Media and Politics

I believe that media organizations are beginning to get back to their purpose of challenging the claims that our political leaders make. More and more lately, I've seen examples of news segments "calling out" our politicians (in particular, our incompetent new president).

The below news clip points out how Trump chastised former President Obama for taking vacation days, while he spends so much of his time at his "Winter White House." It also discusses the social security costs for our current president, and why they are much higher than they should be. Pointing out this sort of hypocrisy and misuse of power is very important. One man on the segment, however, argues that this is "fake news" simply because he disagrees, and the news caster tells him off, saying: "do you actually know what the definition of fake news is?" and proceeding to explain to him what fake news actually is. "fake news" he explains, is putting out an incorrect story meant to intentionally deceive someone. Heated, he adds "please stop it with this stupid talking point... don't call them fake because you don't agree with it." When the man continues to call the story fake news, he cuts him off and says "goodnight."

I liked that he took a stand and decided to educate the man speaking, as well as the American public as to what fake news actually is.

http://latest.com/2017/02/watch-don-lemon-abruptly-walks-off-his-own-show-over-trumpkins-fake-news-bs/

Guns and Video Games

I do believe that shootings are sometimes encouraged (although not caused) by video games. I don't think that someone who was not inclined to kill could become murderous after playing hours of video games, but I do think that someone who already had violent tendencies could play video games and think of such an unspeakable act as more... speakable. When killing is normalized and discussed casually, the results can be dangerous.

There was an example of a young man names Chris Harper-Mercer, who killed 10 people (including himself) and injured 7 more. He was obsessed with playing violent video games, and had open conversations online with other gamers who supported his plan to shoot up a school. He told some anonymous supporters on 4Chan what he was going to do the night before he did it, and was met with encouraging comments, with language similar to language that might be used to discuss a video game. After he did it, people on the same conversation talked about what happened in terms of a "score," suggesting that they thought of the real world in vide game terms.

http://www.charismanews.com/culture/52651-14-mass-murders-linked-to-violent-video-games 

Happy Violence

"Happy Violence" is when violence is normalized in the media, by appearing to be funny or glamorous. 

One example of "happy violence" that I've seen is Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" music video. She, along with a group of models and pretty actresses dance around in sexy outfits, pretending to beat up bad guys and blow things up. They kick, punch, fall out of buildings, box, use swords, knives and weapons, and set things on fire, all with no real consequences. They are a very glamorous group, and the scenes depicted are far from frightening. The video is clearly meant to be unrealistic and glamourous. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo

Who Owns the Media?

I was shocked to find out how few media conglomerations control so many of the channels and shows that are currently on television. Disney, for example, owns Disney Chanel, Lifetime, and ABC - to name only a few. With this in mind, I thought back to one of my favorite shows growing up: Boy Meets World. Boy Meets World played on both Disney Channel and ABC family, and I remember hearing in an interview once that there were certain episodes that Disney Chanel would not play, due to more adult content. ABC Family, on the other hand, had no problem playing these episodes. I did a little research and found out that what I remembered was true - there were at least 3 episodes that Disney Chanel deemed too mature to show, yet ABC family aired each one.

This is interesting to me, because Disney owns both Disney Chanel and ABC Family, so why would they feel some themes were fit for one channel and not another? It seems that Disney wants to put forth a squeaky clean image, free of any topics related to sex, drugs, or alcohol. But for ABC Family, (which, as the name suggests, is still very family friendly) the corporation is a little more lenient.