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Examining Apathy and the American Way
Sally Lynch
Sally Lynch is a senior Natural Science major,
concentrating in Biology. She wrote this paper for
Honors Psychology of Media with Dr. Nelson as her
final. She submitted this paper because she wanted
to share her opinion and speak her mind, especially
if it encourages her peers to get out and get
active. Soon she will be going to graduate school to
earn her masters and work in public health.
One of the wonderful things about
being young is having permission to be, for lack of a
better word, ignorant.
Children do not concern themselves with political
warfare, with financial agendas, or with arguments over
civil rights.
Children are often shielded from the insanity of
the world, protected and molded until they are educated
enough to be exposed to the bigger problems of the
communities in which they live.
So, in the early years, ignorance is bliss.
However, like the childhood years, this statement
fades and is transformed over time, and by early
adulthood, individuals are encouraged and expected to be
educated about the world around them; all aspects of the
world, the good, the bad, and the ugly. What separates
men and women from boys and girls are the
responsibilities to take action in order to create
change. Whereas children have the right to claim
ignorance and helplessness in the face of worldly
problems, adults do not. Instead, adults have a
responsibility to engage in the efforts to find
solutions.
Why then is our world in the state that it is?
Where are the adults?
It seems that America has
become listless to the cries for help from our own
communities and our international neighbors.
The adults are nowhere to be found.
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood,
Americans, especially those of my generation it seems,
have trapped themselves firmly into a crack in the
system, and progression toward responsibility,
integrity, and action stopped.
I hate to tell my fellow citizens this, but it is
time to step up and take on all of the unpleasant tasks
that are part of being an adult.
We must dig our way out of this pit of apathy in
which we have become lodged, and the first step to take
is to recognize and acknowledge the origin of that
apathy. We
as individuals have fallen into an abyss of
anti-progress, an abyss created by the media, the
markets, and the public-opinion.
My point?
That we are living in an age of growing social
and ethical decline, trapped in the transition stage of
growth. And
how did we get here?
By becoming distracted from our original paths;
we have become more concerned with our nation’s media
and markets than our politics and progress.
Where are the adults?
Apparently, sitting in front of the television,
listening to their iPods, and reading some article in
teen magazine on “10 Ways to a Tighter Tummy.”
The world and its people are outside of our
window struggling to survive, waiting for the next
generation of leaders to help, but we cannot be
bothered, after all, somebody else will take care of it,
right? Is
this progress?
Noam Chomsky, a linguistics
professor at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology,
once made the statement that the best way to control
free-thinking is to reduce people to apathy.
Moreover, Chomsky related his belief that the
public is living in a state of naïve faith, going about
our days in a cloud of illusions designed by the higher
powers to keep us under control in our roles as
efficient consumers, nothing more (Achbar et al, 1992).
Chomsky’s ideas and social theories may seem a
bit unorthodox, perhaps even paranoid, but he does offer
a very serious point, and in doing so, he issues a
challenge to our American youth to rise above the
distractions of the simple-minded distractions of
celebrity, style, and technology, and take action to
reclaim our humanity by reconnecting with our neighbors,
our families, and our selves.
But, perhaps these are simply the
ramblings of a liberal dinosaur.
I mean, Chomsky is from a different era, a
different economical and political time.
Maybe he is just being dramatic, right?
I would encourage my fellow students who think
this way to consider the following arguments.
As of this year, the US TV and
movie industries are making combined revenue of 50
billion dollars, the markets of consumer electronics
take in an annual revenue of 50 billion dollars (First
Research, 2006), and Mattel’s
Barbie
continues to reign in the toy world as a 1.5 billion
dollar industry all by herself (Crowley, 2006).
What do all of these industries and their money
have in common?
They are all part of the booming capitalist
offices of the
US
marketplace, profiting from the American way of
advertising and purchase power.
