Pinker and Mack’s “The World Is Not Falling Apart”, published on Slate Magazine’s website on December 22nd, 2014, presents that people believe that the world is more dangerous than it has ever been before. They explain to the reader that with easy access to media, it is easier to focus only on the information being presented, which are the bad stories. The article uses specific examples, such as the Cold War and the two world wars, to show that in the past, the world has experienced far more dangerous situations than what we are experiencing today. Pinker and Mack use evidence and reliable data from other countries to project that, regardless of the tough economic times, crime rates, trend lines, and homicide rates have consistently gone down. …show more content…
Pinker and Mack state that the news hardly show the good things that are happening in the world today, as “we never see a reporter saying to the camera, ‘Here we are, live from a country where a war has no broken out’ ” (Pinker and Mack).Instead the news reveals to their audience all of the violent events going on in the world, since the positive stories are not eye-catching enough to air. Pinker and Mack state that “since the human mind estimates probability by the ease with which it can recall examples, newsreaders will always perceive that they live in dangerous times” (Pinker and Mack). Since the news fails to give us the whole perspective of the world, we are forced to only view it through their stories, therefore neglecting us of the whole scenario. Through this neglect, there are more tragic and violent events for people to recall, and thus we would assume that the state of the world is falling apart. In real world scenarios such as a dog owner neglecting to feed their dog, or a parent neglecting to support their child, we see these people as the equivalent of evil. Since the news reporters are neglecting us from knowledge, we can assume that they are the evil villains in the situation with Pinker and Mack, and that we, the readers, need saving from this …show more content…
Like entertainers, Pinker and Mack utilized the strategy of saving “the best for last”, by making their audience wait in order to read what they have to say about the Middle East. Most of the news stories today involve conflicts with the Middle East, and therefore most readers would automatically think of Middle Eastern conflicts when beginning to read the article. For these reasons, Pinker and Mack, like Florida Georgia Line, knew that their readers were expecting to read about the Middle East, thus using it as the impetus that kept their readers with them to the very
This film was made in 2008, and maybe during that time this observation could be compartmentalized based on geographical location. The research is a bit outdated for the world we live in now. Social environments bleed together in today’s society. The reference of “middle class” becoming more extinct with political influence. The violence and dangers are not limited to congested areas of the economically challenged. We are no longer safe in schools, movie theaters, or work environments. These are no longer isolated incidents, becoming more frequent effecting many levels of our emotional and spiritual health. Humans have adapted the use of their stressful warnings to a non-useful state ignoring the signs. What use to be a safety mechanism is now a
In The Influencing Machine, Gladstone argues that the media focuses on putting out news that remotely threatens viewers. In the text she states, “emphasizing bad news is good business…world [seems] more dangerous…actually is.” It is good business considering that it keeps the audience on their toes and makes them think about what is going on. When you visit news sites or look at news stations
Wang’s studies have shown that news industries are now tabloidizing news because it elicits the attention of their viewers. Now the only thing considered as “entertainment” in the news is “crimes, accidents, and disasters”. Wangs writes “News that bleeds seem to still lead the primary broadcasts” (Wang 722). People nowaday only tune in when a disaster has occurred and anything other that is not “interesting”. Unfortunately, people would rather watch Isis in action then heard about Obama releasing innocent victims from prison. The reporter in “Gray Noise” proves Wang’s words true when he records on his lens about a mother who had just lost her
Every one is scavenging for the next big gadget- the future is a standard that society strives to have in their grasp. However, Joel Achenbach a former humor columnist solves the mystery of the future in his article, “The Future is Now: it’s heading right at us, but we never see it coming” .he presents a sense of urgency describing that the future is not something that society needs to wait for it happens behind closed doors. He argues that the future is a fast pace entity that occurs all around us. Achenbach proves this point by sticking to his humorous style, with the use of witty allusions to Sci-Fi films.
In Colum McCann’s novel, Let the Great World Spin, tragedies strike every character, and the way in which the different characters seek closure and counseling ends up shaping their personalities. While the approaches used to combat their grieving varies from character to character, McCann makes a compelling argument in support of seeking out grief counseling within a community. Many of the characters, such as Lara and Claire seem to initially internalize their feelings, and continually beat themselves up due to their guilt ridden and grieving conscious. Yet when they find their respective groups, which on the surface, seem to differ greatly between Lara and Claire, both characters are relaxed in their element. Claire finds comfort in Gloria, the polar opposite of her, while Lara finds comfort in the reparations she attempts to make with Corrigan’s family, namely Ciaran.
