The past couple of weeks have been extremely eventful – from a global financial crisis to South Africa’s wonky political situation.
When you ride to work you see billboards with headlines that are very sensational – from the killer virus that was discovered last week to Zuma warning Lekota etc. etc. Once you read the actual story you see that it is not as saucy as the headline – most people just read the billboards…
People get mighty scared and mighty fearful bcoz of what they read. You feel as though you have very little control and you have a great uncertainty about the future. These fears are not unfounded and I am by no means belittling the major events that have happened globally and in our country – but the media sure knows how to spread fear abroad.
Now I did journalism and we have looked at whether the media truly is a mirror on society or if it does in fact shape society. I am of that opinion that it has a major role in shaping society. There are major challenges in our society and the things that happen are scary. But the way the media chooses to shape these events in the reader’s mind can have adverse results.
Now last week I was drinking up all this sensationalism and even though I didn’t notice it at the time – it did unsettle me greatly. Then on Sunday I got on such a spiritual high that, even though my economic state hadn’t changed and neither had the political situation in my country – the world sure seemed a different place, a more hopeful place and a far less fearful place.
We may feel that we do not make a major impact on the world but we do. Individuals driven by greed have had a major impact on the world market and have destroyed many people’s livelihood. Individuals are driven by unhealthy ambition, pride and selfishness to create a political mess. Individuals write sensational headlines that leave the masses in fear and dreadful woe.
Now I know those hot headlines sell the papers, but you can still have hot headlines that cultivate a nation rather than destroy its morale. Ask Canada. A documentary was made by Michael Moore on why the US is far more violent than it’s neighbour – Canada. One of the major differences shown was the content the countries have in their evening shows – See Bowling for Columbine (2002).
So what’s my point? Lay off it a little… fear causes aggressiveness, poor health, depression etc. And these have even more dire consequences that affect others – look – it’s a butterfly effect. If you think I’m rambling on about nothing. Read this article on science and society.
[..] Some of these risks are physically real. Many are only phantoms of our perceptions. Both contribute to an undeniably real sense of worry and apprehension that extends far beyond the next 24 hours.
[..]Public businesses, legally beholden to maximize profits, try to gain attention for their news and information outlets to increase readership and viewing figures. A common approach is to make risks sound as dramatic, threatening and urgent as possible. The result is a 24/7 drumbeat of drama and danger, contributing to what George Gerbner called ‘the mean world syndrome’—the sense we have, based on a steady supply of frightening and threatening news, that the world is a riskier place than it actually is (Gerbner & Gross, 1976). Although Gerbner coined the phrase to suggest that exposure to violent content in entertainment media increases the likelihood that viewers would engage in violent behaviour, many have adopted the phrase to emphasize that news media content also affects public attitudes and behaviour (Wilkinson & Fletcher, 1995).
spykedup! 