The Media Consumer I am now

After taking this class, I’ve become very aware of how the media manipulates what we, the consumers, get to see. I am somewhat scared of how the media controls us. It has made me somewhat borderline schizophrenic knowing that.

Remember “A Face in the Crowd”? Even some country bumpkin can make a nation follow his lead; or the movie "Chicago"? Chicago was about a woman who was a cold blooded murder who was able to get off the hook because the media made her into someone lovable.

The media does have a lot of power, and especially when the media is controlled solely by a handful of people and when only their views are getting heard and independent voices get muffled, I feel my free speech is threaten. It happened to the Dixie Chicks when they bad mouthed President Bush on national TV. All their songs were pulled from a lot of major radio stations because the man who owned it didn't like what they said.

I am more aware of the media. I am more skeptical of the views that radio, TV, print expresses. I do not jump to conclusions when I am given information because it can be spun into what the owner of the station perceives.

I have been taking in the media in small doses. I am very wary of what they have to say. Ah, how I've lost my consumer innocence.