According to the text “ there were relatively few stories or images focusing on aging, poverty, isolation, crime and fear, and the ethno racial, or gender distribution of mortality, morbidity, and access to care.” They went to the extreme by looking for more information and pictures with people in body bags to put on their front page. People use the media as their information source to guide them on what is going on in their countries and around the world. What is portrayed in the media is often taken as true even if it actually is not completely accurate. Throughout the text it was clear to see that there is pressure when it comes to the media. News reporter often think about what they are going to present to the public because it has to be brain washing and appealing, but they also want to keep their connections to sources such as public officials. This means what they end up reporting is effected by what public officials will approve of, to make them look
As described in the film “Tough Guise 2”, the U.S. is both obsessed with and is a victim of its own culture. On one hand, movies and video games that glamorize violence and books that argue that violence. Additionally, many other films and books highlight that violence is a core aspect of male masculinity and argues that men are losing it through the empowerment of women and the loss of employment. At the same time, the United States has suffered through countless gun-related deaths and the mainstreaming of media such as Bum Fights, where actual homeless people are assaulted on camera. But due to the politicization of the issue of violence and the news media to properly explain the issue to the U.S., many people are taught that violence stems from the youth, which is only part of the broader picture. Instead of identifying and preventing the largest source of violence in the country, young white males, the focus is instead shifted toward the potential of violence of young men of color in poor urban
To escape the invented world that is presented to society, creating a more critical distance is necessary. Instead of allowing the media to use civilization, understanding the meaning and effect it has on them will enhance their perception. This directly correlates to Super Sad True Love Story, in which the populace has to grow through a collapse to fully grasp what is wrong within its society. Similar to The Truman Show, as Truman tries to escape Christof’s manipulations, he is blocked at every turn. The movie hinting to the viewers that they have to take a mental journey to secure their freedom. These cases are evident in the issue of the Paris attacks, reported in the article “Does Paris Matter More Than Beirut?” as the only people that are wondering why Westerners do not seem to acknowledge Beirut are critics. The media therefore draws society in, able to easily deceive and manipulate. As a result, the illusions created by the people ought to be escaped solely by
In her work, “This is Our World,” Dorothy Allison shares her perspective of how she views the world as we know it. She has a very vivid past with searing memories of her childhood. She lives her life – her reality – because of the past, despite how much she wishes it never happened. She finds little restitution in her writings, but she continues with them to “provoke more questions” (Allison 158) and makes the readers “think about what [they] rarely want to think about at all” (158).
According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as "poverty, the easy accessibility of guns, domestic abuse, [and] social instability" may have a greater impact on a child becoming violent than the influence of the media (277). Even though other forces may be stronger, media violence does have some adverse effects on the members of society. If senseless violence on television and in movies had no effect, it would not be such a hotly debated topic. What type of effects and whom they affect are the most argued aspects of the discussion.
"Anybody living in the United States in the early 1990s and paying even a whisper of attention to the nightly news or a daily paper could be forgiven for having been scared out of his skin... The culprit was crime. It had been rising relentlessly - a graph plotting the crime rate in any American city over recent decades looked like a ski slope in profile... Death by gunfire, intentional and otherwise, had become commonplace, So too had carjacking and crack dealing, robbery, and rape. Violent crime was a gruesome and constant companion...
Thus, the content within an article can either sustains the viewer’s attention, or prove the headline has no reliability. implies that the recession is causing more violence; Viewers may see initial read this article, because it simply sparks interest. Consequently, when I read the actual data research; there is no evidence that supports the headline. For example, LIZ SINTAY and IMAEYEN IBANGA (2009) stated “Forty-seven percent of teens said they had been victimized personally by controlling behaviors from a boyfriend or girlfriend”. In addition to this statement, the article incorporate other statements that are geared towards teen dating violence prevalence and and behavioral tendencies; rather than economic recession. Conversely, Sintay and Ibanga (2009) open the article with the statement“Teens are experiencing an alarmingly high level of abuse in their dating relationships, which the economic recession has appeared to make worse,”. a claim which is not validated with any relevant research data; but only common with the headline.
News is often described as the ‘window of the world’, but sometimes what we see on the news isn’t necessarily the true facts of what is happening around the world. News is often very subjective, especially in television, and sometimes the best pictures are picked over the best story. As journalists, we are responsible for society and frequently news leads viewers to a narrow-minded view of the world, often showing them what we want them to see rather than what they need to see. As Harcup explains (2009, P3) ‘Journalism informs society about itself and makes public that which would otherwise be private.’
The media, both in the mainstream and alternative sources, determine how the community views crime and how it represents the victims of crime, criminals and law enforcement officials. Media organisations have arguably become the main source of news, entertainment, recreation, and product information in society. For many people, media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, social media and television broadcasts inform viewers about events that affect their everyday lives. This essay will explore the many variations of how crime is misrepresented in society through mass media organisations. Over the years, research has shown an increase in crime is largely over-represented in media coverage, compared to actual crime rates in society.
Summary The Moment of Truth is a book by Wayne McDill. The book deals with the process of a sermon being delivered. McDill claims in his introduction, that a sermon is not an idea or a manuscript, but instead a sermon is the moment the message is being delivered.