Culture Jam, Part 1

As I continue to ponder my two week old decision to leave Facebook, the "reality index" offered by Culture Jam really stuck out to me. How much of our lives are real and authentic versus the virtual world of the media? I find the difference in phrasing to be hugely important. Spending a lot of time in media land might not be terrible, but how about spending a large portion of our life there? It becomes much more clear when we think in terms of wasting a life, rather than just in hours and minutes.
I was struck by the line about how in America you “can’t speak out against the sponsors”. This really brought together my understanding of how corporate power actually controls America through the media. The idea of advertisers censoring content is very disturbing, but that’s what happens in all our major media sources. It’s no wonder that we have become a culture of consumption and corporation, when all the discussion brings no challenge to this destiny.
I really liked the metaphor of American consumer culture as a cult. We are what we see on TV, we join brands “fraternities”, and most striking “all dream the same dream”. This is the line that I have thought over most. Almost without exception, people want to grow rich so they can buy a lot of stuff. This really connected to me. How many people do I know that don’t feel the need for more money or more stuff? No one comes to mind. We always need more stuff, but yet in reality that doesn’t even make us happier. The media then just continues to perpetuate this illusion. To paraphrase, we are consuming the essence of our society, communities, environment, families, because we can’t let go of this sour “dream”. To me, this is an increasingly damaging force that undermines positive efforts in our society. It’s clear that it’s time for a revolution against corporations and consumption and even though these forces are even more powerful then ever before, just in this class alone, I see a great potential for redefining the American dream.