Is the World As Mean As It Seems?

 

                      (Robeik, 2012)

 

 

                  The documentary The Mean World Syndrome addresses many issues surrounding violence and mass media influences. Are we influenced by the media to become violent or is it just a cover-up for social issues that cause us to behave in a violent manner? All media is a major influence in the world and whether or not it directs us to commit violent acts, it does have an effect on the way that we perceive our world(Earp, 2010).

               The Mean World Syndrome is the perception that the world is a lot “meaner” in our minds than in reality. According to the documentary, a study done by George Gerbner showed that those individuals who watched large amounts of television believed that there was a lot more violence in the world than there actually is. Media creates a perception of the world for us by what we see on it(Earp, 2010). We are surrounded by eye-catching media wherever we look. Because we see a lot of violence in the media there is a cultivation effect that occurs that causes people to perceive the world in a way that goes along with what they see all the time. This causes us to believe there is a lot of violence in the real world and many other problems. This stimulates a fear and insecurity in us that causes us to believe that there is much more crime occurring, when in actuality crime rates are decreasing. The media sets an agenda for issues they determine are of importance and those are what we focus on because they are what we hear. The more we hear about a certain topic, the more important we will believe that it is(Campbell, Martin, & Fabos, n.d.; Earp, 2010).

            Contrary to popular belief and ideas discussed in the documentary, violent acts themselves are not something that can be blamed on the media. Based on studies done and theories created like the “magic bullet” theory, people are said to be passive to the media and directly influenced and changed by media they view(Campbell et al., n.d.). These studies show that they can influence a person directly during the viewing, but does not go on to explain why most people who view violent media do not commit violent acts throughout their lives. If children are exposed to 8,000 murders by the time they are finished with elementary school, according to the documentary, then it would have to be true that all children would be violent, but that is not the case(Earp, 2010). The increase in violent acts between heavy and non-viewers are so negligible it is impossible to say that violent media is a direct cause for violent acts. It fails to recognize the cultural aspect of media, meaning how people make meaning for the cultural messages in the media and how this connects with daily life(Campbell et al., n.d.).

            The documentary focus’s a lot on theories that do not consider the cultural influences tied to media, but only the effects we see from media viewing. We know that many people believe that illegal immigrants are bad in the U.S. because we hear many negative things in the media about them. We hear about the murderers and rapists and about all the crime that the media ties to these immigrants. We do not hear that crime rates are at historic lows in areas with the highest amounts of illegal immigrants. The fear we develop will influence much of our political choices as well as other decisions we make in life, all because of the media we are viewing(Earp, 2010).

            In contemporary popular culture a film Avatar was released a few years ago. This film portrayed our world as a violent and ruthless place compared to the peaceful world of “Pandora”(“AVATAR,” 2013). Films like this only continue to instill in us the “mean world syndrome.” There are forms of media out there that do give us hope, such as magazines like YES! that come out with positive articles such as recent articles about war resisters(admin, n.d.). Although media we view does contain violence and promote the perception that there is a lot of it going on in the world today, we often do not notice that there are a lot more non-violent and good things happening in the world. So, start taking a look around and recognizing the goodness in the world instead of the few acts of violence presented to you on a daily basis maybe then, the world will seem a little less mean.

 

Works Cited

 

admin. (n.d.). YES! Magazine. Page. Retrieved May 22, 2013, from http://www.yesmagazine.org/

AVATAR. (2013, April 14). AVATAR. InteractiveResource. Retrieved May 22, 2013, from http://www.avatarmovie.com/

Campbell, R., Martin, C. R., & Fabos, B. (n.d.). Media & Culture: Mass Communication in a Digital Age (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin’s. Retrieved from https://reader.cafescribe.com/reader/Reader.html

Earp, J. (2010). The Mean World Syndrome. documentary. Retrieved from http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=143

Ropeik, D. (2012). Aurora, and The Mean World Syndrome. BigThink. Retrieved May 22, 2013, from http://bigthink.com/risk-reason-and-reality/aurora-and-the-mean-world-syndrome