iMedia: The Media

Please take the time to consider the following headlines of various newspapers:

Newsweek: "Got Him!"
The New York Times: "Bin Laden Killed By U.S. Forces In Pakistan"
China Star: "乌萨马本拉丹是死"
The Boston Globe: "Bin Laden Is Dead"
The Examiner: "The Butcher of 9/11 Is DEAD"
Daily News: "Rot In Hell!"
The Sun: "Osama Bin Laden Dead"

The death of Osama Bin Laden has caused a huge phenomena across the world, and especially here in the United States. As The Examiner's headline recalls that Bin Laden is "The Butcher of 9/11," his death has symbolized a sense of security to the nation, allowing ourselves to retain to a certain degree of leisure.

Bin Laden has been and is still being referred to such titles as terrorist, hellacious, a heathen, and much worse, so worse I cannot censor the words even with symbols due to the vulgar profanity. This man has symbolized fear in our country, just as the idea of communism had once ran rampant in our minds as "The Red Scare." The media has influenced our opinions and alterations of ideas because one broad casted news cast is indeed a very powerful tool to utilize in order to spread a message. If we recall the Egyptian retaliation or the people's attempt to overthrow Mubarek months ago, the Egyptians were hopeless beyond communicating in person because the government had shut down all types of communication to restrict access to one another.

That speaks a lot, for it seems technology has come to have evolved with us. Without access to the internet and telecommunication, it may very well restrict our ways of communicating, a necessity in today's day and age. Our standards of technology has changed so dramatically, Egypt had suffered difficulties, or restrictions throughout the strike.

Of course, we are heavily dependent on technology and the media, at least the majority of us are. However, is it really our prerogative to follow along with whatever the media says? Well no one else is going to bother competing with major news stations because they are all competing within their corporate system. The truth does matter, however sometimes the media is able to give false information about something for they can get away with it because they'll know most of us are going to believe it anyways. What I'm saying is that it seems we must somewhat give ourselves up to what the news has to say.  Well how can that be justified? How do we know certain things are true and untrue?

It's scary how the media is able to do this. Citizen Kane epitomizes this stance for Charles Foster Kane ruled the newspaper business and people allowed themselves to sink into this information, regardless of truth or fiction. Even the Nixon v. Kennedy debate, the first debate to be broad casted on national television was heavily dependent on who was the better speaker. Today, anchorman and woman and reporters, actors, actresses, and many others have mastered their appearance on television. It is quite difficult to see through the truth when they talk as if they were a natural. Our focus on mess-ups and cock-ups on live television has created a new focus on things. Go on YouTube and there are hundreds, if not millions of views on people messing up on live television. This is where our focus is going to!

Here are two examples:
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trf6Y_5brsk&feature=related

2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9IC7njYYc

So what the hell does this have to do with Mr. Osama Bin Laden? Some say it's a conspiracy that the government announced his death to appease the nation. I am not at all advocating this but some evidence are clear and reasonable to actually be found true or likely. I felt like Osama Bin Laden was a huge focus projected through the media, and even if it weren't, it'd still be a big deal. I felt like I had to exemplify his infamy to prove a point, one that isn't too clear. Hence, I am just trying to explain how the media influences our culture and many other things that contribute to our modern day society.