Have you ever woke up on a morning, looked out in the window, and see it is sunny outside? You walk around your room, picking the shirt that you feel it will fit on this very “sunny” day. After picking your shirt, you walk outside and find yourself in a 60 degrees weather with a bit of a wind, realizing that you are cold and your clothes do not fit this weather at all. Looks can be a bit deceiving, can it?
Our society today revolves around media. Silvio Waisbord from Media and the Reinvention of Nation mentions that today, our culture is shaped by media. What media exposes is what makes of us today regarding how we talk, think, and act.
The United States of America heavily weighs our culture through media. Because of the immense exposure of media we have, other people in different countries usually perceive that our lives are perfect. We, Americans, are living up to the American dream. The American dream is having a white house, with white picket fence, a wife/husband, children, and perhaps a dog named Spot that is running around in the front yard. We do not have economy problems. We are not poor. We buy clothes and food all the time with out obligations. And if we want, we can stop by and visit Hollywood stars to share a cup of coffee or maybe knock on President Obama’s door for a cup of sugar when we need. Based on my experience of teaching in Kenya, Africa for three months, I have had many Kenyans asking me if I have ever had dinner with Obama or if my house is big as what you see in the movies. As I left Kenya, they asked me to give them some money. I told them I did not have much to give except for my things that I did not want to bring back with me to the States- they gave me a perplexed look. They thought that Americans were always rich and never had money problems. They say that they always see Americans so happy all the time with fancy cars and big houses on television or in magazines. Well, looks can be a bit deceiving, can it?
Our country is probably the only country that holds the most television shows, movies, different brands of newspapers across the nation, different websites, and a variety of radio shows. But, we do not share information about how we have human trafficking, our economy is horrible (maybe superficially), homeless people on the streets, people living out of cardboard boxes, some governments not doing their jobs, and so forth. If everyone in the world knew about how much problems we have in our country, I do not think that there would be that many people from Mexico or Africa desperately wanting to live in this country so they would stop having problems. Some people in different countries, specifically developing countries, look at America as a “Hakuna Matata” place. But without media, we would not have a sense of “belonging” in our culture. Sometimes we just need
some convincing that our country is doing just fine so we can feel that we still belong here. (Waisbord, 389). But, in the end, we all know that looks can be deceiving, can it?
Comm Kids 