Monday, November 22, 2010
Media
Karl Marx once said (in an alternate language): " Religion is the opiate of the masses." I believe that most forms of media; specifically television have emerged as the new "people's drug". I myself am quite guilty of spurious internet usage. It has been a singular source for furthering my knowledge, as well as wasting my potential. As we see religion becoming less of a driving force for our daily lives, when compared to past eras, I wonder how quickly media will take hold completely. It's not difficult to see evidence of this emergence, simply go to google and start to research the beneficial new programs it can provide to improve your standard of living. If you're already on this page, you are the market. Maybe someday I'll decide to take a stand and live without television or internet, but for now I will somberly retreat to occasional bookishness and remain slave to the cyclops that is media. I would appreciate input on this issue, because it does bother me quite often. Please don't tell google I wrote this.
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The one thing that we must put out there...which is really a crux of this discussion and a point I've made before is and I quote:
ReplyDelete"Google is evil."
A lot of people see only the cutesy banners on the homepage, the lists which laud Google as the #1 place to work, the powerful search engine, and the slick email accounts.
What is missing from the Calculus is the dark ulterior motives that drive Google's quest. Google, to me, is a data company that has managed to deftly ingratiate itself within the very fabric of American society. Now that it has dutifully infiltrated our ranks, it will take the data and push moral and legal barriers with its applications.
Are we okay with Google having an image of everyone's house? With Amazon telling us what to buy based on previous purchases? With Facebook telling us to reconnect with a long lost friend?
In the past, communication required effort. You had to get in your covered wagon and brave the elements or put your fountain pen to your papyrus, but things are different now. Maybe the game has changed too much, too quickly.
I would argue that it is not the media that has become the substitute for religion but the data itself. The ease of access and the sheer magnitude of available data has changed the way Americans work, live, and play forever.
Are we smarter? Are our lives better? Do we appreciate/treasure the knowledge we gain from the internet as much as we do from a professor or a book? These are the questions we must ask ourselves. I'm going to borrow a phrase from my boy Michael Lewis because I feel like it applies here: This is the new new thing: the information economy.
Thanks for expounding on my point, specifically the google monster. I agree that the data compiling abilities of these technology corporations is an Orwellian nightmare, but I believe that television and radio are also culprits that should be charged for the current state of our society. Imagine all of the trash we are sold via television (reality tv, sensationalist news programs, et all) and radio. These mediums have become finely tuned instruments of fatuity. Obviously, we could discuss the evils of any of those mediums for hours, but I will digress and make my discontent with these regressive trends known. I suppose it is all in the name of laissez-faire capitalism, but it is unfortunate nonetheless.
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