There is no denying that America’s favorite past
time is shopping, buying, and comparing, and when we are
not out doing these things, we are absorbing constant
messages about why we should.
Thank you, media of advertising.
This need to have more, buy bigger and better, is
what I refer to as the “marketplace syndrome.”
I believe that the concentration of
the marketplace syndrome is best summarized in the
article “Image-Based Culture; Advertising and Popular
Culture,” by Sut Jhally, in which he explains that the
once valued institutions of “family, community, and
religion” (Jhally, 1990) were dominant until the coming
of the industrialized society.
From industry arose the consumer
society, and suddenly, the traditional foundations of a
good life (hard work, determination, morality) were
replaced by the way of life that was based in the
“marketplace mentality”; a mindset in which buying is
therapy for life (Jhally, 1990).
The syndrome effect sets in when individuals not
only participate in this new mentality, but they also
accept it as a second nature.
In the past century, the mass
production of everything new and improved, not matter
how trivial, has given Americans something to look
forward to, something to spend their hard-earned dollar
on, something to make them feel better about themselves
without having to change the people they are.
The basis of this syndrome is not simply a desire
to sell products and make a profit, but a desire to
exploit the powers of the marketplace; the power of
controlling lives by creating illusions of what
happiness and success should be.
We see it everyday: advertisements flood the
media with images of happy, smiling people who have the
newest cell phone, the sleekest sports cars, and a
closet full of the most expensive clothes. Somewhere in
our minds – no matter how much we do not want to admit
it – a voice is saying,
If I had that, I
could be happier too.
Our markets manufacture happiness with a price
tag, and according to us, that’s okay.
In fact, if it’s on sale,
we will take two,
please.
Possessions cannot create permanent
happiness, this is something that everyone has heard,
and many believe.
But the marketplace syndrome can create apathy.
The marketplace syndrome drives people into
competition and isolation, degrading natural desires to
succeed until individuals are reduced to their pin
numbers and mp3s.
Over the past generation, items have taken
priority over individuals.
People need to open their eyes and recognize that
the markets are hypnotizing their consumers with
messages such as: “You’re a good person if you own our
products,” “If you buy the newest, the biggest, and the
best, you will not have to prove anything, you’ll be the
person you always wanted to be,” and “It’s okay to
ignore your problems and those of your community,
because you are a smart shopper who is too busy keeping
up with the latest trends.”
The marketplace of America has
somehow become the place to seek out satisfaction,
distracting us from the real conditions of our crumbling
social morality.
Surrounded by our possessions, we sit in our
comfy armchairs and watch the problems of the world
flicker by on our plasma television sets.
We may pause on the
Feed the Children public service announcement on channel 12 for a
moment, but then flip on ESPN, because, let’s face it,
you can’t afford to support starving children.
You just purchased this $2,500 entertainment
system.
There’s nothing you can do, and you accept this as
truth. But,
it’s okay, you’re not a bad person, the sale’s person at
Best Buy said
so!
Our nation’s goals and priorities
are now found in stores, mail order catalogues, and 152
channels of commercials.
We want to own more, buy more, sell more. All the
while, the media and markets are behind us, cheering us
on to an end of isolated insecurity which we will reach
when we look up from our palm-pilots and realize that we
were so wrapped up in the advertisements and newest
products that we completely forgot we are social beings
who need interaction with real people, not computers.
We have forgotten to play our role in society, so
society has moved on without us, for better or worse.
The giant that is the celebrity
image has also taken a new route in the world of reality
television, providing yet another pitiful obsession that
allows Americans to trade their real world problems and
ambitions in for those of people they do not and
probably never will know.
In 2000, the reality TV craze hit hard, and
apathy levels in viewers skyrocketed as human dignity
was packed up and sold to viewers through their cable
boxes. I
think that reality TV in all of its forms is the vilest
thing to ever be excreted into the public eye.
