As I find that I spend some portion of every day perusing the essential websites for obtaining all the latest music and entertainment news I thought it fitting that I might look further into such sites and do some research on the hidden hands manipulating this industry. To start, I take a look at my personal favorite, NME, or the New Music Express. The NME is a London-based publication that originally functioned mainly as a magazine that is still released periodically in Britain, but now is featured more prominently on their website. The site's main focus is music and film news, but also features blogs, videos, and reviews of albums and movies. The only bias that ever seems to be shown is towards European musicians and films, but this is understandable considering their target audience is largely European. Headlines are reserved for hot button issues in the music industry and often for the two cents from Britain's most controversial entertainers. While the majority of articles that the NME produces are factual and credible I find that just as many center around the colloquial, often consisting of a single tweet from a popular celebrity and several other frivolous details surrounding said tweet. These articles are often pretty pitiful and hardly deserve the time of day, but I still find myself many times delving into such articles and then also the subsequent articles regarding the same tweet, string of tweets, or whatever celebrity feud they may cover. I wonder if my own intrigue in stories that I can openly criticize and see such glaring flaws is simply a matter of interest or something more than that. Growing up in a society that glorifies the many trivialities of vanity and celebrates the flaws of polarizing figures to the point of obsession can only result in certain outcomes. When media maintains control of my entertainment, my style, my news, and, some would argue even, my identity what else could possibly result but an adult who is a product of that media. The most primal human urges have been replaced by that same vanity and illusory nature that the media promotes. It's been replaced by a desire to reach ends that are far beyond my own means. And the most troubling thing of all? To a degree I'm okay with it. I've been conditioned. I"m willing to accept the garbage that I'm being fed because I know nothing else. I've been raised by parents who are a product of the system and they by parents the same. Awareness is not enough. For even as I am aware I recognize the discomfort it would cause me to break the mold. The discomfort it would cause me to shed any kind of identity that has been developed in the music I love, the films I escape into, or the products I buy just to maintain some level of integrity. But in reality what illusions are really necessary for me to reject. Who am I to say that I must disregard the benefits I've gained from submitting myself to the media. I've learned social cohesion, I've learned manners, I've learned passion, and I've learned temperament. If anything, in seeing how flawed the system truly is I've also come to recognize the true necessity for the paradigm. For it is culture, and it is connections, and it has the potential to change. The greatest impact I can have is not to reject all the ways of our media-driven society, but to recognizes its benefits, identify its faults, and in doing so attempt to find the balance. Do I not have the greatest chance of promoting change within the system by first in turn immersing myself in it?
Monday, February 25, 2013
A Product of the System
As I find that I spend some portion of every day perusing the essential websites for obtaining all the latest music and entertainment news I thought it fitting that I might look further into such sites and do some research on the hidden hands manipulating this industry. To start, I take a look at my personal favorite, NME, or the New Music Express. The NME is a London-based publication that originally functioned mainly as a magazine that is still released periodically in Britain, but now is featured more prominently on their website. The site's main focus is music and film news, but also features blogs, videos, and reviews of albums and movies. The only bias that ever seems to be shown is towards European musicians and films, but this is understandable considering their target audience is largely European. Headlines are reserved for hot button issues in the music industry and often for the two cents from Britain's most controversial entertainers. While the majority of articles that the NME produces are factual and credible I find that just as many center around the colloquial, often consisting of a single tweet from a popular celebrity and several other frivolous details surrounding said tweet. These articles are often pretty pitiful and hardly deserve the time of day, but I still find myself many times delving into such articles and then also the subsequent articles regarding the same tweet, string of tweets, or whatever celebrity feud they may cover. I wonder if my own intrigue in stories that I can openly criticize and see such glaring flaws is simply a matter of interest or something more than that. Growing up in a society that glorifies the many trivialities of vanity and celebrates the flaws of polarizing figures to the point of obsession can only result in certain outcomes. When media maintains control of my entertainment, my style, my news, and, some would argue even, my identity what else could possibly result but an adult who is a product of that media. The most primal human urges have been replaced by that same vanity and illusory nature that the media promotes. It's been replaced by a desire to reach ends that are far beyond my own means. And the most troubling thing of all? To a degree I'm okay with it. I've been conditioned. I"m willing to accept the garbage that I'm being fed because I know nothing else. I've been raised by parents who are a product of the system and they by parents the same. Awareness is not enough. For even as I am aware I recognize the discomfort it would cause me to break the mold. The discomfort it would cause me to shed any kind of identity that has been developed in the music I love, the films I escape into, or the products I buy just to maintain some level of integrity. But in reality what illusions are really necessary for me to reject. Who am I to say that I must disregard the benefits I've gained from submitting myself to the media. I've learned social cohesion, I've learned manners, I've learned passion, and I've learned temperament. If anything, in seeing how flawed the system truly is I've also come to recognize the true necessity for the paradigm. For it is culture, and it is connections, and it has the potential to change. The greatest impact I can have is not to reject all the ways of our media-driven society, but to recognizes its benefits, identify its faults, and in doing so attempt to find the balance. Do I not have the greatest chance of promoting change within the system by first in turn immersing myself in it?
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