The concept I want to discuss in this blog post is media's affects on culture. In one of the classes, we discussed a quote "we use and create media even as media use and create us, putting images inside your head just like eating." This quote really resonated with me because of how true it is. This concept basically describes how what we consume in media has a ripple effect into our society. Everything we watch, play, and read will mold us. It also shapes how we see things, it may solidify stereotypes we may already have, it could also help diminish preconceived ideas about people.
For instance, there is a lot of media coverage on immigrants right now. Most of the coverage discusses the dangerous behaviors of some immigrants, but applies it to them as a whole group. President Trump often solidifies people's assumptions about immigrants, making people afraid. He uses these scare tactics to gain support for laws that will restrict their ability to live in the United States. Rather than trying to understand this group of people as a whole, we consume what the media feeds us. This shapes our culture in a negative way, it breeds hate. Media doesn't always cause negative effects. In some ways, it can help us gain an understanding of someone else's culture through movies, songs, etc.
This is an important concept to understand because the more we realize that media can shape us, the more we can pay attention to what we're being "fed." Knowing that a lot of the people who create mainstream media are doing so to fit an agenda, the more we know to filter out what we're seeing. We can also learn to fact check posts on Facebook, news media, etc.
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