Sep
23
Media Exploitation of the Poor? Is the Media turning America’s Poor in Helpless Consumers?
Filed Under Other - Society & Culture
zombie_togo asked:
I’d love to get some opinions about this (it’s a question inspired by Diana Kendall’s “Framing Class”) subject. It was suggested by Kendall in her essay that the wealthy owned media outlets are intentionally turning the poor of American into helpless consumers. That the lower classes of America are unable to control their spending habits as they attempt to achieve a better lifestyle through consumer goods, simply because what they see on television.
I’d love to get some opinions about this (it’s a question inspired by Diana Kendall’s “Framing Class”) subject. It was suggested by Kendall in her essay that the wealthy owned media outlets are intentionally turning the poor of American into helpless consumers. That the lower classes of America are unable to control their spending habits as they attempt to achieve a better lifestyle through consumer goods, simply because what they see on television.
Do you think that the lower classes of America are helpless victims in the clutches of the media? That they’re spending habits are not their faults, but the faults of the media?
Or do you think that people, regardless of class, in America are responsible for their own lives? That just because a commercial comes on, advertising a new product doesn’t mean they need to pull out their credit card to buy it? That the television is only an entertainment outlet with far too much value in our society?
SON
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PHILLIP
One possible answer to your question might be the way China is now attempting to get TIbet to “buy into” being Chinese. The observation has been made by Wang Lixiong that when China occupied Tibet, they “smashed everything, but they left Tibetan hearts unchanged. But now Tibetan attitudes are being changed by the new cultural revolution of modernization and globalization. You can’t resist this new materialism.”
Wang is referring to a strategy that combines importing a large number of Chinese into Lhasa with a rather superficial adaptation of Tibetan dress, customs, architecture, and music to which are written various propaganda lyrics. (It reminds me of the phenomenon of the “Santa Fe Style” from several years ago, which included putting together any number of southwestern items from clothes and jewelry to furniture and painting, and which managed to scream in bright neon lights, “Not Authentic!” But it sold a ton of merchandise).
It is not so much a matter of discipline as it is acculturation. When whatever is being advertised becomes part of the cultural landscape, it no longer occurs to anyone to question it.
As for the lower classes being exploited: I think what most Americans now share in common across class (or racial or economic or any other denominator) lines is a commitment to the twin values of entertainment and convenience. The toys may vary with the demographic, but they are in high demand. All we really seem to want is a good time, and the economy is doing well keeping up with the demand.