How much of an effect do you think media has on influencing society, and if recalibrated, could it improve society?

[Fishy Fish Fish]

This is my first time creating a thread, so please excuse any autism.
As the title (and Oscar Wilde) said, do you believe that life imitates art? If so, to what caliber?
Of course, an obvious example here would be propaganda, which is any art that is created with the purpose of swaying the masses to a certain set of beliefs. Propaganda takes many forms, and has been employed by diverse idealogies. Basically, depending on your point of view, there is both "good" and "bad" propaganda. It isn't really possible to believe all propaganda is bad or good, because we all have our particular set of beliefs, therefore meaning that we want to push causes we agree with, while we don't want to push causes we disagree with. As a less controversial example, anti-drug abuse videos are propaganda, as are gun safety.
In particular, I've kind of been thinking about how nihilist the whole wokeism movement is. As I go deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole that is feminism, transgenderism, (and even some varieties of atheistic people), it seems to me that they're almost foreign to the concept of being human at all. Therefore, I feel like any propaganda that they create will further push whatever bizarre anti-humanity agenda they have. My main worry is that since younger people are so easy to influence and manipulate, this would have some depressing results.
I've heard plenty of rallying cries for more wholesome entertainment. I think this is actually an underrated part of influencing society, at least in the vein of making people reflect on human experiences. I don't think media necessarily has to be religious in nature (*traumatic Pureflix flashbacks*), but American media has really been leaning towards the edgy grimdark themes. (think TLOU versus the sequel) I'd personally like to see more modern-day media that focuses on themes like family (biological or found), friendship, love, purpose, even spirituality to some degree.
In a time where we've got people who honest-to-God believe that having a family, being in a relationship, having friends (especially ones who aren't the exact same ethnic background), having a passion, or even exploring that part of you that desires something greater as "problematic", I feel this is something we really need.
Sorry if this is confusing as fuck, I'm more eloquent in my head.

 

[Anasûrimbor Kellhus]

I think that yes they can use it to improve things but I think they refuse to outright

Much of the manufactured consent happens because of the media and the niggercattle eating that shit up

 

[Feefee81093]

There would have to be transparency and credible sources.

 

[The Luigi Player]

my dick wouldn't be as erect If I could rape the elected officials and make them quiet by spreading them cheeky aids secks

 

[Fishy Fish Fish]

my dick wouldn't be as erect If I could rape the elected officials and make them quiet by spreading them cheeky aids secks

The evil side of me wouldn't mind seeing horror movies where trannies die horribly.

 

[DumbDude43]

it's hard to overstate the enormous influence modern mass media hasover society

could it theoretically be used for good? maybe, but that is pretty much impossible to happen

 

[Shamefur Dispray]

Mass media being used for anything good?


You're a funny fucker I'll give you that.

 

[Troonos]

If by "recalibrated" you mean Total Journalist Death, then yes.

 

[Otterly]

The media is a huge influence. In current year it’s part of the feedback loop that sets policy and accepted thoughts/opinions and punishes wrong think, thus;
-state actors/NGOs etc set accepted thoughts and opinions (safe and effective, transwomen are women.)
-media widely disseminates opinion
-social media encourages everyone to put all opinions imline
-wrongthink detected
-mobbing via social media
-real world consequences (job loss etc)
-media reports on how people who thought ‘wrong’ thoughts were punished, with the subtext being that if you think like that you’ll be punished too.
-repeat and repeat
-people start to speak and even think differently.
-result - large scale behaviour control.
Example2.
Late night TV ‘comedy’ show.
-constant twenty/thirty second loop of ‘heres new thing, here’s what to think of it, here’s what those stupid opponent think, (audience laughter.)
-repeat.
The above trains people by suggestion/laughter at opposition. There’s no time for the listener to think about what’s presented to them, and think hang in a minute that’s not true. It’s the TV equivalent of stimulus/negative response training a dog and it works. Just look at the audience of SNL barking and clapping like seals.
Example 3: creating fear.
Fearful people beg for solutions and protection.

