this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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What if I don't believe that the media controls the people, and rather, that our culture is really just this genuinely sickened and backwards?
In any society, the culture is created and maintained by the media and other apparatuses of the ruling class. Collectively, this is referred to as a society's superstructure
This superstructure reinforces and perpetuates the ownership and norms of productive forces in society, known as the base of a society.
In the USA, the base is oligarchic capitalism, and the superstructure is a neoliberal managerial-cultural apparatus
The media creates the culture.
It is deeper than that. If there was no media we would still have culture. People would tell stories and copy and adapt each others mannerisms and fashion. Local culture would be much stronger and vary a lot more.
What media does is control these elements by distracting us and occupying our attention with curated topics and lines of thinking.
Yes, I agree. But in our current climate we have media and not a whole lot of social interaction. So for all intents and purposes currently media is driving our culture.
Yes, nobody has any agency except the powerful.
How manichaean of you.
Wow, that is a jump. I'm curious, how did you get here from my comment?
I feel like theres lesser of the ladder than the former. People like to be told what to think. I really dont understand it myself, but something about big brother telling you what to think is somehow comforting for some people. Ive seen the behavior from multiple family members, just parroting what their media source of choice is saying.
*latter
😔 foiled again
Knowledge can be a status symbol like clothing. People show what they know if they can signal their status with it.
In that form, knowledge is not verified by own thoughts. The value of the knowledge comes from the reputation of the source and the value of the people who agree with it.