Name: Shahnawaz Syed
Appeal of Narratives
Humans are social beings, most of our daily activities involve communicating or correlating with others; either physically through direct contact or indirectly using the various forms of communication we have. There are always stories being told or heard, the rate at which these stories or narratives are produced and received has only increased with advancement in technology. Unfortunately, our brains are pretty much the same size they were hundreds of years ago. We are not evolving at a rapid pace, if at all, and thanks to modern medicine; natural selection is barely present. So how do we deal with all this information being flooded into our brains when we can’t possibly absorb everything due to our biological restrictions?
Well, slowly people have adapted to where they have become more selective in what they care about as a society, if something seems uninteresting then it will go right through their ears without ever being taken into consideration. And I can see why this happens! Because it is necessary! This creates a fine line between narratives which are appealing and ones which aren’t. A lot of people have the misconception that somehow our media is changing how we as Americans think what exactly is being delivered to us; they are partially right in a sense but not completely. Yes the attempts to manufacture consent are there and always have been, but people also have the ability to choose for themselves. In an interview; Michael Moore stated that it was because of various political powers that our media is losing its value and that it’s all about big bold pictures and colorful letters, but what he failed to see is that production is directly correlated to demand. Big bold letters are easy to see! Pictures say more than words usually can. Magazines and newspapers use big bold letters now because that is what people prefer.
A prime example of this is the Darfur conflict and violence in Middle East. Hundreds and hundreds of women have been raped or murdered in the past few years in Darfur, yet it is rarely ever mentioned in the news or on TV, but when an attractive Iranian woman was shot shot it was all over the news. I read a comment where someone said that apparently it was due to her westernization and that people care when a westernized Middle Eastern woman is shot. But I personally think that it could be the simple fact that the video of her death was actually recorded using a good quality camera and was posted on YouTube. Last time I checked, YouTube did not have a video of an African woman being killed for her difference in ideology or beliefs, so maybe Africa when modernized will eventually appear on the news. Africa is disconnected in a sense from the rest of the world, it’s very hard to get reporters out there due to the dangers involved.
Also the political parties in America understand that they must deal with one region at a time, if they were to intervene in Darfur right now it will put even more pressure on our already fragile economy, making us venerable to other world powers such as China or Russia. So there is definitely some strategic ignorance being manufactured but if it wasn’t for the high demand it would not be able to survive for long. After 9/11, Middle East and Arabs in general have become a topic of discussion and until something else were to happen; we will have a hard time diverting our limited attention elsewhere. The narrative of Iran and Middle East relates to us directly, they are trying to acquire nuclear weapons which could possibly become a threat to all of us. Even if an all out war in Africa were to break out, it will never reach our borders. This makes the narrative of Neda more appealing than the narrative of Darfur. I am not saying people are selfish and that they only care about things which affect them; it is very possible that if videos such as Neda’s were posted online from Africa, it might spark wide support for intervention. But right now there just isn’t enough awareness about the issue out there.
Sources
1- Moore, Michael (Sept 30 2009).Greed killed the newspapers. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9pYp2M4444.Nov 15 2010.
2- Chomsky, Noam (May 21 2009). Manufacturing Consent. YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJuqoDvyXOk. Nov 15 2010
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