Yesterday as I was reading a nonfiction book, I came across this passage that totally reminded me of Gerber's cultivation theory and the mean world syndrome. It was interesting to see something that related so well to a concept we recently covered in class.
"Dilara informed us that she keeps abreast of world events by watching CNN... Over a period of an hour Dilara gradually approached the subject of life in the United States. It felt like she was tap dancing around something; finally, it came out. 'Life in America must be... difficult with so many guns and all those gangs.' ...'You've been watching too much CNN,' September replied conversationally; then shot me a meangingful glance. 'A lot of us are guilty of that.' ... She told us that in spite of all the 'obvious' dangers, she even planned to visit the United States someday. 'I'm certain that some parts of the U.S. are safe,' she explained. 'By the way, could you please tell me which parts those might be?'" - 360 Degrees Longitude: One Family's Journey Around the World (page 124) by John Higham
This book is a nonfiction account of a family who took their two children, ages 11 and 8, on a trip around the world for an entire year. This family is in my home ward, and I used to babysit their kids. I recently started reading the book, and I love it! It discusses many cultural differences we find across the world, and wraps it up with the hilarity that only real life can bring.
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Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Balloon Boy
In case you haven't heard of this story, I'll quickly recap it. On Thursday, a Colorado family launched a hot air balloon that they had made themselves. After quickly
discovering that their 6 year old son was missing, they put two and two together and realized that the boy must be on the balloon. They called up the police and there was a two hour long wait for the balloon that finally landed 60 miles away. When it landed, the parents quickly discovered that the boy was not on the balloon, and soon found him hiding in the attic.
Later, several interviews were performed with the family. The most notable one was on Larry King Live. When asked why he didn't come out when his parents called for him, the 6 year old said, "You guys said we did this for the show." Watch the video here, skip to about 30 seconds in to see his infamous line.
It turns out that this family has been on wife swap before, and has tried (unsuccesfully) to launch their own reality TV show. This family seems to crave media attention, and whatever their son means by saying they did it "for the show", this event seems to fulfill their desire for more attention.
When I first heard about this story, I immediately thought of this class. I thought it weird how addicted some people are to certain types of media that they would go to any length just to get some kind of news coverage or material for a TV show. I feel that the media makes us selfish to some degree. I think it's a natural aspect of being human to want to have the attention of others, but the media just blows this kind of attention out of proportion, and that makes some people just go crazy.
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Now playing: Boys Like Girls - Love Drunk
via FoxyTunes
discovering that their 6 year old son was missing, they put two and two together and realized that the boy must be on the balloon. They called up the police and there was a two hour long wait for the balloon that finally landed 60 miles away. When it landed, the parents quickly discovered that the boy was not on the balloon, and soon found him hiding in the attic.Later, several interviews were performed with the family. The most notable one was on Larry King Live. When asked why he didn't come out when his parents called for him, the 6 year old said, "You guys said we did this for the show." Watch the video here, skip to about 30 seconds in to see his infamous line.
It turns out that this family has been on wife swap before, and has tried (unsuccesfully) to launch their own reality TV show. This family seems to crave media attention, and whatever their son means by saying they did it "for the show", this event seems to fulfill their desire for more attention.
When I first heard about this story, I immediately thought of this class. I thought it weird how addicted some people are to certain types of media that they would go to any length just to get some kind of news coverage or material for a TV show. I feel that the media makes us selfish to some degree. I think it's a natural aspect of being human to want to have the attention of others, but the media just blows this kind of attention out of proportion, and that makes some people just go crazy.
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Now playing: Boys Like Girls - Love Drunk
via FoxyTunes
Friday, September 18, 2009
Living Without the Media
Yesterday I got a letter from a friend who has been on her mission for about three months. I'm going to quote part of it because it reminded me of this class.
"How's the world? Has Iran attacked Israel yet? Or has North Korea accidentally blown itself up yet? Has Obama declared himself king yet? I've only been out of it for 3 months and I feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world."
At first I thought this was funny, because I never really relied that much on news or felt super involved in world events. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that what my friend was trying to say is true- we depend on the media for a lot of our knowledge, and if it is taken away from us, we may feel very confused and "out of it".
Her letter also made me think more about all of those that serve missions. It must be weird to be so involved in the media- newspapers, television, movies, books, music etc.- and then be expected to give that all up for two years. Living without the media really would be a huge sacrifice- I use so many forms of it everyday!
"How's the world? Has Iran attacked Israel yet? Or has North Korea accidentally blown itself up yet? Has Obama declared himself king yet? I've only been out of it for 3 months and I feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world."
At first I thought this was funny, because I never really relied that much on news or felt super involved in world events. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that what my friend was trying to say is true- we depend on the media for a lot of our knowledge, and if it is taken away from us, we may feel very confused and "out of it".
Her letter also made me think more about all of those that serve missions. It must be weird to be so involved in the media- newspapers, television, movies, books, music etc.- and then be expected to give that all up for two years. Living without the media really would be a huge sacrifice- I use so many forms of it everyday!
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