Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
Manufacturing Consent
Having read "Media Control" in 9th grade, Chomsky's work laid the foundation for many of my world views and budding activism. "Manufacturing Consent", however, brings up interesting questions in my own mind about the role of the artist in their culture's media.
I immediately think of a dilemma my brother recently faced as a freelance audio technician: Does he take a job for a pro-fracking conglomerate if the pay is good enough? How complicit can we be in the systems we are opposed to? Does our livelihood take precedence over our morals? He chose not to take the job, largely because he was able to find other work for that time period. But for those who do not have the privilege of finding other work, or who simply are shielded from the true interests of their employers, this is not an option.
All forms of response to oppressive systems have privilege. Would Chomsky be the lauded intellectual he is today if he were a person of color, a woman, or someone living outside of the ideal Western nuclear family? However, his choice in confronting not only individual privilege, but also cultural systems of power (inherently privileged) is commendable. The personal responsibilities he touts for every person in a society, however true, are refuted by individual positions of inferiority in this system. The system itself, as he points out, is incredibly effective in creating this cycle. It creates an inescapable system of oppression, where even when the oppressed discover its offenses are unable to act.
Not only as an artist, but as a college student at Temple University, I find myself struggling with this dilemma. Just as MIT encouraged its students to enter into bomb making, etc, I too feel myself being coerced into a similar "bomb making". Temple takes my money to create football arenas in the place of former high schools, while systematically ignoring the plight that surrounds it. School rankings in fields from law to football are forced up so as to bring in more students to gradually replace long-time residents of our neighborhood. I will receive an education degree in order to "enlighten" the oppressed with the good word of Temple, its manufacture cultural narrative.
The largest issue in the academia surrounding issues of power, privilege, and the media is "what do I do?" That is simply a question I do not know how to answer yet.
I immediately think of a dilemma my brother recently faced as a freelance audio technician: Does he take a job for a pro-fracking conglomerate if the pay is good enough? How complicit can we be in the systems we are opposed to? Does our livelihood take precedence over our morals? He chose not to take the job, largely because he was able to find other work for that time period. But for those who do not have the privilege of finding other work, or who simply are shielded from the true interests of their employers, this is not an option.
All forms of response to oppressive systems have privilege. Would Chomsky be the lauded intellectual he is today if he were a person of color, a woman, or someone living outside of the ideal Western nuclear family? However, his choice in confronting not only individual privilege, but also cultural systems of power (inherently privileged) is commendable. The personal responsibilities he touts for every person in a society, however true, are refuted by individual positions of inferiority in this system. The system itself, as he points out, is incredibly effective in creating this cycle. It creates an inescapable system of oppression, where even when the oppressed discover its offenses are unable to act.
Not only as an artist, but as a college student at Temple University, I find myself struggling with this dilemma. Just as MIT encouraged its students to enter into bomb making, etc, I too feel myself being coerced into a similar "bomb making". Temple takes my money to create football arenas in the place of former high schools, while systematically ignoring the plight that surrounds it. School rankings in fields from law to football are forced up so as to bring in more students to gradually replace long-time residents of our neighborhood. I will receive an education degree in order to "enlighten" the oppressed with the good word of Temple, its manufacture cultural narrative.
The largest issue in the academia surrounding issues of power, privilege, and the media is "what do I do?" That is simply a question I do not know how to answer yet.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
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