This television medium craze has made me realize
the all-time low that the media has sunk to in order to
keep their viewing markets; how dare the industry
attempt to pass “Big Brother” or “Laguna Beach” off as
documentaries on real life.
It is such a shame that the American public is
now so consumed with laziness that they would prefer to
watch “America’s Next Top Model” to find out which two
contestants will get into a face-slapping contest than
engage in quality time with family and friends.
We cannot possible expect to exist for much
longer as the international power of the United States
of America when we are relying on such trivial and vile
entertainment.
In conclusion, the media is an
industry that is capitalizing on a growing American
attitude of pro-isolation and anti-action.
The markets, in all of their forms, will find new
products, new people, and new manipulations to keep
Americans in this rut of numbness and mental and
emotional degradation because therein lies a profit.
Can they not see that therein also lies the
undoing of our very humanity? Apathy in all of its
commercialized, pre-packaged glory is creeping into America’s veins in full force.
I consider this a call to arms!
My generation must stand up against these powers
of the media and beat their influence, and I know that
we can, and we will…right after we watch the newest
episode of American Idol. Sound
familiar?
To truly create change, we must
become educated in worldly issues, cultures, and people.
America’s youth cannot be distracted
by celebrity drivel or fancy products with bells and
whistles any longer; it as been in indulging these
distractions that our nation has become a running gag
whose motto has gone from “Home of the brave” to a
continual loop of “That’s what she said!”
Wake up, America; it is
time to reclaim our dignity.
Noam Chomsky was right in his stand; the media is
trying to keep its consumers weak and impressionable,
because it is weakness and apathy that keeps consumers
returning to the markets looking for happiness, which
means profit for the markets.
When we remain apathetic, we allow the industries
to tell us who we are and what we need to live happily,
and so, they control us and our money.
I extend a challenge to my
generation:
turn off the televisions, the
DVD players, the computers, the cell
phones.
Remove yourself from the mindset of the media for just
one day; quiet their voices so that you can hear your
own. I
guarantee that your eyes will be opened to all the
potential of this world, and most importantly, you will
find the potential that exists in you.
Our time to create change is now, and while it
might be easier to sit on the couch and ignore our
calling, we are the adults now. This is our world and
our lives.
Action, not apathy, is the true American way.
Sources cited for research:
Achbar, Mark,
Peter Wintonick (Directors). (1992).
Manufacturing Consent: Noam
Chomsky and the Media
[Documentary Film]. Canada:
Independent production.
Crowley, Angela.
(2006). “Barbie:
World Leading Fashion Doll
by Mattel.” Retrieved
October 7, 2006,
from the AC: Associated Content Website:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/46625.html.
First Research:
Industry and Finance.
(2006). Retrieved
October 11, 2006,
from the First Research website:
http://www/firstresearch.com.
Jhally, Sut.
(1990). Image- Based Culture; Advertising and Popular
Culture. In G. Dines & J. M. Humez (Eds). (2003).
Gender, Race, and Class in Media,
2nd
Ed.
USA:
Sage Publications, Inc. 249- 257.
Perry, Imani.
(2003). Who(se) Am I? The Identity and Image of Women in
Hip-Hop. In G. Dines & J. M. Humez (Eds). (2003).
Gender, Race, and Class in Media,
2nd
Ed.
USA:
Sage Publications, Inc.
136- 148.
Rogers, Mary F.
(1999). Hetero Barbie? In G. Dines & J. M. Humez (Eds).
(2003).
Gender, Race, and Class in Media,
2nd
Ed.
USA:
Sage Publications, Inc. 94- 97.
Rose, Tricia.
(1994). Hidden Politics; Discursive and Institutional
Policing of Rap Music. In G. Dines & J. M. Humez (Eds).
(2003).
Gender, Race, and Class in Media,
2nd
Ed.
USA:
Sage Publications, Inc. 396- 405.
Stern, Susan
(Director). (1998).
Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized
Tour [Documentary
Film].
United States of America:
Independent production.
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