snooty Furniture" - yeh, that's the image I want my home to project!


I just tune 'em out.... thank God for the 'mute' button!\

-dixon cannon

Yes, you are correct, you can tune them out. But the younger generation, the target audience, doesn't always know better. So much of what they learn is through the media.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

First "The Media" does not exist only to sell the greatest number of people the greatest number of goods.

Are we taking Television as the "The Media" or do we include everything else such as Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Puppet shows, street performers, Movies, Cell phones, video games, Billboards... the list goes on and on.

If I recall, there's a channel of television that's been on the air for quite some time called PUBLIC TELEVISION. It doesn't sell anything. In fact it's what many of you would call "good family" viewing.

And as to all the shows that so many people don't like, well, here's a thought... Don't watch them.

You have a choice. It's not Clockwork Orange you know.

AGAIN, we are not talking about adults being influenced by the media. I am well aware that you are an adult, capable of making your own informed decisions. I don't see how I can make this question any clearer. We are talking about every type of media, and their ability to make a huge impact on a young impressionable mind. What are the odds that an un-supervised pre-teen or teen is going to sit down and turn on public/educational tv?

 

[Terry Lennox]

AGAIN, we are not talking about adults being influenced by the media. I am well aware that you are an adult, capable of making your own informed decisions. I don't see how I can make this question any clearer. We are talking about every type of media, and their ability to make a huge impact on a young impressionable mind. What are the odds that an un-supervised pre-teen or teen is going to sit down and turn on public/educational tv?

Seems to me that adults are making most of the problems in the world, not the kids.

And I'd say the odds of the kid watching PBS are dependant on how many channels the adult bought for their kids to watch.

And since you don't have children, you can buy all the channels you want. If you did have children, then maybe just have off air TV or get rid of it until the child is out of the house.

The point I'm making now is, it's the ADULT who makes the decision, not the kid.