Self-evaluation and inspiration for activists

The assigned readings, online activities, and films were especially significant to me it was definitely the best material that was assigned to me over the semester. I was motivated to do the assignments well because they opened my eyes to a lot of information and analysis of media that I found very interesting and pertained to my everyday life. I have definitely developed a deeper understanding of media’s influence especially in America’s consumer culture, and analyze media exposure through a new lens/ perspective. They have also helped me understand its fundamental characteristics and methods of persuasion, which deters my inclination from further exposure.

After doing the PSA assignment, I realized the amount of work that goes into every form of media and took less for granted when observing media’s tendencies and persuasive techniques. The rich media poor democracy film as well as the corporation were both pretty influential, and helped me realize the true dangers in corporate control, which revealed a lot about what is wrong with our country. I was also really impressed with the class dynamic, and how we responded and interacted through sharing ideas with each other about these assignments. I think that was the main thing that made this a great class, and we really learned a lot from each other.

The course content was crucial in my academic interest, as well as my personal sanity in some respects when comparing it to my other classes. I felt it covered some very important content, and in terms of my future work, as an environmental studies major, I feel like this class has helped me understand some of the barriers that I may encounter, and some techniques to overcome them, as well as the ways in which to efficiently accomplish expression of environmental justice, and promote effective changes. The most important idea that I continuously came across in my studies in this class was the different relationships people have with the environment, and how these differ in overall success and happiness as well as natural serenity and flow of events.

I feel that my vision of the earth and society hasn’t changed all that much, but I definitely strengthened my views about media mind control and the relationship between nature and capitalistic society. A lot of new ideas or intricacies of different issues I had already known about were brought to my attention for the first time, and I was often shocked by some of the issues we discussed. Although the majority of the time we felt that the topics were very depressing and seemingly impossible to overcome, I was surprised to leave this class with positivity and confidence that the human race can solve these problems with well-organized and carefully thought out execution of active social movements and networking. I think that was the goal of the class in a lot of ways, and its an important lesson learned that something can always be done, and the constant changes throughout time.

Right now one of my most important personal roles in promoting media literacy education is with my eight-year-old brother, Jason. He is home schooled, and my parents and I are like-minded in our media perspectives, so I’m not worried about him being over-exposed or being brainwashed, but these situations can sometimes backfire if they’re not kept on the right track, or given the right amount of attention. My paranoia definitely comes into play with his adamant desire to watch television or go online, because naturally, he wants what he can’t have. I felt similarly to him growing up, but indeed had more exposure than he ever does, which leaves me hopeful that he will presumably resist the feed even more so. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoy bringing up these topics for discussion among friends, and even enjoy a heated debate with those that resist media literacy. By spreading these ideas, and raising awareness, I feel like I can make a difference by working against the system, and expressing myself in a meaningful way. I have a lot of angst and judgmental feelings against the medias focus on over consumption and carelessness for the earth’s resources. At this point I am not at a place in my life where I feel that I can make a huge difference, but I do my best to stay aware, and support mindfulness, and hopefully one day I can do more. After taking this class I am very inspired, yet paranoid and apprehensive about taking further action against the system, but I know it is necessary if something is to be done. So by the time the shit hits the fan, hopefully I will be prepared for the worst and expecting the best.