On the Information Highway to Hell
Modern times! We are living them, day in and day out. A ship sinks somewhere in the pacific? We know about it instantly. A huge chemical accident on the other side of the world -- live footage within the hour!
The world is connected, and there is news to be heard, seen or read every second of the day. The newsmakers of today tell us about injustice, about people suffering around the world and about the need to do something about it. They let us know when something is wrong. I think that this is a good thing, and that it could make the world a better place.
But media these days also tend to generalize. For example - a lot of people in Arab countries think they know how “all” the Western people think and feel about them, that “we” look down on them and that “we” make fun of their religion. At the same time, we are shown pictures of Arabs going on the street and protesting against the western way of life, making us think that “all” the Arabs are the same and they all are against us. Black and white. The media hardly ever shows us the shades of grey in between or tries to make both sides understand each other a little bit better.
Actually, that is nothing new, wars have been fought and people have been killed because of information’s they where given since the dawn of human mankind. The next big war is out of questions; unfortunately we still have not learned to ask the right questions and look behind the information we are given.
The world is connected, and there is news to be heard, seen or read every second of the day. The newsmakers of today tell us about injustice, about people suffering around the world and about the need to do something about it. They let us know when something is wrong. I think that this is a good thing, and that it could make the world a better place.
But media these days also tend to generalize. For example - a lot of people in Arab countries think they know how “all” the Western people think and feel about them, that “we” look down on them and that “we” make fun of their religion. At the same time, we are shown pictures of Arabs going on the street and protesting against the western way of life, making us think that “all” the Arabs are the same and they all are against us. Black and white. The media hardly ever shows us the shades of grey in between or tries to make both sides understand each other a little bit better.
Actually, that is nothing new, wars have been fought and people have been killed because of information’s they where given since the dawn of human mankind. The next big war is out of questions; unfortunately we still have not learned to ask the right questions and look behind the information we are given.
posted by giovanniaureel at 3/12/2006
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