The Media is the Massage

In "The Media is the Massage" McLuhan states, "All media works us over completely." When I initially read this quote I couldn't grasp what he meant by "work us over." It threw me off; however, as I read the rest of the page I realized it was a lot simpler to understand, especially if you put it into context with how media works today. I wrote a paper last semester about how the media affects the self-perception and self-concept of African-American women when it comes to it's perpetuation of Eurocentric beauty ideals and how it's effects on them was harmful towards their ethnic identity. There is a deep history here that has begun with forms of old media, starting from advertisements in newspapers and eventually TV, but since race relations in this country has slightly changed we see how new media manages to use all forms of media to get this now subtle message across to African-American women.

This is a documentary called "Dark Girls" that demonstrates the affects colorism has on African-American women through the perpetuation of Eurocentric beauty standards.

If we're to look at how information is presented to us we can see how the media influences or reflects the way we prioritize aspects of our culture. We should be critical of the way news is covered, what is most likely going to be covered the life of a celebrity or addressing the ethics behind what a part of our government chooses to do in regards to violating a citizen's privacy? I think this clip does well to answer this question.

The media is great, it allows us to process and spread information much more efficiently and quickly; however, we are not only putting out information, but also, failing to recognize what's being attached with it as our actions or intentions behind our actions are most likely going to reflect someone's or something's worldview.