 

[CowPox]

It has a absolute stranglehold over the credulous and slow witted in this country which probably accounts for about 80% of the populous. And if it were possible to show the reality of life we would most likely see a violent over throwing of the murderous government that rules over us within two years... this is why we have a psychotic amount of propaganda non stop inn the media, they're scared, and they should be as many people would like to see nothing less than the talking heads and their collaborators swinging from lamp posts for the hate and division they have fostered and caused.

The truth does not always possess the loudest voice but it always will have the most persistent one, the truth simply is and their lies take an enormous amount of energy, money and time to keep afloat, its only a matter of time until we expose our oppressors and that day could quite literally be any day and on it heads are going to roll.

 

[Strix454]

The crafting of official narratives and their presentation by the Associated Press & the New York Times is a general negative to society. Rather than having a free press and multiple points of view, we live in a situation where a literal handful of people decide how events are to be interpreted & presented......with the rest of the "media" simply echoing the narrative come up with at the top.

The value of much of what is done in the name of journalism these days has become really questionable. Journalism in the old days was necessary because people lacked access to primary sources and information. But today, all the information the journalists are writing their stories about is generally available to everyone who wants it. They don't have more access to information than the general public does. As well, the people in journalism these days tend to be poorly educated and lack any sort of specialized knowledge that would make their opinions have value.

Business and finance news is generally corrupt. Its all pay-for-play with people compensating the reporters and media outlets for positive coverage or directing them toward competitors.

Sports journalism is completely meaningless. People can see as many games and clips of games as they want. The written opinions of randos working for the media or ex-jocks don't mean anything.

 

[Meat Target]

Well, first, we need to establish what we mean by "media". Do you mean just news media, or do you also mean arts and entertainment?

One of the biggest mistakes the Right ever made was to allow the Left to have a near-monopoly on arts and entertainment. Life imitates art, and politics are downstream from culture.

By treating creativity as something for liberal faggots (not to mention neglecting the rich cultural history of Western Europe), conservatives have become ossified and are bad at telling stories. Even Current Year goyslop remakes are better at telling stories than cringey, hammy Conservative "entertainment", such as God's Not Dead.

True, part of this could be due to ideological blind spots that prevent conservatives from thinking outside the box. But liberalism has the advantage of narrative-crafting because they have the decades of throwing-shit-at-the-wall experience.

And in Current Year, where the entertainment industry is mortally afraid of a new idea, there is no better time for a "conservative POUNCE" on creativity.

Conservatives should also not be afraid of mocking themselves. Ever heard of the Archie Bunker Effect? Sometimes, parodies of conservatives become their beloved icons. They will look at what is supposed to be ridiculing them and find it based.

Some examples include Rorschach, the Punisher, Warhammer 40k, Team America: World Police, and "Keep Your Rifle By Your Side".

 

[frozen_runner]

One of the biggest mistakes the Right ever made was to allow the Left to have a near-monopoly on arts and entertainment. Life imitates art, and politics are downstream from culture.

The right didn't exactly "let" that happen. Artists just tend to be more open (the psychological trait) people, and open people are more likely to be leftists. If there are far less conservative artists, it just stands to reason things would shake out like they have. (Especially when the left is trying to keep them out...)

 

[Some Dumb Faggot]

It really depends on the message that is being touted and how desirable it is.

Modern media really doesn't because it's decayed to a point that modern artists are incapable of creating anything worth watching. The only reason the LGBTIPA69 bullshit has lived this long is because of printed ESG money, but no one is buying it given the viewership.

Contrast this with WW2 era propganda. The propganda they pushed would be seen as desirable and positive. Then on top of that the media that was made was entertaining so people would watch it. The message also was more subtly built into the writing where as now in modern media they beat you over the head with it until you tune it out.

 

[gang weeder]

Narrative control through media is so powerful that I think it's hard to really even imagine just how much it shapes the world we live in.

