Use of Media & the Arts

Media and the arts are very powerful tools for influencing what people think and do. Most of the effects are subconscious and cannot be easily measured, so it is difficult to conduct accurate studies on the matter, but it is obvious that the effect is large. There have been many studies that leave us with very revealing statistics, but it is still very difficult to absolutely prove anything. We are dealing directly with deep human emotions. I feel strongly that God gave us the capacity to create and appreciate art for specific reasons; they are not there merely for our passive, idle entertainment. They can be used to accomplish both great good and great evil. This purposeful use of the arts to influence the thoughts and actions of others is generally called propaganda. Technically, every piece of art that is created could be considered propaganda, since they all express some idea or opinion (whether it's true and accurate or not). This word has acquired a bit of a negative connotation, probably because it is used more often to accomplish evil ends than good ones, and most of the techniques used in creating it are dishonest. However, that is exactly what I'm getting at. The enemy is doing a better job of making use of the best weapons we have than we are!

This image represents the evil propagandists of mass media devouring the world. It has nothing to do with the French.

One important thing to remember about propaganda is that it can be used very easily to misrepresent facts very convincingly. Assuming that what you are trying to accomplish is, in reality, right and not wrong nor only half-right (which is more often the case), you will not have to lie. It is vitally important to have an adequate enough understanding of any issues you chose to involve yourself in that you are not ignorantly but innocently arguing for the wrong solution, and a sufficient amount of integrity to not misrepresent the truth. These are powerful tools, and can do a lot of damage if not used carefully, no matter how innocent one's intentions may be. The most popular mediums of the day are the ones that are the flashiest; the ones that provide instant, powerful, and easy-to-understand messages and entertainment with minimal effort from the audience. Television, film, and the world-wide-web are three of the most widely used mediums, since they are highly visual and most people are visual learners (meaning they are affected more by what they experience through sight than by other senses), with their secondary sense being auditory (hearing). Behind these mediums come magazines, newspapers, radio, and books. The internet is one of the most fascinating ones to consider at this point in time, as it allows virtually anybody to publish themselves and express any opinion or thought they want to. Because of this, vast amounts of information (though not necessarily of good quality) is readily available to everybody, and we are more easily exposed to a much broader range of ideas and opinions. Because of this, one also wonders whether the widespread awareness of this affects how much people are actually affected by it, since they do not trust it as easily. Three of the most interesting phenomenons that I think exist on the internet are video communities, blogging, and social networking. I would be very interested in studies about how these influence people.

---