Sedatives
Thursday, May 28, 2009Sedatives
Theories are systems of ideas intended to explain something in short, and I suppose that is the direct result of humans wanting an explanation to everything. Whether or not theories are definitive, that is another question altogether. I mean, theories are like a life form somehow, and it is constantly evolving. You have one theory that works today, but it's probably going to be obsolete or irrelevant by tomorrow. You know, like the whole "the world is flat" theory a long time ago when humans thought that a flat earth was set upon four elephants and a giant turtle. Those are some of the things that humans believed in, and they came up with theories after theories to explain as to why we have our feet on the ground. Of course, then they discovered gravity, but even gravity is a theory and has never actually been proven - it's true, go look it up. Anyway, I suppose we want an explanation for everything, and this scientific process is a constant quest to find out what fits the best, you know. In Physics, it seems to be much easier to come up with a theory that explains things in a more encompassing way. You have Newton's law, and that covers a lot of grounds. But when it comes to social sciences, where everything is so volatile, it's impossible to find a solid foundation to stick your theory in.
Anyway, there was this particular "theory" about the mass media that really caught my attention yesterday in class, and I feel like I really want to address it here. I know, I have a written assignment on a similar subject, but this is somewhat different I suppose. Lance showed us a video of a man named Noam Chomsky, who spoke of the media's relationship to the society at large. A particular point he made during the video, which was kind of like a taped lecture of sorts, fascinated me somehow. He spoke of the way advertisements work in the media, and how they somehow act as a control over the greater population while the powers at be gain control over everybody else. Aside from the fact that advertising brings in the revenues for the broadcasters, it seems like they have become a tool for the powers at be to remain in power, or to maintain this status quo of things. I started thinking about how true that may be, and kept in mind that theories are after all, theories. They probably explain a portion of something but not everything, and there is probably only a certain extent of truth in social science theories. But interesting nonetheless, and here is how it works.
Turning on your television, you are going to be bombarded with advertisements in between your favorite shows. Even at the movies, you have advertisements before the movie even begins, and they are usually fifteen minutes in length for the most part, especially if you catch a movie at Golden Village. That is about one-eighth of a full-length feature film, and that's how much advertising you are getting for a single trip to the movies alone. You have advertisements telling you to travel to a foreign country, to sign yourself up for some slimming program, to buy the latest cosmetic, to try out the new formula included in a certain brand of shampoo - whatever. You have all of these messages thrown at us from everywhere, and to you it may just be some kind of marketing gimmick. You know, it's like a shotgun that fires, and you just hope that one of the pallets hit your target. But it's not all like that, according to Chomsky, because these advertisements actually provide some kind of distraction for the population. You know, you become too engulfed in this consumerism deal, and you become too busy trying to figure out what to buy and what not to buy, that the people with authority and power decides to step in and make all the decisions for you.
It just seems so salient in the context of Singapore somehow. I think if you strip away the basics, Orchard Road is just a giant street of advertisements. If you take away the news in the newspapers here, you get pages after pages of advertisements. Everything, everywhere, is asking you to buy something. I have today's TODAY paper right in front of me right now, and the front page doesn't even have a single news article, nor the second. In fact, the fourth and the fifth page are all advertisements as well. The first page is telling me to save up to 70% at OG, and they are advertising leather wallets, shoulder bags, and a whole bunch of other bags at discounted prices. The second page is telling me to buy an Everlast jacket, a Fila polo tee, a bunch of watches, a skateboard (what?), and a bunch of other accessories. Then we have the television sets, the washing machines, the camcorders, the digital camera, the home theater system, the cordless steam iron, the tower fans, the fridges, and all those stuff crammed into two pages of endless marketing. Big red letters like "$1" and "OFF", and a bunch of other bombastic fonts everywhere in this single tabloid newspaper. You start to wonder if there is a greater plan to these at all, if this is just another tool by the government to control our thoughts.
