THBT the mass media is corrupting the society. Do you agree?

The mass media is a communication tool in modern society. However, it has many flaws - some of which are listed here.

1. Many of us are familiar with the advertisements we see everyday. Advertisements have become a norm in the society, and they play on peoples' feelings through bandwagons (you "lose out" because you do not use the product), sex appeal (because you use the product, people think you're more attractive and desirable), and other strategies such as visual imagery, emotional words (to play on peoples' feelings) and transferring positive feelings of people about that product. One example of advertisements would be slimming advertisements - they advertise on "sexy, slim and svelte" bodies to appeal to girls - but they create a wrong impression, as well as a sense of vanity. In fact, slimming advertisements encourage girls to diet excessively and become anorexic. The models that such slimming advertisements use are usually emaciated, "size zero" models. Other advertisements include cosmetics and facial ads - they use "fair, smooth and supple" skin to appeal to girls as well - while in actual fact, this creates a sense of vanity.


2. Magazines are also a form of mass media. Many women magazines we see today are packed with advertisements and fashion stuff. These create a sense of materialism in adolescents, and they would have the temptation to buy that set of accessories or clothes shown in the magazine, just to follow the in-crowd. Stuff such as teaching girls on how to engage in dates has also created a wrong impression in girls.


3. Music: It is with no doubt that music is ubiquitious in our lives. However, the lyrics of some rock music are full of vulgarities, sex, violence and even Satanism. Death metal band Deicide writes morbid lyrics on Satanism and violence, creating a wrong impression on adolescents. These are further portrayed in MTVs that are acted out from time to time, and this further influences adolescents negatively. In fact, MTV violence could be one of the causes of violent acts in the society nowadays. The lyrics of girl band Pussycat Dolls have also been a negative influence in young people - even girls aged 9 are singing the lyrics "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me" and "We'll be making love endlessly". Listening to these songs aren't the only thing - the raunchy dance moves, the revealing clothes they wear, as well as their skinny frames (adolescents might think they look great, and would diet excessively to get that "beautiful and hot" body) are also influential. Even fallen pop princess Britney Spears has turned from an innocent-looking young girl from the Mickey Mouse club to a scantily-clad "slavegirl", posing naked in a bath, dancing seductively, and even exchanging a lingering kiss with Madonna in one of the MTV music awards. This is definitely not morally right - youngsters are learning the wrong things - are these values that should be inculcated in youngsters nowadays? Definitely not!


4. Violence: Studies have shown that some videogames - packed with violence, and adult-related content, has led to youngsters thinking that taking drugs and drinking alcohol is acceptable - when in actual truth it damages health. TV shows such as WWE and other boxing matches give young children the impression that violence is "cool" - and they might even imitate the actions shown on TV. Even websites containing violence are popular amongst youngsters, who inevitably get influenced by the content shown. People are also very familiar with the violence shown on newspapers. Coverages on the newspapers nowadays are jam-packed with photographs relating to the violence caused, and the details of the violence itself - this also creates a negative impact on society. A recent study shows that crime rate has been increasing at an exponential rate - where do the perpetrators get their "inspirations" from? From reading articles concerned with violence, of course. Some of them even tend to be "copycats" and imitate the actions carried out by previous perpetrators - just because they look up to these people as "role models".


5. Drama serials: Most drama serials tend to beat about the bush, eventually arriving at a "happy ending" where 2 lovers get together, or where the lawbreaker finally receives his punishment etc. In fact, most of the drama serials on lawbreaking ramble on and on about how the crime is committed by the lawbreaker, portraying an impression that crime "is no big deal", as punishment is only implemented at the very last part of the serial. Also, the punishment portrayed in drama serials are very mild, and do not portray the actual thing shown, thus giving people the wrong information.


6. The news coverages done by the mass media nowadays are rather superficial and subjective, and some facts are even twisted. Clearly, this is morally wrong in the context of society - people will not know the actual truth and they would be mislead by the news coverages done by the mass media. Some of these are evident in news coverages of conflicts and riots, such as the Gujarat riots in 2002).Through the examples illustrated above, it is with no doubt that the mass media is corrupting our society.

The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice.
Do you agree?



According to wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, social justice refers to conceptions of a just society, where "justice" refers to more than just the administration of laws. Modern media refers to the means of media that is offered to the world now. It is now in the form of radio, television, newspapers. Every one of us will definitely be in contact with such devices of media. Modern media has impacted us one way or another whether we like it or not. The modern media has no doubt helped us in knowing more about the rest of the world and has high entertainment value, but it seems to be providing entertainment at the expense of social justice.

