Concept Of Message Medium example essay topic

458 words
i think it's kind of intersecting that a lot of interpretations arise as to the concept of message / medium as presented by McLuhan. what i fear is that most often, he may be more quoted than understood. on his gravestone are the words: the truth shall make you free. this was his christian side, or orientation, but is also a mirror of what he tried to do when he coined the word "media" and "global village". it is okay for us to agree or disagree with him. let us also remember that he was basically interested in the media as a channel of communications. in this light, when he says: the medium is the message, i believe he wants us to understand how the meas sge of a medium like the media. etc is the change it introduces into human affairs and life in general. a case in point is say the abduction and rape of a nine year old girl and all the tv channels are having a feast day, not only trying to tell us what happened but hoping to outsmart each other in getting an exclusive or the latest information. when you continually watch this case and hear waht is being said, what comes to your mind? you start thinking in terms on national security, then you narrow it down to your state, then your city, then your neighborhood, and then your home. who do you think of? yourself, your kids, but especially, your female kids. then you may be motivated to install an alarm system, maybe if you used to leave your ten year old kid alone at home, you may stop doing that, when you come late from work at night and you park at the parking lot, do you just stroll to your home, or do you look over your shoulder? the point of this scenario is that, the media may become so powerful that anything on which it focuses is deemed significant simply because the media is reporting it. that is basic all y, what i feel his concept is. it may be extended to other areas like formal interviews, a doctor's appointment, etc. in an interview, there are set structures alraedy in place! , there is the question-answer sequence with the assumption that the IR (interviewer) sets the pace while the IE (interviewee) follows suit. what then happens if the IE goes against the rules? we may start believing he has something to hide, or what the IR said was the truth etc. then comes into play Goffman's concept of "face". THEREfore the medium may be the message when a certain value has being applied to it to an extent that it's credibility is attached to that value.