Anthony Talbert Jr Prof.

Anthony Borrero English 1102 January 23rd, 2012

Creatures whose only concern in life is to max out their five credit cards and not to pay attention to whats going on in the world and let the rich guys do what they want without interference. a quote by Noam Chomsky to describe our modern day denizen in society. It reminds me of the title of an album I recently discovered titled Control System. Its all centered around the idea that the government is constantly feeding us ideas that are meant to shape our views and beliefs, and in turn, control us with them. If this is true one could wonder exactly what type of effect this could have on us, and furthermore, what effects its already had on us. Allowing yourself to think objectively, and considering the possibility that this whole mind control theory does hold some truth; I feel as if some of the trends in society and topics that people take interest in are largely molded and driven by what is presented to us through everyday media. One topic being Americas semi-new obsession with fitness, exercise, and weight-loss. While certainly not a bad thing, I do feel as if Ive noticed a major obsession, sometimes dangerously so, with personal image and fitting into societys mold of beauty. It causes one to wonder, where did the obsession with having a perfect body arise from? Were eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia around decades ago? If so are they more prevalent now than they were then and once again I ask, why? With shows such as, Toddlers and Tiaras, a TLC series that follows 6 and 7 year old girls competing in beauty pageants. Is it

really out of the question to consider that the media might feed into issues with low self-esteem and poor self image when its willing to promote beauty competitions between girls so young they havent learned how to multiply? Although I do wonder if this problem is rooted somewhere much deeper, perhaps at the base of human nature. When you really stop to consider it, almost all success is comparatively measured. In modern day society we make a top ten list for just about everything, and sports, music, even grades and salary are all measured by comparing how much you have to how much the next person has. It really makes you wonder if this is a problem that can actually be helped when we seem to be wired from the start to measure ourselves in comparison to our peers. Another topic of great importance to me, one not so frequently displayed or painted by the media, but still portrayed in a certain light when presented; is the mental illness schizophrenia. I took a great interest in this topic from my senior year of high school, but was even more interested by my studies during Spring of last year. A disease that affects its victims in many different ways, due to the different types that develop. Yet there is one classification, a paranoid schizophrenic that is often cast in media as the face, and general acceptance of what the disease actually is. Although in this case I think the media cant be blamed for portraying or popularizing the disease in this skewed image. When you look at the different types of schizophrenia you realize that the most well known symptoms of the disease, such as, hearing voices, seeing things that arent actually there, violent outbursts, and extreme delusions; dont actually affect all, or even most schizophrenia patients. These are just the symptoms that are the most intriguing to human nature, therefore they get more media coverage, which in turn adds to the stigma and demonizing of the disease in modern society.