One good example about modern media not having a sense of social justice is movies. There is the stereotype of Asians seen across as eccentric, mad characters. In the chick flick, Freaky Friday, that starred Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. It is about the mother and daughter changing bodies for to step into each other’s shoes literally. The person that caused this whole incident was an Asian, the mother of Pei-Pei, the owner of the Chinese restaurant that they frequent, who is a meddlesome being. This stereotyping of Asians is one fine example of modern media not having a social justice. Just simply for comic relief, they are able to mock at one’s race. This might start off small, but it might have sparked a series of confrontations between races, causing a breakdown in diplomatic ties within countries and that the world would not be at peace anymore. Another kind of stereotype, is that the main character of the show has to be pretty, gorgeous, skinny and of course, white. In a study of prime time TV and daytime TV, roles for older men outnumbered those for older women, women are made older sooner, and an older woman who is cast is more likely than an older man to be stereotyped as bad, or "evil."

Another example of modern media not having a sense of social justice is how they portray a non-realistic and unhealthy body image of women on advertisements and television shows. Many actresses, pop stars and fashion models are seriously underweight, having a Body Mass Index of less than 16 which falls under the category of severely underweight. Many diet and smoke to keep their natural weight off, this is extremely unhealthy and it affects other young girls. To be like their idols, many girls suffer from eating disorders to lose weight. Eating disorders like anorexic and bulimic may take one’s life, or even cause damaging effects on the patient. Some young girls might even take it further by going for plastic surgery to be more like their super skinny models. Celebrities are also walking advertisements to plastic surgery. Pamela Anderson, Demi Moore, Mariah Carey are just some examples.

Lastly, it is the amount of violence being shown on television. Just to increase profits and the number of people watching, they can actually not think about how much harm they can cause to someone else. Media violence is exceptionally harmful to young children under eight as they are unable to differentiate between reality and fantansy. This might potentially lead them into becoming anti-social, aggressive. Similarly, making them less sensitive to violence and to victims of violence and increasing their appetite for more violence in entertainment and in real life. Thus, affecting them for life.

Therefore, I do agree that the problem with modern media is that they do not have a sense of social justice, all that they are thinking of is profits, increase ratings. Are these that important as till one might actually forgo simple moral values and willing to put society at risk?

http://crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/mediainfluence.htm
http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Corporations/Ads.asp
http://www.pbs.org/perfectillusions/eatingdisorders/preventing_media.html

The media is corrupting our society. Do you agree?

I do agree with that the media is corrupting our society. There are many instances of the corruption of society. But basically I am focusing on how the media is corrupting children’s’ childhoods. The media plays apart in everyone’s life. Magazines, television shows, music, internet are forms of media.

Magazines are being read as a source of entertainment, there are many different kinds of magazines available on the market, catering to different age groups. However, many young girls abuse this easy excess to buy magazines that contain certain explicit issues that promotes promiscuity for teenage girls instead. One example is ‘Features in this month's Sugar include "How hot are you? Your pulling power revealed" and articles on how to dress sexy, "butt-loving denim" and "the sexiest make-up".’ This is definitely not good for young children who would get corrupted easily. One way of prevention that has been brought up by child protection groups was that such magazines should have 18-plus stickers so that newsagents selling such magazines to an underage reader will have to face prosecution.
The number of young children watching television shows is increasing rapidly; practically every child watches the television. But are the values being portrayed on the shows showed to the children the values we want to inculcate in our children? Storylines of revenge on the main character’s father who left them for another richer family. Pre-martial sex as seen in popular television shows like Desperate Housewives. It is true that sex sells, but is it worth it at the expense of eroding the moral values of our younger generation?
The music industry is another form of media that impacts quite a number of children. Previously, children looked up to Britney Spears, the fallen pop princess. She has transformed from a pouting schoolgirl to a scantily clad slavegirl, naked in a bath, or exchanging a lingering on-stage kiss with Madonna. Thousands of fans look up to her, and yet this is what they are learning from her? She is an idol to many, her actions, dressing are often imitated by many. However, it is getting from bad to worse; we would not want our children to learn such values from her. Not only her, the group, The Pussy Cat Dolls’ raunchy dance routines might be offending family valued campaigns, but surely, they are gaining more fans around the world. Their songs are also not really advisable for children’s delicate ears. For example, ‘At one of their recent concerts, girls as young as nine were in the audience singing along to their songs, which contain the lyrics "Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" and "We'll be making love endlessly".’ Are these really the values we want to teach our children? Not only so, their skinny frames have caused many girls to suffer from eating disorders to be like their idols and to be able to flaunt their body. However, they do not realize that being anorexic and bulimic is not the way
Advances in technologies have allowed children to gain access to internet. According to a recent survey of 1300 pre-teens, children as young as nine talk about their sexual encounters in chatrooms. One example, ‘Some girls had webcams, others posted pictures. Of the girls who discussed sexual activity, almost a third were younger than 12, and eight per cent were under 10. One 10-year-old was reported as saying: "I've just kissed a guy. He was 11.’
As it can be seen from above, the effects of media is harmful and is indeed corrupting our society.

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