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Death of An American Ideal
"Liberty is not merely a privilege to be conferred; it is a habit to be
acquired." -- David Lloyd George
"If everyone is thinking alike then somebody isn't thinking." --
George S. Patton
Two diametrically opposed people with the same basic idea. An idea of a person I
think of as an endangered species in America. The true individual.
When this country was founded over two hundred years ago, it was founded by
people seeking freedom from oppression. People who wanted religious freedom,
freedom of speech, and the freedom to choose who would represent them. This is
what we were taught, anyway. As a student, I heard of the strong individuals who
fought against the tyranny of colonialism. I was told tales of the people who
headed west to make their own way in a land that would let them live as they saw
fit to live. Early Americans were portrayed as brave, righteous individuals. We
have a Declaration of Independence that united this country into the
America we have today. From M. G. J. de Crèvecouer, Letters from an American
Farmer (Philadelphia: Matthew Carey, 1793), "The American is a new man, who
acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new
opinions. From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless
labour, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample
subsistence.-This is an American...." The rights given to all colonists
before the Declaration of Independence were broad and, freedom and liberty were
foremost among what was given all who lived in this land (http://history.hanover.edu/texts/adamss.html).
Well, all white, male colonists. Let's save all of that for a future column.
What are we doing with this freedom and liberty? What would Benjamin Franklin
and Patrick Henry see if they stepped inside the average American household? We
are watching a lot of television. The average American has the TV on for 7 hours
40 minutes a day. The number of hours per year the average American youth spends
in school is 900 . The hours per year the same youth is in front of the TV is
1,023. Another statistic I found rather profound was the time American kids age
2-17 spent in front of the TV per week (19 hours, 40 minutes) , compared to time
per week spent in actual, meaningful conversation with their parents (38.5
minutes) . I found these stats scary. American television has educational
resources but most of what you'll see when channel surfing isn't quite within
that category. And I've read studies in Scientific American describing an
increase in television addiction. There are people who won't leave their house,
won't answer their phones and won't speak to someone in the same room when their
favorite show is on. In Gallup polls in 1992 and 1999, two out of five adult
respondents and seven out of 10 teenagers said they spent too much time watching
TV. How many times during a one-hour show do you think the same commercial is
played? Commercials are drummed into our head from a very early age. Kids and
adults walk around singing commercials. When the average American television
viewer actually ventures out of their media cave, what happens? They usually go
shopping.
Of course, part of the beauty of our modern day society is that we can stay at
home, watch our TV and shop at the same time on our computers. And when we shop,
we shop big. All of us at the same stores. On a trip across the country and
English friend recently took, she was amazed that beyond a few differences,
every city looked almost the same. There were the same clothing stores with the
same clothes, the same music stores pushing the same music, the same bookstores
pushing the same books and even the same restaurants with the same food.
Different people wear different things, but they wear them as a group. We are
almost segregated by our taste, which is dictated by our TV's and computers. In
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser he states that McDonald's focuses most of
their marketing towards children, targeting them as the consumers of tomorrow.
Marion Nestle, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York
University, estimates that $13 billion a year is spent marketing to American
children - by food and drink industries alone. Food advertising makes up about
half of all advertising aimed at kids. Most corporations do this. It's estimated
the average child sees more than 20,000 commercials every year - that works out
to at least 55 commercials per day. And, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation
study, children who use the most media tend to be the least contented. From
childhood on, as we watch TV, shop in malls and read magazines we learn what we
are supposed to wear, eat, listen to and read. And who is telling us these
things? Corporate America. We aren't voting them into office and we don't have a
say in their referendums. But in a very insidious way, they are telling us what
to do and what to think. Consider the ownership of most of the media supplying
us with the information we use to make our choices. Use the link http://www.cjr.org/owners/
to find out who owns what in America. AOL/ Time Warner owns CNN, Warner
Brothers, Warner Music Group, most of the magazines on store shelves, Turner
Network Television, HBO, Warner Books, Mysterious Press, Little Brown &
Company, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett Packard, eBay, General Motors, Citigroup and
much, much more. Their decisions affect you.
CNN tells you the news filtered through their programming directors and their
higher ups. When I recently subscribed to The Irish Times and The London Times,
I found out that there is a lot going on in the world American TV and American
newspapers aren't keen on reporting. The Nation, http://www.thenation.com/
, reports on much of what won't be seen or will be seen differently than most
sources you'll find on TV or at the grocery store or in your local newspaper.
Most Europeans I know are more aware of what is going on in our country than the
people here. Why?
As Americans, we have the right to choose. It is my dearest hope that every one
will exercise that right, every day. We are ultimately the ones responsible for
what we know and what we do. I take that responsibility, that right, very
seriously. I will fight for it, I will die for it and I use it.
Jennifer Jordan
"Jesus only told half the story. The truth 'will' set you free. But, first
it's going to piss you off." - Solomon
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