Review of James Tiptrees "The Girl who was plugged in"

In Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl,” the narration of a mother lecturing her daughter with sharp, commanding diction and unusual syntax, both affect the evolution of a scornful tone, that her daughter’s behavior will eventually lead her to a life of promiscuity that will affect the way people perceive her and respect her within her social circle. As well as the fact that it emphasizes expectations for young women to conform to a certain feminine ideal of domesticity as a social norm during this time and the danger of female sexuality.

After reading this article I have realized that everything that is not our own thought could be in some way a megaphone. The biggest one of these being mainstream media. In Article Six, Saunders says, “In the beginning there is a blank mind. Then that mind gets an idea in it, and the trouble begins, because the mind mistakes the idea for the world.”1 To the media our minds are a blank page. Their jobs are to fill those blank pages with things to keep us interested even if it isn’t relevant to our lives now. We see what they want us to see, not exactly what we need to see. By filling those blank pages they get us hooked on and keep us coming back for more. A great example I see day to day are the different news stations rambling on about politics firmly stating what they believe to be the correct stand-point on a specific issue. They want us to believe what they believe by filling our blank minds with their views in a direction that will convince us is right. Along with filling our blank minds, the media tends to find ways to distract us. It distracts us by showing us things that

They tell you what they want you to know and control the information that we receive. IT also tells us that they have unverified information – narrow the voices and opinions available to the public.

Manipulation through the media has lead to serious consequences in 1984 and the US today.

The government also controls the poulus by destroying history. Destroying history indicates government control because it allows the government to say that this is how life has always been so the populace won’t revolt. It also displays control because it’s limiting what the populace knows and by extension how they think. The government controlling how the populace thinks is especially highlighted in the quote, “Click? Pic? Look, Eye, Now, Flick, Here, There, Swift, Pace, Up, Down, In, Out, Why, How, Who, What, Where, Eh? Uh! Bang! Smack! Wallop, Bing, Bong, Boom! Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests. Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! Then, in mid-air, all vanishes! Whirl man's mind around about so fast under the pumping hands of publishers, exploiters, broadcasters, that the centrifuge flings off all

Alice Bradley Sheldon, known under her pseudonym James Tiptree Jr., was an important contributor to science fiction literature in the 70’s. In her 1973 work “The Girl Who Was Plugged In” Tiptree examines a futuristic society with superficial obsessions and advanced technologies. In this society, traditional advertisement is forbidden. Companies found loopholes in this ban, using celebrities dubbed “gods” to promote certain products to the crowds with their stardom. They had significant influence, whatever they used, the people desired (Tiptree 213). These gods are conceived in an elaborate manner, using lab-produced bodies (Tiptree 207) known as Remotes to keep up an aesthetically sound image while real people act as the brain controlling

Many times throughout history it has been shown that people are shaped and molded into what society calls, “perfect people.” Jamaica Kincaid is the author of the short story titled, “Girl.” In her story there are two characters, an authoritative mother and her young daughter. Throughout the story, the mother expects so much of her daughter in various ways. She teaches her how to cook, what to wear, how to behave, and many other attributes she views to be significant for her daughter’s role in society. Kincaid elaborates the theme of how to be the “ideal,” or “flawless” woman in a society, along with being respected through the literary elements of diction, imagery, and mood.

Wilde’s novel is an obvious evidence of the pervasiveness of main values of Victorian society. According to Wilde, “Aesthetic tendencies have to be taken with prudence and have reasonable limits that imply moral responsibility.” According to the critic Alex Ross, “ Wilde’s aestheticism, his fanatical cult of beauty, was the deepest and most lasting of his passions, and it is now the most radical about him” (Ross 2011).

“Fake news thrived during the 2016 presidential election because voters were edger for information”(Mercer 1). In the novel 1984, Winston works for the outer party. Winston’s primary job is to change news, history, and events as needed by the party. The party uses the altercation of events to make people think the way the party wants them too. This keeps them in a limbo state never questioning the party or its intentions. Today, just like in 1984, media and technology are being altered to control humans.

Until the 1980s, the control of the media was in the hands of the national government. From then, the control shifted to private outlets and by the 1990’s, there were more than fifty multinational companies who controlled it (“Mass Media”). Today, only about six major companies control the larger fraction of media in America (Williams, Par. 1). Norman Solomon wrote in the New Political Science Journal that most reporters and editors work for just a few huge companies. These journalists and editors are on the payroll for “mega-media institutions”, of which, only about six exist (Solomon 297). How much will the public learn if these companies generally control the output of information?

As discussed in class, one of the most influential agencies of socialization is the media. The way we see ourselves or the way other people see us come from what we are told by others and what we tell ourselves. In the Better world handbook, the chapter on media states that “the way we think and act in our daily lives is inextricably linked to the information we receive about the world” (Jones, Haenfler and Johnson). The chapter continues to discus how information delivered to us can be bias and this raises the issue on who controls the media and what we see through it. The problem with this could be that that whoever controls the media does not necessary have our best interest in mind and the content that is transmitted through the media is profit driven. . In the article “Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong” gives a perfect accept of how easy it is for information to get omitted based on what people what you to know and what they don’t want you to know. From a young age, people decide what they want you to know, so that they can decide on what they want you to think about certain topics whether its American history or something else, its like the

Brainwashing and Mind Control are “best thought of as a series of techniques that are used over time to shape a person’s perception, cognition, emotions, decision making and behavior to such an extent that they have lost their freedom of choice” (Mind Control Today). These techniques, once in existence within authoritarian and totalitarian governments, are increasingly being practiced by advertising companies and mass media. There are extensive similarities among the political and economic standards that cause negative impacts on society, as a result of adopting these mind control tactics. As Malcom X pointed out, “The media is the most powerful entity on earth, because they control the minds of the masses”.

     The media provides the public political issues, which sets the agenda for political discussion. In theory the media tries to attune themselves to the interest of the public, but “in most instances the media severs as conduits for agenda-setting efforts by competing groups and forces” (Ginsberg, Lowi & Weir, 1999, p. 298). To gain public support, groups and forces need media coverage to promote their ideas. However, the media has great control over which issues they televise. The issues must have media appeal or be considered newsworthy.

“A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth” – Joseph Goebbels, German Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. This is the exact words of Nazis most famous propagandist in using media as a mass weapon of propaganda and mind control. Could you imagine Germany in 1930s, without Television channel, without the Internet, without every mobile device in your palm, what channel of information will you get? Of course, newspapers, flies, images, celebrities were used as tools for propaganda purposes, designed to provoke a reaction, and ultimately, a form of control over their citizen. Nowadays, with all the advanced of technologies, information can reach everyone in every corner of the Earth, the message is delivered in the subtlest ways, without people’s conscious, has shaped everyone’s decision, or at least shape their behavior toward the decision that the orchestrator want the audience to perceive. With the booming of internet, information sharing seamlessly, we must ask ourselves, the role of media in conveying, shaping the society that we are living in. Let look at few examples of U.S propaganda machine, and later, the particular case of fish sauce in Viet Nam back in October 2016.

Any literary work is unique. It is created by the author in accordance with his vision and is permeated with his idea of the world. The reader’s interpretation is also highly individual and depends to a great extent on his knowledge and personal experience. That’s why one cannot lay down a fixed “model” for a piece of critical appreciation. Nevertheless, one can give information and suggestions that may prove helpful.