In chapter 7 we read about how media can influence our political perceptions. This immediately made me think of a concert I went to in my senior year of High School. I went to a Flobots concert in Cambridge, MA with a friend and it was absolutely amazing. This concert however was very different from any other concert I had been to. The concert had a theme, and the theme was anti-war, and the band members after every song spoke about how our troops should be taken out of the Middle East. At one point they even unrolled this massive flag/banner of the American flag and an Army helmet.
In High School I was never very involved with politics. To be honest I’m still not as active as I should be. But remember walking into that concert not really caring about what was going on with the war. I saw both sides of the issue; one side being that we had too many men and women dying over there, and the other being that if we left suddenly chaos would erupt and tear pretty much the entire Middle East. Basically it was a lose-lose, so I tried to stay out of it. After all, I couldn’t even vote then.
However, I left the concert very concerned. I wanted those troops out of the Middle East at all costs. I was suddenly blinded by the excitement from the concert. I stood in a basement of a club for 2 hours listening to a band and I came out a political activist. Of course the passion barely lasted a week, but it made me realize how strong of an impact media can have on our political views and opinions.
No comments:
Post a Comment