Post 14 :: SAT Essay
I have a lot of trouble with SAT essays -- especially if I don't have any particular connection with the subject. I hope to improve along the course of sophomore and junior year, but... -____-;;; Ah well.
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Today, media is all around us; technology takes bigger leaps every day, and media springs along with it. What we hear and take in from the media (our surroundings) greatly determines what and how we think of our world.
Nowadays, most people drive home with the radio on; when they get home, they turn on the television to watch the news. The television, the radio, the internet, the newspaper -- everywhere we turn, the media is feeding us news and selected articles, and although some of us would like to think that we have formulated our own interests and opinions on what is important, I think most of this shaping comes to us through the media. When we turn the television on and hear stories of murder, rape, and robbery, we begin to fear for our safety. Violence and avoidance of said violence become our priority. "If it bleeds, it sells" is what influences our thoughts. In this way, the media can change a person's thinking, and in turn, change what they think is important.
Another example of the media changing the priorities of the public lies in the blogs we created as an English class. When someone starts out with a set idea, they set about writing their blog entries based on their sense of "this is what was important." Then, others see and comment on that entry. When his/her ideas are tested, or perhaps as he/she reads the thoughts of others, a different path is revealed, and it seems more logical to head down that one. For example, I wrote an entry about an essay called "The Singer Solution to World Poverty." What stuck out the most for me was the author's high and mighty approach; it seemed like the author, though he didn't follow his own solution, deigned it appropriate for him to look down on his readers and their "cushy" lives. That was all I drew from the article.
Then, I happened across a friend's blog. As I read, I began to notice that what she drew from the essay (what she thought was important) lay on a completely different path, so to speak. She questioned her responsibilities versus simple dislike for the author. There was quite a difference in what we thought was important; however, I began to think more and more about what she thought -- what one could do as an individual and what one is responsible for -- and I began to see something new. I came away from those assignments with a completely new viewpoint, drawing from it opinions that I never would have formulated had it not been for new "media."
Media has an extremely strong say in what is important. When I was younger, I wasn't nearly as shallow as I am now. That's because when I was small, I didn't care about the fashion models strutting across the walkway in their underwear. I didn't care how skinny and beautiful they were; I changed the channel and watched Pokemon instead. But now, I watch shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "America's Next Top Model." When I see all those beautiful people, what is important slowly changes. It wasn't voluntary, either.
Media does change the way we think and what we think about, as well as its position on our list of priorities. What we see on T.V., hear on the radio, read about in the newspaper or off blogs: All of these things determine what we think is important, even if we don't intend to let them do so.
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-edit- a little extra doodle to the side.
2 comments:
In your essay, you use the word "feed" to describe the information that sources from the media into pool of mainstream knowledge. Apt word choice. No matter how self-righteous we struggle to appear, the fact reamins that, we as humans, are easily swayed by what we think and read and hear. Think peer pressure on a worldwide scale. As Alex Y. noted in his post, we hold some semblance of control over the types of media we expose ourselves to. If we have liberal views, we pick up a liberal newspaper, one that will complement our supposedly original thoughts. Yet these original thoughts are born somewhere. Not in our minds. Not in our parents minds. But somewhere, a seed was planted through a story on the six o clock news, or perhaps in the headlines of a newsstand. Media represents all the thought, all the knowledge that is not our own.
I like how you used personal examples to help supporr your point. I think as a judge they are more interesting and powerful to read than a hypothetical example or quote from an abstact publication.
I also see what you and Elise are saying about how our liberal ideas aren't ours to begin with. For example, nakedness is extremely shocking and unacceptable in most Western society. However, as we read in the Poisonwood Bibie, this is not the case everywhere. This sense of "decency" is not our own original idea, because we inherited it from our parents and those around us. However, just because an idea isn't yours to begin with doesn't mean that it has to come from the media. What if I came up with a new idea and I told people by mouth about it. Let's say one of them posts it on a forum, and someone reads it. Is there a difference between the person who heard it directly from me and the person who read it on the forum? I think that we control the media because of the fact that we can decide what forum to read, for example.
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