Does media matter?

[InDarkestNight]

These days, it seems everyone thinks media is the root of all evils.

In decades past, it was mainly conservatives who criticized media. They blamed it for everything from encouraging satanism, homosexuality, to even claiming it was 'teaching' people how to do evil things (as if not telling people about such things prevents them, where did they even get this idea from?) Liberals used to basically say you could consume anything you wanted, no matter how much conservatives hate it. Now however, everyone wants to engage in their own form of censorship.

This isn't about debating this, I'm more interested in discussing if media really matters as much as people say. Everyone today seems to think like conservatives have for decades, where people imitate what they see in movies and tv and whatnot. You don't show it, they'll never do it. Aka, you remove all racism or sexism from film, then you irradiate it. Yeah, a lot of the media from the 20th century and before has questionable content in it, but I don't see how eliminating it is really going to solve today's problems. Seriously, when was the last time that happened? Pro-lgbt movies hasn't eliminated homophobia. Not depicting racist heroes obviously hasn't removed racism. I'm not saying perhaps burying some questionable things is bad, I'm just saying its not the cure-all everyone seems to think it is.

On the other hand, there is evidence that media can influence people to an extent. I remember years and years ago Morgan Freeman conducting an experiment on some tv series he had. He showed people a slide of white and black people, some holding cell phones, others weapons. He told them to 'shoot' the people holding weapons, and not the ones holding cell phones. His experiement showed that people were more likely to mistakenly shoot a black person holding a phone than they were for white people. However, he noted this couldn't be because of racism, BECAUSE HIS BLACK TEST SUBJECTS HAD THE SAME DEGREE OF ERROR. He concluded how blacks are portrayed in media is causing innocent blacks to be accidentally killed accidentally, because its priming us to see blacks as dangerous and violent. This experiment made me take issue with the black panther film, particularly how it treated black women. Don't get me wrong, what they were trying to do certainly isn't wrong, I just thought that this specific attempt may actually have the opposite effect. It showed black women being violent, even if they looked completely innocuous. This made me worried that black women could suffer the same problem that black men do due to media portrayals. It should be noted that Morgan Freeman's experiment only used pictures of men, no women. I thought back then I would like to see this but with pics of women. Black women are virtually absent in film, especially back then, so they could act as a counter-example here. Does their absence in media cause them to fair better than black men? That would be pretty ironic. Sadly, no one seemed interested in seeing such, even claiming I was racist and misogynistic and whatnot for simply pondering the idea. Wtf? On a side note, I've heard that leftists often see science as inherently racist, similar to how right-wingers see science as anti-religion. Could this have affected people's perceptions of my thought experiments?

So maybe yes media does affect people to an extent, but so far all we know is it can affect people negatively. Can it affect people positively? No one's done any experiments to find that out. Either way, its clearly not going to eliminate racism. The left has essentially fallen into the same thinking as the right; if you don't show it, people won't do it. That's obviously non-sense. All the crimes you see today happened in the past even when media wasn't allowed to depict it. Also, the crime rate today isn't actually higher than it used to be; it just appears that way because news stations are more willing to report on it.

Maybe changing media isn't necessarily a bad thing (to an extent anyway, THERE IS SUCH A THING AS BLACK PEOPLE BEING MISTAKEN FOR WHITE SUPREMACISTS JUST BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T MAKE THEIR OWN RACE APPARENT). I just see no reason to think its the cure for all ills like everyone these days seems to think. It used to be unique to the right, and was widely ridiculed by the left, but now everyone does it. Is there no such thing as sanity in our world anymore?

[HeyYou]

Back in the day, the new media weren't quite as biased as they are today. There is not a single organization out there, that doesn't present ANY news story, without it's own political slant. You can read stories from either side, about the same incident, and you would have to question if it actually WAS the same incident.....

[imrizz]

It's quite a complex issue, isn't it? The impact of media on our perceptions and behaviors is a fascinating but intricate topic. While there's evidence that media can influence, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Eliminating or altering media content may address some issues, but it's unlikely to be a cure-all. Positive influences from media should be explored too. What are your thoughts on finding a balance between responsible media representation and acknowledging that media alone can't solve societal problems?

[HeyYou]

1 hour ago, imrizz said:

It's quite a complex issue, isn't it? The impact of media on our perceptions and behaviors is a fascinating but intricate topic. While there's evidence that media can influence, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution. Eliminating or altering media content may address some issues, but it's unlikely to be a cure-all. Positive influences from media should be explored too. What are your thoughts on finding a balance between responsible media representation and acknowledging that media alone can't solve societal problems?

The media don't solve problems. That's not their job. Originally, their job was to INFORM. Today, however, it seems their job is to sway folks to whatever position their particular bias dictates. The whole 'responsible journalism' thing has fallen by the wayside, now, it's all about clicks, and those almighty advertising dollars.

[showler]

People using different definitions of "media" in this thread.

[ScytheBearer]

The "media" became "biased" because the "media" started catering to an audience instead of simply reporting the facts.  So, a biased audience creates a biased media, which creates a biased audience ... ad infinitum, ad nauseam.  Its a vicious feedback loop.  In short, you get the media you choose to support. 

So stop supporting talking heads who live and die by sound bites, cut scenes and ambush interviews.  Stop getting your news from "social media".  Start supporting more traditional forms of reporting.  Read newspapers or magazines or other sources for news; periodicals which have a "two verified sources" reporting policy.

All you accomplish here is blame fixing instead of problem fixing. 

Edited January 27 by ScytheBearer

[InDarkestNight]

When I said 'media', I was referring to pop culture, such as movies and tv shows. I wasn't talking about the news.

As for the news, the reason tv news has become what it is now, is because of competition from internet sites. They put on as much drama as possible, to try and get an audience. They're a dying industry, and their decline in reliability is a desperate attempt to keep their business alive.

Also, news stations have to compete with each other to get news out before their competition. This often causes them to try and GUESS WHAT THE NEWS WILL BE. A report from shortly after the 2016 election found that the most reliable news source was pbs, despite being the least popular. The shocking thing, is that they were the only news station WHERE OVER HALF OF WHAT THEY SAID WAS TRUE. Yeah, all news stations other than pbs are lying over half the time. Like I said, its because they're all trying to guess what the news will be to try and get the story out before their competition.

Social media isn't much better. There are no gate keepers anymore. Before, no new station your host you, no one would let you speak on their stage, if you were spreading non-sense. Today, there's nothing to stop the looniest of people from spouting their garbage. Worse yet, it doesn't matter if you can make a real argument or not; in my experience all that matters is how confidently you can say something. You literally could be completely out of your flipping mind, but as long as you can stay calm and confidently say what you're saying, everyone will believe you. The flat earth movement is a prime example of this.

Either way, this is all off-topic. I was talking about representation in movies and shows, not about the news. I wont' comment on this further.

[jakbora]

In the past, new media sources tended to be less biased compared to today's standards. Nowadays, nearly every organization presents news stories with some degree of political bias. It's common to find differing accounts of the same incident from opposing perspectives, leading one to question whether they truly represent the same event.

Edited April 26 by jakbora