Saturday, September 29, 2007

A Media Obsession

Since the advent of radio, television, and computers in the twentieth century, it is almost impossible to escape the media. It captivates my generation and makes the majority--not all--of my generation homogenous. It lacks the luster of individuality. Popular music is essentially comprised of the same subjects and musical arrangements. The same stories of celebrities are published weekly or bi-weekly in a multitude of tabloids (which are generally the same). Reality TV shows, although different in objective, have the same execution: strangers who are also competitors live together in a house, cliques form, alliances form, people hook up, and, of course, drama is instigated. I ask my generation, why do we need an array of tabloids if they all publish the same stories? Why tune into the new reality TV show when you know it will follow that basic format? This type of entertainment is completely irrelevent to peronal lives, and by playing into it, the fire only grows.

What my generation needs to do is recognize the benefits of uniqueness and the dangers of uniformity. It's a tough proposition, but there's hope, I think.

--David Charlesworth

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