The Apoc Outbreak

Major events have crafted the United States and other nations into what they are today. Going from world wars in the 1940’s, to civil rights movements in the 1960’s, to extravagant national debt today, have all played a part in shaping our nation. Being from rural Mississippi, world news being made here is uncommon. We see all of our major news from televisions or newspapers, and this “news” is all happening elsewhere, far from here. Whether it is a good thing that we do not make the big news or not, the fear of uncertain events still lingers. From shootings in schools to bombings in cities, we are fortunate for being seemingly far from these dangers. Even though no physical effects pertain to me, mental pain and fear stays and leaves doubt

It seems not a day goes by without news of a major calamity echoing in the chamber that is the news. This echo chamber might even lead you to think that we are living in the most dangerous time in history. Protest spring up in one city, wars start in another country, a terrorist group kills civilians, or North Korea performs a nuclear test. What this news might not tell you is that we are living in the most peaceful time, that less children die in birth today than ever before, that many diseases that were once prevalent have all but been eradicated. This is what George Saunders speaks off in his essay “The Braindead Megaphone” he asks use to imagine a man

Have you ever clicked on your TV to find yourself staring blankly for hours upon hours without a single recompense of the media you’ve mindlessly consumed; questioning what you’re doing with your life? Occasionally beating yourself up when you realize you’ve just become victim to the trap known as mainstream media. Finding yourself asking how all that time went down the drain.

In any type of society, speeches have a great impact on the public audience and their views on different issues. Especially in a dystopian world, sometimes what the people need is a speech to give them hope and motivation to encourage them to fight for what they believe in. Living in a dystopian society in Great Britain, V struggles against the government and delivers a well though out speech to the general public to address his main concerns. In a similar yet distinct way, American Journalist Edward Murrow also directs a message through a radio broadcasting of his opinions on the use of television in society. Both speeches bring revolutionary perspectives to light and highlight the relevant problem the people are facing in that world.

2. In the 21st century exposure to media is an everyday event for most of us. Even at the grocery store, we see magazines and newspapers with eye-catching headings that may not be true. Also, the news is everywhere, and with technology on the rise, we even get news alerts on our phones. The media has taken over society. Most of the stories we read about seem to be true but in reality, are they giving a true insight of what is actually happening? Some of the stories cause people to become blindfolded from reality. This is because the stories that people read or see have a profound impact on shaping our reality rather they are true or not. We see the news about events that are going on in the world; rather they are catastrophic events or devastating events that were done by humans.

In American society, television can save lives instead of destroying them. Tim Leberecht, a well-reputed blogger and columnist,

Imagine, if you will, a time that seemed innocent... almost too innocent. Imagine a nation under whose seemingly conformist and conservative surface dramatic social changes were brewing, changes as obvious as integration and as subtle as fast food. And imagine, if you will, a radical television show that scrutinized, criticized, and most importantly, publicized these changes, making the social turmoil of a nation apparent to its post-world war, self-contented middle-class citizens. But what if this television show was not as it appeared? What if it masqueraded as simple science fiction, and did not reveal its true agenda until viewers took a closer look? Let us examine how

But a newspaper reporter, instead of holing up in isolation, was in touch with the rest of the world. What the reporter wrote influenced what people thought about and talked about the next day; he knew what was really going on. I decided I wanted to be one of the people who knew what was really going on”(204).

The media has intensely affected society, an effect so immense that people don’t notice its presence sometimes. Individuals become solely

Again, the holy and mighty killer had struck. The headlines were blaring across the news, banners stringing across the television in bright blue and red hues. News anchors having to shout, raise their voice above the enormous roaring crowd; chattering, whispering, crying and shouting amongst each other about what had happen and what they believe will eventually happen.

“It was never good enough to throw our hands up in horror that people were dying … We had to work out why – to chase the story back to its roots, and write about its origins fearlessly, even if it turned out that the ultimate beneficiary of the people’s suffering was a politician or a proprietor who had power over your own livelihood, or even your own life. A journalist’s right to investigate was not God-given: it was earned by playing one’s part responsibly in guarding the values of human society.”

Growing up as a child my mom made a habit of watching the morning news regardless of the events taking place in America. Whether my mom watched the news for entertainment purposes or just to see what was significant to her has been left unanswered. I start my paragraph to prove a point that Neil Postman makes in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. In Postman’s book, he argues that the news today is for entertainment and it is irrelevant to the people who obtain it. Postman’s character, Henry David Thoreau gives an example of Postman’s debate stating, “Perchance the first news that will leak into the flapping American ear will be that Princess Adelaide has the whooping cough.” Which reminds me of a news segment I observed on News 7, January 25, 2017. The segment affirmed that a birth

The advantage of TV as an informational source is its visual imagery, usually backed by musical effects. People believe what they see, especially when it is considered “live.” When the season started, it was not clear whether Katrina would be a one night special or the beginning of a new prime-time series. However, Katrina, like any new series, had a lengthy and colorful promotion, called weather reports. After the long prelude, monitoring the wind speed and its direction, the impact of Katrina was slowly revealed. Generating facts about the consequences of the disaster’s impact in many different locations takes time. Consequently, factual information about the impact was much less in terms of “air time,” than on the available time that TV has to program. Given the disparity of time and few facts, TV tends to draw on common cultural assumptions (including myths) about what will happen. These assumptions include extensive damage, death and injury, concern for children, the ill and the elderly, forecasting mental health trauma, the absence of authority, extensive looting and the incompetence of government and the inevitability of social disorder; in essence, a state of chaos and anarchy. These assumptions and others framed the details of what came to be known as

When my iPad started buzzing with all of these notifications, I knew that either it was a fascinating rumor about a celebrity or a sign that tragedy had struck once again. Reading the CNN headline, my body shook, I couldn’t believe what I have just read. There just had been a mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert, injuring more than 500 people with the police still looking for the killer. Waking up the next morning, the death toll had already climbed up to 40 people, including the gunman who the police had killed. Sitting down in seventh period, my teacher put up the headline of the attacks on the board, the death toll was up to 58 people making it one of the most deadly mass shootings in our history.

What was astonishing was not the rapidity of the news- that is, after all, the beauty of modern broadcasting technology- but the effect that the news had on the public. In the following weeks and months, story after story demonstrated the