Chapter 11 Media and Politics

In this chapter we explore the beginning of mass communication and in drastic turn towards a more liberal bipartisan view. The first mass communication came with the invention of the printing press and before this movable type began to create a mass medium it was Linotype which was hand placed into presses creating a pain-staking process of printing papers. The invention of the printing press allowed newspapers to be produced at rapid rates while being extremely cost-efficient. The newspaper brought information to all areas of the country and with the help of telegraph produced information across the country to be received in time for the morning paper. The newspaper assisted with the amount of literate people and gave them a chance to communicate of events and political topics.
The newspaper began to be viewed as a liberal influence since its primary audience was lower class citizens. The paper to this day along with other mediums have become politically influenced by their owners own personal beliefs. This will continue to remain the same as long as the people with the money own the media outlets.

New Technologies and Essay Mills

With time comes advances in technology and new ways to systematically challenge the educational system by finding different ways to get around essay and assignments. They are saying that essay mills are exploding throughout the country and have even gone global, offering papers to anyone that are written by professionals and not duplicated. However the risks that come nowadays is intense. Plagiarism or even the potential for plagiarism can have a student kicked of a University and even have them blackballed in the future. I believe that a number of students still will not take the risk of trusting someone else's word that their essay they received is completely original and not traceable to the company. The risk does not outweigh the reward. With the chance of explusion and the possibilty of not attending another university I believe that a majority of the students will either write the paper on their own or find less volitle measures to accomplish their needs.

Media and Social Structure

Our society's social structure is built from the ground up. It begins with the media creating social norms and ideals. The media alters our perception of the world around us allowing us to create virtual realities to live in. The virtual realities that we create our based our views, background, and development. We are able to be placed in "fairy tale" lives where we imagine that all dreams are possible and can be achieved in some form. From the beginning we have been lived our lives imaging that any profession and wage is something that could be achieved if one really wanted it. However as we age our virtual reality is shattered by real life experiences that challenge are thoughts and desires. We all still imagine different things when we reach certain ages.

Beauty, perception and cultural interpretation

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a common saying that is frequently used in the cultural perception of beauty. In the United States beauty is seen as a slender woman with "baby skin" or clear complexion. However for woman to achieve this perceived beauty a woman must use what our culture considers appropriate beauty aids. These appropriate aids were once considered just makeup to cover blemishes or skin discoloration but now it is acceptable to use Botox and surgical procedures to achieve society's cultural interpretation of beauty.
While not all women partake in this physical alteration it is said that these woman are beautiful in the eye of the beholder. Each person is unique in their own way and society projects this image that all people must be drones and follow our cultures perception of beauty.