So yes of course it could do a lot of good if turned to good ends. But that boils down to having a good government that is staffed by good people, and good luck with that. It seems completely impossible based on the history of every government everywhere always being abusive and corrupt. Human nature is a bitch.

 

[shatterspinel]

It's easier to create something entertaining that feeds base impulses than to create higher level works, the money is in passively feeding egos and making dumb people feel better about their failures. Otherwise, people would read books. I'm fairly pragmatic about the population's intelligence and attention span, if you replaced cable with stoic or Christian content and opera this afternoon, you'd see people go back to spending their nights in bars or beside a bonfire while talking about the same kind of degeneracy. Which would be a massive improvement, but my point is that media is much better at drama than education, even peak history channel was filled with bullshit and propaganda.

 

[raspberry mocha]

The powers that be understand how important gatekeeping is, which is why certain ideas aren't tolerated, certain things don't get published, etc. I get the feeling many people create things they know will get them in the door, hence why everything became so "woke" in less than a decade. But people turning to entertainment media for morality is a sign of social malaise in general. And I think the push for "wholesome" entertainment is a well-intended but ultimately sideways step. Personally, I just want to be able to enjoy something transgressive without being scolded about how that makes me a nazi or something.

 

[Fishy Fish Fish]

Well, first, we need to establish what we mean by "media". Do you mean just news media, or do you also mean arts and entertainment?

One of the biggest mistakes the Right ever made was to allow the Left to have a near-monopoly on arts and entertainment. Life imitates art, and politics are downstream from culture.

By treating creativity as something for liberal faggots (not to mention neglecting the rich cultural history of Western Europe), conservatives have become ossified and are bad at telling stories. Even Current Year goyslop remakes are better at telling stories than cringey, hammy Conservative "entertainment", such as God's Not Dead.

True, part of this could be due to ideological blind spots that prevent conservatives from thinking outside the box. But liberalism has the advantage of narrative-crafting because they have the decades of throwing-shit-at-the-wall experience.

And in Current Year, where the entertainment industry is mortally afraid of a new idea, there is no better time for a "conservative POUNCE" on creativity.

Conservatives should also not be afraid of mocking themselves. Ever heard of the Archie Bunker Effect? Sometimes, parodies of conservatives become their beloved icons. They will look at what is supposed to be ridiculing them and find it based.

Some examples include Rorschach, the Punisher, Warhammer 40k, Team America: World Police, and "Keep Your Rifle By Your Side".

I was leaning more towards entertainment and art, like books, movies, games, etc. Yeah, it's pretty connected to journalism, because journalism basically tells you what you're supposed to enjoy these days.
I probably worded myself terribly, but really what I'm getting at here is that it would be nice to empower creators to tell... y'know, stories instead of an idealogy with a story shell on top of it. I think we all just wish we could have our escapism back, the kind that won't make us lose our faith in humanity.

 

[Lemmingwiser]

I'm just going to say that there is 0% chance Obama would have won the presidency without the show 24 having a very respectable yet imperfect black president.

Predictive programming is real. But the relationship is hard to gauge, because much like the mel gibson movie conspiracy theorist or the book and movie fight club, it's hard to tell when the future is being fabricated, or the creators tapped into something that was going on, but not visible to the world at large yet.

I saw the comments on the old monty python life of brian skit where Stan wants to become Loretta and wants to have babies as a woman, but he can't but they'll still fight for his right to have babies.

All the comments were saying how visionary and well they predicted the future, but this was 30-40 years after the first attempted womb transplant, so it wasn't that visionary at all, it just tapped into developments in the background better.

That said, much like as soon as people in the stock market expect a change to happen, it happens immediately, and so it is with culture.

 

[AgendaPoster]

Kinda skeptical it can be fixed.
For media to actually be worth having, you would need to somehow force it to simply describe objective reality in the most neutral terms possible and penalize it when it does not.
Without these expectations and requirements, the media is simply propaganda for whomever happens to profit or control it, and we are all condemned having to be unpaid (actual) fact checkers to remain sane. If you let your guard down, you'll be sold a version of reality that's not really there.