Today the media is all around us. We are exposed to and bombarded by its rhetoric and garbage whenever we sign on the Internet, listen to the radio during our morning and evening commute, when we want to read the sports page but must first get past the front page When we turn on the morning news to get the latest traffic report, or stand in line at the grocery store. And the list goes on. Now that I’ve illustrated a few examples can you honestly tell me that the media doesn’t influence anybody? Perhaps if that person is a hermit or the person is affected by blindness and deafness simultaneously.
With the numerous ways for people to access the media it is absurd to believe that it has no affect whatsoever on people. I say it’s absurd because the media has made me question my own values and judgments, however, the outcome doesn’t always agree with the media. The fact that I re-evaluated my system of beliefs proves that the media has the ability to influence the general populous.
Let’s take this opportunity to evaluate what I’m speaking of. As a former resident of California from birth until late 2004, I had the opportunity to vote in California’s historic recall election for Governor of the State. As an open-minded registered voter, by open-minded I mean non-partisan, I listened to the information provided by the all types of media from the liberal Los Angeles Times to Governor Davis himself. When Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he was running I thought it was some kind of joke. I truly believed the recall was a joke when I received information about all of the other candidates, which included a porno star, Gary Coleman and Larry Flint in the candidate biographies. Who wants an old washed up actor to govern their state when he can’t even govern himself? Sure Larry Flint took a bullet for the first amendment but the man wanted to turn California into Las Vegas. Ah, that belief of mine is a product of that well-oiled machine we call the media. To make a long story short I ended up voting for Schwarzenegger but my decision wasn’t based on the fact that I liked him in the role of John Matrix in Commando. He received my vote because the various forms of media covering the recall enabled me to make a decision I felt was best suited for the Golden State. At some point in time the media swayed me to sign the recall petition and vote for a candidate I originally felt had no place in the political arena.
With that said, the media may provide only a minor influence on some but there are those who truly have no idea or opinion and are oblivious to the events surrounding their lives. For the individual(s) like this, the media may be the only source of information and has therefore created an opinion in the individual and stripped them of their individuality.