Page 113 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Meaning of Self in Society

In this sense, it is the picture of a classless society that invites audi-
ences to identify with specific depictions of the ideological and
material conditions of existence.The latter contain the prospects of
a life in which social problems are personalized – that is, where
alcoholism, drug abuse,AIDS infection, divorce, or child abuse con-
veniently happen to the other, thus creating a psychological distance
that facilitates a vicarious coexistence with social ills. In other words,
a concrete approach, with the help of real faces, clearly defines social
problems as individual issues with individualized solutions – for the
other – which will not significantly distract from the playful diver-
sions of a media reality that is designed to encourage identification
with the dominant system.As a result, increasing crime rates, or vio-
lence in general, are recast by news organizations as morality plays
to address the fears of the unaffected and warn about the social (or
economic) consequences of deviance for the status quo.
Existing social or economic differences are also worked into a
visualization of “good” or “bad,” especially in film and television,
that makes for drama and teaches lessons that reinforce conformity.
Thus, “bad” individuals do drugs and commit crimes, although the
public rarely learns about the complex social or economic reasons
for antisocial behavior. Misfits maim or kill to serve selfish goals;
they don’t succeed, but will most likely be punished by fate –
another term for the forces of “good,” which engage in justifiable
violence to subdue ill will and address disturbances in society. The
lesson, while aiming to be entertaining in its frequently excessive
violence on either side of “bad” or “good,” is always the same: crime
does not pay and the guilty will always receive their justified
punishment.
Like personal disasters, social or political problems are posed and
solved within a short period of time. Mass communication must
offer assurances of a socially or politically satisfactory response and
dispense instant gratification. Again, personification allows for the
removal of problems without the need to explore their complexity;
it is a principle that has also surfaced in politics, if one rethinks the
war rhetoric regarding Afghanistan or Iraq. Echoed and intensified
by (popular) media with no sustained critical engagement, journal-
ism, as an allegedly independent source of insights, relies on stereo-
typing and themes of evil and violence that entertain rather than

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