Question:
In today's society, most of our information is obtained through the mass media. With the need for speed apparent in today's society, the mass media, and the medium through which it is spread, have become indispensable in our everyday lives. Everyone, from the lowliest worker to the busy executive in his office depends on the mass media to transmit information for him to be able to carry out his duties. However, with this mass need for information, the public often takes for granted that the information shown by the mass media is accurate and unbiased. This gives the mass media a lot of power, as most people will believe what they see on the television; hear over the radio, read in the newspapers, as true. Sadly, this is not always the fact of life.
Through the ability of the mass media to be almost everywhere, it is able to make its message all pervasive, causing one to be unable to ignore what is reported. This has allowed the mass media to become a weapon in the hands of many unscrupulous people all over the world. The mass media can misrepresent at will, with most people not even noticing the effect until it is already too late. This can be damaging and can cause harm to both the person misrepresented, and to also the people reading about it. Even if the person is able to recognize the fact that the media is attempting to subtly influence and convert him, the mass media is still able to influence him at the subconscious level, using their weapon of slow, subconscious conversion to turn that person over to their cause.
Nowhere else is the power of the media more clearly seen than in nations with oppressive, dictatorial regimes. Using the media as their tool, such governments slowly turn the people's mindsets over to their cause, brainwashing the masses until they are unable to do anything but believe in the lies which are told to them by the media. This is especially effective since such governments often employ other methods of suppression to ensure that the masses do not have any access to information which contradicts the government's version of world events. A good example of this would Russia when she was under Communist rule. Using the media as the government's tool, the communist government succeeded in ensuring that the people remained suppressed and under their control for almost half a century. It was only until the government decided to relax their control of the media that the people finally saw that they had been systematically brain-washed by the government using the mass media as its tool. From this example, therefore, we can see exactly how the mass media can be a tool in the hands of oppressive regimes seeking to safeguard their power over the people.
Also the power of the media can also be seen from massive racial discrimination. Again, as a weapon in the hands of oppressors, the media subconsciously influences the majority of the public, turning them over to its cause, and thereby ensuring that the media's message is spread. As early as during World War Two, people all over the world have used the media for their own evil purposes. During World War Two, Hitler used the German mass media to influence the people into turning against their Jewish neighbors, blaming them for the string of failures which the German Government had been running into. This climaxed in the deporting of Jews to concentrations and ended with most of them being gassed to death. A more recent example would be the Hutus' massacre of Tootsies in Rwanda. There, the mass media was also used to turn the Hutus over to the cause, so as to ensure the success of the massacre which killed countless thousands. From this, again, we can see how the mass media can be used as a weapon to influence the people, turning them to a cause and even against people whom, a day before, they had been calling neighbors. It also shows the power of the mass media, which can reach into the hearts of people and twist them to evil.
The mass media can also be used as a weapon to spread damaging rumors about people or even about rival companies. This can cause the collapse of a company. Such rumors may be circulated to the mass media. The mass media reports this, thereby putting the company's reputation in question. The banks may then decide to recall that company's loans. With insufficient funds to pay off the company's debts, the company may go bust, thereby resulting in many people going out of job. From this, we can again see the mass media's power in deciding the fate of not only one person, but also that of an entire company of more than a hundred people.
Another way the mass media can be used as a weapon would be to glorify a person or a product. While this is not as evil, it is still nevertheless a method of using the mass media as a weapon. By glorifying the mass media, a person can be made to seem as the right choice during elections. It can also make a product more effective than other products of the same make, even though all the products may be similar to one another. This then encourages more and more people to buy that product. In the end, the company makes a large profit. In this case, the mass media is being used as a weapon to influence the mindsets of the people to buy the product, allowing the company manufacturing the product to buy it.
Also the mass media can be used to glorify a person, most often a politician who is about to stand for election. Through use of the mass media, this person is made to seem better than his opponents. Therefore, the people then vote for him during the elections as he seems to be the better choice. This has had many sinister consequences in history. Hitler came to power in Germany because he managed to gain a handle on the hearts of the German people through effective use of the mass media. This ultimately led to Germany starting World War Two. From this again, we can see how the mass media can be used as a weapon to win the hearts of the people and therefore, turn them to a cause.
Of course, the fact remains that not all uses of the mass media are bad. Without the mass media, we would not be able to run our businesses efficiently with as little hiccups as possible. Without the mass media, businesses would have to run at a retarded rate and globalization would be impossible as everyone would have to return to writing letters to one another just to keep in touch with each other. Therefore, as we can see from the above, the mass media still has many benefits. The mass media is incredibly powerful and because of this, we should always be wary of its uses and what it is reporting. We should take whatever is being reported always with a pinch of salt, as if we are not careful, the media could be a weapon being used by a sinister figure which is attempting to lead us down the road of disaster, war and discrimination.
Grades: 24/30
:::InSight:::
|
E |
|
N |
|
G |
|
L |
|
I |
|
S |
|
H |
|
P |
|
O |
|
R |
|
T |
|
F |
|
O |
|
L |
|
I |
|
O |
|
2 |
|
0 |
|
0 |
|
5 |
|
A |
|
b |
|
P |
|
r |
|
o |
|
s |
|
p |
|
e |
|
c |
|
t |
|
u |
|
s |
