How much can media influence the many?

I don't know about you,but I think that people are manipulated by the media all the time,or at least influenced.
Can they really make you think like they want to?
There are some movies with the same effect(please give me more)....some of my friends saw a horror movie(nothing interesting here),they really like those,and they slept with the lights turned on,with the headphones of their mp3 players at max volume and with their baseball bats close to them.They aren't easy 2 scare but...
Another thing about media is fake news and propaganda....
I'd like 2 see more about that and if you experienced something like that

The mass media have an incredible ability to sway the minds of the many, almost by definition. The flow of information in mass media systems is unidirectional, meaning that the media feeds you with info, but the reverse flow of info (going back up the chain) is very weak.

It is a known psychological fact that if you are told something long enough, you will start to believe it. Consider this with what I mentioned above, and you end up with a powerfully suggestive cultural injection and propaganda machine.

Examples...

Source | Wikipedia

A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange (1971) caused controversy on its release due to the violent content. Alex, the main character, rapes women and beats up beggars. The film tells the story through Alex's eyes and therefore he is represented as a hero while the caricatural people who surround him seem less attractive by comparison. The controversy about the film increased when some gangs and youths started to copycat the violence and rape. The media focused heavily on these cases of copy cat violence and even Kubrick himself started regretting he directed the film. He censored the film in England until after his death (in 1999) to avoid further violence and because of death threats against him and his family.


Bobo Doll

This classic study (Bandura et al, 1961) exposed two groups of nursery children to a new play area, containing a selection of toys with which they were unfamiliar. One of the toys was a threefoot inflatable Bobo Clown with a weighted base, designed as a self-righting 'punchbag' toy. As they played, the non-aggression (control) set observed an adult playing quietly with certain toys and ignoring Bobo. In the aggression set, the adult 'model' performed a distinctive set of violent moves on Bobo, such as sitting on its head and punching its nose, striking it with a toy mallet, and kicking it into the air, while uttering aggressive phrases such as Punch him in the nose!. Independent observers later scored children's behaviour for aggression when left alone to play with these toys. Those exposed to the 'aggressive' adult demonstrably imitated many of the adult's moves.

And of course, don't forget about The War of the Worlds.
Source | Wikipedia

Many people missed or ignored the opening credits of the program, and in the atmosphere of growing tension and anxiety in the days leading up to World War II, took it to be a news broadcast. Contemporary newspapers reported that panic ensued, with people fleeing the area, and others thinking they could smell the poison gas or could see the flashes of the lightning in the distance.

I have no doubt that our members will find many more examples for you.

[edit on 7/23/2007 by damajikninja]

You've got to remember that TV flickers on average at 60Hz... even if you just sit infront of the box when it's tuned into just static you're going to find yourself being tranced-out in mere SECONDS.

Combine this with the fact that most people watch all kinds of weird stuff for hours on end, you have an incredibly potent mass hypnosis machine!

Remember kids: "Monkey see, monkey do!"

The media always plays a diffrent role depending on where you are and who is reporting it. I have only traveled to a few places in my country and have watched local and national news in all places.

However for some reason the local news in Houston is really out of control. It seems more like a outsource of rumor control and exploitation of civilians. It's like haveing an out of control yearbook staff badgering whoever they can badger and I have noticed because of what they publish it has actually cost lives in my city. No joke.


Now when I watch national news and all the other stuff it is slightly more tastefull however not too much. There is a certain level of sleaze they still comes off as aggresive and volitile.


but they are definetly spazoids. out of control spazoids.

Originally posted by damajikninja
The mass media have an incredible ability to sway the minds of the many, almost by definition. The flow of information in mass media systems is unidirectional, meaning that the media feeds you with info, but the reverse flow of info (going back up the chain) is very weak.

It is a known psychological fact that if you are told something long enough, you will start to believe it. Consider this with what I mentioned above, and you end up with a powerfully suggestive cultural injection and propaganda machine.

Examples...




Bobo Doll

This classic study (Bandura et al, 1961) exposed two groups of nursery children to a new play area, containing a selection of toys with which they were unfamiliar. One of the toys was a threefoot inflatable Bobo Clown with a weighted base, designed as a self-righting 'punchbag' toy. As they played, the non-aggression (control) set observed an adult playing quietly with certain toys and ignoring Bobo. In the aggression set, the adult 'model' performed a distinctive set of violent moves on Bobo, such as sitting on its head and punching its nose, striking it with a toy mallet, and kicking it into the air, while uttering aggressive phrases such as Punch him in the nose!. Independent observers later scored children's behaviour for aggression when left alone to play with these toys. Those exposed to the 'aggressive' adult demonstrably imitated many of the adult's moves.

I have no doubt that our members will find many more examples for you.

[edit on 7/23/2007 by damajikninja]



now you are basically are saying that children are imitating acts of violence they saw performed on a toy.


now that is miles away from what they are doing here. These people are actually independantly and freely initiating acts of violence on society and stirring up more crap than you can think of.


it is pretty much all of them, i get the impression they are attached or something and act like scandalous little girls when provoked. however alot of the civilians and stuff dont have a solid grasp and take it to another level.

they are like mini-media hitlers.