It is as if they are saying, the majority of the population are not capable of making informed decisions, so let us do the thinking and let us do the planning. It is as if advertisements, which promote consumerism and materialism, are sedatives to the society. They provide the money to the advertisers, and then the advertisers use them to drug the population into thinking that they have more important things to do - like, choosing between the normal wet tissue to the orange scented ones. It makes them feel like they have a choice in everything, like some kind of delusion, to make us feel like we are in control. Everything else outside of this sphere, then, becomes somewhat unimportant. Like anything to do with politics, or the important issues that matter, you brush them aside because you are too busy choosing which product to buy, which country to go to for a holiday, which pair of shoes to wear. It all adds up, and you become dumbed down while the big boys go to play in the playground of big money. Whenever you have a society with stratified classes, which is inevitable, you have the powerful always remaining in power, and the powerless always being controlled by the powerful. Very few people jump ships, as Lance mentioned in class, and you cannot help but view advertisements in a different way.
It was just fascinating to me, I suppose, and a little scary to think that all of this may be true. You know, what if it is true that we are just pawns in a chess game, being shifted around without us really knowing much about it. Especially in Singapore, where it is said to have a high level of political apathy amongst its citizens, you start to wonder if consumerism is the reason why we cannot care less - or maybe there is something more to it? In Singapore, people cannot care less about participating in politics, because you have one party that is controlling almost every aspect of the people's lives. This isn't North Korea, but it isn't true democracy either. While that is a goal that is impossible to attain in my opinion, this country does not come close to it at all. We have the government telling its people that the country is not in support of a certain decision when, in truth, nobody ever consulted us in regards to a certain subject. Just read the papers in regards to the recent sex education issue in schools. The government stepped in and said that the topic of homosexuality is not a part of the public agenda - really? I was not asked if it is my concerns at all, and it just seems like decisions have been made for me. Think like this, do it like that, and you will be fine.
That is what I have observed anyway, the way everything has been decided. It's like the first decade of your child's education, everything being pre-planned and sorted out without your child having much say in things. The child doesn't know better, you'd say as a parent, that is why you are making the decisions and signing the consent forms - the children are not smart enough to make smart decisions. That seems to be the way we are being treated at times, and the only reason why the people are not fighting back is because so far, fortunately, the government has been making mostly right decisions. As much as Singapore has a one ruling party system, it is fortunate that everything seems to be working in a relative order, and not a mirror image of what we have in a dictatorship system like, say, North Korea or Myanmmar. But it gets frustrating at times, the way everything has been fixed for all of us. We have no channels of argument, no ways in which we could voice our opinions. Actually, you can voice your opinions in blogs such as this one, but you still have to keep yourself checked, and you cannot go overboard with your views. In a country whereby it is written in law that it is illegal to say anything negative about the country's great leader, you don't expect opinions and views to be flying around in the airwaves.
It's not that I think the government here is full of evil people with cruel intentions - I don't. I think they are just like all of us out there, and it's not like they have a handbook on how to rule the world tucked underneath their tables or something. Not all of them are trying to manipulate the masses, not all of them want to control people with an iron fist. It's just that there are some things, decisions that have been made, that don't exactly have the kind of justice or transparency that we desire at all. When there is an unknown, you cannot help but question what is happening today, and people come up with theories to justify and answer these questions. It is the same as how conspiracy theories are always coming up with theories to accuse the government as this evil force trying to rule the rest of the world. But you know, these theories, they really make you think about things. You look at things differently somehow, and you realize just how much more is at work in our society than the obvious ones that meet the eyes.
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on Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 11:40 AM.
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10:31 AM
In response to your post "sedatives" on consumerism :
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Industrial Society is destroying necessary things [Animals, Trees, Air, Water and Land] for making unnecessary things [consumer goods].
"Growth Rate" - "Economy Rate" - "GDP"
These are figures of "Ecocide".
These are figures of "crimes against Nature".
These are figures of "destruction of Ecosystems".
These are figures of "Insanity, Abnormality and Criminality".
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature [Animals, Trees, Air, Water and Land].
Chief Seattle of the Indian Tribe had warned the destroyers of ecosystems way back in 1854 :
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you realize that you cannot eat money.
To read the complete article please follow any of these links.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment
sushil_yadav
Delhi, India