ME-De-UH

When I think of Americanism, patriotism, and other such similar words I quickly think back to September 11. It was a remarkable day, but there was one key component that allowed for it to have an even larger impact on my life. Media. Everyone was consumed by what the news was saying. While this sort of obsessive interest in the news has faded the broader obsession to the media has still endured. The past two days I have been observing just how great of an effect it holds over American society. Yesterday was spent in Little Rock, Arkansas (a much more impressive place than I imagined), and today in New Orleans. Each city was spectacular in their different and similar characteristics.
Many individuals have become so self absorbed or living only within their own spheres in this age that some things have inevitably fallen to the side. Due to this way of living a kind of numbness towards media consumption has occurred. Once upon a time the radio was a magnificent thing, it gave people a connection to not just a select group but many groups and peoples. Even more recently has been the television and the internet. With each new way for media to slither its way into our lifes the wow factor has decreased while the fascination and fixation for each has only increased.
In Little Rock I was first introduced per say to the idea of observing the impact media has when we visited the Central High School Museum. The desegregation of public schools was a huge moment in the Unites State's history. However, its importance was multiplied in part by the constant participation of the media. These students were taking part of an incredible movement and it was able to gain support and opposition through people consuming an all time high amount of media. That is even true now. If it was not for those newspaper clippings and interviews done then or now I am not certain that I would have appreciated this event in the same way as I do now. The next stop on our journey was Clinton’s Presidential Library. You can be certain that there was a large amount of media used for and within this place. Also within this place was what I wrote of in the last post. American’s interest in celebrities. Of course a president is little different than a singer but still people are intrigued by certain people. Why is this? Is it because we are told by the media to be interested in these people or is because it is a way to live in another realm for a temporary period that excites people?
Then we have New Orleans today. The media today came in the form of brochures and signage as opposed to yesterdays but it still has the same influence. It leads people in a direction. Because of this I yearn to ask even more questions. Such as how does something become a high feature place, person, idea, etc. Is it something that is preplanned or do we American’s actually have the choice and freedom to decide. I know today it made me think that while you could decide where to go it were not deciding the entertainment available to you on a large scale. Someone else had already taken it up to make that call, maybe it was by previous interest or maybe it is simply from preconceived notions of our ideologies.