"We are living in the second-hand worlds. The quality of our life is determined by meaning they have received from others. Everyone lives in a world of such meaning."
(C.Wright Mills, E.Said, "Covering Islam", Routledge & Kegan, 1981)
The above is so well-said. I couldn't agree less.
Do we ask ourself who shape our thoughts and actions? Ourselves or others most of the time?
Do we often join the crowd or make a stand?
Do we often analyse or prefer to surmise?
Media wields the power to change the world because we look to them for sources and in return, they can influence, not less but enormously.
And more often than not, we buy their stories, unconsciously.
What I wrote for the headlines of the week or rather what my superior wanted me to write will reach to the public. And, they take from there.
They are not at the scene. They do not interview the relevant sources.
They read our lines.
Sometimes, the pieces are informative, cynical or edifying. Sometimes, they could be the opposite truth. They buy the interpretation of the stories , the form instead of the real substance when an evil twist is made.
Likewise, the 'flawless' cover shoot, the doll-up, the camouflage and the crew's hardwork in the studio are unseen. Beautiful , glossy and perfect images are printed and displayed. From the juicy mags to billboards. That's what the public see. They do not see what happened in the studio. They do not see the hair extensions, the collaboration between the make-up artists to give the 'it' look, the shooting angle to hide the flaws. And, it is easy to surmise, that celebrity has 'the look to kill'. And later, we hear " I want to have this celebrity's haircut, I want to have the big sparkling eyes like that celebrity and so on.
A celebrity shared how she was sort of turned down by a man in a party . He discovered her hairpiece which she forgot to remove after a mag shooting. I guess the forgotten mind was good in retrospect. It revealed the inner side of the dude.
We are all not much of a difference. We all have flaws, including the celebrities whoever he/she is. They have bad hair-days, bulges, pimples, pain, worries and stress. For job's sake, they have a higher burden to hide those flaws.
What we see doesn't often work like a mirror. What we see may be inaccurate.
We form our perceptions largely from the secunder sources without further thoughts. Take it as it is.
That is why we have strerotypes, generalizations, discriminations and assumptions.
Let's debunk the myths. Let us ask, anaylse and re-consider.
That's is why I said we have the freedom to think, if not the freedom to speak.
Enough of the 2nd hand world.
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