Summary: The article describes and concentrates mainly on the negative effects of popular culture on the public that seem to be unseen/oblivious to them. Some specific habits of our minds have led to an almost natural reaction of exaggeration and necessity of the value of so-called “correct views” that the media puts out. These same habits and views have led to the disliking of modern art because we think it lacks a “message.” By keeping this mindset trained and conditioned to embrace popular beliefs in our culture, we have been accepting of the attitudes and opinions of the press/media. We as an industrialized society have lost the acceptance and conformity to uniqueness and individuality of our beliefs and opinions. We tend to believe what we see when it comes to the press and media.
Main Ideas and Terms:
1.) We have been accustomed to believe what we see when the press/media comes out with an article or tv segment.
2.) Popular Culture has shaped our country in mainly negative ways.
1.) Popular Culture: culture based on the tastes of ordinary people rather than an educated elite.
2.) Discontinuity: distinct differences of characteristics between parts of something.
3.) Modern art: the creative world’s response to the rationalist practices and perspectives of the new lives and ideas provided by the technological advances of the industrial age.
4.) Media: collective communication outlets to store and deliver information or data.
5.) Compliance: the act of agreeing with a set of ideas or beliefs.
Analysis: This article, though short, uses unusual and articulate wording to summarize the big problems with popular culture, specifically press/media. The author seemed to think that media and the press was the root of all evil in a society in terms of the negative effects it has on our society and through many different points criticizes media outlets, particularly the press and television. Although I do agree with him on the points of popular culture making us compliant to the media’s opinions and beliefs (that are regarded as the way you should do things/correct), I disagree with him on it being all bad and distasteful. For example it gives us a chance to form our own opinions and ideas from what we take in from the media. It also gives us a blueprint/basis for growth and change; it lets us see what’s good and what’s bad with our society and change it for the future. It can also be good in that it can allow kids to find out who their idols are and what they are like and what they do, so they have that hope and inspiration of becoming someone like their idols.
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