After our class discussions last Tuesday and Thursday, I
believe that people, including myself, are influenced by the “media spectacle”
more than we realize. Since we are a culture that promotes violence and views
war as entertainment, we have to realize that it is hard to escape certain
myths that are embedded in our culture.
In a capitalistic society, most people within the culture
are playing a game of King of the Hill. When people have been exposed to games
such as Call of Duty and others, compounded with cultural egotism, I truly
believe that people think that they could handle war-like situations. Granted,
nobody would admit to it, since rationally, it is quite absurd. However,
subconsciously, a lot of people in Western societies have been raised to believe
that they are special and unique, causing them to believe they could easily do
anything.
I am sure some people play violent video games or watch CSI
and subconsciously do not believe that they could fulfill those roles, but as
doctors have seen with the development of Web MD and other medical websites, in
the technology age, people sometimes believe they are more informed than
licensed professionals.
Also, treating war as entertainment is horribly wrong and
truly exposes the flaw in nationalism. Could you imagine if the media used the
same coverage techniques in school shootings? Why do we believe that American
lives are better than Iraqi lives? That is the most alarming thing about this
chapter. Everybody deserves the chance to live a happy and prosperous life,
however that may be, regardless of race, citizenship, or anything else.
-Derek Miller, Blog entry #3
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