One of the things we didn’t really seem to discuss in class was the author’s shift from perceiving the media as something that helped her understand what was happening into viewing it as something that dictated how everyone should feel. For example, in the beginning of the essay, when she is describing how she was going through her apartment in a cycle, she lists the TV first, therefore underlining its importance. Then, she says that “On the TV, a narrative sequence was beginning to emerge.” Previously, she had said that the witnesses had no narrative, this means that the television was providing one for them, somewhat guiding them through a time where shock made it hard to fully grasp what was happening. Later, though, she begins to show doubts of the media’s intentions. She speaks of pamphlets, fliers, and articles that all claimed to be able to help with the grief of the tragedy, but they all seemed to convey the same message of simply going forward with consumerism (as the politicians said would be the best thing to do) and to prepare for war. She also wrote of the fact that, through the media, our leaders lumped the country into “heroes”, “victims”, and all the rest. Since those who weren’t heroes still wanted to help, they were told to show national pride and support their leaders’ decisions. In this way the media manipulated the public in favor of the politicians.
I just wanted to mention this idea since it didn’t seem to come up in class.
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