SNM133: Should You Trust the Media?

When I was a child every week there was a new “special episode” to warn me about a new danger. My favorite television shows wanted to warn me about everything from touchy adults to accidentally locking myself in a refrigerator. I was warned to avoid steroids long before I hit puberty.

But what about the “regular” episodes….did they ever have a built-in message?

The Fondness of Youth

Right now the eighties are back in a big way.

We get to look back on the cartoons and television shows of our youth with fond memories.

If you take a closer look at some of those shows, you’ll notice that even in democracies we have propaganda.

You would be hard pressed to find a cartoon from my youth that didn’t have bad guys that seemed a bit…Russian.

The good guys on G.I. Joe had names like Snake Eyes and Rock ‘n Roll, the ultimate manifestation of democracy in musical form.

The villains were led by Cobra Commander and included characters such as the Baroness and Major Bludd.

Their elite troops were called the Crimson Guard.

Does all that red remind you of anyone’s flag?

We Still Do It

There is plenty of empirical evidence and scientific studies about propaganda and political messages being slipped into TV shows.

But that’s just the beginning.

There is the argument that life imitates art, but we know that we follow what we see on television.

When a show tells us that something is normal, it starts to alter the perception of society as a whole.

These shows have the ability to shift our culture.

But do they always do it for good?

The Blind Leading the Blind

I was in a meeting recently with two ladies from the corporate world.

I started telling a story about one of my favorite shows (hint: it’s an investing show of course!)…

They both almost recoiled and asked why I would watch boring stuff like that.

I don’t ingest reality television or things that I don’t want to emulate.

[easy-tweet tweet=”If there is a show about investment, inventions or fixing businesses, I want to watch it.” user=”servenojonathan” hashtags=”servenomaster”]

I watch the shows the are in alignment with where I want my future to go.