October 23, 2009

  • The Medium, the Message, the Meaning, and the Masses

    I have been thinking deeply about how communications technology has changed the way we see the world, and in turn, how we understand the world. Which in turn, effects us all back again in a subconscious level.

    This is what I mean:

    Take television for example, which has drastically improved and accelerated the means and ends of information processing. People are now spending more time in front of the tube than anything else. After all, television programs are scheduled, rigid, and intense. It requires no skill, no talent, and no imagination. Just stare, focus, and try not to blink.

    The messages that TV usually, or in today's case always sends is "BUY OUR SHIT - OUR SHIT IS BETTER THAN THEIR SHIT." In terms of any real meaningful information; we only get snippets and sound bites which only last 3 seconds may be. Not enough time for us to even process what is going on. Then, the news moves onto the next "important" piece of news...usually something about how one country has been fucked up by another because the other country (usually the US of A) is scared that its dick may not be big enough. So, we usually hear how people are bombed, but they are not people according to the media. They're "terrorists." Then, we move on to Perez Hilton.

    Then, 5 minutes after we turned off the television, we wonder, "What the fuck did I just learn?"

    Hence, meaning itself is lost in the labyrinth of meaningless, cluttered, and chaotic information. That is what I call information overload. It makes people stupid you know. But, thanks to political correctness, we don't have stupid people, we have intellectually inefficient and mentally challenged people. Or, we get those who claim they are, "differently" abled. Well, last I checked, we were and still are different from each other. Shouldn't that also apply to us?

    Now, the effect of this kind of mass barrage of useless, meaningless, null storm of information The masses are pretty much kept ignorant, unaware, and naive of their reality. There is no connection in what they read, see, or hear. Reality has been distorted. That is why, after we develop the next level of technology, we must be careful of the consequences of it on our public discourse and how we can best avoid the pitfalls of new technology.

    Ultimately, technology has driven us apart, while claiming to bring us together. Television is the perfect example of how ignorant people are of their local communities and neighbors. Today, we are more concerned with what is happening in another country, rather than with the mess that is in OUR FRONT door.

    Yours, with grace

    Xinyu Hu