In Retrospect..

One of the most interesting things that I have learned about or that we have talked about in our Comm 203 class is becoming media literate. I feel that not only as a Comm student but as a citizen that everyone should have the opportunity to become media literate. I see my family, some of my friends being swayed by misleading or misrepresented ideas or advertisements. I've also seen the way people feed off of propaganda and it is unreal. I really believe that it is important for people to become informed about what they are seeing and know how that is specifically targeted towards them and what message the creator wants to give them as a receiver. So many times, people want to believe that what they see on television, the Internet, or hear on radio is verbatim truth, and that is seldom the case any more.  

It frustrates me to see the way people take false information that was given to them by the media and worship it as true, even if they cannot prove it, or do not know the origin of the information. Media can say anything and people will believe it is true, it was not until this class that I learned how much of an influence the media truly has over the public. And to me, it is unbelievably scary! If my grandmother can sit at home and honestly believe that our President is not of American birth because she saw it in a forwarded email or skittered across the web in some body's blog or something, then that is frightening. My grandmother is one of the smartest people I know, and if she can be swayed to the point that even the strongest logic cannot defeat the media's impact, then I am frightened. 

 But I am also challenged, challenged and inspired. It doesn't take very much to become important in the media field. Any one can publish an article or make a movie, any one can have a say about anything they want. So I challenge my self to not be like my grandmother and not be literate, I want to be informed. I want to be different and promote things to inspire people, that if they must believe that what the media says is true, then to give them the truth.