Interpreting Media Messages

In this week’s reading, I found that the concept used in order to interpret media messages were very interesting. After collecting all the facts that we need, we need to ask ourselves many questions. A couple of key thoughts that we should keep in mind are to know who created the message, what was the purpose of the message, what techniques were used in order to charm the reader’s interest, and what values and points of views were demonstrated. We must then ask ourselves our own thoughts on what we have read seen or heard from the media. This includes the reactions we had and how we interpreted the information. We also need to think about how others interpret the information being given, if the message is biased in any way shape or form and how the information might affect individuals and society as a whole. We must lastly understand how the information is being backed up, if it is credible, if it uses good facts and reasoning or if it does it at all. Fallowing these questions will enable us to interpret media messages in a better manner.

Media and our views

In today's world the media makes a huge impact in our lives. I think that without it, many of us who are use to such luxuries will not be able to manage our lives with ease. Because I have access to news all over the world with the internet, television, magazines, and news papers, I can easily find out what is going on around the world, around my neighborhood, school, family and friends. The media does inform us about everything we know, but it also influences our views on many subjects. We can only interpret this information given to us by the amount of information and stand that the media provides us. Although this is so, I believe that we should try to interpret what we are giving with our own views and values. The media challenges us because we must learn to interpret the difference between what the media wants us to think and believe and what we really think and believe on our own. We are given many views that expand our thinking and our views, but it is up to us to decide what we want to take in.

Advertising food?

Although both Wootan and Liodice make great arguments, I believe that Liodice has the better stand. Making good and healthy choices can not be enforced by anyone and they certainly can not be manipulated by law enforcement. Nutrition is extremely important, especially for kids, but parents have to enforce rules on what their kids eat. We all know that advertisements pray on everyone, and knowing that kids are the ones that are most easily influenced, parents should educate their kids on what they are advertised. It is the parents responsibility to educate and enforce rules on their children so that they can understand the nutritional content of the foods they eat. The choice on what an individual feeds him or her self is within the individual. Children should come to understand that at a young age because of all the influential media around us. This does not mean that I support faulty and misleading advertisement directed to children, but I do realize that we all have the right to freedom of speech,which includes McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. The one thing that I do agree with in Wootan's argument is that the fast food industry should make the public aware of what they are eating, at least just as much as they advertise it.

Advertisement

This week one of the concepts that I found interesting was how to evaluate advertisements. When I read this section I didn't expect to find so many different tactics in approaching this concept. To my surprise, I came to realize that a lot of ads give faulty and week arguments. Many are missing key facts or statistics that misrepresent the advertisement being given. This generally means that not all the premises are given for the argument at hand. Some advertisements use scare tactics, which pry on fear,emotions, shame, and insecurities to get their point across. Other advertisements use fallacies of popular appeal which pry on what everyone likes. Other ads pry on fallacies of questionable causes by making something look more wonderful than what it really is. There are many fallacies that can be used to misrepresent advertisements. Before we draw any conclusions from ads presented to us we need to understand all the premises that are given and hidden so that we do not make faulty assumption by something that is commercialized to us.

Consumer strategies

During this past week, I have used several consumer strategies that have been effective and non-effective as a consumer. On Monday, I bought a laptop online and compared the prices for the laptops with the help of a friend. When doing this, I used the opportunities available, such as the Internet, to my advantage. I also compared the competitors and consulted the consumers’ dissatisfaction’s in order to figure out what would be my best buy. Just yesterday I bought the new android razor maxx and compared and contrasted all the other phones that were available to the phone. The only weakness that I had was the lack of expertise from my part as a consumer for laptops and 4G phones. The truth is I don’t know much about these subjects even though I should understand more about the capability of the device I am purchasing. If I managed to do this I could reach more effective consumer strategies when purchasing laptops and smart phones.

Evaluating Evidence

When evidence is evaluated people need to understand the difference between valid and invalid evidence. Our brains interpret rather than directly record sensory experience. Sometimes people can see things that never happened just because they have been told or suggested that situations have happened. This is called false memory syndrome. When using different word choices and tones, language can alter memories. Anecdotal Evidence from eyewitnesses or memories being recalled should be questioned because of this. Memory can be inaccurate distorted or changed. Also, hearsay should always be questioned. Hearsay is evidence heard by one person and then repeated to another. This evidence is untrustworthy because you can never be sure if the evidence being presented has not been changed.When evidence is being evaluated the number one thing that some should keep in mind is how credible the source they are receiving their information from is. experts can be a good source credible information, even they can have their credibility question.

UFO

In the arguments written by Condon, hynek, and Paynter regarding the existence of UFOs,they all try to explain is some way that UFO research should be done but improved. Edward U. Condon states in his report "Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects" that although they think that two years of studying this matter has not be used wisely and should not be continued because of this, anyone who is truly able to come up with a clearly defined proposal for this matter should be supported. J. Allen Hyner explains in his writting "The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry" that a program should be defined as a legitimate study because there has been many citings of UFOs. In the writting "physical Evidence and Unidentified Flying Objects", Royston Paynter states that the UFOlogical community should use better and standarized forms of investigation and proof of their work. I believe that Condon makes the best argument because he understand that money should not wasted on somethng if people are not fully prepared to do the right type of work for the job. By statting that this is an important matter that should be standarized he understands how much should be put in to the work.